America’s injustice graveyard

Special to the Michigan Citizen

My work is not to educate purveyors of white privilege. Go to the Harvard School of Government if you are a person of color with a mind to teach those what you know so they can give you a certificate legitimating your transfer of knowledge to those who will use it against you.

Mike Brown, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, Fred Hampton, Mark Clark, Malice Green, Mackenzie Cochran, Renisha McBride and a never-ending list of American victims of racist murderers fill the graveyard of injustice. Yet, you are a sucker for media littering with impunity trying to convince us “it’s not about race.” KMA. 

Wait a minute! Why is Renisha McBride’s name in that group? Her killer, Ted Wafer, was convicted. Ahhh, but those who fill the airwaves, print media and Internet like the Associated Press and Detroit columnist Brian Dickerson still stand tall after assassinating Renisha and what her case represented. 

White privilege shall never overcome Black reality.

Standing upon an isle of white privilege, both AP and Brian Dickerson attempt to shape reality. AP’s initial tweet focused not on a woman crying out for help, but dehumanized Renisha by depicting her as a drunk. Dickerson took great measures to distinguish McBride’s case from Trayvon Martin by concluding that Renisha’s case was not about race. 

There is not a conscious Black person who doesn’t know what Ted Wafer was about. Snow White would not have been whacked on Ted Wafer’s porch.

To her credit, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy knows America and juries. Keep it simple. Just raw facts please. Wafer had options to killing Renisha McBride. Wafer-hate pulled the trigger.  Once the shotgun was racked before the jury, it was a wrap. Kym Worthy did her job. Thank you Madam Prosecutor.  

Black folk know how to read the Wafers of the world. Racist media bias is a tad tougher to discern as media principalities shift shape realities. Do not let the media force delusion or leadership upon you. Just because you read it or see it on TV does not make it real or true.

My Tweet that resulted in the loss of followers: Rage of #PeopleDehumanized #LivesDevalued #NoHope of sharing N wealth of America Frightens U as U Demand StLouis Retribution But #NoJustice. 

Property never trumps life — not in St. Louis — not anywhere.

We must never let haters cause us to lose hope or dislike ourselves and never let haters make you weak in your faith. Keep the faith. Stay on the battlefield.

Sam Riddle is the political director for the Michigan National Action Network. Follow him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/sam.riddle or Twitter at twitter.com/samriddle, @samriddle .

By Curt Guyette

Special to the Michigan Citizen 

As this column is being written, the future of Detroit’s Department of Water and Sewerage is still being worked out behind closed doors.

Kevyn Orr STAFF PHOTO

Whether it is the ongoing mediation efforts between Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr’s team and the representatives of Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties, or the evaluation of bids from corporations looking to capitalize on a privatization proposal, monumental changes are in the works.

Those two possibilities, by the way, aren’t mutually exclusive. It’s possible the court-ordered mediation, which is subject to a gag order, could result in a new authority that gives the suburbs greater control over the system that serves four million people throughout southeast Michigan. And privatization doesn’t necessarily mean outright sale of the department; it could well be that a for-profit corporation is hired to manage operations and run the department — even if a deal is struck to create a new regional authority.

For the people of Detroit and suburbanites alike, what’s been going on in terms of transparency has been as clear as muddied waters.

What’s evident, though, is the pieces are being put into place for something big to happen.

Last week, it was announced a tentative deal had been struck to refinance more than $5 billion in water department debt. Though the transaction is complicated, the goal is simple: To save the department money by lowering the interest rate on all that debt.

A key player in that deal is Citigroup, a multinational banking and financial services corporation.  

Last month, Citigroup agreed to pay $7 billion in penalties and restitution for its role in the 2008 financial meltdown, when the bubble of mortgage-backed securities based on predatory loans burst. According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, the banking giant admitted to “repeatedly brushing aside warnings from both inside and outside the bank that many of the loans it had packaged had serious problems and concealing that information from investors.” 

The predatory loans and financial collapse precipitated a nationwide foreclosure crisis that hit Detroit particularly hard, contributing to the exodus from a city that continues to lose about 10,000 residents a year. That population loss, of course, means the people who do remain have to pay more to cover the water department’s fixed costs — which include debt service.

The dots keep connecting.

Although none of the local mainstream media appear to think it’s noteworthy, it seems worth at least pointing out that the Jones Day law firm — where Kevyn Orr was formerly a partner, and which was hired to oversee Detroit’s restructuring and bankruptcy — lists Citigroup as one of its clients.

Along with the proposed debt refinancing, it’s hard not to see a connection between the highly controversial water shutoffs (temporarily put on hold) and the intent to make major changes regarding the water department. Despite official denials the two issues are linked, it seems clear that clamping down on delinquent accounts helps improve the department’s bottom line, making it more attractive to both suburban officials and the private sector alike.

What’s been noticeably absent in all of this so far has been any sort of public debate over the issue of privatizing management of something as essential to life as water. Given the history of water privatization, and the inherent value of Detroit’s system as water shortages elsewhere in the United States grow more dire, the lack of transparency surrounding this particular issue is particularly vexing.

Some examples of successful privatization can be found, but research shows that overall it more often proves to be a failure.

In 2011, Mildred E. Warner, a professor in the Department of City and Regional Planning at Cornell University, published the results of a “meta-analysis of all published studies on water distribution.” In other words, she and her colleagues reviewed the results of every other major, broad-scoped study that had been conducted worldwide.  They also looked at surveys of what local government managers in the United States had to say about the issue. 

This is the conclusion they arrived at: “Water service is a poor candidate for privatization. There are better alternatives.”

Curt Guyette is an investigative reporter for the ACLU of Michigan. His work, which focuses on Michigan’s Emergency Management law and open government, is funded by a grant from the Ford Foundation. You can find more of his reporting at aclumich.org/democracywatch. Contact him at 313.578.6834 or cguyette@aclumich.org.

ANALYSIS

By Michele Oberholzer

Think twice before you drive into downtown Detroit. It’s not that you’ll be carjacked or get lost on our bewildering road network, but you will get ripped off if you deign to park here. 

Under Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr’s recent ordinance, you will be forced to pay $45 for the offense of an expired parking meter

In one fell swoop, Orr increased fines for all parking violations and removed the 10-day reduced rate window. The outcome is penalty hikes of up to 450 percent.

Let’s put that into context. For someone making minimum wage (currently $7.40/hr in Michigan), it would take a full day of work just to pay off this parking ticket. 

Remember Detroit is the city where people are choosing between their water bills (otherwise your water will get shut off), their property taxes (otherwise the city will take your house) or mortgage payments (otherwise the bank will take your house). 

The fine is that much more excessive for the reported 23 percent of Detroiters who are unemployed (that’s six points higher than the next-worst city on the list). And even if you are a lucky soul with a decent income, just imagine driving up to one of the few remaining downtown shops to purchase a $3 coffee, a $10 lunch, or a $15 T-shirt and then facing a $45 parking ticket when you return to your car. You aren’t likely to take that risk again — better to shop at the mall or order online.

Detroit residents are already used to paying more and getting less. City services have faced cut after cut as the population shrinks while demands on infrastructure stubbornly remain high as ever. Car insurance rates are over 50 percent higher than the next highest city in the country by some estimates.

This wouldn’t be such a big deal if Detroit had any reasonably functioning public transportation system, but we don’t. Even in the immediate downtown area, most bus stops lack seating or shelter for riders, who may wait up to or over an hour for the privilege of taking a bus. The People Mover monorail is lovely for a visual tour of Detroit but not terribly useful for the 99.9 percent of residents who don’t live along its circuit. 

Well, if you can’t afford a parking ticket, don’t break the laws, right? It’s not so simple. Parking meters in Detroit have two-hour time limits. If you want to stay awhile, you’ll have to park in the many (constantly proliferating) paid lots which are significantly more expensive. Deferring traffic from the sidewalks into parking structures removes low-cost parking options to those who live in, work in and visit Detroit while siphoning money to the corporations who manage those lots. Now Kevyn Orr is looking into privatization of the entire parking network in Detroit, yet another step in the blatant transition of all resources in the public trust into private hands.

If you get one, it’s really not worth your time to bother trying to contest a ticket. If you pay a visit to the Municipal Parking Department (easily identifiable by the sudden appearance of parking meters immediately outside), you may see a judge that same day, but it’s unlikely justice will be served. 

On a recent visit there, I witnessed case after case where bewildered citizens citing ambiguous signage when protesting their tickets. The presiding judge told one woman “do not pay attention to the paint” when she showed a picture of painted pavement that indicated parking was allowed. He also mentioned many times that we should know better than to park in certain areas “unless there is a ‘Parking Allowed’ sign.” 

Even when you try very hard not to get a parking ticket, you may yet unwittingly stumble into a parking trap. To be fair, Detroit is reportedly bankrupt. In these times we have to make tough choices to balance the budget and bring some income into our struggling city. But is the city there for the people or are the people there for the city? Policies like this parking ticket hike make a marginal increase to the city’s bottom line at the expense of the much-embattled citizens of Detroit. 

But wait. Kevyn Orr has stated this measure will not even making a meaningful dent in the public revenue but is rather a symbolic gesture to creditors. In a maddening statement of delusion, he draws a comparison to the Big Apple “and we did not go to the high end of the rates. 

These aren’t what you might find for some violations in Manhattan.” If it weren’t already clear Mr. Orr, this is not Manhattan. Which, by the way, has an excellent public transportation system as an alternative to driving. Which, by the way, has no problem attracting residents and visitors. Which, by the way, actually charges less than Detroit’s new rates for the entire city other than Manhattan-proper. 

Here’s a quick lesson in economics: Detroit is not what you would call a seller’s market. People can, and will, leave, if we don’t give them something to stick around for.

Actually, the joke is on us. Emergency management understands economics perfectly. A great way to eke value out of a surplus is to simulate shortage. These excessive fines do just that: They make street parking unusable for most people who spend time downtown. There is a particular shade of irony to this “problem” given the true abundance of available parking in a city built around the automobile for a population over twice its current level.

If not directly malicious, this policy represents a frustrating lack of vision on the part of the emergency manager — not surprising for a temporary appointee. The fee hike values short-term profit at the expense of long-term patronage of the downtown area. 

This administration is capable of considering the long game as long as corporations stand to gain: take the recent $1 sale of land valued at $2.9 million to sports magnate Mike Ilitch. Now all we need are some smallpox blankets (per L. Brooks Patterson) and the people get quite a deal.

A public hearing was held before the parking meter ordinance was officially passed. It was a sweet charade of democracy in a decision that was decided long before the public got their say.

Detroit just had an election. It might seem like a strange exercise for a city under emergency management. In effect, Detroiters’ task is to elect people into office who won’t use their power to undo our other votes by surgically removing our vocal chords. 

Current leadership has taken our imbalanced budget as evidence of our inability to self-govern. Imagine Congress saying to President Obama, “Just look at the deficit you’re running! We’re going to have John Boehner take over until things are straightened out. Or maybe things will go faster with, say, Lindsay Graham. You brought this on yourself.” That’s pretty much what we are living through right now — temporary dictatorship. 

Simply put, the punishment for parking violations do not fit the crime and Detroit will ultimately suffer the consequences. It is hard to get worked up over parking meter fines in a city facing water shutoffs for as much as 40 percent of its residents, but it is another example in a series of assaults wherein Detroiters are being squeezed a little harder. You can’t draw blood from a stone, but a thousand paper cuts just might kill us.

Nigerian singer, dancer Wunmi brings authentic expression to African World Fest

By Steve Furay

Special to the Michigan Citizen 

For the second time this year, Wunmi, the esteemed international singer, dancer and fashion designer, will grace the stage of the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History to bring her unique performance to the people of Detroit. Wunmi will highlight the performances of the 32 Annual African World Festival on Sunday evening, concluding a weekend of music, dance, vendors, art and more. The annual festival celebrating African and African diasporic culture takes place at the Charles Wright Museum, Friday-Sunday, Aug. 15-17, 11 a.m. - 11. p.m. 

Wunmi’s first performance this year in Detroit came in March at the Black Women Rock concert organized and hosted by poet jessica Care moore. The day following the concert, a panel discussion with the Black Women Rock artists was held, where listeners had a chance to hear from Wunmi about her experiences as an artist, woman and living representation of her ancestors.

“I’m a full time artist,” said Wunmi, who was born Ibiwunmi Omotayo Olufunke Felicity Olaiya in the U.K. to Nigerian parents, who raised her primarily in Lagos, Nigeria. “To do that, you choose, you make choices strategy. I did it without knowing I was doing it. I love to dress, but the dressing wasn’t about dressing up, I didn’t want anyone else to look like me.

“Choosing as an artist life,” she said. “You have to figure out between the loving it and the pain built. You do something you love and you come home and you haven’t eaten, and your rent is due. The strategy. It is a strategy between us.”

Wunmi’s debut album was released in 2006, titled “A.L.A. (Africans Living Abroad),” which featured a video for the song “Crossover,” showing her dancing through an urban African street. The song asks the question “why don’t you cross over,” a question many music artists are asked as they weigh the balance between being true to their art and pleasing a mass audience.

Speaking in the distinguished manner of wisdom, Wunmi spoke of the challenges of being an artist for social change during an era where entertainment options are often dictated by the financial bottom line of the corporation producing the art.

“I think everything has come down to the one thing that America is supposed to stand for,” she said. “Let the truth be told, so much has been thrown under the bus for the Benjamin (hundred dollar bill), culture, self-respect. Who are you, what do you stand for? Respect our elders, raising the children, the information that we’re not sharing it’s not that it’s not there, but we’re too busy chasing the Benjamin to even share it. 

“And when we do have access to share that information, they don’t want to hear it," she said.  "I mean who is getting the media’s attention? Why do we have so much reality shows all of a sudden? It’s not because it’s good for us, it’s because it’s making money because too many of us are feeding into it. So the more we feed into it the more they feed us that.”

For more information about the African World Festival, visit www.AWFDetroit.com

By Steve Furay Special to the Michigan Citizen 

DETROIT — Hundreds of Detroiters joined at Hart Plaza Aug. 14 for a moment of silence in response to the recent deaths of Michael Brown, John Crawford, Eric Garner, and other unarmed victims, as a result of police brutality. These cases have caused national outrage due to injustice and the lack of respect for the lives of Black men and women.

“I think people,… are outraged and incensed at the lack of sensitivity on the part of police departments, officers in the course of their duties, I’m not sure if they’re afraid and they’re doing this out of fear or hatred,” Baxter Jones told The Michigan Citizen. Jones recently suffered injuries while in police custody after being arrested in protest of the city’s water shutoffs. 

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“But to kill individuals who are unarmed is not something that is going to be tolerated,” said Jones. “And that’s why I’m here and I believe a lot of people are here for the same reason. How can we stand idly by, this could have been my son, my daughter. Our young people don’t have any identities or faces, it’s as if they’re just viewed as a threat, and I don’t understand where this is coming from. It’s either fear or hatred, but whatever the motivation is behind it is, it needs to stop.”

Whitney Syphax Walker, a Detroit poet, educator and community activist, began the moment of silence by listing names of individuals who have lost their lives at the hands of law enforcement officials in cities throughout the United States.

“And all of the names that we don’t know, and all of the names that we’ve forgotten, and all of the names that don’t count yet because they haven’t happened,” said Walker. “Everyone is here because we all have respect for life, no matter what that life looks like, no matter what color of skin that life has, we all have respect for life. Everyone here wants to know why the rest of the country doesn’t share that same sentiment.”

The event was attended by many in the media, with cameras clicking while attendees held their silence, some displaying signs demanding justice and respect for their own lives.

“We’ve been silent for too long,” shouted a man’s voice from the crowd, followed by the demand, “Justice for all,” which the crowd then began to chant.

“We’ve been quiet, we’ve been quiet for years,” said Walker. And so many of us are tired of being quiet. So now we’re going to do a little home-going and we’re going to make some noise, for all of the spirits and the souls that have proceeded before us, we’re going to let them know we’re here and we’re with them, and we’re standing in solidarity with them, and we appreciate them and we love them, and we wish them a blessed journey, and we’re gonna fight for them right here.” 

The crowd roared with noise in response to these words, while award-winning Detroit singer Monica Blaire stepped to the microphone to deliver a spiritual song to the crowd.

“I just want to say it’s important to have our eyes, our hearts, our minds, our spirits, our souls open and be aware and allow for an opportunity to really come to the next space, be better as a collective and understand it, we can’t allow things like this to continue to happen in our communities and our homes and in our spaces,” Blaire said before the song. “We have to protect ourselves, and we have to protect each other.”

A brief lineup of speakers that included community members and poets delivered demands for the respect of all life, as well as words of inspiration for those in the neighborhoods who work daily to help bring violence to an end.

“Before we get to all of the political maneuvering and the public policy, some of us inside ourselves have a deep emotional, guttural response to what happened to Mike Brown,” said Rev. David A. Bullock of Great St. Matthew Baptist Church. “And the fact of the matter is that it’s hard to be young and Black inside America.”

He continued, “If we don’t stand up and deal with racism and racial prejudice, we’ll never be able to heal the wounds in this country, until we become real about what’s going on in the United States of America. So it’s one thing to come to a rally, but somebody’s got to leave the rally and say ‘the hell with racism.’”

Detroit rock shows are loud, sweaty and usually marinated in the cheapest beer the venue has to offer. If you don’t stand outside smoking through the whole show, you’re guaranteed to see something pretty raw and wild, three or four bands shredding and distorting anything in their path. But innovation and change are irrepressible in the musical tradition that churned out Motown hits nationwide, re-tooled to create techno and re-imagined the blues into garage rock. 

On any given night in the city’s unkempt rock venues, in between punk bands and garage rockers, you might discover the sleek and sophisticated style of psychedelic R&B group, Little Animal.

“It’s always pretty surprising finding out the kinds of people that like our stuff,” says singer Rachelle Baker. “We’ve … played shows with some pretty hard rock bands and indie rock guys and people seemed to be into it.”

Little Animal is made up of two collaborators: Baker and Nick Morrow. Morrow begins the process of writing their songs by making the instrumental parts, fully-fleshing of the song structure and the orchestrations using synths and samples. “I (love) the idea of being able to construct a virtual environment out of sounds and audio effect,” Morrow says. “When working on instrumentals, I often go to great lengths to make something as immersive and strange as possible, while still maintaining some kind of danceable rhythm.” Morrow’s instrumentals have the melodic sensibility of early Bjork pieces updated with the kind of minimalism characteristic of most of Drake’s current hits.

Baker waits until Morrow had fully-realized the instrumental parts before she composes the lyric sor the melody. 

“I let the music form the words and feel of the song in my mind,” Baker says. “It’s really hard for me to write before a song is made, because it makes me feel like I’m just cutting and pasting lyrics to an unrelated thing, so I never really do it. I write little lines here and there in random notebooks sometimes though, and that helps me build songs.”

Baker’s vocal contributions have the smoothness of Sade, but come across as less pleady — delivering her lyrics of longing with a sharp-edged resignation more reminiscent of Erykah Badu. “Don’t make me wonder; tell me you love me,” she commands a shadowy lover in “Hands Move Slow.” Like the dialogue in Hemingway’s “A Farewell to Arms,” Baker’s stories are terse, but ripe with feeling. Though many of the characters in her reverb-drenched laments are based on real-life people, some are personifications of larger, more existential issues. “I sometimes use longing for a lover in songs as longing for an answer, for closure or for a sign,” she says.

That concept manifest in Morrow’s spacious orchestrations as well. “I like to think of longing as a guiding force to becoming fulfilled,” he says. “It is the emptiness that grows within you as the life you fantasize about living gains prominence over the life you are living in the present.”

When playing live, the duo conjures the moonlit scenes in Baker’s lyrics. Ata recent show at P.J.’s Lagerhouse in Corktown, Baker sang as if no one was watching her - with the intensity of the last paragraph of a love letter. “Billions and billions of miles apart, so far removed from beating hearts, but I do choose my solitude. But I do choose to seek the truth, ‘cause it’s so lonely out here…”

“I don’t think (Loneliness and longing) can necessarily be cured, so much as they can be treated,” Baker told the Michigan Citizen. As a laborer in love song though, she retains some optimism: “You’re always going to have a little bit of longing for something no matter what, but a beloved can definitely help.”

Little Animal plays live at P.J.’s Lagerhouse (1254 Michigan Avenue) on Aug. 19 at 9 p.m. To hear Little Animal’s music and learn more about upcoming shows, visit www.facebook.com/littleanimalsounds.

“No other people on the planet use as many beads as in Africa. Millions of beads were found in Africa, and the beads became so entwined in the culture, they created a different language,” says Olayami Dabls, founder of the MBAD African Bead Museum on Detroit’s west side. 

Beads were used for initiation rites, to denote status in the community, Dabls continues, “and the moment the female became pregnant, beads were placed around her waist to protect her and the unborn child, and to guarantee the child would be born healthy.” As soon as a child was born, beads were placed around the child’s waist for protection and as an indicator of health.  “You should be constantly adding beads because the child was growing,” Dabls says. Not needing to add beads was a sign something was wrong. 

At ages 14 or 15, in many traditional African cultures, a child would undertake a series of initiation rites to secure their place as a man or woman in the community.  The beads they received upon completion of those rites would indicate to other community members they were now adults — privy to pertinent information, participants in decision making, and so on. Beads could also denote marital status and the number of children the wearer had. “Adornment was the furthest thing from the purpose,” Dabls says. “(The beads) communicated specific information dealing with their particular culture.” 

There are no placards next to the rainbow rows of jars stretching along the museum walls that describe the history of each bead; there is no museum publication. 

Dabls is both collector and curator — the librarian, archivist and the educator, transmitting the ethnographic histories that survive with the beads.

He points at a strand of white dotted beads. “The eye bead could protect you from things we have problems with today — someone down the street talking about you. In the past, your reputation was far more important than you can imagine today, because what you say was paramount, therefore you needed some kind of protection from people saying things that were not true about you behind your back.  That’s when these eye beads became important.” 

Next, there are yellow beads young ladies wore after initiation, amber beads revered for their healing properties, silver beads to designate purity, since it came directly out of the earth. 

Agate, a wavy-banded stone, was used to denote someone who was an elder.  An elder, he says, is person literally preparing to become an ancestor who can then consult with people left behind. For those cultures, Dabls says, “the greatest status on the planet was to become an elder, because you knew that person had a wealth information...” Proverbially speaking, Dabls says, “When an elder dies, a library is gone.” 

The stories and more enshrined in the beads, Dabls says, has particular relevance to Detroiters. “The beads are very important to African people in this town because it points to a philosophy a way of doing things that is locked in without any interference by incoming people.” Cultural knowledge was lost when European languages and philosophies were imposed upon Africans, Dabls says, but the beads retain their own uncorrupted stories.

Each day, Dabls passes these stories along to Detroiters in the Diaspora seeking to know more about their origins as a people. Outside on a stage, drummer Efe Bes is responding to the summer afternoon with a tapestry of polyrhythms. Children are playing in the middle of Dabls’ large sculptural installation. Martial artist and entheogen teacher Kilindi Iyi is working on a new piece of art.

A young man walks into the museum, and tells Dabls he grew up in the neighborhood, but never stopped in. I recently discovered who I am, where I come from, he tells Dabls. “I wanted to come in and meet you,” he says, and say thanks for what you are doing for our people. He asks Dabls is he can come and volunteer sometime.

During Michigan’s long winters, a lot of this activity ceases for lack of space in the small museum.

Now an annual arts contest could give the Bead Museum a chance to expand. The Knight Arts Challenge People’s Choice Awards will give 20,000 to the one of five finalists who gets the most votes.

If the MBAD wins, Dabls will be able to put a new roof on building adjoining the Bead Museum, which Dabls also owns.  With the installation of the roof, there will be a viable community gathering space open to the public year round.

“One of the reasons why we are still here is we were able to shift … what we wanted to what the people felt they needed. And they needed a place to socialize to come relax, an escape place.”

People can vote for the MBAD African Bead Museum by texting DETROIT2 to 747.444.3548.

Regardless of whether the museum, which opened in 1994, wins the contest, Dabls will eventually make sure the additional space is available to the community, by any means necessary.

“We don’t need a modern day interpretation of a museum,” Dabls says. “We’re grassroots. This can’t be stopped by no one entity. We passed those obstacles a long time ago.”

Learn more about the museum at www.mbad.org.

The North End Urban Expressions Art Festival: The Healing II is scheduled for the weekend of August 21-24, highlighted by an all day event on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. that will bring art, poetry and music to the Oakland Avenue Community Garden & Greenhouse, located on 9354 Oakland Avenue in Detroit.

“It began as an event to encourage youth to positive self expression through the visual and performing arts,” said Jamii Tata of the Oakland Avenue Artist’s Coalition at last year’s inaugural  festival. “We got the community behind us and we turned it out to have an event that ended up having eight murals done by community artists, four by youth of the North End, and then four by adult artists in Detroit, and we also had many many artists come to rock on the stage.”

The festival is intended to be another step closer toward the revitalization of the North End district, an area that like much of the city has been ravaged by crime and blight, however remains a viable, close-knit community determined to see the area uplifted despite years of struggle.

The Oakland Avenue Farmers’ Market will be open on Saturday for festival attendees, which will begin with the Illuminate Poetry Slam on Thursday from 6-9 p.m. at the Bureau of Emergent Urbanity, located 8326 Oakland Avenue. On Friday evening there will be a film screening at the Oakland Avenue Community Garden, and on Sunday will be the North End Soup at 4 p.m., an opportunity for small community based projects to be funded through proceeds of the sale a meal of soup and salad.

“A lot of people are interested in seeing this space be reclaimed and transformed,” said Tata, “one of big things about this event, through the process, has been how do we sustain this movement? We don’t want to just have a one day event, that’s great for the community. We actually wanted it to be more.” 

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Whatever good comes out of our neighborhoods, will be a direct result of the good we invest into our neighborhoods. On Black Aug. 2, 2014, the eighth annual Backpack and Family Fun Day was part of that good, bridging the gap between hope and desperation. 

The annual event takes place in the Z8ne neighborhood of Detroit, right at my mom’s house. We welcome community members from other neighborhoods to participate in this block party of live music, food and backpacks filled with school supplies. It’s an experience in hope and love and of breaking bread as neighbors!

Our budget for the event is love and hope, which influenced Michigan Round Table, BME, AYE and JRD Printing to become sponsors. The Baltimore, Md., community-based program, Friend of a Friend, volunteered and distributed over 300 boxes of dictionaries. 

Lack of resources have reduced urban neighborhoods to “Third World neighborhoods” and the social conditions have manufactured “‘hoods.” “Hood behavior” has become an apex of surviving in a culture of violence, drugs and social mayhem. Our focus is to transform and redeem lives and inspire freedom fighters to re-build our neighborhoods in becoming the apex of resistance! The other day, I was walking through the neighborhood and a young boy shouted to his brothers “That’s the man that gave us the backpacks!” When we change the narrative and culture, we change the people. 

St. Louis or South Haven?

The Michigan National Action Network was loading up a car caravan to Ferguson, Mo., to protest acts of police terrorism in the aftermath of Michael Brown’s brutal murder.

I, on a very personal note, had a decision to make: Would I join my courageous NAN members who were prepared to face tear gas, rubber bullets, jail or worse? 

For over 45 years, the decision would have been an easy one. I would buckle up, tell war stories about “back in the day,” drive a bit, sleep a lot and wake up in St. Louis.

Last year, I had driven the nearly three hours to South Haven, Mich., joining grandchildren in a small cabin set on an ideal spot just a short walk to the beach — or across the street — for some great fishing with the grands.

I made a promise I would meet this highly spirited group of four grandchildren (two girls and two boys 7-11 years old) the next year for a few days of South Haven again. Next year can roll around quickly.

The very day NAN was slated to head for the “show me” state was the same day I had committed to arrive in South Haven.

St. Louis or South Haven?

Kids are kids. Surely they’d get over me not showing up.  I could make it up to them later. Problem was that I wouldn’t get over it.

After you have been on the planet 67 years plus 11 months, you figure out a few things. Tomorrow may never arrive. Tragically there will be plenty of other trips to make for the cause because white privilege has a way of whacking us at will year in and year out. Only the names of the victims and travel times change.

Grandchildren must be a non-negotiable priority because their very lives are at risk given the behavior pattern of terrorists with badges and guns. We must share while we can. We don’t need a fortune to offer ourselves as human life preservers for the children.

We must teach our children that victimhood is not a destination.

It is not cool to end up with your face on the cottage industry R.I.P. T-shirt even if it is airbrushed. Your killer may be convicted and jailed, but you are quite dead. Life is a precious gift from God. God is love.

Know that your behavior and mouth can get you killed That does not mean you walk in fear — just understand the importance of walking with love for self and respect for all in your heart and appropriate behavior will tag along. Until you are ready to stand shoulder-to-shoulder, Grandpa will continue to confront and resist those who would kill you with military grade weaponry in the name of law and order.

We must never let haters cause us to lose hope or dislike ourselves and never let haters make you weak in your faith. Keep the faith. Stay on the battlefield.

Sam Riddle is the political director for the Michigan National Action Network. Follow him on Facebook at facebook.com/sam.riddle or Twitter at twitter.com/samriddle.

Take a hate break

In quiet social media circles (an ultimate oxymoron), Detroit has been acknowledged as the hater capital of America.

We all need to take a hate break.

To combat the Motor City hate that is so pervasive, I vow not to hate on those in the criminal justice system who insist on prosecuting Pastor Bill Wylie-Kellerman of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Detroit and others who engaged in civil disobedience to protest Detroit water shutoffs.

The pastor has received a summons to court for direct action that helped turn the water back on for Detroiters who cannot afford to pay their water bills.

A trial on Wylie-Kellerman’s choice to obey a call from a higher order may be just what justice needs to highlight for the world the human rights travesty of Detroit water shutoffs.

My mother died a union member after working at GM more than 30 years. That alone is reason not to hate on the unions even if the Labor Day Parade in Detroit turned out to be little more than a photo-op for Vice President (would-like-to-be President) Joe Biden and a disappointment to thousands who couldn’t hear the VP because they were locked out, away from the sound system. That is the level of organizing that helped make Michigan a right to work state — IJS.

The Democratic Party is undeserving of my hate, though they ignore fair share math and refuse to spend real dollars with Black media even as Dems demand Black voters remain loyal to a party that avoids eye contact with Black political professionals except those who have proven incapable of generating winning turnouts along the I-75 corridor.

I will not hate on Dan Gilbert. Gilbert does what Dan Gilbert does. Dan did say we must have a city where neighborhoods thrive. And Dan did bring LeBron home. Oh, that wasn’t Detroit?

After seeing him on CNN, I know what I knew. Detroit Police Chief Craig is one of the nation’s most sophisticated workers of the media. I will not hate on Hollywood Craig for working the media before the media works Craig.

It would be much easier to show Craig love if he was an employee of the people of Detroit instead of a staffer for the union-busting democracy-destroying Negro proxy of Governor Snyder.

Dammit, sounds as if I am hating on Snyder and Orr. Hmmm… Awfully hard to bat 100 percent.

We must never let haters cause us to lose hope or dislike ourselves, and never let haters make you weak in your faith. Keep the faith. Stay on the battlefield.

Sam Riddle, J.D., is political director of the Michigan National Action Network. Follow him on Facebook at facebook.com/sam.riddle or Twitter at twitter.com/samriddle. 

Feds: ‘Get out!’

I asked the U.S. Marshal for directions to the media room as I prepared to write a column about the opening day of the Detroit bankruptcy trial and was directed to “the media room.”

I noticed the combination lock on the door and knocked. Someone opened the door and I immediately sat

down. Then it began. I was confronted by hate-filled eyes and tone: “What are you doing in here?” barked a knock-off neutered pit bull of the media gatekeeper. I politely handed my media ID to the gatekeeper as bemused members of the "legitimated" media glanced from tablets and laptops then back to the courtroom feed on two monitor displays.

I was handed a fed media pass and again focused my attention on the courtroom TV monitors. Suddenly the door opened, a U.S. Marshal entered and asked me to step outside with him. Ahhh, the old invisible security button trick. I again produced my ID and media credentials to the marshal who then re-admitted me to the media room to the dismay of the media gatekeeper and the neutered one.

When I finally departed of my own free will, the bedraggled gatekeeper, Rod Hansen, (the media gatekeeper who was fired when WJR went full-time hate-radio with the likes of Rush Limbaugh) asked for my fed press credentials and informed me I had to apply for those credentials online.

Who really gives a damn who has access to the media room? You ought to.

The perspective I write from is not that of one serving those who exercise white privilege without a focused concern about the victims of white privilege. Get it? If you don’t, I understand your miseducation as did Carter G. Woodson.

Of course Hansen rejected my application for fed press credentials despite over 50 years in the media starting with WFBE in Flint as a junior high school student; KBOK Armed Forces Network station manager-Sinop, Turkey (1966-67); co-founder of The Flint Voice with now congressman Dale Kildee and filmmaker Michael Moore. But none of that really matters, does it?

Hansen emailed me: “It does not appear that you are a full-time employee of the Michigan Citizen, but more of a freelance columnist. Instead it appears that your full time job is political director of the Michigan National Action Network.” WTF?

Are dollars and employment the prerequisite for exercise of the First Amendment or Equal Protection Clause? One can only wonder how many columnists for mainstream papers are full-time employees of entities that are on fiscal life support.

I mean even founding father Thomas Paine could not have joined smug azz mainstream media types in the U.S. Courthouse of the gatekeeper.  Indeed, "These are the times that try men's souls." 

Facebook Friend Augie Fernandes: “I don't always agree with what you say and write, but I realize you are the eyes, ears and voice for those who have no voice. By denying your access to the proceedings they deny my right to see & hear your impressions of those proceedings. The right of free speech is coupled by the right of free hearing! Fight the good fight Sam!”

Thank you Augie. Detroit Raw will continue to keep you informed through The Michigan Citizen. Thank God I do not need the legitimization of democracy-destroying tyrants who trample upon the First Amendment to justify my existence. Bear in mind the Citizen is one of the few papers in America that cover Black America and people of color with a freedom-seeking attitude despite severe dollar constraints due to institutional racism that permeates the media-buy marketplace.

We must never let haters cause us to lose hope or dislike ourselves and never let haters make you weak in your faith. Keep the faith. Stay on the battlefield.

Sam Riddle, J.D. is political director for the Michigan National Action Network. Follow him on Facebook at facebook.com/sam.riddle and Twitter at twitter.com/samriddle.