Tomorrow, Friday, February 17, 2017, education activists in Detroit will hold a rally to protest the imminent closure of public schools there. The schools are slated to be closed under a draconian new policy in Michigan. The policy says that poor-performing schools that don’t show progress over a three year period may be shut down. 25 schools in Detroit and […]

A protest of Pr*sident Donald Trump’s fascist anti-immigrant and anti-refugee Executive Orders at Detroit Metro Airport tonight drew over 2,000 people spread out across two levels of the Macnamara Terminal and completely filling half of the baggage claim area. The permitted protest started at 4:00 p.m. and was slated to end at 6:00 p.m. However, it was well past 6:30 […]

At a press conference on Wednesday, Donald Trump told the nation that CNN is “fake news”. That stunning declaration is part of a long-term strategy, honed by the Nazi regime of Adolf Hitler, to discredit information sources that keep the citizenry informed about reality. For his most ardent followers, Trump’s statement just confirms what they already wanted to believe because […]

It takes a special person to teach in Detroit, Michigan. Although this has been the case for many, many years, it’s never been so true as it is right now. Not only are teachers dealing with a kids who are largely coming from families in deep poverty and working in schools that are falling down around them, for the past […]

For 9 days I sat in living rooms, walked streets and rode in taxis made in 1951. I climbed hills and reveled over the brilliance of organic farms. I learned about AfroCuban religion and culture, trekked through the Zapata Swamp, waded and meditated in the waters of the Playa Girón (Bay of Pigs), spoke with Cuban economists, nurses, doctors, students, farmers, revolutionaries, […]

It’s bad enough that Michigan Governor Rick Snyder is fighting a federal ruling that the state of Michigan supply bottled water to Flint residents still contending with drinking water that is poisoned with the powerful neurotoxin lead. It’s actually REALLY bad. But he’s found another way to make his contempt for poor people known. In response to a lawsuit filed […]

Apparently Matt Lauer doesn’t know **** from Shinola when it comes to charter schools I happened to be watching The Today Show yesterday morning (which I have only recently returned to watching after NBC fired Billy Bush), and looked up to see anchor Matt Lauer in a hair net and booties, standing in the Shinola watch assembly room in downtown Detroit. […]

Although it often gets lost in the propaganda mania of election season, ballot initiatives that impact communities at a neighborhood level are equally as important. This is why so many folks are talking about Proposals A and B in Detroit. Some pretty heavy hitters came out against Proposal A a few weeks ago and it was very telling. This is the […]

In her recent write-up, lifelong activist and community journalist Shea Howell very clearly articulated the benefits of Proposal A and the lengths schemers will go through in order to get community members to vote it down in favor of Proposal B. Howell said, “… Detroiters are being flooded with high priced, deceptive appeals for our vote.  Expensive TV and radio commercials, slick […]

There is something to be said about youth who manage to escape harsh realities imposed upon them by inhumane systems, by imagining a way forward, a more beloved community. The children who go without water, who don’t have enough to eat, who move between homes or schools many times before they leave their adolescence, yet somehow find enough humanity in […]

Anyone shocked by this isn’t paying attention: Instead of speaking to the congregation at Great Faith Ministries International, Mr. Trump had planned to be interviewed by its pastor in a session that would be closed to the public and the news media, with questions submitted in advance. And instead of letting Mr. Trump be his freewheeling self, his campaign prepared […]