LANSING, MI — Michigan’s top business and political leaders will gather this week on idyllic Mackinac Island, where an unusual focus on race relations could rock the proverbial boat at a typically tranquil policy conference.
The three-day retreat, an elite affair held each year at the opulent Grand Hotel, seems an unlikely venue to discuss racial gaps or economic disparity.
But organizers, spurred by a Detroit News column warning that “two Detroits” may be emerging during the city’s burgeoning recovery from a prolonged downturn, say it’s a critical time to discuss diversity.
“You can’t go anywhere today — whether it’s a market, the church or a cocktail party — and not have a conversation about the conversation,” said Mark Davidoff of Deloitte LLC, chairman of the 2015 Mackinac Policy Conference.
“What’s happening in this country — from Ferguson to Baltimore — we all know our history, and we believe we have an obligation and an opportunity to bring that national conversation to center stage, and we’re going to do it.”
The News’ Nolan Finley will lead a session on “uniting two Detroits,” Stephen Henderson of the Detroit Free Press will host a panel on “race, opportunity and the art of cohesion,” and Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson will speak on “race, health, education and culture.”
“We’re not going to solve this problem or ‘solve for x’ on the island, but we believe there’s a deeper, wider community leadership conversation that needs to take place, and it needs to take place now, so we’re going to start it on the island,” Davidoff said.
Organized by the Detroit Regional Chamber, the conference has a special focus on the state’s largest city, including a conversation with architects of the so-called “grand bargain” that helped Detroit emerge from bankruptcy last year. MORE