Detroit Topics

More than 10,000 citizens, activists and organizers gathered in Detroit in June for the second-ever US Social Forum. The theme was "Another World Is Possible. Another US Is Necessary. Another Detroit is Happening." Democracy Now! was in Detroit to broadcast during the conference and to take a closer look at the city of Detroit. Detroit was highlighted by conference organizers both for its example of the stark failures of capitalism as well as for its growing reputation as a model for renewal as a "movement city."

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Detropia: New Doc Takes Intimate Look at Detroit's Struggle with Manufacturing Collapse, Urban Decay

Once known as the Motor City, where the middle class was born, Detroit’s auto industry and manufacturing sector have collapsed. Today the city is on the verge of bankruptcy, facing a thinning population and massive cuts to basic services. The new film "Detropia" takes an intimate look at at some of the city’s former members of the middle class as they struggle to make ends meet and refuse to abandon hope. We’re joined...
Sep 18, 2012 | Story
Despite Praise & Permission, Detroit Teacher Fired for Helping Students' Trayvon Martin Fundraiser

An eighth grade charter school teacher in Michigan has been fired after helping her students organize a fundraiser for Trayvon Martin’s parents. Brooke Harris and her students at Pontiac Academy for Excellence drew up a plan to raise money by donating one dollar each to wear a hoodie to school, as Martin had worn when he was shot dead. She obtained permission for the fundraiser, but her superintendent opposed the plan. Harris was initially suspended...
Apr 13, 2012 | Story
Michigan Residents File Lawsuit Challenging Emergency Law Installing Unelected City Managers

A group of Michigan residents have filed a suit challenging a controversial new state law that allows the governor to appoint an unelected emergency manager or corporation to take over financially distressed towns and cities and effectively fire elected officials. The law empowers these unelected managers to sell off public property, shred union contracts, and privatize government services, without any input from local voters. Michigan now has...
Jun 23, 2011 | Story
Grace Lee Boggs on Detroit and "The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the Twenty-First Century"

We discuss the state of the economy in Detroit, "ground zero" for the economic downturn in the United States, with civil rights activist and author, Grace Lee Boggs. "I think it’s very difficult for someone who doesn’t live in Detroit to say you can look at a vacant lot and, instead of seeing devastation, see hope," says Boggs, "see the opportunity to grow your own food, see an opportunity to give young people...
Apr 14, 2011 | Story
Detroit Poet Jessica Care Moore at the U.S. Social Forum

Jessica Care Moore is an acclaimed Detroit poet. Democracy Now! producer Mike Burke caught up with Jessica at the U.S. Social Forum.
Jun 28, 2010 | Web Exclusive
Detroit Urban Agriculture Movement Looks to Reclaim Motor City

In Detroit, demolition crews are planning to tear down 10,000 residential buildings over the next four years that the city has deemed dangerous. But as old structures are coming down, the city is redefining itself in other ways. An estimated 20 to 30 percent of the city’s lots are vacant, and there is a growing urban agriculture movement that community groups are using to reclaim the city. Malik Yakini, chairman of the Detroit Black Community...
Jun 24, 2010 | Story
Detroit Summer: The Youth Program that Inspired Many Activists to Make Detroit a Movement City

To many longtime Detroit-based activists, urban farming and other community-based programs are a prime example of why they see Detroit not as Ground Zero for the recession but as a movement city — a place that uses crisis as an opportunity to nurture sustainability and community-building. When many of the Detroit-based activists and organizers are asked how they first got involved in their communities, they often mention Detroit Summer,...
Jun 24, 2010 | Story
Detroit Hip-Hop Artist and Activist Invincible: Another Detroit Is Happening

Invincible performs an a capella version of her new "Detroit Summer" and talks about how youth organizing is transforming Detroit. She is releasing the song this summer on her own label Emergence, which is based on cooperative economics. The website TheTop13.com recently named Invincible the fifth best female MC ever, behind Jean Grae, MC Lyte, Lauryn Hill and Queen Latifah. [includes rush transcript]
Jun 24, 2010 | Story
Over 10,000 March in Detroit to Open US Social Forum

Thousands of people from across the country marched through Detroit Tuesday afternoon to kick off the opening ceremony of the US Social Forum. The colorful, joyous, and sometimes raucous procession down Detroit’s Woodward Avenue included social movements and community organizations struggling for justice on everything from healthcare, the environment, fair trade, labor solidarity, immigrant rights, and racial profiling to Palestine solidarity,...
Jun 23, 2010 | Story
47 Years Ago in Detroit: Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Delivers First "I Have a Dream" Speech

We turn now to another historic march down Woodward Avenue in Detroit. It was June 23rd, 1963, when the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. led a civil rights march of thousands and delivered a speech with what would become his most famous words: "I have a dream." The speech came two months before the historic March on Washington. We play an excerpt of the speech and talk to Grace Lee Boggs, who helped organize the march. [includes rush...
Jun 23, 2010 | Story