a Harvest Dinner

A Weekend of Celebrating the Harvest

The first weekend of October 2009 was a weekend of cultivation and celebration – of the emotional, spiritual and physical work that has occurred over the last 7-8 months, as well as nourishment to rejuvinate our energies and continue the work that lies ahead.

On Saturday, Malik Yakini and the all of the wonderful folks with the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network hosted their annual harvest festival at the D-Town Farm, featuring tours, fresh food, and guest speakers. It was an incredible expression of rebuilding community!

The following day, Wayne Curtis and Myrtle Thompson hosted their first annual Manistique Street Community Garden Harvest Festival. The “Feedom Freedom Growers” have transformed their community through their incredible garden, beginning last early spring with only a small raised bed. As a result, book clubs are being developed, a vast amount of fresh local food is being made widely available, and a paradigm shift in considering community is taking place. You can view pictures from the event here.

Abandon Detroit, Abandon Black America

by R. L’Heureux Lewis
Detroit: The city that represents the prospects and failures of American industry.The city that is the punch line of a million jokes. The city that is Blacker than nearly any other in this country. Detroit is under intense scrutiny as of late and the flashing lights of attention may have served to take the life of seven year old Aiyana Jones as a TV crew filmed a home-raid by the Detroit SWAT.

Click here for full article.

African American Family Magazine – August Edition

African American Faimly Magazine, now B.L.A.C., featured in its August issue many local and regional urban agricultural revolutionaries such as Georgia Street Community Collective’s Mark Covington (on cover), DBCFSN’s Malik Yakini, and Growing Power’s Will Allen.

The full issue – in PDF format – can be found here.

Another Detroit is Happening

Another Education is Happening!

Are Black Males the Enemy of the Black Community

August 26th DCOH Meeting – Minutes

August 26th Minutes
Attendance:
1. Cora M. (Robert’s family)
2. Antonia M. (Robert’s family)
3. Ron S. (DCAPB)
4. Sandra H. (DCAPB)
5. Tijuana M. (DCAPB)
6. Wayne C. (Manistee Community Garden)
7. Myrtle T. (Manistee Community Garden)
8. Bill K. (pastor)
9. Yusef Shakur (Urban Network; The Window 2 My Soul)
10. Wardell M. (local poet)
11. C.J. /Cartel B. & Kelsey (Better Detroit Youth Movement)
12. Richard L. (DCOH)
13. Barbara S. (DCOH)
14. Larry S. (DCOH)
15. Ron W. (DCOH)
16. Kim S. (educator, DCOH)
17. Howard K.
18. Andrew P. (DCOH)
19. Zak R. (DCOH; radio producer)
20. Rick F. (DCOH)

Business Meeting: 30 minutes
•    Introductions and Welcome
- The mission of DCOH is to create a network and web of individuals and organizations that will work to deepen the conversation, the thinking and the vision while we engage in the day to day practice of rebuilding our communities and transforming ourselves.   During the past few months we have had monthly meetings that focused on urban gardens, food security and education.
•    Newsletter
- Andrew will continue to put together, distribute on web and make copies for DCOH meetings so we can continue to evaluate its purpose and value.  We will encourage others to share updates, stories and information.  Andrew will contact organization.
•    Broadsheet
- We proposed developing a broadsheet for distribution in the community and at meetings to share the work and ideas involved in education, work, community, urban gardens, peace zones, with artists, poets and activists.
•    Website, Yellow Pages and Mapping
- needs more complete discussion
•    Green Houses- USSF- Caravan (Hush House, Hope and King Solomon, Beloved Communities Network
**Next Business Meeting Proposal:  Sept. 16th  (Website, Broadsheet, Mapping)

PEACE ZONES FOR LIFE – END THE VIOLENCE & RECLAIM OUR COMMUNITIES

Sandra and Ron presented Peace Zone of Life Concept Paper and a valuable discussion followed.  Below is a brief summary and does not do justice to the passion and healing that is so integral to our conversation.

The presentation included the history of the Coalition against Police Brutality and the continued work required to no rely on agencies or the police for solutions.  Through the tragedies and murders within the community as well as the murders by the police, it became clear that a new kind of community building process of Peace Zones were necessary.  The people of Detroit need to rely on themselves.  The level of senseless violence, which includes violence against each other, violence against the earth, against children must stop.  The need for a two-sided transformation was emphasized as was the importance of providing the training and the tools for parents and young people.  The courage and the strength of Robert Mitchell’s family to want both justice for Robert and their recognition that the community must be involved in caring, defining peace, reaching out, being consistent, providing examples, LISTENING to our children, was emphasized.  We will have copies for everyone at the next meeting.  Sandra emphasized the need to create demilitarization so zones, removing weapons, creating education to resolve conflict. Creating local work, creating inclusion and inclusive communities.  Ron shared the recent story of a neighborhood on the west side that has create a public safe space, cutting the lawn cleaning up and is another symbol for a Peace Zone.

While the families and communities feel the pain and the violence, we need to create Peace Zones and Hope.  It is the courage to speak out for our children and ourselves and our future.

We need to listen to our children.

We need to talk about Peace and intervene in the conversation and actions on the streets.

We need to heal ourselves.

We need to define love and caring.

We need to start with the very young children.

We need to create concrete expression of Peace Zones.

What does it mean to be human?

Why is it so Difficult?  What is Peace?

People Care, they are not apathetic.

Create Peace Schools (Freedom Schools in abandoned school buildings in our neighborhood.

Wayne and Mrytle share the significance of the garden on Manistee and the number of people coming to talk about the community.  It has become a gathering space. On October 4th there will be a harvest celebration and include the Creation of a Peace Zone for Life.  Possibly take sign that can be placed in the windows of homes on the street. Creating Peace Zone Gardens.

We will invite the labor committee from the USSF.  Bill emphasized the importance of seeing community churches as the parish, which is responsible for the community.  Just as Labor can no longer ignore the community.

Cora and Renee emphasized the importance of intervening, caring, going door to door, listening to our children, telling them that we love them and therefore we care and we all need to stop the violence.  We need to break the silence! We need to take responsibility.  This is why the Robert Mitchell’s life means so much to us all.

Yusef talked about being able to share his book with individuals on the street.  The book is a concrete example of consistency, change and involvement.

Warren-Detroit Peace zone for Life:  Everyone agreed that we should have a major event (October 21 or 22) and place a plaque to commemorate Robert Mitchell, Go door to door in Detroit and Warren.  We need to turn the talk of violence, anger, frustration and self-hatred into conversations about hope and love and community building but we need concrete actions, strategies and ways for people to be involved.  We need to work to reclaim our communities.

At the end of the meeting ______shared that she would take the Peace Zones for Life Window signs and distribute on 9-11 when they are hosting an event in an east side community.  They are giving out swirly light bulbs.  Antonia suggested that we need to make Angels Night 365 days a year.

Rick shared a brief history from the Community Control of Police (United Front Against Fascism Conference in California in 1969 with the Black Panther Party) to “Going Door to Door and Pledging Not to buy Hot Goods in the early 1970s, to Marching Against Crack Houses and the important work of Save our Sons and Daughters to today.  Barbar (from McComb County) emphasized that people in warren are scared and it is critical we use this moment to engage them in this conversation.

This meeting was an historic meeting because Peace Zones, Hope, Urban Gardens, the importance of changing ourselves and our society were coming together.  The ideas, the vision and the practice for today were coming together because so many people have experienced the pain, the anger and the frustration as well as the hope and vision and work that is necessary for changing ourselves and our communities.

The individuals in this room are precious to the future of our cities and key to the kind of compassion, thinking and support that will be necessary to create a new movement in our city.

We ended with the commitment to get together and plan:
1.       To support the Manistee Harvest Gathering on October 4
2.       To create a commemoration with a plaque for Robert Mitchell (October 21 International Day of Peace- Bobby Seale event as well.
3.       Create Signs, possibly buttons, T-shirts, broadsheet
4.       The importance of creating models and going door to door.
5.      The need to involve the churches and labor unions

The possibility to truly impact the USSF in June 2010 (the opening parade, the plenary remarks, workshops…)

Bike Among the Ruins

O NE night a little over a year ago, crossing Woodward Avenue, I crashed my bicycle. As I flew head over heels across Detroit’s main boulevard, I thought, well, in any other town, I’d be hitting a car right about now. But this being the Motor City, the street was deserted, completely motor-free.

While bike enthusiasts in most urban areas continue to have to fight for their place on the streets, Detroit has the potential to become a new bicycle utopia. It’s a town just waiting to be taken. With well less than half its peak population, and free of anything resembling a hill, the city and its miles and miles of streets lie open and empty, beckoning. And lately, whether it’s because of the economy or the price of gas or just because it’s a nice thing to do, there are a lot more bikers out riding.

This budding culture brings some commerce with it. Down on the waterfront, and just three hundred yards or so from the headquarters of General Motors, my friends Kelli and Karen are in their second year running the Wheelhouse bike shop. One might think, given the economy, that starting a business in the D makes as much sense as stepping on a nail, but Kelli and Karen’s shop is thriving; their profits in May were double what they were a year ago.

Granted, right now neither Kelli nor Karen take a salary from the business. They’ve each kept working their other jobs, Kelli as a bartender and Karen at a local community organization. Neither of them intends for the Wheelhouse to be a volunteer effort forever, but like many entrepreneurs, they believe investing in the business’s growth right now is the prudent thing to do.

Meanwhile, up in the Cass Corridor neighborhood, another bike shop has opened up. Manned by some of the most die-hard, gear-headed gentlemen you’ll ever meet, the Hub comes with a storeroom of piled-up old bikes that they’ll refurbish for you — and a greater social mission. Their Back Alley Bikes training program, which predates the shop, teaches youths about mechanical repairs and customer service. The Hub is technically a nonprofit, but their business is also doing pretty well.

Biking in the D is the transportation equivalent of the Slow Food movement, offering a perspective that’s completely lost to those zooming in on the Lodge Freeway and I-75, those great superhighways that, once upon a time in the name of progress, were sliced deep into the heart of the city only to bleed it dry.

A bike gives you the chance to soak up what’s left, hidden neighborhoods like Indian Village with its dappled lanes and old eclectic mansions. Out near the fabled Eight Mile Road you can cruise past an almost forgotten but now happily restored Frank Lloyd Wright house. Downtown, you can circle the ruins of the old Michigan Central Depot.

Our abandoned landscape suggests an opportunity that alternative-transportation proponents should consider: instead of raging against their cities’ internal combustion machines, they might consider a tactical retreat to the city that cars have pretty much abandoned.

Despite the press, survival here isn’t so hard. Businesses like the Wheelhouse and the Hub have already shown how well Detroit can work as a new business hothouse. With the legendarily affordable real estate and without needing to pay for car payments, gas or insurance, bicyclists could rebuild Detroit into a model of a two-wheeled economy. They could pass laws promoting bikes over cars and designate entire avenues motor-free zones, which, given the state of many of them now, wouldn’t be so much of a stretch.

Maybe it sounds far-fetched, but then again maybe it’s just destiny. Look at a map and you’ll see that Detroit is designed in the shape of a wheel, with streets emanating like spokes from the downtown hub. It looks like a premonition, a city uniquely designed to alter transportation forever.

So, who knows, maybe the bike will follow the car. After all, it’s happened before. In 1896, when Charles B. King steered Detroit’s first automobile across its cobbled streets, following King’s progress with a keen and intelligent interest was Henry Ford, riding on a bicycle.

Toby Barlow is the author of “Sharp Teeth.”

Bing + Bobb x Skillman & Kresge Foundations = Bad News for Detroiters

by Yusef Shakur

Dave Bing’s decision to “downsize” the City of Detroit is a direct result of him being out of touch with the city he was elected to be the Mayor of. The sad reality is that he was elected as Mayor of Detroit based on the mere notion that he was going to brings jobs to Detroit—a city that is in desperate needs of jobs. Since being elected Mayor, the only things he has brought to the City of Detroit have been hiring more police, bullying the unions, cutting jobs and cutting the city’s bus routes. His decision to cut the bus routes demonstrates his lack of interconnection with the majority of people of Detroit, and the act of desperation of a Mayor that is desperately trying to prove himself at the expense of the people of Detroit. Everybody and their mama knows that over 50% of Detroiters depend heavily on the bus system to get back and forth through the City of Detroit and other neighboring cities. Instead of donating a portion of his salary to hire more police, which hasn’t had an impact on reducing crime in Detroit, that money could be used to keeping those bus routes running that served the needs of Detroiters going to work, school and other places. If he actually stayed in the City of Detroit before he decided to run for Mayor, and actually interacted with the people in a meaningful way, he would have known that. Before he was even elected as Mayor of Detroit, his wife announced that she had no intention of moving to Detroit unless he won the Mayoral race. That speaks volumes about what the Bing family thought about Detroit.

In this whole conversation about “downsizing” Detroit, I realized that Dave Bing is not intelligent enough to make this decision by himself. This has been clearly evident in the un-conditional support he is receiving from corporate/ private institutions. Reported in the Detroit News, March 18 paper front page: “The Kresge Foundation confirmed Wednesday it is paying the undisclosed salary for Toni Griffin… she is expected to begin this month under an unusual arrangement.” Dave Bing is in bed with these private/corporate institutions to serve their interests and not the interests of the people who elected him. When he announced the whole “downsizing” agenda, he never clearly articulated what that means to Detroiters because it is obvious he doesn’t know himself. Even in his “State of the City Address” he still failed to clarify what “downsizing” Detroit actually means. Is destroying abandoned buildings and houses “downsizing” Detroit? That is the new language he used in his “State of the City Address.” Any intelligent person knows that “downsizing” means just that; “DOWNSIZING!” Words are powerful because each word has a meaning to it that can impact our lives, negatively or positively. When the decision to “downsize” Detroit was announced by Mayor Bing, it developed fear and panic among Detroiters. As Detroiters, we are already surviving in chaotic conditions, and what sense does it make for the supposed leader of Detroit to present an idea that would create more chaos?  I strongly believe Detroiters have no problem with “TOUGH DECISIONS,” but we do have problems with “LYING AND DUMB DECISIONS.” The decision to “downsize” Detroit didn’t include a conversation with native Detroiters but, again, only with private/corporate institutions, and those who are of the privileged, and they have a vision of Detroit that they feel has to be imposed upon Detroiters. That right there tells any intelligent human being that they don’t have our best interests at heart.

There are neighborhoods in Detroit that resemble war torn countries, and people in those neighborhoods that are surviving in Third World conditions – or as Professor Carl S. Taylor at Michigan State University educates; urban cities have been reduced to Third World Cities. At the height of the “Big 3” (Ford, GM and Chrysler) the industry helped to develop a thriving middle class in the City of Detroit, but with the fall of the “Big 3” and the introduction of heroin in the 70s and crack in the 80s, that thriving middle class of Detroit began to slowly evaporate. The “Big 3” was eventually replaced with drug enterprises such as “Y.B.I.,” “Pony Down,” “Chamber Brothers,” “Best Friend,” “Curry Boys” and many others.  That once proud middle classed in Detroit has been reduced to the poor class and the poor class has been reduced to scavengers. The capitalist economic system killed the “Big 3” a long time ago because it is a system that thrives on sucking the blood out of its prey, and then it turns on itself. Any system that is pro-individual can not be good for the whole, because it makes its living off of exploiting the whole (the ruling class thrives on exploiting the middle class and the middle class thrives on exploiting the poor class and poor class thrive off exploiting each other). Then you have the bastard version of capitalism, which is the street life (selling drugs, gangs, robbing, prostitution and etc) that has sucked the life out of the neighborhoods, which has ultimately reduced thriving neighborhoods into deplorable ‘hoods.

Dave Bing and his (crime) partner Robert Bobb are nothing but knee-grow puppets that are being manipulated by private and corporate foundations/institutions, such as the Skillman Foundation and Kresge Foundation. Recent decisions by Dave Bing to “downsize” Detroit and Robert Bobb to close over 40 more schools in Detroit are both heavily influenced by the Kresge and Skillman Foundation, with the latter playing on both sides of the fence through their Good Schools & Good Neighborhood initiatives, by openly selecting certain schools and neighborhoods in Detroit that they are hand picking to invest money in. Through their nickel-slick initiatives they have truly fooled the people by supposedly investing money in certain schools and neighborhoods, while openly denying support to other schools and neighborhoods that are deteriorating. The truth of the matter, Detroit Public Schools, and Detroit as a whole, have suffered from the games Skillman, Kresge and many other Foundations, as well as private corporations, that have played with the lives of Detroiters and particularly the lives of our children.

Dave Bing and Robert Bobb’s decisions to “downsize” Detroit and close 40 more schools reflects the corrupt mountain-leadership that has crippled Detroit. Neither one of these gentlemen have ever taken the time to engage Detroiters, besides talking down to Detroiters, because again their strings are being pulled by private/corporate foundations/institutions. The majority of Detroiters voted to approve a $500.5 million proposal, where that money was supposed to be used to re-build or renovate many of the schools that have since been selected to be closed. Right after the approval of this proposal, many people and different groups began jockeying around Robert Bobb, trying to get their hands on some of that money. Just recently Robert Bobb awarded close to a million dollar contract to Detroit Parent Network, which is also fund by Skillman Foundation. During this whole process Dave Bing has openly shared his desire to take control of DPS and have it run by his (crime) partner Robert Bobb. The actions of these two gentlemen clearly demonstrate that they don’t have the best interest of Detroit in mind. They both have been talking out the side of their necks. Mr. Bing has not brought one job to the City of Detroit for Detroiters, which was his claim to fame in his rise to the Mayor office. Mr. Bobb has brought nothing but more confusion to DPS, and has looked out for nobody but himself and his homies. The crazy thing is, after Detroiters voted yes on the approval of the 500.5 million proposal, Robert Bobb is now asking for an additional 700 million!

The actions of these knee-grow puppets are not what is disturbing to me, but the lack of out cry by so-call religious, political and community leaders of the actions of these knee-grow puppets. Many of the so-called religious, political and community leaders are in bed with Bing and Bobb. Just recently here in Detroit, many of the well known religious leaders spoke out loudly and proudly against strip clubs in Detroit, but these same religious leaders have remained silent on the issues of “downsizing” Detroit and closing “40 more schools” in Detroit. If these decisions are implemented by Bing and Bobb, they will have a far greater negative impact on Detroit’s children and families than the strip clubs. The majority of the new City Council members are in bed with Bing and Bobb as well.

The imported and oppressive decisions by Bing and Bobb have left the people of Detroit dazed and confused. We have to pick ourselves up, and begin to organize ourselves—each and every one of us. We can’t embody the every man for himself attitude, because if Bing relocates one neighborhood, it impacts all of us and if Bobb close one more school, it impacts all of us.

We have to stand together, organize around one heart beat

and speak with one voice.

That is our strength, anything less than that is playing into our weaknesses. We can’t keep approaching Bing and Bobb from a position of weakness because all they are going to do is keep disrespecting us. Power only respects power, and a powerless people become powerful once they realize that they have nothing to loose. We must take our destiny into our hands by boycotting Bing and Bobb. The question is how can we boycott Bing and Bobb? Our oppressive circumstances bind us all together as it did the citizens of Montgomery, Alabama during the bus boycott in 1955. Just think of what could happen if all city workers stop working for the city and if all DSP students stopped going to school? That would demand Bing and Bobb’s attention with a national audience watching. As long as Bing and Bobb feel that they don’t need input from Detroiters, they will continue to make decisions about Detroiters without the input of Detroiters. I know choices like this call for a lot of sacrifices, but just know that sacrifices are necessary. If we are not willing to sacrifice for ourselves, trust and believe Bing and Bobb will sacrifice us.

With a clear overstanding of the shit-uaiton we are up against, it has become clearer that EMIENT DOMAIN in Detroit is nothing but GENTRIFICATION to Detroiters, and urban renewal is nothing but BLACK PEOPLE REMOVAL – in a city that is 85% Black! War has been declared on us by our enemies, and with our backs against the walls we have to fight back as a unified body of Detroiters fighting for Dignity and Democracy.

Boggs Educational Center’s Amanda Rosman interviews with Jezebel

How Gardening Could Save Detroit: Amanda Rosman, Urban Education Pioneer

Amanda Rosman, 33, is a single mom living in Detroit with her 5-year-old son Ajani. She’s taught in the Detroit Public Schools, a Catholic school and a charter school, but her main project now is starting a revolutionary elementary school.

Visit Jezebel’s webpage for the full interview.

CAID Panel Discussion – Ron Scott and Shea Howell

Calling All Restorative Justice Practitioners in Michigan!

Join other Restorative Justice practitioners and enthusiasts throughout the state to discover what others are doing, forge connections, share ideas, cross-pollinate, and ultimately to explore how we might further promote and expand the use of Restorative Justice across our great state.

Michigan Restorative Justice Gathering
March 12, 2011, 10 am – 4 pm
St. Peter’s Episcopal Church
1950 Trumbull Ave (at Michigan)
Detroit, MI 48216

Come join us! There is no cost to attend – simply bring yourself, a bag lunch, and preferably a snack to share. Please forward this invitation to any and all who do Restorative Justice work in Michigan.

To register to attend, please complete the registration form at: http://snipurl.com/michiganrestorativejusticegathering

Communities reap what gardens sow

Read the article here.

D-Town Farm with Will Allen – October 30th

Subject: Learn hoophouse technology at D-Town Farm with Will Allen, noted urban farmer and founder of Growing

On Saturday, October 30 and Sunday, October 31, 2010, Will Allen, a McArthur Fellow and founder of Growing Power, Inc of Milwaukee, will return to Detroit to share his knowledge and expertise on hoop house technology.

A two-day workshop experience, this event will include construction of a 30′ x 96′ hoophouse at D-Town Farm and a lecture by Mr. Allen on hoophouse technology. Participants will be able to learn alongside Will Allen, a noted teacher and trainer in urban agricultural methods, and walk away prepared to build their own hoophouse for year-round food production. D-Town Farm is one of Growing Power’s eight Regional Outreach Training Centers in the U.S., and provides periodic lectures, workshops and hands-on training experiences in urban agriculture and food security.

Activities on Saturday, October 30 will begin at 9:00am and conclude at 6:00pm, with a lecture and powerpoint presentation by Mr. Allen at 12:00pm. Activities on Sunday, October 31 will begin at 9:00am and conclude at 2:00pm. Lunch on both days is included with the cost of registration. Participants are encouraged to wear work clothes (and bring a battery operated drill if they have one). The 30′ x 96′ hoophouse that will be constructed as part of this workshop will be built from a hoophouse kit, which will simplify the construction process for do-it-yourself’ers who plan to use what they learn during the workshop to build their own hoophouse.

Registration is now OPEN! The deadline for advanced registration is Wednesday, October 27, 2010. Advance registration is only $60.00 per person for this two-day workshop and learning experience and includes lunch for both days. Registrations received after October 27 are $75.00 per person. Payments can be made in person or by mail at 3800 Puritan, Detroit, MI 48238. Registration via Paypal will be available shortly.

If you’d like to register in person, the DBCFSN offices are open Mondays 9am-4pm and Tuesdays-Fridays 9am-6pm. Please make checks and money orders payable to Detroit Black Community Food Security Network or DBCFSN.

Please call Ebony Roberts at (313) 345-3663 for questions or to register in person.

GROWING POWER is a national non-profit organization and land trust supporting people from diverse backgrounds, and the environments in which they live, by helping to provide equal access to healthy, high-quality, safe and affordable food for people in all communities.

DETROIT BLACK COMMUNITY FOOD SECURITY NETWORK is a non-profit, grassroots organization whose aim is to build self-reliance, food security and justice in Detroit’s Black community by influencing public policy, engaging in urban agriculture, promoting healthy eating, encouraging co-operative buying, and directing youth towards careers in food-related fields.

DCOH Meeting

DCOH MEETING

April 15, 2009
6:30PM

Description: The growing response by Detroit’s communities and the growing energy, and activism by citizens across our city and region is blossoming with the coming of spring. The recent visit by the National Planning Committee of the US Social Forum provided tremendous opportunity for discussion as plans develop to bring 10,000 to 20,000 people to Detroit in 2010. From the Cobo Hall debate, to the mayoral election, to the foreclosures and the continued crisis facing students, parents and teachers in our schools, we see a tremendous increase in the creativity as we work to create a new Detroit and region based upon the need to re-imagine, re-define and rebuild our city and communities form the ground up. On a daily basis we read about the work and dedication of individuals and organizations to protest, resist and create alternatives and networks capture the attention of the media and the imagination of people across our country. While most talk of restructuring the industry and restructuring wall street, we are working to re-imagine and transform ourselves and our institutions. Detroit City of Hope is a network committed to alternatives.

Join with us on our journey. Join with us as we create the ways to celebrate the work in Detroit and engage in creating the forms of conversation, networking and dialogue that encourages us all to listen to each other and the voices of our neighbors, friends & coworkers.

This April DCOH meeting will be an opportunity to discuss:

Education: What is the alternative to continued closing of schools? What is the difference between reforming our schools and creating a new concept and practice of education in our city? Please read the article:
Beyond Pipelines-To-Prison Schools by Grace Lee Boggs (Michigan Citizen)
www.boggsblog.com (scroll down)

Celebrating and Engaging with Detroit City of Hope Activists: What are people and organizations doing in our city to respond to the economic, political, spiritual and cultural collapse? What is our contribution to this growing movement that continues to capture the imagination of the national media and the world?can

Please check out these articles:
Detroit Free Press: http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200990328050 Neighbors talk trash at rally to end dumping in Detroit.

Time Magazine: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1887864,00.html

Along with the above discussions, we explore the ways to expand and advance the website, www.dcoh.org , discuss a possible broadsheet for distribution, possible community forums, and we welcome your ideas as we take steps moving from despair to hope.

We hope you can join us on Wednesday, April 15th at 6;30 pm.
Boggs Center
3061 Field Street.
Detroit, Mi 48214
Start Time: 15:00
Date: 2009-04-15

Detroit artists use city’s blight as their canvas

Houses with dreary urban facades covered in polka dots. A traveling dollhouse made from the remnants of abandoned homes. A dilapidated residence covered in ice.

Artists across the Detroit area are using the city’s blight as their canvas, transforming abandoned homes into high-concept projects to draw attention to the homelessness, poverty and urban decay plaguing Detroit. They hope the ongoing experiment will shed some creatively inspired light on what Detroit was, is and could be again.

The work harks back to two decades ago when Tyree Guyton transformed a deteriorating Detroit neighborhood into a colorful, outdoor polka-dot art gallery.

Guyton rescued stuffed animals, sneakers and shopping carts from alleys and street corners and gave them a permanent home on the trees, houses and vacant lots of Heidelberg Street. But unlike Guyton’s project, this latest wave of social art isn’t centered on a single section of the city, and it comes at a time when the problems are just as dire, if not more so: Detroit has tens of thousands of abandoned structures, a budget deficit of at least $300 million and an unemployment rate two to three times that of the national average.

“It’s amazing to see now the work that (Guyton) started 23 years ago kind of taking on shape and form in many different ways with many different people in this city,” said Jenenne Whitfield, executive director of the Heidelberg Project.

Famous examples of social art include Spencer Tunick’s photos depicting thousands of nude subjects at locations around the world, and Nek Chand’s “Rock Garden,” a vast sculpture garden in India. But the trend is magnified in Detroit because so many artists are zeroing in on the same subject matter and displaying their creations in high-profile ways.

Clinton Snider is one of those who saw artistic possibilities in Detroit’s misfortune. The suburban Bloomfield Township resident typically expresses himself through painting. But these days, he’s becoming known as the guy who built a miniature house from the remnants of abandoned homes.

**click here to read the rest of the article**

Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality – Kwanzaa Celebration

Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality Peace Zones Meeting

Friday, September 11th, 6:30pm @ the Boggs Center*

*3061 Field St. Detroit

The Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality will be hosting a follow-up discussion to many Peace Zones For Life meetings, precipitated by Robert Mitchell’s fatal tasing last spring and the ensuing Peace Zones For Life March on May 21st.

At last Wednesday’s (08/26) Detroit City of Hope meeting, Peace Zones For Life were seriously considered in a transformative manner, assessing both community individual responses as well as communal. One of the conclusions drawn was that Peace Zones must not only be internalized, but made concrete, manifest through schools, gardens, arts, and so on.

DCAPB is looking to make this step by memorializing Mitchell’s death and further conceptualizing Peace Zones through the placement of a Robert Mitchell/Peace Zone plaque on the Detroit/Warren border. Please come share your thoughts, reflections, etc. at this continuation of many historic events, as well as discuss city-wide events that will be taking place in October, on Friday, September 11th at the Boggs Center.

Detroit on Flypmedia

The people of Detroit are beginning to imagine a new life for their near-dead city.
By James R. Gaines (text) and Chris Bravo (video) (www.flypmedia.com)

No American city ever rose so fast-from a trading post to the hub of
global industry within a few decades-or fell so far. The last
comparable collapse in the Americas came with the end of Mayan
civilization, a thousand years ago.
Large swaths of Detroit seem to have been hit by a neutron bomb.
Sometimes a building will look entirely normal, even beautiful, until
you come close enough to see that weeds and treelets-a species of
Chinese plant that somehow got loose there-are growing out of its
glassless windows. Some people call it “the ghetto palm,” others “the
tree of heaven.”
The old Packard plant, built in 1906, stands as the ultimate ruins of a
city and the idea that built it. On a cold sunny Sunday morning, a
longtime UAW member named Rich Feldman stood in front of it and said,
“I bring people here to see the pain and the hurt that are present in
our city. It’s a breaking point, a way of saying we can never go back
again. These 40 long-abandoned buildings represent a standard of living
for working-class Americans beyond anything that anyone could have ever
imagined, and it is gone.”
Feldman has been watching the collapse of his city for the last 20
years, during which officials have issued ten times more demolition
permits than building permits. He has also seen something else.

*MICHIGAN’S PHOENIX*
Rising up from the ashes! Rising up from the ashes!
It’s the title and refrain of a hip-hop CD documenting Detroit’s
dropout population. That includes almost three quarters of all black
students in the city.
Detroit is a gold mine for leaden statistics like that one: it’s the
poorest big city in the U.S., with about a third of its residents
living below the poverty line. There were 394 murders, 341 rapes and
6,575 robberies in the city last year, and almost 20,000 cars were
stolen.
That is the Detroit story everybody knows. Feldman will tell you that
another one is being written.
That CD, for example: it was made by Detroit kids, in a program called
the Live Arts Media Project. Many of those kids were dropouts.
Refusing to surrender to poverty and crime, Detroit is witnessing new
community development programs that take aim at root causes and try to
grow a new economy from the ground up. Many of these are independent of
the government. All over town, people are opening stores and markets,
starting businesses and small factories in their basements.
Urban gardens are springing up on the vacant lots. When people are hungry,
the new gardens and their gardeners feed them.
Artists have remade whole blocks of ruined houses into a lively,
tale-telling urban landscape, while hundreds of independent record
labels incubate in bedrooms and garages that have been wired for
high-speed Internet.
There is a live poetry reading somewhere in town virtually every night of
the week.

*ONE SMALL STEP FOR A MAN…*
The collapse of Detroit parallels what is happening elsewhere in
America. What happens next will depends on who comes by-or comes back,
or stays around-to fix it.
“My American dream,” Feldman says, “is one that makes a strong
distinction between the standard of living, which folks once thought
was the answer to all concerns, and quality of life-the dignity of the
lives of people.”
On the following pages are some of the people who are trying to make a new
Detroit-and they believe, a new America.

*Food: From urban rust to verdant green*
*With its 139 square miles, Detroit has one of America’s largest
urban footprints. In 1950, that land held 2 million citizens, today
there are less than half that. This fact, combined with homelessness,
joblessness and falling incomes among working people, makes a
compelling argument for urban agriculture and local businesses built
around local food. Detroit has a lot of that already, and more is on
the way.*

*Detroit Black Community Food Security Network:* The Detroit Black
Community Food Security Network (DBCFSN) was formed to create new jobs
and support a new economy with the production of local food-and to keep
the profits in Detroit’s black community.

*EarthWorks Urban Farm:* EarthWorks Urban Farm, an outgrowth of
the Capuchin monks’ soup kitchen, now includes an apiary, kids’ classes
and a mobile market.

*The Arts: Imagining a new conversation*
*Above ground, Detroit’s symphony, museum, opera and theater are
still thriving. Just a little deeper, down in the grassroots, there is
a profusion of new growth-from hundreds of independent music labels and
a vibrant new generation of performance poets to a new theatrical and
visual vocabulary of the urban landscape. Detroit’s artists are
inventing ways to make the city itself a work of art. *
*
The Heidelberg Project:* Named for its street, the work of
artist Tyree Guyton has brought to light to what was among Detroit’s
most benighted neighborhoods.

*A Theater of Experience: *Director Aku Kadogo, a Detroit native
who returned after a long career abroad, teaches her drama students at
Wayne State University how to draw from the legacy of African-American
culture.
*
The Poem is the City: *Like others in Detroit’s vibrant new poetry scene,
Will Copeland finds
his inspiration in the movement toward a new Detroit and a new urban
America.

*Beyond school: The textbook is life*
*In a city where the black dropout rate is almost 75 percent, the
need for new approaches is obvious. Several organizations, including
Detroit Summer and the Eastern Michigan Environmental Action Council,
have stepped into the breach with programs that teach kids about media,
entrepreneurship, personal responsibility and the power of community.
Their goal is a new economy and a newly empowered citizenry.*

*Detroit Summer:* Started in the early 1990s, Detroit Summer has
spawned a dozen projects for the city’s youth, including the Live Arts
Media Project (LAMP).
<http://www.flypmedia.com/issues/23/#1/6>*
East Michigan Environmental Action Council:* EMEAC teaches kids how to use
media to support environmental responsibility. The kids use what they’ve
learned as they see fit.

*Community: Hospitals for the soul*
*They are all in the work of community development, but that’s a
fancy phrase for a lot of what they do. A young woman gets out of jail
at 25, after ten years. What is she to make of the rest of her life? A
family is evicted. Where do they go? A mother is addicted to crack with
no husband and 11 children at home. As often as not, the work of
community development is done one life at a time.*

*Hush House:* Part safe house, part think tank, part publisher and
part community center, Hush House is also a museum, a newspaper and an
entrepreneurial collective.
*
Friends of Detroit & Tri-County: *In
a 23,000-foot former meat packing plant, Mike Wimberley houses a
computer school, classes for sewing, a music studio and a licensed
commercial kitchen.

*”The world I grew up in as a radical was a world that thought of
leadership in a very vertical way-leadership and followership. And I
think that the world has changed so much that it’s possible to say, ‘we
are the leaders we’ve been waiting for.’” *
Grace Lee Boggs, the widow of autoworker-revolutionary Jimmy Boggs,
runs the Boggs Center, which cultivates community leaders and is ground
zero for much of the new thinking about Detroit’s future. Now 93, Boggs
is a kind of hero to the reformers of Detroit, and to meet her is to
know why.
Her perspective is far-sighted, backward and forward. “Detroit is the
most striking example of the transition that cities all over the
country are undergoing-from industrial society, which has collapsed or
is sinking very fast, to post-industrial society.”
She sees the same thing happening in Akron and Oakland and Milwaukee
and Buffalo-a transition she calls “as far-reaching as the one from
hunting and gathering 11,000 years ago to agriculture. And from
agriculture to industry 300 years ago.”
A political activist since the 1930s, she has no illusions that this
transition will be easy. But, like her husband, she does not think
progress can depend on help from on high or outside, whether from
President Barack Obama or anybody else.
“We are the leaders we’ve been waiting for,” she says.
Neither Boggs, nor the many other young and old activists who are
trying to remake Detroit, pretend that utopia is at hand. But in the
depths of post-industrial blight, they’re finding reasons for hope.
Who knows what may come of a thing like that?

Detroit Summer Mural Tour

Detroit Summer Website Up

Check out the new website for Detroit Summer Website:  with Democracy Now interviews with Jon and Invincible.

For a media treat about “Another Detroit is Happening” call: 888-317-8418, Multi- Media Mural Project. The story is told. Don’t miss the next tour.

Detroit was the fastest-growing city in the world. It’s also the fastest to dissapear-

Video from The Guardian.

Detroit Water Workshops

Detroit Works Disconnected

Detroit Works, the Mayor Dave Bing-initiated plan to reshape Detroit, is like a ship stuck in the ice in the wintertime in Lake Superior. This project has been “working” for approximately two years now, and what do we have as a product? More items disassembled, more pieces lying around, but still no vehicle that rolls, flies or floats — no vehicle to reflect a new Detroit.

It seems that all the researchers, demographers and futurists who have decided that Detroit needs an infusion of something new have left many of those who have committed their lives and sacred fortunes to this city out of the equation.

Those were the voices who assembled last year and gave Mayor Bing and his department heads their plan for their neighborhoods and their city. This was the substance of the public hearings held last year — only after the community told Bing et al. that they had not been consulted regarding their future.

So after such a great litany of individuals speaking, why did it take another roughly 40 discussions to find out what had already been said? It makes one wonder: Was there ever a real desire to listen? Was this really going to be a people-driven plan, or one that was foundation-funded and corporate-driven?

Detroit is not like a dead battery. It does not need a jump-start from individuals who act like roadside attendants who come and tell us, for big money, why our car won’t start. Detroiters are more than capable. That was evidenced by the 300-plus people who participated in the “Detroiters for Democracy” discussions at the Boggs Center, named after the iconic Detroit organizers and theoreticians James and Grace Lee Boggs, for planning and executing Detroit’s future.

Out of those discussions came the following:

Any plan for Detroit must be developed from the bottom up. It must be driven by local, community-based businesses who serve the basic needs of our citizens.

There is clearly a dichotomy between a corporate-driven scenario and a community-driven scenario. The community seeks to build people, neighborhoods and relationships, while much of what we have seen in Detroit Works seeks to develop data and fill empty spaces and buildings with new tenants — tenants who have little or no understanding of the rich cultural history of this area.

A great example of this was seen when I addressed one of Mayor Bing’s town hall meetings last year. One of the highly paid consultants mentioned that Detroit needed to do things that would encourage a return to its middle-class roots. I felt as if the ghost of every worker who fought the “Battle of the Overpass” at the Ford Rouge Plant had literally jumped into my soul.

“Detroit does not need to return to its middle-class roots.” I was compelled to say, “Instead, it will be enriched and transformed by its working-class history, toughness and ingenuity.”

The people cheered.

The Fiat Group, which now owns Chrysler, in that commercial run during the Super Bowl, reminded us of who we are here in Detroit. It showed the fist of Joe Louis, the sweat of the workers, the grit of the city, the multiculturalism of our masses, and the spiritual connectivity with our rhythm-and-blues, jazz and hip-hop roots.

We, the people of Detroit, will make the future. That does not have to be imported.

Detroit’s Grassroots Economies

Detroiters are redefining “economy.” Throughout the 20th century, companies comprising Detroit’s industrial economy provided jobs to people who bought things and paid taxes to government, which provided services. In Detroit’s grassroots economy, which has evolved over many decades, people are creating their own jobs and exchanging local resources directly. Communities are solving basic economic and human problems collectively. At the same time, they are producing new knowledge and resources, restoring relationships across generations, and healing neighborhoods.

Does a Movement Need a Name?

This is a must see.

This video series features a conversation between four women activists in Detroit, Michigan. As organizers rooted in work in Detroit, they also see the connections between the local and the global. Though they represent different backgrounds, generations, and organizing experiences, each is committed to building collaborative movements and alternative systems.

Click here for all the videos. Again, this is a must see.

Down on the farm in Bay View

In the open, light-filled space of a repurposed factory, Will Allen, a towering urban farmer and CEO in a sleeveless hoodie, declared, “Urban farming has gone from a movement to a revolution.” Allen made this observation July 8, when he was present to watch the newest members of the revolution-1,200 small yellow perch-arrive at Sweet Water Organics.

Click here for article

East People’s Festival – Calling All Artists!

Greetings!

We would like to invite you and fellow artists you know across the city of Detroit to participate in the Eastside Peoples Festival Saturday, June 11, 2011 from 10am – 3pm.

This invitation is especially to artists who have or make available audio CD’s or DVD’s of their performance work that can be sold (all performing and spoken word artists, as well as digital media artists), and to artists with work to sell in the textile arts, mechanical arts, and graphic arts (painters, printscreeners, and apparel/printmakers).

We are a group of community focused organizations and interfaith congregations who have planned this festival to celebrate all that is good and positive about the Eastside community, and build our relationships with one another.

If you choose to participate, you will have the following for FREE:

**One-half of an 8′ table to display and offer your art for sale for FREE.

**An opportunity to perform at the festival for FREE

FREE food and drink.

**If you would like to be added to the performance schedule, we can talk with you about that also. We need to confirm your attendance/participation, as well as the time you will arrive and leave the festival.

Please contact Carmen Rembert, Iroquois Christ Lutheran Church, at either rembertcrew@yahoo.com, or (313) 921-2667. You may leave a message at the church and someone will contact you.

Thank you, and we look forward to your helping us make this event a success to unify and rebuild our community.

Eastside People’s Gathering June 11th

Fault Lines (Aljazeera) Video on Detroit’s Hope and Future

Feedom Freedom Growers Roundtable Discussion

Food among the ruins

Were I an aspiring farmer in search of fertile land to buy and plow, I would seriously consider moving to Detroit. There is open land, fertile soil, ample water, willing labor, and a desperate demand for decent food. And there is plenty of community will behind the idea of turning the capital of American industry into an agrarian paradise. In fact, of all the cities in the world, Detroit may be best positioned to become the world’s first one hundred percent food self-sufficient city.

Click here for full article

From bakery rises a fellowship

If you want to see what love of community looks like, take a stroll down the 400 block of West Willis between Cass and Second.

There, you’ll find a piece of pride that community warriors staked out years ago. These small businesses, which include Avalon Breads, Revolution Books and the gift and bookstores in the Spiral Collective, are evidence that Detroit is a roller coaster, not a race. There are ups and downs, but the village keeps going, sometimes stopping to get new riders, sometimes stopping for repairs, but always going.

It takes a village

The neighborhood calls itself West Willis Village, a collection of green-collar workers, 21st-Century hippies and cultural champions on a block that’s the closest thing to a funky New York Greenwich Village street that you’ll find within 10 miles of City Hall. And they’re having a party.

The block will host a celebration from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday honoring the 12th anniversary of Avalon Breads, which offers customers organic and healthy goodies and great coffee; the resilience of Revolution Books, first resident on the block; and other businesses that include Flo Boutique, Goodwells Natural Food, the Re:View Contemporary Art Gallery, Dell Pryor Gallery, Source Booksellers, Curl Up and Dye, and Tulani Rose, the accessories and well-being gift store. They also are celebrating that Textures by Nefertiti, one of the city’s only styling salons exclusively for locks, has opened its new body, mind and spirit hair spa one block away.

Jackie Victor, co-owner of Avalon with Ann Perrault, remembers the early days.

A Detroit native, she graduated from the University of Michigan in 1988 and moved to the city to support James and Grace Boggs’ campaign to rejuvenate Detroit.

“I said it would be cool to have a bakery in the neighborhood,” said Victor. So she and Perrault moved to northern Michigan and worked for $7 an hour at an artisan bakery owned by a former Coleman Young appointee.

“We did that a whole summer … 1:30a.m. until 9:30 a.m.,” she said.

They met breadheads, local dough aficionados who taught them a thing or two about flavor. They wrote a business plan, got funded by a Buddhist priest and came back to Detroit. Two years later, a guy named Z opened a clothing store called Jambalaya and a village was born. Jambalaya became Flo, the Spiral opened and the block developed a following. A decade later, the block is thriving, and the bakery is committed to permanence.

True urban renewal

“We really had hoped it would be an oasis of healing and compassion in a world that is sorely in need,” Victor said. “That’s our customer service mission statement. It’s not perfect. People are very forgiving of our imperfection and yet people seem to draw a disproportionate amount of inspiration and energy and joy from it.”

It hasn’t always been easy. Victor recalled a time when she and Perrault almost gave up. They were having drinks to discuss closing when a woman walked up and said, ‘Can I just tell you guys something? Do you know that sometimes you guys are the reason I stay in Detroit?’ We said, ‘OK, that’s just crazy … and we scrapped the conversation.

“To see seven new businesses emerge on the block over 12 years, to see hundreds of new residential apartments and townhouses emerge, to see the neighborhood really take on a renewed life, it’s gratifying.”

Avalon — and the other businesses on the block — plan to keep it that way.

“We always pay our employees. We always pay our taxes. That’s our definition of success. It’s a keeper.”

From Chaos to Community

Eat, shop, celebrate and get involved in dialogue to help improve our community.

The National Lawyers Guild and the National Conference of Black Lawyers will present a free to the public political awareness event to be held on Saturday, February 6, 2010 from noon to 5pm.

The event, “From Chaos to Community,” will commemorate Black History Month and serve as a venue for which community members can speak out on oppression issues. It will be held at the International Institute Hall of Nations and will include food & art vendors, music, poetry, and political action tabling.

The focus of the event will be on three topics that people of color in the Detroit area continue to face; police brutality, political incarceration, youth and community violence. Dialog facilitators will include;

• Kwasi Akwamu-H.O.P.E. (Helping Our Prisoners Elevate)
• Jeffrey Edison-National Conference of Black Lawyers
• Rich Feldman-Detroit City of Hope
• Jeffrey Haas-Attorney and Author of “The Assassination of Fred Hampton”
• Sandra Hines-Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality, MECAWI and Moratorium Now!
• Julie Hurwitz-Civil Rights Attorney, Goodman & Hurwitz, P.C.
• Raphael Johnson-Community activist
• Cora Rene Mitchell-mother of slain Robert Mitchell
• Tijuana Morris-Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality
• Pun Plamondon-Author, activist & former political prisoner
• Ahmed Rahman-Community activist
• Ron Scott-National Lawyers Guild & Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality
• Yusef Shakur-Community Activist & Founder of the Urban Network Bookstore
• Joe Williams-New Creation Community Outreach
• Rev. Charles Williams-Founder and president of the Mary Church Terrell
• Council for Community Empowerment and the president of Detroit – National Action Network

Poets performing at the event include,

• Aurora Harris
• Wardell Montgomery, Jr.
• and Pitch Black with Ivy Riley and Millard Porter

Music will be provided by Khary Frazier and there will also be a showing of the short film, “The Black Panther.”

Future City Media Workshops

The Detroit Digital Justice Coalition presents:
Future City Media Workshops

Offering FREE 22 week workshops in:
Audio / Graphics / Video / Web
…Education / Grassroots organizing / Entrepreneurship

OPEN HOUSE INFORMATION SESSION: WEDNESDAY, FEB 16TH, 7-9PM
@ ALLIED MEDIA PROJECTS 4126 THIRD AVE

The Future City Media Workshops are 22 week trainings for Detroiters interested in building a community media economy and an awesome future for Detroit. The workshops will offer advanced training in audio, video, graphics, and web design skills. They will also offer training in digital media education and entrepreneurship. Participants will graduate with the unique skill sets necessary to train other Detroiters in digital media, create their own jobs, foster cooperative forms of community wealth creation, and support media-based community organizing for a better Detroit!

The Detroit Digital Justice Coalition is comprised of people and organizations in Detroit who believe that communication is a fundamental human right. We are securing that right through activities that are grounded in the digital justice principles of: access, participation, common ownership, and healthy communities.

YOU SHOULD APPLY IF YOU:

▲*have some experience in creating digital media.
▲*have some experience in teaching -or- have some small business experience.
▲*are between the ages of 18-80.
▲*are dedicated to creating a community media economy and an awesome future for Detroit.

Space is limited.
If you have any questions, contact: joe @alliedmedia.org
To apply, visit: www.alliedmedia.org/futurecity

ALLIEDMEDIA.ORG
DETROITDJC.ORG
RECOVERY.GOV

Grace Lee Boggs – Sustainable Activism in Ann Arbor

Grace Lee Boggs discusses Detroit’s history and future

This latest video is from the hogpath blog and wraps up an interview series from November of 2008.

Green Detroit: Why the City Is Ground Zero for the Sustainability Movement

From AlterNet-

Ignore the mainstream media. Detroit is not about architectural ruins. The people are re-imagining their city in fresh and courageous ways and there is a lot to learn from them.

Read the full article here

Growing Green in Detroit- Christian Science Monitor

A Rust Belt city discovers the benefits of urban gardening.

Growing Power’s National-International Urban & Small Farm Conference

September 10 – 12th 2010

Come to Milwaukee and help grow the good food revolution. Hosted by Growing Power—a national organization headed by the sustainable urban farmer and MacArthur Fellow Will Allen—this international conference will teach the participant how to plan, develop and grow small farms in urban and rural areas. Learn how you can grow food year-round, no matter what the climate, and how you can build markets for small farms. See how you can play a part in creating a new food system that fosters better health and more closely-knit communities.

Click here for more information.

Grown In Detroit documentary

Grown in Detroit: Teen Moms Become Urban Farmers (Mascha & Manfred Poppenk; Netherlands)

The home town of mass production is turning green again. The decline of the American auto industry has turned one of the nations wealthiest cities into one of the poorest. Nature has taken over abandoned lots, and the city is ‘greening’ from within. This new landscape is creating opportunities and hope for the city and its residents. Land that was used for farming a century ago has again been cultivated, this time by the urban farmer. This inspiring and well made documentary tells the story of a group of young women who are changing their individual futures and the future of the city.

Visit the website here to watch the film online. In order to do so, however, you must contact the producers at mail@filmmij.nl to receive log-in information.

Hane Barbe is running for the Michigan state senate dist # 2

Find out more at hans2010.com

Happy 94th, Grace Lee Boggs

It isn’t what she said — I couldn’t hear her well standing in the back of the room. It was what others said about Grace Lee Boggs, revered activist, that moved me during her 94th birthday celebration last night.

A motley crowd, indeed. Young and older. People from the city, suburbs and way across the water. Lawyers, rappers, students. Musicians, students, pastors, journalists. Families. Teachers. Activists, for sure.

They were all at Central United Methodist Church in Detroit for Boggs.

The man in front of me: “That’s an honor for all these people to come. When I told my mother where I was going, she said, ‘Ooooooo, that’s an honor.’”

A woman who no longer lives in Detroit and who hasn’t seen Grace in 26 years: “I just got back from China six days ago for a first-ever conference for women’s studies and her name was evoked three times while I was there.”

My friend, who said this as we walked in: “I’m just glad to be in the same room with her.” She tweeted — good grief — about it the whole time. Final tweet: “Just had the pleasure of meeting Mrs. Boggs. This is a good day.”

Guest speaker Danny Glover, the actor and activist: “I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else. Thank you for being a part of my life.”

Heal Detroit Cleans Up Detroit, Block by Block: “The Takeover”

Group Emphasizes Cooperation over Confrontation

Heal Detroit will launch its second community restoration event:

Heal Detroit Clean-Up Campaign

“The Takeover”
Saturday, August 7^th, 2010
9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Palmer Park Community Picnic
3:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Pontchartrain Drive & Seven Mile Road
The clean-up will occur in the following neighborhoods:

• Grand River/Greenfield/Fenkell
• Southeastern Detroit
• Old Westside
• Seven Mile/Van Dyke
• State Fair/I-75
• Seven Mile/Evergreen/Greenfield
• Southwest Detroit
• Puritan/Martin Park
• Brightmoor
• Mack/Bewick
• Highland Park
• Zone 8

“If the city is to change and violence is to abate, we must start from the bottom up,” said organizer Lakeisha Harris. That’s why we as citizens of Detroit are taking the lead to change the physical and cultural atmosphere in our city.”

Following the tragic shootings of 7-year-old Aiyana Stanley Jones and 17-year-old Jerean Blake, and the issuance of a call to a community-wide response to violence by Detroit-based entertainer Al Nuke and organizer Lakeisha Harris, Heal Detroit came together last month to initiate a march that drew more than 500 people who walked from the east and west sides of Seven Mile Road to converge at Palmer Park for a rally focused on peace-making throughout Detroit. The group consists of citizens and numerous community-based organizations. The groups “Urban Network,” “It Takes a Village Y’all,” and “Peace Zones 4 Life,” will serve as co-sponsors for the event.

Heal Detroit invites community organizations and businesses alike throughout the city to the clean-up and picnic. For more information, contact Lakeisha Harris at 313.974.5932.

Healing Through Community

Healing Through Community
An Interview with Yusef Shakur
Adele Nieves

The whole fucking community is in the prison system; everybody knows somebody who’s been locked up. if we think that’s the solution, we’re twisted.

You wrote your book based on your nine-year prison sentence. Tell us how you wound up in the “belly of the beast,” as you put it, and why you decided to write the book. I was convicted of assault with intent to rob. It was my second offense as an adult, and was ignited from the gang culture I was involved in (Zone 8). Some of my homeboys went to a local school and jumped some guys. The police didn’t know the perpetrators, but they knew it was a gang.

The local gang squad investigated the case, and when they looked at the list of gang members, my name was on top of the list. I had a long history with one of the detectives, and one of the people assaulted was his nephew, so all the cards were against me.

Click here to read more.

Heidelberg Project Fundraiser

Click here for PDF download and form.

How one woman is re-imagining the possibilities of living, working, and building a sustainable Detroit

In Detroit, Joblessness Spurs Reinventions of Concept of Work

By Olga Bonfiglio

It was a serendipitous weekend of soul-searching, collaboration, information sharing and problem solving as activists “occupied” Detroit, one of the world’s most de-industrialized cities, to re-imagine “work” and ways it can reinvigorate local communities.

Over 300 participants from around the country converged on the Focus: Hope facility October 28-30 to address the nation’s accelerating decline of the jobs-based industrial economy, where over 14 million Americans are unemployed and another 9.3 million hold “involuntary part-time” jobs, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“We never anticipated Occupy Wall Street or the Arab Spring when we planned this conference,” said Richard Feldman, from the Boggs Center to Nurture Community Leadership. “Nevertheless, we are here to show the world that Detroit is the place where we can imagine what the 21st century can look like.”

Activists in Detroit have been preparing for change long before this year’s revolutionary wave of demonstrations and protests in the Middle East, Europe and Occupy Wall Street. Neighborhood leaders were among the first to promote urban gardens, and they started re-visioning the concept of “work” two decades ago when it became obvious that globalization was taking a toll on jobs.

Read the entire article here.

International Women’s Day

Is William Martinez not our Brother?

20 years of the Prison Creative Arts Project

Join University of Michigan professor and Prison Creative Arts Project (PCAP) founder Buzz Alexander and Detroit artists and activists for an evening of story telling and community dialogue bearing witness to the human costs of mass incarceration in Michigan.

Responding panel:

• Ron Scott, Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality
• Natalie Holbrook, American Friends Service Committee Criminal Justice Program
• Mary Heinen, Prison Creative Arts Project
• Ana Lyra Sis, Community Artist and PCAP Participant

Thursday, December 9th at 7:00pm
Leopold’s Books

The Park Shelton
15 E Kirby St.
Detroit MI, 48202

Www.leopoldsbooks.com

313-875-4677

Prisons are an invisible, but dominant, part of American society: the United States incarcerates more people than any other nation in the world, with 25 percent of the world’s prisoners currently held within its borders. Is William Martinez Not Our Brother? describes the Prison Creative Arts Project and its work giving incarcerated individuals an opportunity to participate in the arts, enabling them to withstand and often overcome the conditions and culture of prison, the policies of an incarcerating state, and the consequences of mass incarceration.

For more information contact Amit Weitzer at amit.weitzer@gmail.com or visit www.leopoldsbook.com

It’s Not all About the Benjamin’s, Baby

from Huffington Post Detroit

by Blair Nosan, Oren Goldenberg, Eitan Sussman, Amit Weitzer, Miriam Liebman, Dana Applebaum, and Zak Rosen.

Since Toby Barlow’s post, “‘Detroit,’ Meet Detroit,” followed by Rabbi Jason Miller’s subsequent response, there has been much discussion about both pieces, and what it means to talk about Detroit productively.

Looking Back

We are not writing to argue over who is a ‘real’ Detroiter and who is not, nor who is and is not going to save Detroit. We are more interested in unpacking our region’s history with a critical eye. We do this not to bring up bitter memories, or to point fingers, but because as young people raised in West Bloomfield, Farmington Hills, Huntington Woods, and Ann Arbor, now living in Detroit, we’ve come to believe that the way we understand and relate to our history very much informs our perspectives on Detroit’s present and future.

Rabbi Miller’s piece calls attention to pivotal chapters in Detroit’s history that have created many disparities between individual perspectives. Coleman Young’s mayoral reign and the uprising of July 1967 are both frequently cited as the cause for the metro region’s segregation. But these events do not stand apart from history. They sprang from the indelible and deep wound institutionalized racism had on the city’s Black population.

In the instance of the ’67 uprising, the clashing started when Detroit police officers raided an after-hours unlicensed club, where a party celebrating the return of Black Vietnam veterans was taking place. The uprising was, in many ways, a counteraction against the brutal Detroit police force, who many considered to be an occupying army at the time, committing countless acts of brutality. It was, according to many people we’ve met and respect, a moment of righteous indignation. While the riots were, for many Detroiters, a fearful moment in history, to others, the events that occurred during the summer of 1967 were in fact a rebellion.

And though Coleman Young drew hard lines between the city and the suburbs, it serves us well to recall that it wasn’t the mayor of Detroit who built a physical wall along 8 Mile. It was a developer in the 1940s who wanted to build homes for white families but skirt the federal government’s reluctance to back mortgages in the neighborhoods with too many homes owned by Blacks. The Young administration didn’t institute the racist lending guidelines that made it all but impossible for Blacks to secure a mortgage on a home in the suburbs — it was the same Federal Housing Administration that allowed for the building of a six-foot high wall to separate Black and white neighborhoods so that perceived integration did not drag down market rates.

When we fail to honestly discuss the multitude of histories that led us to the present, it becomes difficult to understand why Detroit is the way it is. That’s why we’re inspired and excited about the region’s recently initiated Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a process that aims “to examine the context, causes and consequences of structural and institutional racism in the region. By understanding and coming to terms with the forces generating the patterns of racial privilege and oppression that hold us all back, we can create a more just, equal and prosperous future for all.”

Looking Forward

Development in Detroit is experiencing another “renaissance,” and Rabbi Miller’s piece calls our attention to two very different visions of Detroit’s future. While the Truth and Reconciliation Commission strives to create a more just and equal future through cross-cultural dialogue and truth telling, Rabbi Miller represents another common sentiment — that bringing more people, and thus, more dollars to the city will lead to Detroit’s “rebirth.” Yet, it is clear to us that the city never died, nor did disinvestment alone create the city’s problems, and thus money alone cannot fix them.

Development centered on wealth creation has led to housing incentives and marketing campaigns aimed at bringing the young “creative class” to Detroit. As long-time residents are losing their homes, wealthy donors and anchor institutions are subsidizing rent for newcomers. When we value new individuals and institutions over long-time residents and small businesses, we deepen the socio-economic and racial gaps that have long divided us. Additionally, we miss an incredible opportunity to realize the mutual benefits of collectively growing a city on principles of justice and stewardship, and to prioritize community knowledge over financially backed power.

Yes, the city needs money, a bigger tax base, and a diverse population. However, when money isn’t explicitly tied to the public good, we’re not really talking about renaissance. A true renaissance would be moving in a new direction, as a city and a region, and learning finally to value all voices, from West Grand Boulevard to West Bloomfield, and acknowledging that we need to grow our relationships with each other as much as we need to grow our financial base. While wealthy suburbanites may be buying buildings downtown and funding state-of-the-art education facilities, public libraries are closing and public service workers are being laid off in droves.

Metro-Detroiters of all stripes need to acknowledge that having a stake in our region means more than spurring economic growth. It requires learning and unlearning all the ways we’ve all built walls around the city, and around ourselves. And furthermore, it means, acknowledging and celebrating the amazing, creative, and effective work that’s been taking place in neighborhoods across the city for many years. Throughout the city, Detroiters old and young are busy growing a local, sustainable food system, nurturing a new education paradigm, and creating social enterprises that build community and capital. These are the projects that inspire us to live and work in Detroit.

Join with the Boggs Center and Celebrate Grace’s 95th Birthday at the USSF

Click here for PDF download.

Julia Putnam featured in YES! Magazine’s fall issue

“A Lifelong Search for a Real Education”

Julia Putnam discusses her educational experiences through Detroit Summer in the most recent issue of YES! Magazine.

She has also written an introduction in the re-issued The American Revolution: Pages From A Negro Worker’s Notebook (James Boggs), which can be purchased on the Boggs Center store online.

July 31, 2011The passing of a great Poet from Detroit – BLAIR.

Come celebrate the life of our beloved Blair this Sunday, July 31, 2011.

We want to give Blair back some of the love and life he gave to all of us. We are going to send him off with a 2nd Line Jazz funeral and we invite you to come mourn and celebrate.

1pm: Please gather on the corner of Cass and MLK/Mack. We will march down Cass to the Unitarian Universalist Church (UU)/Cass Corridor Commons at 4605 Cass on the corner of Forest. Percussion instruments are welcome to join in this march.
2pm: Life Celebration at the UU church/Cass Corridor Commons
3pm: We will 2nd Line March back out into the street and let Detroit hear us celebrate.
3:30pm: Community Potluck at Memorial Hall at the UU/Cass Corridor Commons. Please bring a dish. (To find out what is still needed for the potluck give Priscilla a call at 313-492-0000)
4pm Open Mic and Film Screenings ongoing

* David Blair Memorial Fund*
Donations are still needed. please give what you can and spread the word. Donations can be made at www.dBlair.org

* New Jersey Memorial Services*

A date has not been set for the New Jersey service. As soon as information is available it will be posted.

* You Can Send Condolences and mail donations to*

To the Family of David Blair 100 Swartswood Rd / APt 136/ Newton, NJ 07860

To the Detroit Family 812 Blaine St / Detroit, MI / 48202

We lost one of the areas most profound artists the other day. Probably a victim of the oppressive summer heat, the young and talented poet and songwriter, BLAIR, left our midst without notice at 43 years old. Way too young to die, Blair was prepared to contribute to our lives much more relevant cultural work that we all needed.

Unique, courageous and talented are words that decribe this young singer/guitarist who chose the route of Œfolk¹ music when it wasn¹t the typical choice for an African American at this particular time in history. He began performing with the likes of legendary Josh White Jr. and Robert B. Jones, artists that knew the powerful impact music can make in our society. He did many things, uncategorizable and daring, a renaissance man for sure.

I was deeply moved by his love poem about Detroit that he recited recently at the Grace Boggs Dinner. We worked together a few times over the years, but I wish I knew him more personally, I had intended to get to that point some day. There are many fans who are deeply saddened. I¹m sorry if you didn¹t know this person. He was a jewel. I¹m sure you¹ll hear much more about this sweet and gentle poet, a searcher for truth, a lover of life, who left us much too early.

In the meantime, please check out his website and help spread the name of this true people¹s artist.

Bill Meyer

http://www.seriousartists.com/blair.html
Detroit, While I Was Away
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54opPO7svK4

Justice for Robert Mitchell & Peace Zones for Life

Dear Boggs Board and DCOH friends,
Last evening was an historic event. For the first time in my life, the paradigm shift from protest and opposition to transformation, resistance and alternatives occurred in the presence of 150 to 200 people (many young and most from the community) as people marched from the park to the home where Robert was killed, to 8 mile, into Warren and then returned.

This is my understanding and may not be based upon a larger historical context. I remember marching with We Pros and Save our Sons and Daughter against violence, Down with Dope and Up with Hope in the 1980s. I remember planting tress in front of the homes or at the sites of where people had been killed by violence.

This event has emerged from the “tenacity” and dedication of a group of people struggling against police brutality for more than a decade and came to the conclusion that there was a need to create community and peace zones for life while working for justice in and accountability.

Ron, the coalition, friends and the family of Robert Mitchell did somethign different on this day: May 21, 2009.

The Demands were clear:
Justice for Robert Mitchel
Create a Detroit-Warren Peace Zone for Life
End the use of Tassers
Prosecution the POlice Officers

The tone was set by Ron, Scott, Sandra and Yuseef Shaku (from Hush House) who said: put the neighbor back in the hood, this is about life, ending the anger, becoming and creating community, caring for each other. This was truly about “ending the war on Mack” and also making it clear to the authorities that the communities of Detroit and Warren would take responsibility for creating peace, ending the violence and ending the police brutality. This was about a community saying: “we are responsible to make the change” and we will turn our pain and tragedy into community building ,transformation so our children and young people have a future.

The leadership by the family, Cora Renee Mitchell (mother of Robert) who has worked on her own painful journey and the support of other famileis who have had been victims of police violence or community violence came to support this event. This was a space where voices of life and dedication and hope were heard.

In the process of the march, the chants changed and the paradigm changed.
While some folks chanted:
“No Justice! No Peace” the group also chanted:
What do we want? Justice!
What do we need? Peace!

Peace Zones for Life! Peace Zones for Life!

Put the neighbor back in the hood!–

There were organizations present, NAACP, Lawyers Guild, Green Party, Young Democrats, President of Local 909 (came out on crutches to speak) Rep, from Conyers office, a large group of young people who were playing basketball joined the march. We needed a few more young people to speak or rap or do some spoken. Andrew met a young woman from the community who has been part of City Year. Barbara and Larry were also present. Larry suggested that we make up signs: Justice for Robert Mitchell: Create Detroit Warren Peace Zones for Life Posters: Peace Zone for Life- and place them in the front windows of homes.
As Ron pointed out on an early morning phone call, there was no mention of race (except the BAMN signs) but the fact that folks know in their heart that racism exists, know about the history of Warren Police, this was about Justice that could only come about through ttransforming ourselves, becoming more human, ending the violence, creating different ways and tools for people to care for each other. Robert Mitchell’s mother said: Sop running from the cops, end the B&E’s, let’s take care of each other.

Larry took some great pictures and the DCOH Banner lead the march through the community. To have a banner that says; Detroit City of Hope (we need one that says: Create Peace Zones for Life- added to this historic day.

I was honored and humbled by the mothers, the teens, the young people and the friends that came out for this gathering.
May 19th was Malcom’s birthday and both Malcolm and Martin would be honored to see that we are all works in progress and we all are working to change ourselves, create community and do the hard work necessary to show that Another Detroit is Happening!

Rich Feldman

Kwanzaa time

Please join Mack Alive in celebrating Kwanzaa this year! Pastor Skip Wachsmann of Genesis Lutheran Church will be honored on the second day of Kwanzaa – Kujichagulia (Self-determination), Monday, December 27, 2010, 7 p.m. at Saunders Memorial AME Church – 3542 Pennsylvania (Corner of Mack Ave).

LAMP 2010 Media Project

Join LAMP in celebrating the 2010 media project. Saturday October 16 at the CCNDC Community Center 3535 Cass ave enter through the back. From 11am- 5pm

The main event is the tour of our murals, see how we created them and see how they’re a true multimedia project. We have limited space so to reserve a space email info@detroitsummer.org with who and how many people. please be at location by 11:45 tour departs at noon

If you can’t join us for the tour then come by afterward at 2:00pm where we’ll have food, an auction for prints of the murals, a presentation of the program with the organizations and people we partnered with, and live performances.

The best part is this event is free! and donations are always accepted.

Lessons Learned from the 30th Anniversary Commemoration of the Greensboro Massacre

Tell no lies…claim no easy victories.
Amilcar Carbral

Constructive criticism is a prerequisite for self & organizational development, but don’t be critical of me if you don’t have my best interest at heart.
Yusef Bunchy Shakur

As a 36 year old Black man in Amerikkka, my experience of traveling to Greensboro, North Carolina (which was my first time ever going down south) was like a little boy taking a trip down south to visit relatives. Unfortunately, for Black males in urban Amerikkka that trip going down south is no longer a ritual and has been replaced with a new ritual of taking a trip up north to modern day slave camps: PRISONS. That is a harsh reality, which is a by-product of the social, political, educational, cultural, spiritual and economic decay that is at the root of manufacturing human decay in urban Amerikkka. Urban environments in Amerikkka resemble that of Third World Countries, or as Professor Carl S. Taylor of Michigan State University states, Is nothing but Third World Cities.

During the 12 hour drive from Detroit to Greensboro, I felt so relaxed and relieved…it was the first time in a long time that I wasn’t anticipating some phone call, rushing to get to a meeting only to leave that meeting to rush to get to another meeting, or doing everything for everybody else and not finding any time in the day for myself. When we finally arrived at our living quarters, my comrads and I all dispersed to our sleeping areas. We were all excited to be in Greensboro and passionately anticipated to attend the conference. When morning arrived we decided to leave a little early to make sure we arrived early for the conference. During the drive from Detroit to Greensboro, the eight of us immediately began to bond. When we arrived at the conference, the Detroit collective had a glow about us that was shining as bright as the sun.

The first person we saw as we entered the church where the conference was taking place was Nelson Johnson. He instantly recognized Bill, and stopped what he was doing to share a brief conversation with us before the conference began. Nelson shared with us that the people of Greensboro had been dealt a severe blow with the defeat of the then-present Mayor and certain City Council members, which he felt directly resulted from their political support of the efforts to keep the memory of the1979 massacre alive. Even though he was disturbed by the defeat, you could just sense that that would not stop him from continuing to fight the good fight. After hearing this news my mind began to think about the elections in Detroit, that the Mayor (who I had the [dis}-pleasure of meeting during his run for Mayor, which at the time I attempted to give him one of my books, but he told me he didn’t have time to read such a book) that was elected was more concerned about corporate Detroit than downtrodden Detroit, and how certain people had been hoodwinked and bamboozled by electing City Council members because of name recognition instead of individuals who had the work experience to be effective in serving the people of Detroit. I carefully listened to Nelson as he briefly recognized the importance of establishing and cultivating relationships with certain City officials who may express a desire to go beyond their call of duty as a City official, but also being a servant of the people. It was important for me to hear this, and examine what he was saying because of the attention I attract from certain City officials as a community leader actively involved in the community.

During the first day of the conference, we watched a documentary that highlighted the killing by the Klan, and how the Greensboro police arrived afterwards only to arrest those who had survived the bloody massacre. Even though I knew what I was watching was real, my mind still could not comprehend that they had been openly murdered. I instantly began to think back to Detroit and reflect on the recent murder of the Imam by the FBI, where he was shot over 18 times. Connecting the past to the present boldly reminded me of the bloody acts of the FBI COINTELPRO, including murdering FREEDOM FIGTERS as well as FALSELY incarcerated them. The only crime these heroes committed was that they were REVOLUTIONARIES committed to REVOLUTION on Amerikkka soil. The lessons from the past to the present were so clear; that those in power will never relinquish their power without a fight, and that they are willing to fight till the death

Once the documentary ended, those who had survived the massacre were asked to recount that bloody day. Each one of them gave a vivid account of November 3, 1979, that had left us all speechless. When Paul Bermanzohn spoke (who had actually survived gun shot wounds from that bloody day that left him partially paralyzed on one side of his body), his testimony was not only of being a survivor from the massacre, but that we must continue to resist oppression by any means! This was so inspiring to me that my commitment to the struggle was renewed in a way that I felt he was talking directly to me. Not only did I feel like he was passing his torch, but he was saying I will still struggle and fight with you. I felt connected to him and the struggle, and more importantly I felt the obligation to continue the struggle. I was so deeply moved by what Paul had shared, that I gave him a signed copy of my Memoir to show the appreciation, love and respect I had for him. I remember experiencing something like this, when I attended the 10th anniversary of the Million Man March where I had met the legendary Cicero Love. I had no idea of who Cicero Love was. While we were on the bus on the way to Washington, I had been sitting next to Cicero, and somehow we began to talk about the history of the movement in Detroit, and he shared with me that he had been involved in the movement for over 40 years in Detroit through different organizations. He even mentioned to me that he was part of a task force that was sent to New York to investigate the murder of Malcolm X. I couldn’t believe that I was actually sitting next to someone, and holding a conversation with that person, about things I had read religiously. As I was impressed with him, he was as equally as impressed with me…to see that I was a student of history and an aspiring revolutionary.

The struggle for social justice must be continued but it only can be continued if it is passed down from generation to generation, that way the lessons that need to be learned can be effectively taught, instead of wondering and pondering have they been learned, and when those mistakes of the past are repeated then we realized they have not been learned or generations after generations are left to find their own way through the maze of oppression. Sure I am well read on the protracted struggle in Amerikkka, however those two examples above had re-enforced everything I had every read. Reading from a book is fine, but it is nothing like receiving first hand knowledge from someone who had lived it, and can share the wisdom from living it. That is crucial in the transformational struggle that is taking place because it gives transformational education of examples to be learnt from. More importantly as the great George Jackson wrote: I refuse to allow future generations to curse me, as I curse those before me. It is imperative that the elder generation engage the younger generation, in cultivating the passing of the torch. I was glad to see in Greensboro that this was taking place.

After an intense period of sharing potent information throughout the conference, we finally broke to go eat dinner before the next two events took place, which the first was a marched with college students to a museum to view another movie about the Greensboro massacre. As we all departed from the church to go the restaurant to eat, everybody began to jump into different cars and I found myself driving with Nelson. I immediately began asking him different questions to pick his brain, to learn as much as I could in that short period of time. After I could not think of anymore questions he began to ask me questions, and I briefly shared with him my journey and he responded by saying he had wished he read my book before we came (Bill had sent a copy of my book to him). I was so honored to spend that brief time with Nelson, because he is a down to earth type of person that relates to you in away that you feel connected to him and want to be apart of what he is doing. His leadership style is that of Early Wheeler and General Baker, who both are out of Highland Park, which I met early in my development when I was a Head Start teacher in Highland Park. I remember when I first met Mr. Wheeler, and he did not hesitate to share with me his travels throughout the world, and General Baker shared we me about going to Cuba and meeting Che and how he helped organize a sit-in at Highland Park Community College. What all these men have in common to me is a valley type-of-leadership that is needed in rebuilding our communities and reclaiming our families, but instead we have mountain type-of-leadership that keeps us confused to overstanding our shit-uation.

Once we were done eating, we departed for the museum to watch the movie. The theater was packed with college students. The one thing that stood out to me about the movie was the part, when certain members of the survivors were together one summer at a beach just having all types of fun together. Out of their ordeal they were able to cultivate family ties amongst each other, which provided them with the necessary strength, support and love to continue to live despite what they had been through and what they were continual to go through as a result of being survivors from the massacre.

As the movie was going on I notice a Latino brotha enter the theater, which I immediately thought that was Jorge Cornell/King J the leader of the Almighty Latin Kings and Queens Nation, with whom I was I selected to do a workshop the next day with. I got up and introduced myself to him, and we briefly talked where he shared with me his disappoint of not winning a seat in the City Council race, but at that moment an instant bond between the two of was born.

After leaving the museum we got back to our living quarters kind of late. I was exhausted because we were getting so much information throughout the day, that I immediately went to bed to digest it. When morning arrived we followed our same routine of leaving early to arrive early. When we got there Bill was approached by one of the organizers, and after talking with her he came over to me and asked me would I mind filling in for King J to be one of the presenters during the “Healing Circle” because they were unsure if he would make it.

I thought the day before was real intense at the conference, being apart of the “Healing Circle” took it to another level. Listening to the relatives of those who had been murdered and survived the massacre hit an emotional cord in all of us that put things in a human perspective that as human beings that we take for granted. As things progressed in the “Healing Circle” King J had arrived to share his story, which I was excited to hear. He shared with us why he felt the need to start the Almighty Latin Kings and Queens Nation in Greensboro, which was a direct result of the police harassment of Latinos. As a result of his community organizing to politicizing Latino youth he became public enemy number 1 and had been charged over 20 times for trumped-up charges, with the result of those charges being either dismissed or him being found not guilty. Then he shared with us were an attempt on his life had been made, which he believe was made by the police in Greensboro. Instead of been left on a island by himself to face the harassment by the police, Nelson along with other pastors and community leaders wrapped their arms around him to stand with him to demand justice and the harassment stop. I believe it was sincere support because they overstood the history of the Greensboro police from the lessons they learned from 1979. I immediately told King J I wish I could get the type of support from religious leaders and community leaders in Detroit like he do in Greensboro.

In Detroit there is an abundant of elitism leadership that has suffocated this City to its death bed, that is a reflection of certain religious, activist, business, conscious community and political leaders that only operate in their little circle(s) and if you are not part one of these circles you find yourself on the outside looking in, and the only time you are invited to be apart of one of these elite circles, if they see that they can benefit from you. Despite this reactionary leadership, and me having much TEFLON SKIN I have been able to find my way as one the most energetic leaders to emerge in Detroit in along time. A close comrad of mine shared with me a biblical scripture: “a prophet is not honored in his own home.” Those few words have stuck with me as I have traveled to cities outside of Detroit, and the people in these different cities have showered me with so much love, that I have began to question myself is it worth putting up with all the bullshit in Detroit? At those low points in my life, thoughts begin to emerge in mind of all the people in Detroit who are depending on me, and found some type of hope, inspiration and dignity from the things that I am doing on a grassroots/ground zero level, that I find the strength to continue to struggle

The unique thing about attending the conference in Greensboro, the atmosphere for me wasn’t one where I had to prove anything to anybody. They accepted me as if I was a family member. When I was asked to participate in the Healing Circle, I felt so honored. But as we progress in the Healing Circle there wasn’t enough time for me to share my story. I was cool with that and again I was just honored to be there. However, the anticipation of wanting to hear my story amongst the people influenced the organizers to alter the conference after lunch where we would all come back together in the Healing Circle, so I could share my story. That was one of the most powerful experiences in my young life, and it re-enforced in my mind the type of leadership that is necessary to lead the people, which is one that has to be flexible, innovative, honesty and has its finger on the pulse of the people.

Then there was a dinner event that we attended in Greensboro with the pastors, to discuss the dynamics of the U.S.S.F that will be held in Detroit in June of 2010. The conversation centered on people in Greensboro attending the U.S.S.F., and many of the pastors presented legitimated questions/concerns about the U.S.S.F. But the most powerful thing that was said during this dinner meeting was when one of the pastors said: “if Nelson said it was important for us to be there, then we will be there.” During the whole time we were in Greensboro, it was never mistaken who was the leader of the event, which was Nelson. However, during the whole time Nelson never felt the need to be the center of attention. His unique leadership style is refreshing because it supports others to be leaders right beside him. How he engages people empowers you to realize your own potential…it reminds me of when I met Professor Carl S. Taylor, Tom Hardiman and Grace Lee Boggs and how they immediately embraced me and found time in their busy lives to help nurture and guide me with wisdom and knowledge to further grow as a leader. That is so crucial in the 21st century if we are to make sanity out of the insane shit-uation we find ourselves in. Practical leadership is necessary and more importantly needed to cultivate new leaders to engage the people where they are at to teach them to move them where they need to be. But that type of leadership will only come when a true pro-people orientation is instituted. Being in Greensboro reaffirmed in me that, a new world is possible and that a new world is happening and that I play a crucial role in its development.

find out more about yusef shakur.

Letter from Tom Pedroni

Dear Tom, ( Thomas Sugrue )

I very much enjoyed your presentation yesterday morning at the WSU Law School, and have previously learned much from you both through Origins of the Urban Crisis and your edited book The New Suburban History.

I am a professor and researcher of urban educational policy sociology at Oakland University, and am presently researching the “post-welfarist educational policy complex” of metropolitan Detroit. My first book, Market Movements: African American Involvement in School Voucher Reform (Routledge) won the 2009 American Educational Studies Association Critic’s Choice Award.

To cut to the chase, I am deeply worried about the implications of Detroit’s planned “downsizing” for Detroit’s most vulnerable residents. (As well the downsizing of neighborhoods includes the closing and consolidation of many Detroit Public Schools buildings.) Once more, the city’s “revitalization” involves the forced relocation of the city’s least powerful mostly black residents. The neighborhoods slated for clear-cutting are those in the city’s non-Downtown interior, and these neighborhoods greatly overlap those characterized as most lucrative for realty development by a recent (2006) realty study commissioned by the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation. My sense is that realty interests desire the removal of “undesirable” people (and their homes and businesses) so that new development can be optimized, and is not about the efficient redistribution of city services in the interest of city residents. This pattern is all too familiar to anyone who has lived in Detroit and/or is familiar with your work, and portends the misery of relocation coupled with more broken promises.

I’m also worried about New Detroit’s partnership with CEOs and regional political leadership around this issue. New Detroit is ostensibly one of the more progressive philanthropic organizations in the area. However recently it has allied itself closely with Business Leaders for Michigan (formerly Detroit Renaissance) and other corporate and political leadership through One D in pursuing a business-friendly strategy of concentration of public resources for private sector investment enhancement. In the realm of education, New Detroit has joined an educational agenda of Broad Foundation Fellow Robert Bobb focused on the development of more charter schools, merit pay for teachers, more outsourcing of vital school services to private contractors, and the implementation of high stakes test-driven curricula– the very types of curricula that do not cultivate critical thinking for effective citizenship and the addressing of community problems.

The vast majority of Detroit residents have not been consulted about either the plans for forced relocation or the school closings.

Here is the question I wanted to ask you at the end of your talk yesterday.

“To what degree do you think the current proposals for downsizing detroit and closing 45 more schools is motivated by social justice and good governance considerations, and to what extent do you think it is motivated by the usual interests– real estate development and its desire to clear the land of undesirables?”

Finally, here is a link to a recent article by Shea Howell of the Michigan Citizen on the downsizing plan.

I am also attaching the realty study I mentioned above, with the areas identified as most lucrative for realty investment pictured on page 8 of the pdf.

best, tom

Life salvaged in lockup – from Detroit News

Incarcerated father, prostitute mom led criminal to become author, community leader

In 1992 at the age of 19, Yusef Shakur was a full-fledged product of the gang- and crack-infested Detroit neighborhood known on the street as Zone 8. He was also starting a prison sentence of five to 15 years for assault with intent to commit robbery.

Click for full article.

Lost Count: A Love Story

Mama Sandra’s Reflections

My mama asked me to write some considerations of the biblical Nehemiah’s “re-building the wall” to share with a group of ministers and I thought that I would share some of those thoughts with you.

peace.

ps: Please share your thoughts too, if you have a mind to do so and I will forward them on.

On re-building the “hedge,” the “fortification” (built for defensive purposes), a barrier to flooding, a line of defensive players, to separate one area from another, to close an opening, to seal somebody or something,

“Keep one hand on the work (re-building the wall) and one hand on your weapon.”- Nehemiah (Jehovah has consoled)

Nehemiah kept his eyes on the light, not the darkness:

Even Nehemiah had to go back to the hood, the ghetto, to do the work of God. So, ministers follow your elder, back to the hood. Like, Nehemiah, we are soldiers and statesmen and women for God, in Jesus’ holy name!

When was the last time your heart was moved with great sorrow over broken down walls of our communities of faith? Did you complain and point or are you ready to get to work, like Nehemiah?

Consider where the wall was located, Jerusalem had fallen open to the ravages of war and neglect; people wanted to know why in the heck would this man go BACK THERE, in their minds there was nothing worth saving. Communities are worth saving. Don’t get lost in the location, war zones are even where your feet are resting while you read these words.

God gave Nehemiah a mission to go back to the raggedy hood and stand on the raggedy “tow down to the flo down” wall and re-build it, but he also told him to keep one hand on his weapon! What is your weapon of choice to deal with assaults outside of your comfort zone?

Warning: you will be ridiculed, feared, folks will shun you, being full of guile; you will be falsely accused and misunderstood; you will have to face painful corruptions of friends an associates, as you do this work-

NEVERTHELESS:

We must go back and lay claim to our communities; we must go back and build up the walls of the likes of our old places where the people parish. Yes, there will be many who will scoff at our efforts, so we must keep watch for those who would come against us looking ridiculous as we re-build the walls of love, protection and nurture.

Making We:

Are you ready to attain strength that you never knew you had? Are you ready for an experience of unity and closeness that binds classes, races, issues and spaces? Are you ready to “work with one mind”?

An invitation:

Come to the ghetto, come to The Hush House on Wabash, (________ add your community) between 14th street and Ferry Park, in one of the poorest communities in Detroit, and remember what you forgot. We can teach you about re-building the walls of Hope because that is what we do. In fact, people have come to us from China, Korea, Liberia and so many states that we cannot remember them all. We have solutions for making hope real-you are the solution!: re-build the wall with us as we teach the world by creating hope, together.

Peace and blessings to you.

Mama Sandra

March For Peace Zones – Friday, Oct. 23rd

The Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality will be hosting a Peace Zones For Life March on Friday, October 23rd from 4:30-6:30pm. The group will convene at Schoenerr and Bringard Park at 4:30. The group will then march to the home in which Robert Mitchell was chased and hang a plaque to memorialize Robert Mitchell and recognize the existence of the Peace Zone. After an incredibly successful May 21st march – which generated the support of 200+ people – DCAPB hopes to emulate that support on October 23rd. For more information, call 313-962-1336.

Coalition Flyer – Oct 23 09FINAL-1

May 28 Mothers’ Memorial Day March

MICHIGANNOW.ORG

Michigannow.org is a one-stop resource for news and information about how Michigan can succeed in the new economy. Beyond being a public radio news series, it showcases new thinking, new technology, new products, and new ideas that have the potential to be catalysts for Michigan’s recovery.

MLK Celebration – January 14th

MLK Weekend Celebration – January 16th

Organizational Meeting Detroit Ambassadors of Hope

Sunday May 23 @ 2pmBoggs CenterThe upcoming Allied Media Conference and United States Social Forum are opportunities for us to show that another world is already happening in Detroit. We need your help in lifting up our city so that out of town guests and media will leave these gatherings with a deeper sense of the kind of transformational politics emerging throughout Detroit.

Being an Ambassador of Detroit City of Hope is one way for us to have a focused impact on these two conferences.

We are asking you to volunteer to spend a few hours at either of the conference making yourself available as an Ambassador for our city. To do this, we are asking you wear a specially designed T-Shirt for at least some part of the time you participate in the AMC/USSF.

In addition, we are asking for your help in supporting the DCOH and the Boggs Center in a variety of responsibilities. We need people willing to:

• Work on tours of the city
• Meet and Greet out of town guests, including former Detroit Summer Volunteers, film makers and members of our national and international network.
• Provide housing and transportation for out of town guests
• Help with literature tables
• Help organize and greet people at Grace’s 95th Birthday celebration at Cobo Hall
• Provide transportation to and from conferences
• Hand out leaflets and flyers
• Prepare media packets and materials
• Assist in organizing and selling T-Shirts, literature, etc.

Any time that you can donate is welcome.

Please join us Sunday May 23 @ 2 pm at the Boggs Center, 3061 Field Street for a brief organizational meeting.

Please email Barb at bstachowski@mac.com by May 20 to let her know if you will be attending. Please indicate T-shirt size as well.

People’s Movement Assembly

Poem from Arizona Hopi Nation

You have been telling the people that this is the Eleventh Hour.
Now you must go back and tell the people that this is the Hour.
And there are things to be considered:
Where are you living?
What are you doing?
What are your relationships?
Are you in right relation?
Where is your water?
Know your garden.
It is time to speak your Truth.
Create your community.
Be good to each other.
And do not look outside yourself for the leader.

This could be a good time!

There is a river flowing now very fast.
It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid.
They will try to hold on to the shore.
They will feel they are being torn apart, and they will suffer greatly.
Know the river has its destination.

The elders say we must let go of the shore, push off into the middle of
the river, keep our eyes open, and our heads above the water.
See who is in there with you and celebrate.
At this time in history, we are to take nothing personally.
Least of all, ourselves.
For the moment that we do, our spiritual growth and journey comes to a halt.

The time of the lone wolf is over. Gather yourselves!
Banish the word struggle from your attitude and your vocabulary.
All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration.
We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.

-The Elders, Oraibi, Arizona Hopi Nation

Post AMC & USSF Conversation

Please join us for a post AMC & USSF conversation.

Wednesday, July 14^th at 6:30 pm at the Boggs Center.

The Spirit, the participation, the emerging theory and practice as well as the growing  commitment that: Another World is Possible! Another US is Necessary and Another Detroit is Happening was experienced by all those who attended the AMC and the USSF.  Detroit is becoming a Chiapis of the North.  We witnessed history and we made history.

On Wednesday, July 14, at 6:30, we invite you to share your reflections, your significant moments, new relationships and your questions/challenges that emerged in the “10 Days that Shook Detroit and our Country.”  What did you learn?  What does it mean for our work locally, regionally and nationally.

The Detroit Anchor Organizations, and all the organizations and friends from across the country and Detroit did a tremendous job to make this gathering a success.

We want to specifically thank all the Ambassadors and friends of the Boggs Center, DCOH, Detroiters for Dignity and Democracy who helped with the book sales, T-Shirt distributions, setting up for Grace’s 95^th Birthday and participating in so many workshops and discussions.  Each of you helped people “fall in love with Detroit” as well as “experience an expanded vision of the future of Beloved Communities and Cities of Hope.  The diversity, the multi-generational dialogues, the poetry, the songs, music and quiet conversations renewed some and inspired us all.

From the opening ceremony at the AMC to the opening march, to the discussion between Grace and Immanuel Wallerstein; to the conversations at the PMA on Education with Vincent Harding & Bill Ayers to the Long Haul workshop with Starhawk, Margo and Shea; to the workshops organized by Yusef Shakur, to Word & World, to the DAY Project, to Detroit City of Hope and the Coalition Against Police Brutality discussion by Ron Scott; to the Asian American gathering at Genesis Church to the I Dream a Garden Dance, the list goes on and on. Please share your pictures of the Matrix Theatre gatherings, puppets, parties and friends.  This was a truly inclusive social movement gathering.

On Wednesday, July 14^th, we hope to learn about the many other activities that made this a special historic gathering for you, for our city and for our country.  You contributed to the re-imagining of our country, the redefining of work, economics and education and truly put on the agenda the recognition that the only reason for the Next American Revolution is the belief that we can advance human evolution.  We are redefining community and democracy as we walk together in these times.   As Grace often says: “We are Growing our Souls.”

A popular democratic 21 century movement is emerging in our country, some will say the Next American Revolution has begun while others will say:  “the only reward for good work is more work.”

See you Wednesday, July 14^th @ 6;30 at the Boggs Center.

3061 Field Street, Detroit 48214.  For more information call 313-923-0797.

Radical Detroit History Art Show Closing

Friday, September 17 at 6pm free

Radical Detroit History Art Show Closing with Grace Lee Boggs, Detroit Summer & Matrix Theatre

To close Trumbullplex’s summer Radical Detroit History Art Show, longtime Detroit activist Grace Lee Boggs will speak on the role of youth art in the city on today’s stage of community organizing for social change, 8 pm.

After Party 10 pm – music by Defiance Ohio $6

Trumbullplex 4208 Trumbull Ave. 48208 313-758-7144 trumbullplex@gmail.com
Papercut in the show at the CAID. “ART Work/Detroit”
opened September 11th @ the Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit (CAID), located at 5141 Rosa parks Blvd. in Detroit.

The exhibit is part of ArtWork: US: A National Conversation on Art, Labor & Politics, http://artandwork.us/, bringing together arts from Detroit and across the country. The show will be up from September 11-October 22. For more information about the show, www.staceymalasky.wordpress.com

ALSO! Huge punk show on Sat 9/18 @ the Trumbullplex w/ Star Fucking Hipsters & guests $8
Cafe Trumbullplex III ! Benefit Friday evening 9/24-seating and a gourmet meal for $10,
9/25 Trumbullplex Zine Library Benefit, share a story about the city ONLY $3! 16 & under are free

Reimagine Work. Reimagine Life

Reimagining Organizing

reIMAGINING Work

In late October, local and internationally known figures active in building a new, more humane economy will convene in Detroit for a groundbreaking conference and collaborative discussion.  Titled ‘ReImagining Work’, the meeting will take place at Focus:HOPE from Oct 28-30, 2011.

“This is an extraordinary time on the clock of the world,” according to Grace Lee Boggs, renowned activist and author of ‘The Next American Revolution’.  “All over the planet, people are pursuing alternatives to the economics of greed, over- consumption and destruction of the eco-system.”            

Participants will explore efforts by grassroots organizations to create new ways of living out of of the devastation of a dying postindustrial economy. They will emphasize how people are developing sustainable, cooperative and transformative economic and social relationships while reinvigorating democratic action.          

Guest speakers Vandana Shiva, Grace Lee Boggs, Gar Alperovitz, Frank Joyce, Jenny Lee, Ron Scott, Gloria Lowe, and others, will discuss the profound opportunities offered by the accelerating decline of the jobs based economy. As we evolve beyond it, attendees will be encouraged to share their vision of what “work” looks like .

“It’s no accident that this meeting is being held in Detroit,” says Gloria Lowe, founder of ‘We Want Green Too!’, and eastside Detroit activist.  “We have been among the first to see both the collapse of an unsustainable economic system and the birth of new ways of thinking and doing the work of being human.”

The ‘ReImagining Work’ Conference was launched by the Boggs Center To Nurture Community Leadership, in partnership with EMEAC (East Michigan Environmental Action Council), Allied Media Conference, Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality, Putting the Neighbor Back In the ‘Hood, Damon Keith for Civil Rights and Focus:HOPE.

To register or view a detailed schedule of events, visit the website, www.reimaginingwork.org or www.boggscenter.org .

Responses To A Time Magazine Article

Time Magazine recently published its incipient article in a year-long  “expose” on Detroit. To many folks’ dismay, although  not so much surprise, the magazine did not begin its series with anything new, but rather is continuing a long-line of rhetoric with the only sense of creativity being that it is being espoused from a home purchased in East Village.

Rich Feldman and Shea Howell, two activists who have been working to re-build and re-spirit Detroit over the last 40 years, have written thoughtful articles in response to Time’s initiative, and should be widely read. Click here to read the articles in their entirety.

Restoring the Neighbor Back in the Hood

Restoring the Neighbor back to the ‘Hood Pledge

by Yusef Bunchy Shakur on Thursday, December 23, 2010 at 8:54pm

i pledge allegiance to do my part in restoring the neighbor back to the ‘hood.

i pledge to develop myself, my family & my household to greatest extent possible of being a shining example of being father, son, mother, daughter, sister & brother in my neighborhood.

i will learn all that i can in order to give my best to improve the quality of my neighborhood.

i will keep myself mentally sound, spiritually groundded & physically fit; building a strong body, mind & spirit that will exemplify positivity & productivity in my neighborhood.

i will unselfishly share my time, knowledge & overstanding with my neighbors (young & old) in order to build & maintain a healthy neighborhood.

i will discipline myself to direct my energies thoughtfully & constructively to maintain peace, harmony, brotherhood, sisterhood & love in my neighborhood.

i will train myself to never hurt or allow others to harm anyone in my neighborhood for an unjustice cause or through negative behaviors of stealing, gun violence, verbal abuse, police brutality works, selling drugs, rape or any other social ill that works to destroy my neighborhood.

This is my pledge to do my part by being a caring neighbor in my neighborhood

Resurrection City, Sojourners Magazine

Auto idolatry and casino economics have left Detroit tottering on the brink. What will it take for Motown to rise again?
by Bill Wylie-Kellermann

Kitty-corner from my church, St. Peter’s Episcopal, stand the remains of Detroit’s old Tiger Stadium. A new ballpark named after a bank-part of the run at the casino economy-is located in the new sports and entertainment district closer to downtown.

Ron Scott & Peace Zones For Life

Second annual Earthworks Harvest Dinner featuring Grace Lee Boggs

Register Today! Ticket Deadline is this Friday, September 4!

Join the Capuchin Soup Kitchen’s Earthworks Urban Farm, for our second annual Harvest Dinner Saturday, September 12, to celebrate working together for food justice for all.

For more information, visit Earthworks’ website.

Soul Food from Somebody’s Mama

Through a veil of tears,
I see happiness, joy and peace divine;
these blessings be mine.

I see a new day coming in the light;
and oh, its brightness gives delight
to a woman woe ing in her soul.

I see a new day coming into the Night.
Oh so bright, so bright,
its brightness gives delight.
Your smiles illuminated, bearing open your soul
to a wo(e)man like me,
who’s seeking to be free of the woe ing tyranny.

Through a veil of tears I see you.
I see you seeing me, seeing
happiness, joy and peace divine;
these blessing are thine, as mine.

I see a new day coming in the Night.
And Oh, its brightness is a delight
to a wo(e)man like me; who covers you through a Holy mystery.
….
For I see through a veil of tears, even still,
my blessings
in you,
on you,
and through you.
My blessings abides With you,
even still, in your trek through the Night
Towards the light.
I see a new day coming into the Night; these blessings be mine.

Peace and blessings, Mama Sandra
The Hush House, Detroit, MI

Talkin’ about an evolution- Larry Gabriel on Grace Boggs

Grace Lee Boggs says she would like the chapter titles of her new book, The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the Twenty-First Century, written with Scott Kurashige, to become buzzwords for progressive activists.

So I imagine “Detroit, Place and Space to Begin Anew” or “We Are the Leaders We’ve Been Looking For” on T-shirts, trying to fit them on for size in the coming era of struggle to rebuild Detroit and Michigan.

More than just buzzing around, Boggs wants people to really ponder the meaning and implications of those words. “What does it mean to start anew? What does it mean to say we are the leaders we’ve been looking for?” she asks me rhetorically. “I think instead of growing our budgets, we need to be growing our souls. What are the economics of happiness instead of gross national product? People of every race are beginning to think differently. They’re beginning to recognize that life isn’t just about making a living. It’s about making a life.”

Boggs is a political philosopher whose thought and activism have been reaching around the globe from her modest home near Mack and East Grand Boulevard. Last week, I sat down with her and Kurashige, a Boggs Center board member and director of AC Asian/Pacific Islander American Studies at the University of Michigan, to ask how her ideas relate to some of the tumultuous events taking place these days. The large, though not fancy, brick house is filled with books and papers. It’s not an advertisement for the electronic age and predictions of a paperless society. Boggs, the daughter of Chinese-American restaurant owners, earned a Ph.D from Bryn Mawr in 1940, became a leftist, and married black autoworker-activist James Boggs. The Boggses collaborated with the Marxist historian and theorist C.L.R. James during the 1950s, and, starting in the 1960s, set their own course, writing several books either separately or together. These days, Grace, a widow recently turned 95, is the leader of the nonprofit Boggs Center, headquartered at her home, which is the hub around which a number of efforts — Detroit Summer, the Allied Media Project, Detroit City of Hope, the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality and others — maintain their philosophical grounding and connection to a broader, growing movement in Detroit.

Boggs’ revolution is not a call to seize political power from the government. “A cultural revolution has begun to take place,” says Boggs. “It’s a phenomenon as historic and as far-reaching as the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture, and from agriculture to industry. Now we’re at the heart of a change from industry to a world where people work not so much at jobs. Work is something that we do to develop skills as much as to produce goods and services. We’re so used to the idea that we work in order to make money, but that’s not why people have worked throughout history and that’s the kind of way we’re going now. It provides a very different perspective of revolution. It’s not about seizing state power to plan the economy.

“The new focus of work is to develop one’s ability and one’s capacity to do a whole lot of things. For example, we’re going into a period where, instead of people doing mass production line stuff, people will think much more of craftsmanship, which involves the development and expansion of the human being.”

Indeed, that is a turn away from the revolutionary ideals of the past few centuries. Boggs has witnessed revolutions, rebellions and plain old social upheaval, and struggled with the idea of what those things mean. She was here and took part in the hope and euphoria that accompanied Coleman A. Young’s election as mayor of Detroit. But over time she saw that having a black mayor wasn’t enough to change the larger economic order, as she writes in Next:

But even though he was one of this country’s brightest and most skillful politicians, he was helpless in the face of the deindustrialization and outsourcing that were gaining momentum in the 1970s. Because he had failed to think seriously about the profound changes taking place in the economy, he had no idea how to deal with the new information technology and the massive export of jobs overseas that was making it impossible for young people to find meaningful paid work in the city.

All Coleman could do was react, and he was ultimately driven to desperate measures to try to replace the jobs that were gone for good.

Boggs sees Detroit as the forefront of changes sweeping the industrialized world. Once the front line of industrialization, Detroit could be the model of what the future of the deindustrialized world looks like. That thought has led her to work on seemingly small projects in Detroit neighborhoods.� For instance, she sees urban gardening as the beginning of a major shift in the way we feed ourselves as well as a way to connect generations in a widely inclusive movement.

“Detroit, because we have this position in the history of the country and the world, is creating that alternative — not in words but in action,” she says. “There’s a group on the east side called Feed ‘Em Freedom Growers; if you don’t have food you can’t be free. Detroit has over 1,000 community gardens. Urban agriculture started very simply with some African-American women seeing some vacant lots. That’s how big changes take place, with small changes. Important changes always start from the bottom up. We think they come from the top, or start with millions of people. No, they start when some people respond to the historical context and do what needs to be done. That’s how revolution takes place.”

This revolution is a turning away from the capitalist ideals of more and more, and bigger and bigger. She says that we are in the end days of capitalism as we have known it for the past few centuries. And the new order is being fought over in places like Madison, Wis., and Lansing, in North Africa and even in the way Japan responds to man-made and natural disasters.

Anyone who has paid attention to Boggs’ ideas in the past will see that the narrative of Next builds upon ideas she has been developing for some time. She cites a section from Jimmy Boggs’ Revolution and Evolution in the Twentieth Century: “The revolution to be made in the United States will be the first revolution in history to require the masses to make material sacrifices rather than to acquire more material things.”

Does that sound like anything that is going on around you these days?

It’s the sense that things predicted in Next are already engulfing us that makes it so compelling. And the sense that we have a hand in the outcome rather than being swept along on the sea of change that makes it vital.

Boggs tasks each individual with building the world we want. Some months ago a friend asked me who I thought would succeed her as leader of the Boggs Center. To take the message of Next to heart, that leader would be all of us.

Discussion and book signing with Grace Boggs at 4 p.m. on Sunday, April 3, at the First Unitarian-Universalist Church, 4605 Cass Ave., Detroit. At 4 p.m. on Monday, April 4, she discusses the book with Robin D.G. Kelly at the University of Michigan Modern Languages Building, 812 E. Washington

THE DETROIT COALITION AGAINST POLICE BRUTALITY

THE DETROIT COALITION AGAINST POLICE BRUTALITY

invites you to our

October 22nd Day of Observance

“War Zones to Peace Zones”

Focusing on JUSTICE for Aiyana Stanley Jones

and Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah

Friday, October 22, 2010

7:30 p.m.

St. Peter & Paul Church

1950 Trumbull at Michigan

Refreshments served…bring a dish if you can

For information/to RSVP contact 313.963.8116 or detcoalition@att.net

Listen to the Coalition’s radio show, “Fighting for Justice,” Sundays 10-11am on WDTW 1310AM ProgressiveTalk. Live call-in#: 248.848.1130

The New Agtivist: Edith Floyd is making a Detroit urban farm, empty lot by empty lot

Edith Floyd is the real deal. With little in the way of funding or organizational infrastructure, she runs Growing Joy Community Garden on the northeast side of Detroit. Not many folks bother to venture out to her neighborhood, but Edith has been inspiring me for years. I caught up with her on a cold, rainy November afternoon. While we talked in the dining room, her husband Henry watched their grandkids.

Read the entire interview with Ms. Edith at Grist.org

The Next American Revolution Book Signing

This is our city!

People are resisting the assault on our city. Detroiters are standing up against the schemes of Mayor Bing, Emergency Financial Manager Bobb and powerful foundations who are plotting to take our land, close our schools, sell our last public hospital, destroy whole neighborhoods and are putting everything they can think of up for sale.

Behind closed doors they are making plans that will affect our city and our children for generations to come. They refuse to share their plans in open forums, refuse to support the elected school board and challenged court orders questioning their powers. The private foundations supporting this secrecy are not accountable to any one, using their money to dictate winning and losing neighborhoods.

We are outraged by this assault on our city and on democracy. We know there is a better way. Across Detroit, long abandoned neighborhoods are coming to life with gardens, art projects and new businesses. Schools are resisting the effort to turn our children into mindless test takers, creating imaginative life affirming programs supporting community growth. We are restoring community ties, turning war zones to peace zones for life.

These activities have caught the attention of national and international media, telling the story of a new Detroit resurgence. These activities have also attracted the attention of those who see another opportunity to make money by shifting public resources into private hands. This is our city. These are our children. No one has a right to determine our future without us.

We demand

• An immediate halt to school closings.
• Open meetings in community centers, churches, civic organizations and block clubs to discuss the future of our city.
• No use of eminent domain to take land for private use.
• Full disclosure of foundation board members economic interests in our city.

Join us to

• Turn all our schools into neighborhood resource centers, where young people develop their minds, hearts and imagination solving the problems facing our communities.
• Maintain open land for small community gardens.
• Turn vacant houses into neighborhood resources.
• Reconnect generational ties through public art, urban gardens, community restoration projects.

Support

• The right of Detroiters to make our own decisions about our future.
• Innovative schools transforming education in service to our communities.
• The imagination of teachers, activists, small businesses, urban farmers, artists and young people who are already rebuilding Detroit from the ground up.

Detroiters for Dignity and Democracy
www.boggscenter.org or call 313.923.0797

Time Banks – Your Time Has Come!

“Everybody has skills.  Everybody has skills.  Period.”

Like a lot of places, the folks in Portland, Maine don’t have the cash to get all the goods and services they need, so they are taking an old-school approach to help their friends and neighbors get through these tough times. NBC’s Ron Mott reports.

Check out this recent NBC story on Time Banks.

Meanwhile, the MI Alliance of TimeBanks reports that “there are now eight active TimeBanks and at least six more in exploration stage across the state.”

Vision: Urban Gardening and Green Economy Flourish in Detroit

The greater Detroit area is the nexus of an entire host of progressive enterprises, notable for both the diversity of its participants and the diversity of its projects.On February 16, Michigan’s Governor Snyder signed into law a sweeping emergency financial management bill, one that will give him wide powers to appoint financial managers across the state….read more..

War Zones to Peace Zones

Works in Progress by Zak Rosen

Writing Black History Celebration

5:30 to 8:30 pm at WSU’s McGregor Conference Center. Program begins at 6:00 p.m.

Date: Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Time: 5:30PM – 8:30PM

Join the WSU department of Africana Studies, the WSU Library System, and the WSU Press to celebrate new releases in black history, arts and literature with an evening of readings and book signings.

Melba Joyce Boyd, editor of Roses and Revolutions:The Selected Writings of Dudley Randall, Stephen Ward, editor of Pages from a Black Radical’s Notebook: A James Boggs Reader, Steve Babson, author of The Color of Law: Ernie Goodman, Detroit, and the Struggle for Civil Rights, Bill Harris, author of Birth of a Notion; Or, the Half Ain’t Never Been Told, and David Goldberg, author of Black Power at Work, will speak about their books and sign copies.

5:30 to 8:30 pm at WSU’s McGregor Conference Center. Program begins at 6:00 p.m.

Books will be available for purchase and light refreshments will be served. To RSVP, please call (313) 577-0300

Yusef & King J (Jorge Cornell) to co-host “outsiders” conversation