“Protesting is good. Rage is understandable. Using a majority-black city to cosplay your revolution is neither.” ~Nancy Keffer, Detroit Free Press
Now THAT is a word.
After a few nights of protests in the city of Detroit, 70% of people arrested were young white people from the suburbs.
Rallies and protests are not spectator sports, but rather they are for people who are willing to make REAL sacrifices and DO THE HARD WORK for real JUSTICE. These events are not for people from the burbs who want a viral video of themselves jumping a skateboard off of a cop car or smashing out store windows.
If you are from the suburbs and you come here to “revolt” and vandalize – GO HOME. You have not done your homework or listened to the voices of Detroit’s black activists. If you destroy businesses – many black-owned – or destroy public property paid for with taxes that black people have contributed, then as the Rev. Wendell Anthony president of NAACP Detroit said, “you are just placing your knee on the neck of black folk.” So please STOP.
And I am following the lead of many black people in my community in saying this.
Mary Sheffield Detroit City Councilperson says, “We as leaders need to come together and denounce the violence and the rioting and the agitators that are coming into the city and taking away from the true essence of what this movement is about. We need to disrupt the system that is causing oppression in this country, but it has to be done in a peaceful way. There is nothing going to change with violence. That’s not what Detroit is about. We cannot allow people to come into our city and cause us to get angry and burn down our own city and go against the Detroit police department where we have a pretty good relationship. We are not going to allow that. We are going to allow those who are frustrated, who have a voice, who want to say something the opportunity to do it in a constructive way and channel that energy to create real change, policy changes in this city and this country. The agitators have taken away from the authentic voice of Detroiters.”
It is crucial to LISTEN to the voices of black Detroiters and to AMPLIFY THEM! And no, it’s not always easy because not everyone feels exactly the same on how we should respond to racial disparity in our justice system, but that’s why it’s important to listen HARD and set our tune to the true heartbeat of where we live.
If you are a white person from the suburbs and actually want to protest and stand behind the movement in Detroit, please ask yourself if you are informed enough to protest here? Have you truly listened to black people in Detroit? Have you educated yourself on Detroit’s racial history, current police and community relations, and current political leaders and public office holders? Do you understand the demands of the activists? Do you understand that your role as a white protestor is to support, protect, and follow black activists in protest? Do you understand that it is not your place to tell black people how to act or respond?
If not, perhaps consider actively protesting where you live and vote. Where you pay the taxes that fund your police force. And where, hopefully, you better understand the relations between law enforcement and black citizens, as well as the record of your district attorney. Predominantly white suburbs need to hear messages on anti-racism and police brutality even more than this big city, where our mayor and police chief immediately called for the arrest of the four Minneapolis officers who killed George Floyd. And I am confident that they would have moved quickly to make arrests if that had happened in Detroit. The current DPD, while imperfect and with a history of corruption (don’t I know!), does support our community activists. They work to build relationships and they lend their support to peaceful protests. Even protests against police brutality. (Yes, they have used tear gas on a couple of nights, and while I fiercely condemn that, our activists have shared that those tactics were mostly employed after Detroit citizens had dispersed at the end of the organized and peaceful protests. However, there have been reports that the DPD were the agitators here, too. I 100% do not support the curfew.)
Many DPD officers grew up in these neighborhoods. Some were just kids in the projects when Malice Green was murdered by two DPD officers. They don’t want to watch our city burn. I don’t want them to see it burn. I don’t want Detroit’s children to see it burn. I want them to see real JUSTICE. I want all four former Minneapolis police arrested and convicted for the horrific murder of George Floyd. I want arrests and convictions of police officers in Breonna Taylor’s murder. I want prosecutors around the country to listen to the jury of millions of Americans crying for JUSTICE!
Growing up in the suburbs, I thought I knew all about Detroit and its politics and racial history. However, after moving into the city four and a half years ago, I quickly realized that I knew nothing. And for a white girl living in a city with 80% black people, I needed to learn. So I got quiet. I began to listen. I listened to black historians talk about how slavery continued in Detroit even after it was abolished. I learned that black men who fought in WWII were mostly denied the GI bill promise of education and mortgage benefits that allowed many white Americans entry into the middle class. I learned how neighborhoods were redlined so that racial groups would remain segregated. I listened to stories about the once flourishing Black Bottom neighborhood and the Paradise Valley district that were leveled by a racist mayor. I listened to conversations led by BIPOC leaders regarding anti-racism, white supremacy, white fragility, and how to be an ally. I began to attend gatherings of local organizations that work toward equal justice – from prison reform to water rights. My husband and I traveled the civil rights freedom trail across the southern U.S. to deepen our understanding of why black refugees fled to Detroit from the south. I began to read more books by black authors and local black authors. I financially supported black podcasts. And more recently, I have committed to learn more about the people who currently hold and who seek to hold public office in my city so that I can cast well-informed votes. I am volunteering on a campaign for a prosecutor with shared values. I also began the difficult work of breaking down any remaining prejudice within my own heart and mind. Sometimes we have to stop and question our norms and what we were taught and that can be painful. However, being blissfully unaware can often bring more pain into the world. Realizing my white privilege drastically changed my worldview. But instead of becoming angry toward failures of forefathers and institutions, I chose to heal through educating myself so that I am able to act and respond out of love and humility, and not out of bitterness or from a false narrative.
More than anything, I cannot live in this city and remain who I was when I arrived. I owe Detroit for what it has taught me and for how it has humbled my heart and challenged me.
If you REALLY want to protest or advocate for change in Detroit then move here. Put your money where your mouth is. Pay these crazy taxes and insurance rates. Vote with a Detroit address. Do your homework and commit to educating yourself as a citizen. Become an informed supporter of the movement and amplify the voices of our black citizens.
I’ve done all of this and feel like I have barely earned my place.
Continuing to listen and learn,
Darla
Former-suburbanite
Proud Detroiter
RESOURCES & ACTIONS
JUSTICE FOR BIG FLOYD
JUSTICE FOR BREONNA TAYLOR
JUSTICE FOR AHMAUD ARBERY
https://www.stopexcessiveforce.com/
We The People of Detroit
Detroit Equity Action Lab
#BLACKLIVESMATTER #EQUALJUSTICE #WITHLIBERTYANDJUSTICEFORALL #ILOVEDETROIT
Darla's World 