I think as a newer politician — someone who came back to Detroit and had to knock doors to win, who cold not get support from the political establishment — I look at the emergency manager as a verdict on some of the people who have been around Detroit. We have been taken advantage of politically. We haven’t been taking care of business like we should have. ...

This week, Tom Barrow asked City Clerk Janice Winfrey to disqualify Mike Duggan from the mayoral race. Barrow says Duggan’s filing fails to meet Detroit City Charter residency requirements. According to the city charter, “All candidates for elective office and elected officials shall be bona fide residents of the city of Detroit and must maintain their principal residence in the city of Detroit for one year ...

While mind snacking on the ever-growing list of erstwhiles that have managed to do a stint in federal prison, the names of Martha Stewart and Michigan’s own billionaire philanthropist Al Taubman got their jit on during mind snack time. I have steadfastly refused to comment much more than an elder’s grunt when asked about another federal pen luminary Monica Conyers, who was recently released from custody of ...

Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr’s report has been greeted with little enthusiasm. It has not offered any clarity on plans for the development of the city under the new regime. The vague promises of improving the quality of life, while stripping the city, are as hollow as the document itself. Meanwhile, the city is developing. Dan Gilbert now owns 17 downtown buildings, totaling 2.9 million square feet o ...

Nation of Islam leader Minister Louis Farrakhan visited Detroit’s Fellowship Chapel Banquet and Conference Center to address some 3,500 guests May 17. The controversial religious leader’s comments, expected to focus on the sociopolitical and economic concerns of Detroit, a city the Nation of Islam calls home, addressed a different elephant in the room. Farrakhan’s message of Christ-likeness called out the c ...

Given the enormous catalogue of violent street stories and misogynist lyrics currently flooding the radio and video airwaves, any casual listener would believe that hip hop as a culture is limited to masculine bravado and female sexualization. ...

Approximately 40 residents and local artists turned out to the Redford Branch of the Detroit Pubic Library (DPL) to help kickoff the summer youth reading program with a special Illuminate Open Mic event May 20. The program featured open mic artists Clearetha “Peace the Poetess” Robinson, Dahlia Reynolds, Wolfi G, 11-year-old aspiring author Michelle Britt and others. ...

By many accounts, the economy is prospering again and the housing market is on the road to recovery. But, reality is nowhere near as comforting as fiction, and the facts point to a very different reality faced by working families and minority communities, especially in the barrios. The Great Recession pushed millions of willing workers off the labor force, put many others in lower paying or multiple jobs, a ...

“Raise your eyes now, and look from the place where you are … for all the land that you see I will give to you.” — Genesis 13: 14-15 University commencement season is a time of high hopes and great celebration. I was again reminded of that this past Saturday when I delivered the commencement address at Huston-Tillotson (HT) University in Austin, Texas. This coming weekend, I will also speak during graduatio ...

The April jobs report has been hailed as good news by the nation’s newspapers. But a look under the numbers is more sobering. In Chicago and cities across the country, extreme poverty remains high, and the jobless still haunt our streets. Washington would rather sell optimism. We’ve seen 38 straight months of private-sector job growth. The stock market is at record heights. Corporate profits are setting rec ...