Update on pride flag display

By Charles Sercombe
City officials met Monday afternoon to discuss what to do about the display of a pride flag on a city-owned flagpole on Jos. Campau.
There has been a deep cultural division in the city over whether it’s the city’s place to fly the flag.
As a result of Monday’s meeting, the city released the following statement on its Facebook page:
“The City of Hamtramck is aware that there has been much concern over the status of the Pride Flag flown on Jos. Campau in our City.
“These flag poles and flags are maintained exclusively by the Hamtramck Human Relations Commission whom is a commission of the City, but has authorization to act on this matter independently. The City of Hamtramck’s elected officials and administration were not made aware prior of this specific installation.
“With that said, we understand that there are very strong views both for an against this flag from our residents. We strive to maintain a peaceful welcoming community for all of our residents and visitors here in Hamtramck.
“The flag will remain in place until further notice. City officials intend to meet at a later time to discuss the ongoing plan for display of this flag.”
The city also released a 2013 city council resolution on the matter of displaying flags in general:
“Joseph Campau Flag Project: Resolution 2013-102 resolves that ‘The Human Relations Commission is hereby authorized to solicit funds from interested parties, individuals, or businesses for the sole purpose of the restoration and maintenance of city flagpoles, purchase of flags and plaques, and ongoing maintenance of the project.’
“By design, to keep politics out of the process, all elected officials, including the mayor and council, are not privy to or involved in the process of selecting or approving flags.
“To clarify, the mayor and council were not involved in the selection or raising of the flags on Joseph Campau this year. We recognize that our city has a history of communication challenges; moving forward, the Human Relations Commission, Hamtramck Arts & Culture Commission, the mayor, and city council are committed to improving communication internally and externally.
“In line with his commitment to supporting our whole community, the mayor is committed to recruiting interested residents to become active members of the Human Relations Commission; anyone interested in applying can apply at the clerk’s office, the application is also online on the clerk’s page on the city website.”
Posted July 18, 2022