Detroit Raw by Sam Riddle, J.D.

Citizen sprouts seeds

We have only so many heartbeats left before we move on. Nothing makes me more aware of how many heartbeats I may have left than a recent VA checkup that included ascertaining how much battery life was left in my five-plus years-old Boston Scientific defibrillator pacemaker (ICD). Man, there was good news and not-so-good news. The really good news was that I have five years or so left on the battery; the bad news is that when the ICD gets weak it will make a weird noise from within my chest (akin to a smoke alarm beep?). Walking around with my chest beeping is unsettling, but I’ll get over it. The really bad news is that I did inherit my father’s congestive heart failure, and I really need the pacemaker side of the ICD. Ok, not so cool, but if I were in a car when air bags deployed (damn Takata) and the device was knocked out I would really have a situation. Ok, situations are to be avoided. Being generically fatalistic, I am getting in shape for back-country skiing at Rocky Mountain elevation — WTF. That was my mood when I attended the last Michigan Citizen Christmas party and I mean “last” as staff and friends celebrated more than 35 years of kick-azz, in-your-face-with-the-facts journalism that will end with this edition of the paper. Think about it. Thirty-seven years of making beneficiaries of American wealth inequality uncomfortable. Thirty-seven years of a viable option to the Detroit Free Press and News. Thirty-seven years of not missing a week of publishing an alternative to apologists for a racist status quo. While incarcerated in a federal prison, The Michigan Citizen provided me with a reality-based perspective of what was really going down in Detroit. Other inmates hassled me for my copy of the Citizen and it was passed around so many times that when I saw it again in the rec yard or library the print was faded and the paper worn thin from page-turning. We loved our Citizen. In what has been but a keyboard blink, I have been sharing Detroit Raw with you for nearly two years. Yes, we were the first to discuss the union-busting democracy-destroying Negro proxy emergency manager of Governor Snyder in those endearing terms. I even had the opportunity to question Kevyn Orr in the offices of the Michigan Citizen in person, a tribute of sorts to the credibility the paper established. This column issued the first public call for U.N. intervention to keep the water on for Detroit children and families mired in poverty. We pushed for humane treatment of Jayru Campbell when the lynch mob called for Jayru to be strung up. When Renisha McBride was murdered, the Citizen hammered away demanding justice for Renisha. The list is too long to recite here, but the point is that whenever real people have needed a voice, the Citizen has answered the call. Who will answer the cry of the people for a voice now? The Michigan Citizen Christmas party had a few sniffles and light tears, but was not a wake or funeral. The Citizen has planted seeds that will sprout wherever those who have been touched by the Citizen may land unafraid to confront and inform online if paper is unavailable. Mind Snack delivered to a friend’s daughter in Denver: “Let it go; just let it go. You are complete. Accept your completeness.” Make every heartbeat count. 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 National Action Network - Michigan Chapter. Follow him on Facebook at facebook.com/sam.riddle or Twitter at twitter.com/samriddle.