We cannot tell difficult stories for the sake of telling them, we have to tell them because if we do not, the perpetrators of our pain get to decide its impact. By Kamilah Bush Recently, I’ve been thinking about what it means to be an artist who creates “difficult work.” I think of recent pieces...
Tag: detroit
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Why Inner City Schools Don’t Have Mass Shootings
Our Detroit school is a fortress. Every door is locked from the outside and equipped with sensors. Leave it open too long and the alarm screeches through the hallway like a cat in heat. When school shootings occur, as a school counselor, I spring into action. I prepare myself to have students come to my...
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How Henry Ford’s Dream Pitted Blacks Against Muslims in Urban Michigan
From the black perspective, the Middle Eastern American has undue power and influence. So when Islamophobia skyrocketed after 9/11, black Detroiters were all about it. Dearborn, Michigan, is famous in the Middle East. Henry Ford went to the Middle East to recruit workers for his Dearborn, Michigan plants. And now Dearborn is made up of people...
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I Was Victimized by Betsy DeVos’ Policies. I Feel the Need to Warn People.
As a career educator in one of her school systems — and a parent in Detroit — I have been victimized by Betsy DeVos’ policies. I feel the need to warn people. by Anonymous I am sure that you too have witnessed how Senators Elizabeth Warren, Al Franken and Bernie Sanders reduced Betsy DeVos to a pile...
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Detroit Principal Who Used Kickbacks to Improve School Doesn’t Deserve Punishment
by Joy Mohammed Surely you remember this Tale from the Hood that came out of Detroit, Michigan this year: the slum-like conditions that had become homeostasis for Detroit’s schools. Ceiling tiles falling like rain, warped wooden floors, bathrooms without, well, toilets. Then like the parting of the red sea came the national headline: “12 Detroit principals...
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Fat. Black. And Muslim.
by Leah Vernon I’m the unseen. The lost and broken. I’m the minority who is buried under media outlets like Fox News and CNN. You don’t see us on the cover of American magazines or hear the pleas of our communities. You certainly wouldn’t know of our accomplishments in the fields of art, science, math...
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Erykah Badu to Donate Chene Park Concert Proceeds to Detroit’s Untested Rape Kits
In a recent show of solidarity with the people of Detroit, Michigan, Erykah Badu has announced that she is donating part of the concert proceeds from her August 12 show in the Motor City to help test more of the city’s untested rape kits. In collaboration with Right Productions, five dollars from each ticket sold at the...