Voting Station

Coleman Young

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Mayor

The Resume

    (May 24, 1918-November 29, 1997)
    Born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama
    Mayor of Detroit, Michigan (1974-1993)

Why he might be annoying:

    Many of his critics describe him as 'imperial,' 'profane,' and 'unapologetic.'
    In order to help build General Motors its new 'Poletown' factory, he had to evoke eminent domain on several of the city's neighborhoods.
    He was divorced twice.
    A female employee accused him of fathering her son.
    Genetic testing proved that he was the father of her child.
    In a TIME article about the decline of Detroit, Daniel Okrent wrote that he contributed to the decline and fall of the city.
    Okrent said that Young often referred to himself as the 'MFIC' (Motherfucker in charge) and that he governed using the politics of retribution over healing.
    During his tenure, there were instances of 'Devil's Night' in which as many as 800 houses were burnt down to the ground in 72 hours.
    Rumor had it that he was a Communist sympathizer.
    He served as the city's mayor for twenty years.
    When he left office he proclaimed that Detroit had reached a 'level of autonomy ... that no other city can match.' In reality, the city's education system, infrastructure, and neighborhoods were on the brink of collapse.

Why he might not be annoying:

    As a child, his family moved out of Alabama to Detroit to escape the Ku Klux Klan.
    He served in World War II as one of the Tuskegee Airmen.
    He dedicated most of his life to fighting racial discrimination and ill treatment towards blacks.
    He served in Michigan's State Senate before his tenure as the city's mayor.
    He was credited with helping to make the Detroit Police Department more ethnically diverse.
    He also served as vice president of the Democratic Party.
    The son he fathered out of wedlock served as a state representative from Detroit.
    Former president Jimmy Carter, upon learning of his death, praised him as 'one of the greatest mayors our country has known.'
    The city's international airport is named in his honor.

Credit: Birdienest81


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 4 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 10 Votes: 80.0% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 24 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 34 Votes: 52.94% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 26 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 19 Votes: 63.16% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 2353 Votes: 78.11% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 34 Votes: 64.71% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 16 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 64 Votes: 79.69% Annoying
    In 2010, Out of 27 Votes: 70.37% Annoying
    In 2009, Out of 67 Votes: 67.16% Annoying