Detroit

World Economic Forum Targets Detroit

September 3, 2021 David Sole, Struggle La Lucha. Resist! Detroit, Neoliberalism, Worker Rights and Jobs, World Economic Forum

The World Economic Forum (WEF) has announced plans to open a “Global Center for Urban Transformation” in Detroit in October 2021. The WEF is an international non-governmental organization (NGO) that describes itself as aiming to improve “the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic, and other leaders of society to shape global, regional, and industry agendas.” It has been in existence since 1971 and is based in Switzerland. This won’t be the first time the capitalist corporate, banking and political power-brokers have focused on the Motor City to promote their plans to strengthen their exploitative system on the backs of poor and working people. The Michigan Emergency Committee Against War & Injustice (MECAWI) and the Moratorium Now Coalition played a pivotal role in all of these earlier actions and are part of a growing coalition to once again confront them.

Environmental Racism And Detroit

July 15, 2021 Emma Boyhtari, Left Voice. Resist! climate crisis, Detroit, pollution, Racism

Oftentimes, racism and environmentalism are thought of as separate issues. Since the Black Lives Matter uprising of last summer, however, there has been a growing awareness of the scope of racism and its existence in every facet of society. The legacy of racism, dating back to the enslavement of Black people in this country, is woven into the fabric of American society. It has existed in many forms on structural and personal levels, including racist real estate practices such as redlining and restrictive covenants, as well as discriminatory employment practices. Not to mention how Black folks are criminalized, brutalized, exploited, and killed by police and the prison industrial system. The list goes on, and it also includes being more vulnerable to environmental pollution.

Detroit Teachers Vote Overwhelmingly To Authorize Safety Strike

August 20, 2020 Detroit Federation of Teachers. Resist! COVID-19, Detroit, School reopening, Teachers Strike

During an emergency special meeting Wednesday, members of the Detroit Federation of Teachers (DFT) voted to authorize a potential safety strike aimed at pressing the Detroit Public Schools Community District to implement basic science-based safety protocols before schools reopen during the continuing coronavirus pandemic. The vote authorizes the DFT executive board to call a safety strike if the union and the school district do not reach an agreement. Members voted 91 percent in favor of authorizing a safety strike.

Amid Calls To Defund Police, Detroit Leaders Weigh In On Alternatives

July 14, 2020 DeJanay Booth, Model D Media. Create! Defund the police, Detroit, Police violence, Restorative Justice

In the wake of Floyd’s death, protests have mobilized in several states, and locally in Detroit, where protesters have marched regularly since late May. While most protests have mostly been peaceful, there have been instances of violence, including during the early days of the protests when demonstrators were met with tear gas, shields, and handcuffs, with scores arrested after being out past curfew and reports of some protesters hurling objects at police; a police car driving through a crowd of protesters; and the fatal shooting of Hakim Littleton by police near Six Mile and San Juan. Police footage shows Littleton being shot after firing at officers who were arresting a man on a separate matter, sparking a protest that resulted in eight arrests.

Detroit Students Sued For Literacy And Won

May 22, 2020 By N. Jamiyla Chiscolm, Color Lines. Create! Detroit, Education, Michigan, Racism

The hard-fought, four-year Gary B. literacy case, in which seven Black students in Detroit sued the state of Michigan in 2016 to improve the school system and literacy access, was settled on May 14 in favor of the students, Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s office announced. In the complaint, students shared a laundry list of educational and literacy issues in the public schools, such as predominantly having books with pictures instead of words in primary school when students are first taught to read. The landmark settlement means that $94.4 million will support literacy-related programs and initiatives throughout the Detroit Public School Community District (DPSCD), for which Whitmer will propose legislation during her first term and the seven students will share a $280,000 payout.

Detroit Bus Drivers Win Protections Against Virus Through Strike

March 23, 2020 Jane Slaughter, Labornotes.org Resist! Class Struggle, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Detroit, Drivers, Workers

Detroit bus drivers collectively declared Tuesday morning that they weren't going to work without safety precautions. A city worker is cleaning at the end of the line. Photo: Jim West / jimwestphoto.com. Detroit bus drivers collectively declared Tuesday morning that they weren't going to work without safety precautions. Bus service was canceled throughout the city because of “the driver shortage,” as city officials put it.

Groups Demand Whitmer Enact Water Shutoff Moratorium To Fight Coronavirus

March 1, 2020 The Peoples Water Board. Resist! Coronavirus, Detroit, Detroit water shut off, health

Hundreds of thousands of people in low-income families across the state have borne the brunt of the record rise in the cost of water services and the unaffordable water bills that have resulted from that rise. The unconscionable act of depriving anyone of water because the cost is more than they can afford has resulted in a health crisis, that, with the advent of coronavirus, has the serious potential to be magnified and spread due to thousands not having access to water. The ultimate solution is to implement income based water bills based on the Water Affordability Plan. The immediate, short term solution must be a moratorium on water shutoffs and the immediate restoration of service where it’s been disconnected.

Environmental Activists Claim Victory After Detroit Incinerator Closes

July 23, 2019 By Kianga Moore, Truthout.org Resist! Detroit, Environment, Incinerators

The recent shutdown of the largest municipal trash incinerator in the U.S. marks the end of a long-fought battle for a majority Black neighborhood that has for decades fought a constant stream of pollutants and pungent odors of trash. Activists have spent decades fighting the incinerator, known as Detroit Renewable Power, which burned one million tons of solid waste from 13 counties in southeastern Michigan each year to create steam and electricity, according to Breathe Free Detroit. “Most of the waste [came] from whiter...

Detroit Police Commissioner Arrested For Questioning City’s Use Of Facial Recognition

July 17, 2019 Staff, Fightforthefuture.org Resist! Detroit, Facial Recognition, Police, Surveillance

Last night, a police commissioner in Detroit was arrested for questioning the city’s use of facial recognition at a public hearing. Commissioner Willie Burton, who is black, was surrounded by police officers and handcuffed from his place at the head of the meeting on Thursday night, shouting “get your hands off me!” as he was taken out of the room with hands behind his back and put into a police car. He was questioning the police department’s use of facial recognition known to be biased against people of color, in a city with a high proportion of black residents.

Detroit Residents Organize Community With 12th Annual Rally To Silence The Violence

June 29, 2019 Amani Sawari, Sawarimi.org Resist! Detroit, Violence

Michigan residents have been coming together as apart of the Silence the Violence Rally for nearly over a decade. Silence the Violence continues to be an opportunity for people to show their commitment to ending violence in their communities and has grown from a local rally to a national event. This year’s rally locations have spread from Detroit into Chicago, Atlanta, New Orleans, Baltimore, New York, and Boston; as well as a host of other local cities in the Detroit area that include Flint, Pontiac, Highland Park, and Ypsilanti. Attendees use the event to define violence in a variety of ways from individual, gang violence to domestic and state violence.

When Cities Shut The Water Off

April 2, 2019 By Maureen Taylor, Inequality.org Educate! Detroit, New Economy, Protests, Water

In 2014, the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department started its most recent egregious campaign of mass water shutoffs that targeted low-income, residential customers who were behind in payments. In June of that year, rumors started to surface about poisoned public water in Flint, Michigan. Both issues marked the start of long nights of terror for blue-collar workers, a terror that has not yet ended. Concerns over water were not new to those in the American Rust Belt, but never before had their ferocity and scale reached such depths.

Shutoffs Continue As The People Of Detroit Fight For Water As A Human Right

January 12, 2019 By Simon Albaugh, Occupy.com Resist! Detroit, Human Rights, New Economy, Water

Step onto downtown Detroit’s tiled sidewalks past the Kern Clock Tower and storefront restaurants and you’ll find Campus Martius. This small park at the center of the greatest comeback story in post-industrial America has become a symbol for life continuing after ruin. Climb into your car and drive down Woodward Avenue. Hear the bell of the QLine cars and the vibrant nightlife of the restaurants, clubs and concert halls. These are what leaders call signs of economic progress in a major city that the State of Michigan can finally take pride in. Now take a turn down any of the major bisecting streets. Drive past the Eastern Market or Wayne State University.

Battling The Indignities Of Detroit’s Water Shut-Offs

May 21, 2018 Valerie Burris, Zocalopublicsquare.org Organize! Detroit, Water

I never considered myself a politically active type. In fact, I abhorred politics for three decades. But about 25 years ago, I realized that I couldn’t fight my personal health insurance issues without dealing with the many other human rights issues I’d heard people debate on C-Span not realizing how they were affecting my life. So I got involved with my local Democratic party here in Detroit, then in fighting for school reform. After that, I began speaking out as a volunteer advocate for people who face water shut-offs because they couldn’t afford to pay their bills. This issue is finally making national headlines, but the city previously shut off Detroiters water 10 years ago, when large numbers of Detroiters began to struggle with the city’s high water rates. The city council passed an affordability plan that adjusted water rates based on a percentage of income.

Black Beekeepers Are Transforming Detroit’s Vacant Lots Into Bee Farms

February 12, 2018 Philip Lew, Huffingtonpost.com Create! Bees, Detroit, Land

A pair of Detroit natives have decided to combat neighborhood blight in a pretty sweet way — by transforming abandoned vacant lots in their city into honeybee farms. Detroit Hives, a nonprofit organization founded by Timothy Paule and Nicole Lindsey in 2017, purchases vacant properties and remodels them into fully functioning bee farms. “These properties are left abandoned and serve as a dumping ground in most cases,” Paule told HuffPost. “The area can be a breeding ground for environmental hazards, which creates a stigma around the city.” Paule, a photographer, and Lindsey, a staff member for the health care provider Henry Ford OptimEyes, had been dating for some time before launching the nonprofit. Paule attributes their inspiration to a cold that he just couldn’t get rid of.

40% Of Detroit Has No Internet, They Are Creating Their Own

November 22, 2017 Kaleigh Rogers, motherboard.vice.com Create! Detroit, Internet, Net Neutrality, New Economy

By Kaleigh Rogers for Motherboard - Being stuck without access to the internet is often thought of as a problem only for rural America. But even in some of America’s biggest cities, a significant portion of the population can’t get online. Take Detroit, where 40 percent of the population has no access to the internet—of any kind, not only high speed—at home, according to the Federal Communications Commission. Seventy percent of school-aged children in the city are among those who have no internet access at home. Detroit has one of the most severe digital divides in the country, the FCC says. “When you kind of think about all the ways the internet affects your life and how 40 percent of people in Detroit don’t have that access you can start to see how Detroit has been stuck in this economic disparity for such a long time,” Diana Nucera, director of the Detroit Community Technology Project, told me at her office. Nucera is part of a growing cohort of Detroiters who have started a grassroots movement to close that gap, by building the internet themselves. It’s a coalition of community members and multiple Detroit nonprofits. They’re starting with three underserved neighborhoods, installing high speed internet that beams shared gigabit connections from an antenna on top of the tallest building on the street, and into the homes of people who have long gone without. They call it the Equitable Internet Initiative.

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