# Shades of Blackness (Homeless in Detroit) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 31, 2000, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shades-of-blackness-homeless-in-detroit/15357 "2000-03-31T08:10:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Finesse21](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/90ced4/32.png) [@Finesse21](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finesse21)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2000, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shades-of-blackness-homeless-in-detroit/15357/1 "2000-03-31T08:10:00Z")
Cafe Mahogany (Harmonie Park/Detroit, MI.) Started the it all 4 years ago. Black-owned,sucessful,and positive. A local coffehouse, is a showcase for local, poets,artists, and musicians. A vibe that and be called nothing else but “love”. The Cafe was the only bright spot in a dim little circle called Harmonie Park. Other business followed. Now they are being forced to move(as well as 2 other black-owned business). April 1, 2000 will be the last day. ☹ The Cafe needs a new home to buy or lease. Can U Help? For more Information check out the site 2 feel the plight. [WWW.cafemahogany.com](http://WWW.cafemahogany.com) or contact Finesse @ [Tatirenne@aol.com](mailto:Tatirenne@aol.com) You can make a difference!! Thank you ---
**Author:** ![Finesse21](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/90ced4/32.png) [@Finesse21](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finesse21)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2000, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shades-of-blackness-homeless-in-detroit/15357/2 "2000-03-31T08:12:00Z")
☹ ---
**Author:** ![Andy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/aeb1de/32.png) [@Andy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2000, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shades-of-blackness-homeless-in-detroit/15357/3 "2000-03-31T13:16:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Black-owned,sucessful,and positive… Now they are being forced to move(as well as 2 other black-owned business). April 1, 2000 will be the last day. If they’re being moved for a good reason, for example asbestos contamination, there’s no problem right? So why are they being moved? Could you elaborate a little? Incidentally, does it make a difference that the owners are black? Would it be less important an issue if they were white? Just curious. ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2000, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shades-of-blackness-homeless-in-detroit/15357/4 "2000-03-31T14:01:00Z")
As this is almost witnessing, I’d suggest that this thread has a happier home waiting for it in Great Debates. ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2000, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shades-of-blackness-homeless-in-detroit/15357/5 "2000-03-31T15:29:00Z")
Actually, it’s more of a plea for help, and belongs in MPSIMS. I guess. * * * [NYC IRL III](http://boards.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum4/HTML/006163.html) is on April 15th. Do you have what it takes? ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2000, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shades-of-blackness-homeless-in-detroit/15357/6 "2000-03-31T15:43:00Z")
I was thinking it’s more like spam than a plea. This person registered solely to post it. ---
**Author:** ![Andy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/aeb1de/32.png) [@Andy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2000, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shades-of-blackness-homeless-in-detroit/15357/7 "2000-03-31T16:24:00Z")
You should receive your password a week or so after you register. You’d have to be really determined and patient to wait that long. It’d deter one off trolls too. Maybe I should post this in ATMB. ---
**Author:** ![Shadowfox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Shadowfox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shadowfox)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2000, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shades-of-blackness-homeless-in-detroit/15357/8 "2000-03-31T17:22:00Z")
According to the web site, the restaurant is not being forced out because of race. This is a quote from the web site itself: \*We made an announcement on Tuesday March 7th that we have lost our lease. This was not our choice. We have been trying to re-new our lease with the landlord, Boydell Development Company (owners of Nikki’s Pizza and other real estate in Downtown Detroit). They have opted to allow a developer of a sports bar to lease our location. While the lights are not yet out, the prognosis is not great for us to remain at 1465 Centre. We do have legal rights to fight this and perhaps win. As most of you are aware Café Mahogany is the only minority owned café/restaurant in the Harmonie Park district. Now considered the hot bed of Detroit, featuring close access to the Opera, Music Hall, Gem Theatre, and Tiger Stadium, to name a few. We unfortunately are being out muscled and squeezed by the current establishment. It appears, without a miracle from heaven that we will close our Mahogany doors during the 1st or 2nd week in April.\* It sounds more like the owners of the building see the opportunity to open up a sports bar in the near vicinity of the new Tigers baseball stadium, Comerica Park. * * * Shadowfox “The dead have risen, and they’re voting Republican!” - Bart Simpson ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2000, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shades-of-blackness-homeless-in-detroit/15357/9 "2000-04-01T06:50:00Z")
I can’t imagine that it would be so hard to find a new location that someone has to resort to spam. We _are_ talking about DETROIT, where there isn’t exactly a shortage of available ground-floor retail space. 🙂