Real estate agents wouldn't sell minorities property in "white" neighborhoods. Gay couples often faced the threat of harassment or physical violence when they walked out of their homes. The NAACP filed dozens of complaints against the Ann Arbor Police Department claiming they were treated unfairly on account of their race.
Despite its liberal reputation, Ann Arbor could not hide the fact that in the late 1960s, it was a city divided by racial and sexual preference discrimination.
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| FILE PHOTO Alex Johnson leads a chant at Mary Markley Residence Hall in October of 1996, protesting a Housing investigation of two black students who Housing alleged drew swastikas on a student's door. |
The Human Rights ordinance banned discrimination on the basis of race, religion, national origin, sex and age. After further deliberation by the Council, sexual orientation and affirmative action requirements for city contractors were added to the ordinance in 1972. The penalties for violating the law included criminal charges and civil fines.
Raymond Chauncey, director of Ann Arbor's Human Rights Department, said the ordinance has opened doors for minorities.
"City contractors formed affirmative action programs to retain city contracts," Chauncey said. The ordinance "has also been a deterrent to discrimination in employment and housing.
"Most important, it serves as a social statement that no discrimination will be tolerated in Ann Arbor," Chauncey said.
But laws can't change attitudes, and discrimination has not disappeared. Patrick Pieh, associate director of the Office of Academic and Multicultural Affairs at the University, said that although discrimination is now less overt than it was in the past, minorities still suffer its consequences.
"Don't assume because you no longer have specific lines for people of color (that) racism doesn't exist," Pieh said. "We have come a long ways, but we have a long ways to go."
A time of turmoil
As protests popped up on campuses nationwide during the late 1960s, college students became more vocal about advocating civil rights.
But old prejudices didn't die overnight even in Ann Arbor, where gays and black citizens bore the brunt of these prejudices.
State Sen. Alma Wheeler Smith (D-Salem Twp.) said that during this time, minorities in Ann Arbor faced discrimination in the city's housing market. Children from predominantly minority neighborhoods had to attend largely segregated, and inferior, public schools, Smith said.
"Ann Arbor had a discriminatory pattern of housing," Smith said. "There was an unwritten agreement among Realtors that they'd only show blacks housing in certain areas.
"The banks were especially restrictive in giving out loans to blacks moving into white neighborhoods," she said.
University Affirmative Action Representative Jim Toy said gays faced similar problems.
"I was walking down the street one day when I was a student here and a bunch of football players came up to me," said Toy, who served as co-director of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Affairs Office since its founding in 1971. "They began harassing me and calling me a 'faggot' - and that kind of thing happened lots of times to gays."
But verbal harassment wasn't the only concern for members of the gay community. Before the ordinance was passed, Toy said, violence against gays was not uncommon and local restaurant and store owners often turned gays away at the door.
During this time period, University administrators were unsympathetic to the problems of gay community members.
Former University President Robben Fleming told The Michigan Daily in May of 1970 that he would not allow Ann Arbor's Gay Liberation Front to hold its statewide conference in University buildings.
"Any conference on the subject of homosexuality ought ... to be clearly educational in nature," Fleming told the Daily. Because the GLF "does not qualify under these criteria, (University) facilities will not be available."
Toy said that with the passing of the human rights ordinance, minorities began receiving better treatment. Black and gay residents now had legal means by which they could assert their rights, and overt discrimination slowly became taboo, he said.
A crossroads
Does Ann Arbor deserve its reputation as a liberal, progressive town?
The verdict is mixed, and minority leaders concur that prejudice in Ann Arbor is far from non-existent.
"The faculty and staff, to a great extent, haven't bought into the administration goal of integrating the University," said Chemistry Prof. Billy Jo Evans. "I don't think there's a single black professor in biology.
"It's also hard for blacks to gain leadership experience. They have leadership opportunities in only a few University offices," Evans said.
LSA sophomore Ozell Hayes said racial tensions on campus have increased since the Center for Individual Rights filed lawsuits against the College of Literature, Science and the Arts and the Law School that target the schools' use of race as a factor in the admissions process.
"It's created an environment that's very tense between blacks and whites, even though affirmative action is not a black and white issue," Hayes said. "But it's not as bad in Ann Arbor as it is in Detroit and the area around Detroit.
"When (black men) go into a store near Detroit, they are followed around, asked over and over again if they need anything," Hayes said.
Smith said that issues such as affirmative action have widened racial divisions.
"I think there was a liberalization of attitudes everywhere in the country from the 70s, but now, I see a kind of hardening again," Smith said.
But acceptance of gays has only increased during the past 10 years, said Cecy Ewing, chair of Ann Arbor's Human Rights Commission.
"In 1985, I was walking down the street with my partner and two gay men," Ewing said. "We had bricks thrown at us. But now, Ann Arbor is the best place to live in Michigan in terms of non-discrimination for gays."
But Engineering junior Kenneth Jones said many Ann Arbor residents tolerate, rather than accept, members of the gay community.
"I don't think people are so blatant with homophobia and racism anymore," Jones said. "People try to tolerate (minorities) because it's the PC thing to do.
"Because it's a college campus, Ann Arbor is still a bit more accepting (than other areas)," Jones said.
Toy said that the University has become more supportive of gays since Fleming made his statements nearly 30 years ago. In the fall of 1971, the University agreed to help fund the LGBT office and offered benefits to same sex couples in 1993.
The University "has been a leader in offering support to us and I am grateful for it," Toy said. "Things can always get better. We need to make sure they do for us and for other groups."
Chauncey said the city's Human Rights department rarely receives reports of violations of the ordinance from the University community, although faculty, students and staff who are victims of discrimination can receive restitution if discriminated against.
Chauncey said he works with the City Attorney's Office to investigate all discrimination grievances. While it is often difficult to find conclusive evidence of discrimination, the department has recorded a number of successes.
"There was a lesbian lady who recently was discharged from employment," Chauncey said. "The employers made a number of unsubstantiated reasons for the discharge.
"We had enough evidence to show she was fired due to sexual orientation and a financial settlement was worked out with her former employers," he said.
A look ahead
While gays have become more accepted in Ann Arbor, there is still progress to be made, Smith said.
Smith said she has been surprised at white residents' negative reactions to a new city plan to achieve racial equality in the Ann Arbor school district.
"It's interesting to hear reactions of supposedly progressive people in Ann Arbor," Smith said. "They think they moved to Ann Arbor for their children to go to school with people who look like they do."
She said society will not improve if people continue to ignore the interests of minorities.
"As a population, we're only as strong as out weakest connection," Smith said. "If we don't make every effort to bring everyone to their highest level, we have failed."
02-12-98
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