Kristal Blog: Lessons from Detroit

Radio Rootz Reporters, Kristal and Kyra (Photo PPH)

Kristal Blog: Lessons from Detroit

by Kristal Graham

“You never appreciate something until its gone” This is a quote many people unfortunately have dealt with. I experienced this for the first time during my trip to Detroit for the US Social Forum. Growing up a city girl, I’m used to life 24/7 no matter what time of the night or day. Once I reached Detroit it was the complete opposite, avenue after avenue you see less and less life. The atmosphere gave me a feeling of hurt, like the residents of Detroit have given up. I took a walk to the local Popeye’s to get a bite to eat and catch the scenery and block after block I saw buildings with broken glass, tall apartment buildings that looked like it had a total of ten tenants, train tracks that looked they haven’t been used in years, and a public bus with about ten people on it. It looked like a town that had been evacuated and the people never returned, that the people who stayed were the only ones left. By this point I was deeply missing New York. No matter where I went, I would hear “Where Are the People?” I caught myself saying the same thing until I reached the Social Forum.

When I got to the heart of Detroit where the social forum took place inside the Cobo Hall convention center, I felt the life. I was reminded of New York: a blend of different cultures ready to fight and make a change for the world and for their organization. Once I was registered and was ready to speak to people, I was informed that everyone was preparing themselves to conduct a protest. People were gathering to protest in front of the gas company buildings that would cut off the gas off during the cold winters and leave the Detroit residents without these utilities for long periods of time and people have died. As a result, people decided to take a stand and walk through the streets of Downtown Detroit and chant ” Gas and Lights are Human Rights” “How many more must die” and “Stop shut offs and save lives.” You could actually feel the anger and frustration during the walk. It was like Detroit had life again, as if the scenes I saw during my walk to Popeye’s no longer existed. Leading the protest were the youth and organizations from Detroit and following behind them were other organizations from across the rest of the country. It was as if the  world had Detroit’s back. As I walked with them, I noticed a lot of New York groups and was eager to talk to them to see how they felt about Detroit.

Among those New York-based groups was FUREE (Families United for Racial and Economic Equality) which is an organization located in Brooklyn, NY that helps low-income families build power to change the system so that all people’s work is valued and they receive the right and economics means to decide and live out their own destinies. I spoke with community organizer for FUREE, Cynthia Butts, and she stated when she first visited Detroit when she was 8 years-old it didn’t look like how it looks today, again she asked “Where’s the People?” and that we need take a stand and “that it is more of us than it is of them” Right then and there I began to look around and notice that she was true. I noticed that everyone in the room had the power to get change that very second. So, I decided instead of looking at the bad about Detroit I should remind people of what it could look like if we organize and stand up. The head organizer, Elvin Paulino, reminded me that we are all the same going through the same thing just in different forms and we are at the Social Forum. My overall experience was a lesson: to observe and learn how to make the situation better.