Freeway Of Love

On this week's Talking Michigan Transportation, a conversation with state Rep. Leslie Love on the passion and commitment she brought to honoring Aretha Franklin with a memorial highway designation on M-10 (Lodge Freeway) in Detroit.

https://housedems.com/leslie-love/about/

https://mdot.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=e4838c1a08b64979b5e08f33909f5575

On Monday, Rep. Love joined MDOT Director Paul Ajegba, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, and Franklin family members and friends to unveil the Aretha L. Franklin Memorial Highway signs.

Rep. Love recounts the challenges moving the legislation to formalize the memorial designation for the highway and why this was personal for her. "That's not just a sign, it is a symbol. And it's a reminder of the struggle and the victory," Love said.

https://housedems.com/queen-of-soul-memorial-highway-moves-forward/

Lt. Gov. Gilchrist: "She enabled movements that changed people's lives."

Gov. Whitmer paid tribute to Ms. Franklin's work to empower women, invoking a signature lyric: "She taught generations of women to demand R E S P E C T."

Ms. Franklin's granddaughters Victorie and Grace Franklin offered a stirring a cappella rendition of Lift Every Voice and Sing.

The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 38 made their facilities available for the event and provided audio and logistics support.

View a video news release: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-DiNr2I1Z8&feature=youtu.be.

Transcript

[Music]

Aretha Franklin: (singing) R-E-S-P-E-C-T find out what it means to me. R-E-S-P-E-C-T–

Jeff Cranson: Okay, so, once again this is the Talking Michigan Transportation podcast, and today I’m extremely pleased to have with me Representative Leslie Love of Detroit who was, I think Lieutenant Governor Gilchrist put it best yesterday, a force of nature in the way that she advocated and so successfully got the legislation through and the governor's signature on a bill that would memorialize part of M-10, the Lodge Freeway in Detroit, for Aretha Franklin, certainly one of our state's favorite daughters and a very important figure to Detroit and all of us in Michigan. Representative Love, congratulations again, and thanks for taking time to do this.

Rep. Leslie Love: Oh, you're welcome. My pleasure to be here.

Jeff Cranson: So, let's listen to a little bit of what you had to say at the event.

Rep. Leslie Love: You know, I think it says it in the Bible, "There is a reason and season for all things," and I know us here in Detroit and in southeast Michigan, we think, you know, "It's a highway sign. It's a memorial highway. What’s going on here?" It is a big deal. Because that's not just a sign, it is a symbol. And it's a reminder every time of the struggle, as well as the victory. It's a reminder of our journey and our sister who comes from Memphis but grew up and built her legacy right here in the city of Detroit. It's a reminder for everyone who had a dream. It's a reminder for everyone who was in the midst of a struggle, that we're not just talking about an artist, or a Grammy Award winner, or the first woman and first Black woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And we’re not just talking about a woman who has been given honorary degrees from every prestigious, internationally important university on the planet. We're talking about just a down home girl right her from the D.

Jeff Cranson: There are so many moving remarks at the event Monday. The invocation from the Reverend Robert Smith Jr., who's the senior pastor at New Bethel Baptist church, where he served with Aretha Franklin's father, the late Reverend C.L. Franklin. Some stirring remarks from Lieutenant Governor Gilchrist, U.S. Representative Rashida Tlaib, Miss Franklin's family members, and Governor Whitmer, of course. Let's listen to a little what the lieutenant governor and the governor had to say on Monday.

Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist: She enabled movements that changed people's lives. She enabled organizations that created and delivered resources for communities in this city and around this state, and around this nation. That is the significance that this sign represents to me. As somebody from the east side of Detroit, who always loves when I can look to people across the country and they always come back and say, "Man, them people from Detroit, they make things happen." Aretha Franklin represents that perhaps like very few among us ever have.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer: So, I am incredibly honored to be here today for the unveiling of the Aretha Franklin Memorial Highway because Aretha Franklin was a trailblazer. She lived a lifetime of service and built a legacy that we've heard so many talk about today. She went on tour with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at age 16, traveling across the country to fight for civil rights. She was the first African American woman ever featured on the cover of Time Magazine. She taught generations of women to demand R-E-S-P-E-C-T. She lived an extraordinary life and never forgot where she came from. Detroit was her home. She started singing at the New Bethel Baptist Church, where her father was the pastor. She spent decades of her life in this city. She helped build this city into what it is today. She once said, "I've been around the world, London, Paris, and Germany—all those wonderful places—and there is no place like Detroit, Michigan." And she was right –there is no place like Detroit, Michigan. Her love for this city was reflected in her music but also in her years of service in this community. The people of Michigan are proud to claim Aretha Franklin. Now, as people from all over the world travel to Detroit, on the Aretha Franklin Memorial Highway, they will be reminded of the profound impact that she had on this city and on this state.

Jeff Cranson: So, talk a little bit about why this was so important, and, you know, in your remarks you talked about the symbolism of it and how it's important for people to see that and be reminded of it. Talk, too, about respect, you know, Aretha’s signature song and why that resonates I think now, you know, more than ever with what's going on in our country.

Rep. Leslie Love: Right. Well, upon the passing of Miss Franklin and you saw her funeral may have been historical too in its breath and death of the people who showed up, and the time to give everybody the opportunity to acknowledge her and watching that and having personally met her and realizing that internationally she had been recognized, and the city of Detroit had recognized her, but the state of Michigan hadn't done anything of substance to recognize the legacy of this tremendous artist, activist, Detroit home girl, Miss Aretha Franklin. So, one of the ways in the state that we can honor people is through a memorial highway naming, so I went forward. It started in 2018, actually, to get the highway named after her and then the sunset on that term, and then I took it back up. It was the first piece of legislation I introduced in 2019 in the 100th legislature, and the first piece that was signed into law. The respect and the importance of that is not only the person as this musical icon, but the story of a woman, a Black woman, coming up at the time when she was coming of age musically under the guidance of her father, who was a prominent pastor, C.L. Franklin, at the New Bethel Baptist church in Detroit, and just at the time of how women were perceived and engaged in their activism and as an artist and trying to balance that growing up growing up in that Christian value with, you know, you are who you are at this time in the 70’s and wanting to be engaged and be meaningful and be purposeful, not just put out really great ballots, but be a really great person and it contributed to humanity. She managed to do that in such a unique Aretha Franklin way that through heartbreak, through the struggle of being Black, a woman in entertainment business through the civil rights movement she was there to lend her voice and her talent and her time and her treasure and it was just amazing what she was able to accomplish very humbly, very meekly, but she was oh, well, she was a diva, though, in every sense of the word.

Jeff Cranson: Well, I think that I knew as this bill proceeded and as you testified, and as, you know, explained it to the media and to your colleagues how important it was, but I hadn't seen or heard anything like the passion that you exhibited yesterday. I think part of that was just relief at finally getting to that day and being able to stand there right alongside the freeway and know that the signs were up. I guess expand on that a little, just why this this was so important to you, personally.

Rep. Leslie Love: Right, and the signs— so, this was the culmination of all of the work to see the physical manifestation of the signs. They're up, they're there now, but also when you brought up the song “Respect” in relation to where we are at this point in history, where we have a presidential election and we have a president who has expressed opinions that have been very divisive and destructive and immature. We also have a situation, locally, where we have a—not locally, internationally, with a pandemic that has killed millions of people across the nation, and we're almost up to a million infected people in the United States. Then, if that's not enough, we have this consciousness, uprising, in this Black Lives Matter movement of people whose voices who still feel like they have not been heard. The policies that we've been asking for, the processes, the respect that is now being demanded. It's like we asked you nicely once, and twice, now a third time, you know, and we're seeing finally a response on a corporate level of that, of people saying, “let me let me take a moment to find out and check myself, you know, am I biased? Do I have this implicit bias that I’m not even aware of? Am I not being as inclusive as I can be? How can I make sure I expand opportunities, so all people are contributing and involved and feel like they have an investment?” Whether it's the business or in the conversation or space on television or on radio, however that manifests itself that those voices are present and not in a kind of tokenism kind of way, but how we figure out how to integrate that, and Aretha’s connection to that is that's a part of her story. When you look at the history, it was in Jet magazine, there was a time when Angela Davis was a very well-known activist and engaged in the Black Panther Party, who was trying to—we we've been talking about these issues for a long time. She was jailed on some serious charges, and Miss Franklin says very publicly in the media, “I want to bail her out. I will bail her out. I don't care how much it cost. She's going to be free because she, you know, she's been fighting for the freedom and rights of Black people and I support that and I’ll do whatever I can.” And then there's Aretha who also lends her voice to Don't Drink and Drive campaigns, and AARP and go vote campaign and the civil rights movement. Her father, as I said in the speech there, gave that speech in Michigan, in Detroit, before King did the march on Washington. We did that here in Detroit. Her father was the lead in that, so she was participating in that civil rights movement as well where, you know, she was helping make payroll for folks, put gas in the buses that put people to all these different places they were traveling to, house people along the way. It's like, “hey, you don't have to play safe stay, stay at my house.” So, she contributed and doing fundraisers, giving her talent to somebody else's event for free, doing those free concerts, anything to help the cause. So, beyond her really great songs is this really great humanitarian and civil rights activist that we kind of get lost in the songs and not recognizing her advocacy and what she did. That sign was more than a sign. It's a symbol of just how significant artists and kind of the underdog, you know, the overlooked art and how we all can contribute and in ways that may never get recognized, but they matter just as much. So, lending her voice to Angela Davis, she never had to put up the bail. She was out of town at the time when it—when the situation became available for a bail bond. Her adding her voice to that alone gave it more presence in the atmosphere, so now I was like what? Aretha franklin said what? So, now everyone is—they're activated. They got to do something. If Aretha’s outraged there must be something to be outraged about. I think it's really interesting how things come to pass. What we think someone is going to do, they're going to lend us some money. Money is what we need and what she needed at that time, apparently, was the voice that raised the profile of that situation that made Angela Davis’s situation even more human and relatable to everyone else.

Jeff Cranson: Yeah, I think that's—

Rep. Leslie Love: Right now, here was this artist getting involved.

Jeff Cranson: Yeah, I think that's just a really good point that there's nothing more valuable than your credibility and you've given credibility to this cause and that's what she did. So, yesterday's event I mean, was picture perfect. It was it was hot, but it was it was sunny. We were so fortunate that the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees happened to have their building right there with all kinds of equipment to help us out before.

Rep. Leslie Love: Let's just—can I say this? Even that was serendipitous, right?

Jeff Cranson: Yeah.

Rep. Leslie Love: So, if you've ever worked with Miss Franklin, she was very particular about the environment that she performed, and like turn off all the air. I don't want any fans. It was hot! At one point I was like did someone turn the heat up in here? This is the only way she would want it done, like if you're not sweating from the tips of your hair, you're not doing it right. Then, to do it at the stagehands union, I just thought wow.

Jeff Cranson: Yeah.

Rep. Leslie Love: This is no accident. It's all intentional. It's all in divine order. I just was amazed by that.

Jeff Cranson: I think you're right. For those guys IATSE Local 38, they were so happy to help out and volunteer. They did everything gratis, you know, for the event, and I want to be sure that they get a shout out for the work that they did to make yesterday happen.

Rep. Leslie Love: Thank you. Thank you.

Jeff Cranson: So, I guess—

Rep. Leslie Love: The MDOT crew too. The MDOT crew was phenomenal.

Jeff Cranson: Oh, well, I appreciate that.

Rep. Leslie Love: The on our planning calls, the execution of what they did. I just truly appreciate Paul Ajegba and the whole crew over there at MDOT and I want to say thank you to them too.

Jeff Cranson: Yeah, well, I appreciate that. Director Ajegba feels very strongly about these things too and the things that you were talking about and the conversations that we need to have in the wake of what's going on in the country. He's, you know, making sure that he's driving that within the department too, so I appreciate those comments. Is there anything else you want to add about, you know, Aretha and what this means, and, you know, what you think it can do going forward?

Rep. Leslie Love: Yeah, I’ll just close with this thought, and I said this yesterday at the press conference and I didn't elaborate like I wanted to about how something as simple as people who work very hard and diligently in the background, this is for you. Aretha franklin is shining on you and she says that I say R-E-S-P-E-C-T all the way.

Jeff Cranson: Well, that's well said. Thank you again, Representative Love, for taking time to do this. We're going to close the podcast with Aretha’s granddaughter's Victorie and Grace and their soaring rendition of “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” I can't imagine what it's like to walk up and sing acapella with a highway roaring in the background and, you know, the heat as you mentioned. Their harmony was just beautiful, so we'll listen to that on the way out.

Victorie and Grace Franklin: (singing) Lift every voice and sing, till earth and heaven ring, ring with the harmonies of Liberty; let our rejoicing rise high as the listening skies, let it resound loud as the rolling sea. Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us, sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us, facing the rising sun of our new day begun, let us march on till victory is won.