Here’s an interesting thing to ponder: based on 2010 census figures, when Detroit gets an Emergency Manager, over 49% of Michigan African Americans will have lost their representative government and will be under the rule of an Emergency Manager.
(Note: I’ve been reminded that Ecorse has an Emergency Manager as well so I have updated the chart below.)
| City | Population | % African American | # of African Americans |
| Benton Harbor | 10,038 | 89.2% | 8,954 |
| Detroit | 713,777 | 82.7% | 590,294 |
| Ecorse | 9,512 | 46.4% | 4,414 |
| Flint | 102,434 | 56.6% | 57,978 |
| Pontiac | 59,515 | 52.1% | 31,007 |
| Total |   |   | 692,647 |
[Source: U.S. Census Bureau]
Michigan had 9,883,640 residents in 2010, 14.2% of whom were African Americans for a total of 1,403,477.
I’ll leave you to do the math as a take-home exercise.
(H/T to emptywheel via Twitter)
