Residents-Only Rule for Dearborn Parks Overturned
DETROIT — A judge today struck down as unconstitutional an ordinance barring non-residents from parks in a Detroit suburb.
Wayne County Circuit Judge Marvin Stempien ruled on challenges filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People.
The groups contended that the ordinance was racially motivated and would result in blacks being illegally searched and detained.
Dearborn, on Detroit’s southwest border, is home to Ford Motor Co. Its population is mainly people of European and Arab descent, and it has fewer than 100 black residents, according to the latest census figures. Detroit’s population of 1.2 million is 63% black.
Dearborn voters approved the ordinance banning non-residents from 37 of the city’s 40 parks last fall. The three parks not covered by the ordinance are in or near the downtown, away from residential areas.
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