Detroit Raw

[caption id="attachment_12792" align="alignright" width="288"] Trick Trick
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Trick Trick, the organizer

By Sam Riddle Special to the Michigan Citizen Detroit should not ridicule or discredit the direct action engaged in by Trick Trick, the rap artist organizer. Trick Trick and an organized group of Detroiters known as the Goon Squad shut down a Chene Park performance by the identity-thief known as Rick Ross. Those angry and woofing about the union-busting democracy-destroying Negro Emergency Manager proxy of Gov. Snyder might consider using Trick Trick’s playbook. When a community or people are being disrespected having human and civil rights trampled upon (i.e. Detroit water shutoffs and right to vote whacked) by those who only seek profit for themselves, then that people have a duty to step up and upset the stability of institutions for a greater good. Certainly that was the action premise of the slaveholders who engineered the American Revolution against King George. When the layers of Detroit are peeled back, there is a Detroit that exists quite free of the American political order with a language and values that may scare the hell out of you whatever your race. But that Detroit has the heart that makes people free and resists oppressors of any hue. Why can’t Trick Trick be the self-declared mayor of Detroit?  Hell, it happened when Snyder appointed that Negro EM who no one elected for a damn thing. Why not collect entertainment taxes on behalf of the Second Detroit where 60 percent of the children live in poverty and have Robin Hood distribute the dollars to the needy? The State of Michigan strong-armed Detroit and never paid the millions in revenue sharing that then-Gov. Engler promised, and that was a factor in the bankruptcy, art-over-people DIA scam, and the Belle Isle give-away. Several years ago, I worked on a stop the violence campaign, “Ceasefire,” with national radio personality Reggie Reg Davis (who lost a brother to Detroit street violence) and Mouchettee Muhammad of the Nation of Islam. One of the reasons Ceasefire worked in Detroit high schools was the unwavering commitment of Trick Trick, an individual who Detroit students loved, because Trick Trick loves his people and Detroit. In a Facebook post, Mouchettee Muhammad is clear: “(E)very time I call on my brother (Trick Trick) to come and speak to our babies he has NEVER said no… (W)hen the beef between Doughboyz Cashout and Team Eastside was about to get extremely violent … it was Trick who called me, and we organized a clandestine meeting with both crews…and brought about a truce that has held to this day… (W)hen are you gonna fight back? We have got to stand up regardless what others think. And I mean on all fronts, politically, economically, socially and the entertainment industry.” What about the people who paid good money to see Ross at Chene Park? The military would speak in terms of friendly fire and collateral damage. Yeah, it’s like that. The “No Fly Zone” is no joke. 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 political director for Michigan National Action Network. Follow him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/sam.riddle or Twitter at twitter.com/samriddle.