Something that surprised me about the program is how much I looked forward to our Tuesday events. I was expecting them to be a chore after a long day at work but they ended up being one of my favorite parts of my experience here since they taught me so much about the city and activism in general. Jenna chose a nice variety of events and I noticed that their focus spanned across the past, present, and future of Detroit. Learning about it from each of these perspectives gave the us all valuable knowledge for working within communities. Being here makes it easy to focus on what is going on right now and the current issues faced, and while we did learn more about these we were also reminded to look back far into history, such as with the Black Scroll tour, and also to think of of the broader contexts of our work and experiences here.
Of all of these events, the one that stood out to me the most was the Concert of Colors, and not just because we got free dinner. The variety of speakers and presentations highlighted the complexity of Detroit and mirrored the pattern of past, present, and future that our other meetings did. I had always just thought of the 1967 “riots” as riots because that’s what they are constantly referred to and in all honestly, I had little knowledge of what happened before this program. During the panel discussion was the first I heard about not referring to them that way, rather as a rebellion or revolution, and it forced me to look more closely at how what is commonly believed about historical events can be shaped so drastically by something as simple as it’s name. After the speech given by Thomas Sugrue about the past and the discussion of the panelists hopes for what the future will look like, the musical performance “Say Her Name” was a sobering reminder of a current issue Detroit, and the country as a whole, struggles with. These aspects of the night were depressing, which is expected since the injustice faced by many Detroiters in the past and present is something worthy of strong negative emotion. While very powerful, only looking at this side of things can help to create a single story of Detroit. Although there are many changes to be made the city is and has been full of people who are making the best of bad situations and living their lives and doing amazing things. Closing with a lively musical performance felt like a reminder of this and helped to avoid the single, typical story that is told.
