Opinion: There’s something behind those Ohio signs in downtown Detroit

At first, I was just fussed. "Ohio, The Heart Of It All!" the sign — proudly? jauntily? offensively? — proclaimed, splashed across the Louis Kamper Building, in the heart of downtown Detroit.

Later that week, I spotted a second sign, not quite so large, during my commute to the Free Press' downtown office, on the side of a building on Fort Street at Second Avenue.

Readers, I am not from here, and some of your ways are still a mystery to me. I will never understand bumpy cake. Sanders is chocolate sauce, not hot fudge. And I'm afraid my Alabama-born eyes simply lack the sophistication to appreciate the charms of the Petoskey stone.

But in my 23 years here, I've totally bought into Michigan's collective disdain for our neighbor to the south. From the War for the Toledo Strip to our football rivalry to their insultingly large number of electoral votes, I am, on the rare occasions I can be bothered to think about Ohio, disgusted with the place.

This latest encroachment seems particularly aggressive and disrespectful, which, frankly, is about what you expect from Ohio. But the more I learned about this ad campaign, the more I wondered — is there more to this story?

The Buckeyes want it to seem like we fired the first shot. Classic Ohio, right? An article in the Columbus Dispatch points to a 2022 column by my colleague Carol Cain describing the latest round of Pure Michigan advertising, displayed in places like Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton and Toledo. This is a thin rationale, Ohio, and one I am prepared to quickly dismiss. At the Detroit Free Press, we don't blame the victim.

"Detroit is an iconic brand that doesn't need to rely on these types of one-off publicity stunts," Claude Molinari, president and CEO of Visit Detroit, told me last week. In 2022, 16.5 million visitors stayed overnight in Detroit, bringing about $5.1 billion to the local economy. Around 40% of all visitors to Michigan come to southeast Michigan.

Molinari said Detroit has something for everyone, whether they're coming from as far as The Netherlands, or as near as Livonia.

"Even Ohio?" I asked.

"We welcome visitors from Ohio," he said. "I think these Ohio banners are a great chance to remind Detroiters of how great our city is, and that we don't have play games to win."

"Ohio: The Heart Of It All" is that state's old slogan, I read in the Dispatch, revived this year by Gov. Mike DeWine. For the last decade or so, Ohio had been saddled with the motto "Ohio: Find It Here," which is either redundant (where else would you expect to find Ohio?) or vaguely threatening (what exactly am I finding there?) depending on how you look at it.

I still wanted to know more, so I consulted my colleague Amelia Robinson, community engagement editor at the Dispatch.

Amelia theorized that it's a pre-emptive strike.

"They are very afraid Michigan is going to steal even more of Ohio's young people," she told me.

We talk a lot here in Michigan about our state's population loss, but Ohio experiences the same phenomenon — and Michigan, it turns out, is a popular destination for Buckeyes.

"We protected reproductive and LGBTQ rights and now we have 'OHIO THE HEART OF IT ALL' signs on our skyscrapers?" I asked.

"I think so," Amelia replied. "They keep saying they are not afraid of Gov. Gretchen. They pretend like she doesn't matter, but she is all up in their heads. She's not even paying rent."

Amelia, it must be said, loves Ohio. She added: “The slogan is accurate. Ohio is the heart of it all. We are passionate, inventive and loving. Our politicians don’t reflect who we are.”

But it made me think. It's easy to look at how far we have to go, and disregard what we have accomplished.

After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade last June, Michiganders overwhelmingly voted to protect reproductive rights in the state Constitution. The top three statewide offices are held by liberal Democratic women — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and Attorney General Dana Nessel — each of whom handily won re-election last fall. Weed is legal here. We've un-gerrymandered our legislative maps. Our Legislature, controlled by Democrats for the first time in 40 years, recently expanded the Elliot-Larsen Civil Rights Act to include protections for LGBTQ Michiganders. Former President Donald Trump lost to President Joe Biden in 2020 by a decisive margin. Our attorney general is gay.

While Michiganders were working diligently to protect bodily autonomy, Ohio's Legislature passed a bill banning abortion after six weeks. It's only halfway through 2023, and lawmakers have already introduced several anti-LGBTQ bills, in a legislature that is still gerrymandered. In 2020, Ohio voters chose Trump. Their attorney general, I am sad to report, is not gay.

I predicted last summer that if Michigan failed to protect reproductive rights, we'd lose folks with options. Voters here averted that future, but it might be Ohio's, now.

Nearly two-thirds of Michigan voters surveyed last fall by the Glengariff Group on behalf of the Detroit Regional Chamber, said that a state's social policies, including abortion and gay rights, would influence their decision to accept a job in that state. For women, it was 66.7%, and 51.7% of men. For voters between the ages of 30 and 39 — you know, seasoned, mid-career types — 73.8% said it was important. Just 38.4% said social policy wasn't a factor.

So if Ohio's leaders fear their state's retrograde policies will drive more of their constituents into the Mitten State's embrace ... they might be right.

Michigan's advertisements in the Buckeye state have touted things like winter sports and summer boating. Maybe we should try "Michigan: OK To Be Gay!" "If You Seek A Pleasant Peninsula, Light Up." "Great Lakes, Great Times, Great Civil Rights." "Women Are People Here!"

We have a lot left to do here in Michigan. Detroit, where I live, struggles with all the challenges every major city has, and then some. We desperately need meaningful police reform. Conservative west Michigan local governments do not always make life comfortable for LGBTQ Michiganders or Michiganders of color.

Some suburban parents and school board members have targeted LGBTQ kids, demanding the removal of school library books featuring characters who represent them. Our reproductive rights and fair elections are protected by Whitmer, Nessel and Benson, all term-limited in 2026, and a slender legislative margin, just one seat each in the state House and Senate. The Michigan GOP is in disarray, led by a woman who believes that Cardi B and yoga are Satanic, and I have no idea what will happen in next year's elections.

I spend a lot of time worrying about all of that. Sometimes, I forget how much we've accomplished, and what it looks like from outside. From, say, Ohio.

Nancy Kaffer is the editorial page editor of the Detroit Free Press. Contact: nkaffer@freepress.com.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Opinion: Ohio signs in heart of Detroit may be about something else