As the worst recession in a quarter-century continues to unfold, insightful and moving stories of its impact on individuals, families, communities, and organizations are appearing regularly in the media. Periodically, we are using this space to call attention to notable national and local stories that we think deserve a wide audience.

Sunday’s New York Times magazine cover story explored the devastating impact that the collapse of the U.S. automobile industry is having on the Black middle class in Detroit and surrounding areas. Since the 1930s, the Big Three automobile companies have provided a ladder to the middle-class for tens of thousands of African Americans in Detroit and surrounding areas, offering high-paying blue-collar jobs and the opportunity to become homeowners and send their children to good schools and colleges. Now, plant closures, layoffs and buyouts in the auto sector are leaving these workers without jobs, at risk of losing their homes, and struggling to avoid losing hope. Writing of Marvin Powell, a 13-year GM assembly-line worker who earns $28/hr at a plant in Pontiac that is set to shut down before the end of this year, author Jonathan Mahler asks:

What if you were 38 and had spent the last 12 years doing one thing for a company and an industry that allowed your predecessors to escape the Jim Crow South, that gave generations of black workers a shot at dignity and their rightful place in the American middle class, that allowed you to buy a decent home in a neighborhood right next door to white families who had fled your city years before? Maybe it wasn’t the job you dreamed of when you were 20, but it was what you did and what your father did and what you and almost everyone around you knew, and it had never failed you before. What would you do? How would you prepare for the loss of all that?

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This afternoon at 3:00 marked the first meeting of Governor Henry’s coordinating council to oversee the use of the federal stimulus money available to Oklahoma through ARRA. All of the members of the council were in attendance for this inaugural meeting. Susan Savage will serve as the lead contact for the council. Scott Meachem will work on all aspects of the stimulus package as they relate to the state budget and will work on a daily basis to coordinate with the legislature. Steve Burrage will be the “monitoring guru”.

Governor Henry stated that the goal of the council is to make sure Oklahoma doesn’t fall into any traps and that we get the full benefit of the stimulus funds. He stressed that, although openness and accountability is a key goal of this process, it goes beyond that. The other stated goal is to identify all opportunities where Oklahoma can benefit from the stimulus package.
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