Authentically Detroit
Authentically Detroit is the leading podcast in the city for candid conversations, exchanging progressive ideas, and centering resident perspectives on current events.
Hosted by Donna Givens Davidson and Orlando P. Bailey.
Produced by Sarah Johnson and Engineered by Griffin Hutchings.
Check us out on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @AuthenticallyDetroit!
Authentically Detroit
Harnessing our Voice and our Power with Neighborhood Leader Tammara Howard and Vocalist Niko Noir
This week, Donna and Orlando sat down with the Founder and Executive Director of What About Us Inc., Tammara Howard and, a rising star in Detroit’s music scene, Niko Noir
Together, they unpacked the emotional aftermath of the 2024 Election while navigating how love and hope can sustain us in uncertain times. Community organizing takes center stage as they dissect varying political narratives and the quest for power among minority communities.
What About Us, Inc. (WAU) is a resident-led, grass-roots organization founded in 2015 and is dedicated to building neighborhood connectedness and capacity to lift up the voices of residents who feel marginalized. Founder and executive director, Tammara Howard, is committed to strengthening the physical, mental, and emotional health of Detroit youth and their parents through the services of WAU. Tammara shared her remarkable journey of transforming neglected spaces into beacons of hope, emphasizing inclusivity for disabled individuals and the LGBTQ community.
Niko Noir is an artist, performer, songwriter, vocal producer and producer hailing from Detroit’s east side. Niko offered insights into the challenges faced by independent artists in a competitive music scene. Her tales of community love and appreciation emphasize the enduring power of family and collaboration.
Click here to learn more about What About Us, Inc., and keep up with Niko Noir’s musical journey here!
FOR HOT TAKES:
DEMOCRATS OVERESTIMATED DETROIT TURNOUT. WHAT HAPPENED?
Up next. Authentically, detroit welcomes the founder and executive director of what About Us Inc. Tamara Howard, plus a rising star in Detroit's music scene, nico Noir. But first this week's hot take from Bridge Detroit Democrats overestimated Detroit turnout. What happened? Keep it locked. Authentically, detroit starts after these messages.
Speaker 2:Founded in 2021, the Stoudemire is a membership-based community recreation and wellness center centrally located on the east side of Detroit. Membership in the Stoudemire is available on a sliding scale for up to $20 per year or 20 hours of volunteer time. The Stoudemire offers art, dance and fitness classes, community meetings and events, resource fairs, pop-up events, the Neighborhood Tech Hub and more. Members who are residents of the Eastside have access to exclusive services in the Wellness Network. Join today and live well, play well, be well. Visit ecndetroitorg.
Speaker 1:Hey y'all, it's Orlando. We just want to let you know that the views and opinions expressed during this podcast episode are those of the co-hosts and guests and not their sponsoring institutions. Now let's start the show. We finally got a piece of the pie. It's so fried in the kitchen Things don't burn on the grill. Took the whole lot of frying. Hello Detroit in the world. Welcome to another episode of Authentically Detroit broadcasting live from Detroit's Eastside at the Stoudemire inside of Eastside Community Network. I'm Orlando Bailey and I'm Donna Gibbons-Davidson.
Speaker 1:Happy Veterans Day everybody. Thank you for listening in and supporting our efforts to build a platform of authentic voices for real people in the city of Detroit. We want you to like, rate and subscribe to our podcast on all platforms. Today we have two special guests with us. First up, we have the founder and executive director of a resident-led grassroots organization, what about us, inc. We also have a rising star in the music scene from okay, detroit's east side recording artist, nico noir. Tamra and nico.
Speaker 4:Welcome to authentically detroit hey, nice glad to be, here happy to have you, donna.
Speaker 1:How you doing? How is this blessed Monday, veterans Day, finding you? You look nice. You got your lipstick matching your sweater and everything. I wish y'all could see, donna Gibbons.
Speaker 3:Davidson, listen, I'm trying.
Speaker 1:I love a black woman in hoops too. You know how I feel about hoops.
Speaker 5:I'm going to be honest with you.
Speaker 3:I feel like somebody. I lost somebody and I'm feeling a level of grief that is akin to losing somebody that you love.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And that is hope, that is belief in other people. I think last time you and I were across the table, we were saying we believe in American people tape. We were saying we believe in American people, and I feel like Lucy and Charlie Brown. Charlie Brown and Lucy snatched that ball away and I fell flat on my face. I got a concussion, I feel all kinds of things, and initially I felt defeated last week, to be honest with you, and then towards the end of the week I decided I was going to fight, and so the word for the day is love.
Speaker 3:All of this in my mind came about because of hate, and you know, hate can be weaponized in so many ways. Hate can be weaponized as jealousy, resentment, fear, anger, and it all produces this negative emotion. And initially a lot of people were like you know what? I can't wait till you, wait till this happens to them. I hope they get what they wanted. But nobody wanted that right. I think people made decisions based on sometimes faulty information, sometimes a misunderstanding of things, but I'm going to love them anyway, because that is what my faith tells me to do, and I cannot be who I want to be without love.
Speaker 3:So that's my struggle today is to love people who let me down.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and we'll lean into that. A lifelong struggle, right, it's a lifelong struggle, right. And you know, I'm always saying that love is required and I'm also pairing that with in all of our complexity, complication and nuance, in our triumphs and in our trauma, right, love is still required, especially for the work that people like you do, the work that Tam does, the work that I do. It is it's, it's so important.
Speaker 3:You know, I think about this. Anybody can love. Yeah, people love them back.
Speaker 1:That's right.
Speaker 3:Anybody can love people they like and agree with them, but when you have a certain level of faith, you can love those people who don't love you back, because you know they're God's children too, and that's taking me into a new level of faith. I've had to dig down deep because, for a minute.
Speaker 5:I was like you know what I quit.
Speaker 3:I'm done. You know what I give up?
Speaker 1:It's certainly a different tone and tenor than what I've been seeing online about closing up shop and just looking out for oneself and really and to me I think that's like the adoption of the thing that is one of the most things that I think is wrong with America is this rugged individualism. I don't think we can take that on for ourselves. I don't. I don't think that's what makes us us.
Speaker 3:Can I be straight with you for?
Speaker 1:a minute.
Speaker 3:Okay, Some of these folks talking about I'm not fighting for anybody else, haven't been fighting for anybody else anyway.
Speaker 5:Let's be straight.
Speaker 3:Okay, how many people are saying that have really been on the front lines of immigrant rights, really been on the front lines of stopping wars and protecting people who are at risk? How many of us have been celebrating border closures just like everybody else? Now we're acting like we have a problem with mass deportation. I think, if we're really being honest, we do have to figure out how to be less individualistic, and I know we've got to get on with the discussion, but I just want to say this Last year, or maybe a few months ago, I was at a meeting and they said you know, people vote out of self-interest.
Speaker 1:And I pushed back on that and I said that's wrong.
Speaker 3:I do too, because black people do not, well, but see, these are black people saying that and they were like well, you know, if you vote on self-interest, I said you know, the problem with self-interest is there's no community in there.
Speaker 1:There's no community there.
Speaker 3:Sometimes you have to be willing to vote and make sacrifices out of love for your own community if you're only voting for yourself. Some of us vote for tax cuts and we know there's poor people who don't have a place to live. Some of us vote because a politician is going to help invest in our business, but we understand there's people who are mass incarcerated and they're offering no help. Maybe it's time we get to a place where we start voting based on what we identify as what's best for our community. That's right.
Speaker 3:And that was the genesis for the thinking of this project that I put on a shelf and I pulled back off the shelf and that's the Black Detroit Democracy Project. Because if nobody's going to fight for us, we have to fight for each other and we have to be willing to understand intersectionality of injustice that is not just us. The same things that are done to us are done to other people and they make us hate each other. That's what Donald Trump and his band of gypsies want from us. So I demand something else I'm sorry, gypsy is a pejorative word His band of travelers want from us. I'm done.
Speaker 1:All right, y'all. It's time for Hot Takes, where we run down some of the week's top headlines in the city of Detroit. For Hot Takes Democrats overestimated Detroit turnout. What happened? This is by Malachi Barrett at Bruce Detroit.
Speaker 1:Sherry Gaye DiNogo hates to say I told you so Really. I don't think she hates to say that at all. I've never known that Because we know Sherry okay, but for months, she said she warned the Harris-Walls campaign that their message was not hitting with Detroiters. Vice President Kamala Harris didn't outline a clear vision for change, gaye DiNogo said, didn't empower surrogates to communicate economic policies, underestimated a revolt of young voters angered by the mounting death toll in Gaza, and failed to disrupt negative perceptions shaped by Republican advertisements. Former President Donald Trump swept back into power with decisive wins and record turnout in swing states, including Michigan. Detroit turnout was only 47 percent lower than Democrats expected. Not only did Harris trail 19,307 votes behind President Joe Biden in 2020, she earned less than Hillary Clinton in 2016. Gaye DiNiego, who was reelected Tuesday to the Detroit school board, said Trump's victory confirmed her worst fears. Now Detroit leaders are contending with what will likely be a frayed relationship with the incoming president and potential drops in federal support for struggling communities. Gaye DiNiego said she's among a group of Black political leaders whose concerns were ignored by the campaign. Here's the quote. I wish I wasn't right. She said Wednesday it was way too little, too late, and that's always the Democratic way. I don't know if they'll learn they've become immune to the stench of dysfunction.
Speaker 1:The Harris campaign engaged Black voters with near daily events at churches, union halls, house parties, divine nine Greek organizations, barbershops and beauty salons. They brought in actors, musicians, political leaders and influencers to persuade voters. Brandon snyder, director of michigan election defense coalition, said he encountered voters who didn't think harris was talking enough about improving the economy and working class issues. Harris had a plan to provide down payment assistance to first-time homebuyers and tax credits for new parents, but voters weren't familiar with it. Part of the issue, snyder said, was the truncated campaign season Harris had to work with. She replaced Biden in June and was challenged with creating policies that differentiated herself from a non-popular administration within a matter of months. Donna Givis-Davidson, what say you?
Speaker 3:Wow, I have so many things to say. Starting with we had a 13th Congressional District debate in our atrium a couple years ago and Sherry Danieka was standing there and I didn't hear her talking to the Detroiters either. I'm going to be real honest. Detroiters sat in the audience and when she got done and everybody else on the platform got done, nobody knew who they wanted to vote for, because nobody was really talking to them. Politicians don't talk to poor people. Politicians don't talk to returning citizens unless they want their votes.
Speaker 3:The reality is, we need to do a much better job connecting with people who are not being heard. All of this talk about Detroiters. When she says they aren't talking to Detroiters, which ones you? Okay, or are you talking about the ones who believe that nobody is going to make any difference? The reality is and we talked about this before when Trump was out there talking all of this stuff about the Democrats, he was not trying to get the votes of black people. He was trying to suppress the votes of Black people by helping people feel discouraged. And the reality is you can't fix that by running around with Liz Cheney. You can't fix that by deciding that you're going to be the one Democrat, who's going to attract all the Republicans from the Republican? You can't fix that unless you really have the capacity to talk to people. But when she comes to the community, who's she going to talk to to get to the people?
Speaker 3:And once again, that's the point of the Black Detroit Democracy Project, because we need to do a better job at all of our leadership levels in the city, talking to the people in pain, people in need, and advocating for their interests, so that we are not asking politicians, what are you going to do for me? We're saying if you want, I'm going to vote. These are the things you need to do. And one final thing black men. A lot of them were quoted as complaining that Kamala Harris was not going to do enough for them. The problem with her response in many ways is that black men live in communities with black women and children. We've got to do enough for all of us, our community. You can't come up with. These are the policies for black men. When you don't understand, they got babies. When you don't understand they got parents.
Speaker 1:When you don't understand they got siblings Also, addressing a problematic narrative. That simply was not true. That's what I'm trying to say.
Speaker 3:There's a problematic narrative. That's not true.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And the reality is that most black men I know care about what's good for their families, what's good for their communities, and they are not looking to be peeled off and put into a separate interest group.
Speaker 1:Let me ask you this question because there is a lot of conversation in the ether right now around you know what happened and who is to blame. There's a lot of fingers being pointed. Is there a conversation that should be happening around the Democratic Party's overall strategy and who they put at the top of the ticket and how they campaign in swing states and in states that are always going to be red and states that are always going to be blue? Is there room for that conversation or should we be having that conversation?
Speaker 3:Our democracy is dying in America, not just in presidential elections. People don't believe that politicians are caring about their interests. It's not a Democratic or Republican thing. Republicans are even more disconnected with folks in Detroit than Democrats are. It's the fact that our politicians don't feel accountable to everyday people and we've got to change our politics by organizing and getting their voices out and empowering everyday people. And we've got to change our politics by organizing and getting their voices out and empowering everyday people. I don't mean giving them power, I mean acting in power collectively so that we can make change.
Speaker 3:So I don't blame Democrats for that. I blame this narrative that all of our political space the news media, not outlier, but certainly the corporate news media perpetuates that right. This is what they want to hear. These are the questions they ask. When you have a debate, you get to ask the questions. These are the questions they ask. So I think that the fight back can't be attacking Democrats. It's got to be attacking politics and also building power within so that whoever is running for office understands they've got to answer to us.
Speaker 1:Can power be built without money? Is running for office? Understands? They've got to answer to us. Can power be built without money? Because one of the things that is super apparent to me is the fact that billions of dollars were spent on each of these campaigns, right, Various super PACs, the Democratic Party donations, you know. And so when we talk about organizing and submitting to shared power, especially within the communities that we serve, how does one make noise enough to be noticed and to not be tokenized but to be taken seriously as a person, as a group, as a collective, whose power matters and who vote matters? Is that with money? Is that without money? Is it both? What does that look like?
Speaker 3:Let's ask an ancestor.
Speaker 3:Okay, in 1925, I believe it was 25 or 26, when Frank Murphy was running for judge. Henry Ford was the biggest name in town. He had Ford Motor Company and he had all of the industrialists organized and he had a slate of judges that were going to vote on his platform by the way, it was a Republican platform. He had a slate of judges that he was going to put in and they were going to reform, you know, the courts and make the courts more disciplined, right, and Frank Murphy ran as a Democrat. But he organized the black community, organized the Italian community, the Polish community and all the other ethnic groups and he got the top number of votes.
Speaker 3:What did the Democrats say? I mean the Republicans alleged. They said this is voter fraud. Now, keep in mind, this is 1925, 1926, where black people constitute maybe 8% of the Detroit population. We're poor, we're just up from the South. You know people talk about literacy rates. I'm assuming they weren't that great, but you know. But we did have. We had our organization, we had our vote and we had our power. A few years after that, he became mayor of Detroit, running against a KKK candidate. I have written about this and talked about this because I think it's important for us to understand that if our ancestors could do what they did with what they had, we can do what we have. Look what we have. The one thing money can't do is vote.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And we have now got social media. We have ties, we have the ability, we have people with money, we have people with power, but if we're not organized, we're not leveraging it collectively. What ends up happening is we get picked apart, and I think the idea that we're powerless is something that only benefits the powerful. I agree, we're always going to have less money. We've always had less money in this nation. There's never been a time since the United States was formed when black people were not at the bottom economically.
Speaker 1:OK, and yet we've exercised power and believed in ourselves in the past, and I think we've got to restore some of that power, some of that pride, some of that belief that you know we can make a change and run candidates with that consciousness. I mean, Frank Murphy had a different consciousness than anybody else. That was, that was a choice. I don't think traditional power cedes to the kind of power that you and I submit to without, without a demand, or without the power that you and I see to creating and running their own candidate.
Speaker 3:You know we have an election next year and there's people who believe that nobody can become mayor without Dan Gilbert's blessing, and he is not even a resident of the city of Detroit.
Speaker 4:He can't vote here.
Speaker 3:Are you telling me that we don't have enough people in Detroit who can vote for Detroiters and vote for what we believe? And I think we give up before we even try. And it's that defeatism that gives power to people like him. Because, guess what, when Mike Duggan won the last time, he won with less than 19% of the electorate even showing up and he got 70% of 19% Think about that.
Speaker 3:Nobody showed up. If we could get people, mobilize people and I think we can, because I think people want good things, I think people want change. I think people want to believe in something and it's our responsibility to make that happen. I became renewed in my conviction that it's my responsibility to try to do my part.
Speaker 1:I can have this conversation with you all day long because you know how we love it, but we are going to take a quick break and we will be right back with Tamara Howard.
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Speaker 1:Welcome back everyone. What About Us Inc is a resident-led grassroots organization founded in 2015 and is dedicated to building neighborhood connectedness and capacity to lift up the voices of residents who feel marginalized. Founder and executive director, Tamara Howard is committed to strengthening the physical, mental and emotional health of Detroit youth and their parents through the services of what About Us Inc. What About Us primarily services the Gratiot Woods neighborhood, but services are open to all Detroit residents. What About Us has successfully offered a range of programming and workshops to Detroit residents, programming such as GED prep, conflict resolution, lgbtq community awareness, family building activities, freedom of Information Act training classes, parental involvement activities, workshops on twice exceptional children. Tamara Howard for the first time, welcome to Authentically Detroit.
Speaker 4:Hi everybody. I'm so nervous, but I'm glad to be here.
Speaker 1:Oh, what are you nervous about?
Speaker 4:I know and I'm a long-winded person, so you might have to cut the mic off. No, I think we'll do it.
Speaker 1:I think you did just fine Pull the mic a little bit closer to you. Tam Tam, listen. You know. I started my career here at Warren County Development Coalition in 2011 as a contractor and got hired in in 2012. And you were here.
Speaker 4:Yes.
Speaker 1:And you were organizing and you were involved and you were advocating for your community. You were advocating for yourself. This work is a long game and you've been in a game for a long time. What keeps you in this game?
Speaker 4:The love that I have for people, you know, and I love my family and I want to make community families, you know, because we can't live in a world and not worry about other people. It's not always about you and that's what I continue to worry about other people, it's not always about you and that's what I continue to talk about every day. I taught my children that, and I'm in the community working with other people to let them know that we have to learn to work together.
Speaker 3:Can you talk about the work that you've done to build community?
Speaker 4:Well started off okay. So we have a resilience hub on Belvedere. It's a trailer that I bought from Iron Michigan because I wanted to build a safe space and a space where people could come to and have activities and work together, and a resilience when we have an emergency. You got some way that you could come to and be safe as far as the power go out, which it goes out all the time we could plug in the generator and people can plug up their cell phones. Medical equipment, you know, put medicine in the refrigerator. We have a cooling station where it's hot outside you can get the air. You know, it's just a lot of different things that I want to help the community with and I've been blessed to be able to do it.
Speaker 3:But you do a lot more than the—can you talk about all of your projects, your parks, your orchard, everything? The?
Speaker 1:Belvedere Community Youth Block Club. What About Us Inc wasn't in existence when I met you. It was the block club Right.
Speaker 4:So started the Belvedere Community Youth Block Club in 2000. And we did a lot of community building, you know, working together, workshops, cleanups, you know just a lot of togetherness, and we had a lot of people come from a lot of different places that wanted to be a part of it. So you don't have to live on Belvedere, but that's how. What About Us got started so that people can feel comfortable to coming out and helping and working together and meeting new people and just a concept of just showing people how we can continue this work everywhere. So that's how it got started. So then I told you about the hub. Then, well, we have a Live, love and Love project that I got through Yep and I divided it up three lots and we made it where you could come, exercise and you know just a lot of community meetings and workshops and just a space where you could relax and have fun. So we started that one. Then we got the hub.
Speaker 4:I said this is actually our second hub hub because we had one on the corner upstairs but we had too many steps and it was for our mobility people and our seniors. It was too many steps. So from there I'm going backwards, but I'm just telling you everything. We have an apple orchard on Holcomb and on Warren and we're growing. We have apples and we have raspberry bushes in the garden because we have a lot of people that's being faced with diabetes and diabetics can't eat all the apples they want but they're a little safer if they eat the raspberries. And that's what everybody agreed upon.
Speaker 4:So the whole concept of this is working together. You know that's the whole thing and not just one person playing that, everybody playing it. The young people come to the Hub. They do their homework. We have the computers for you want to get on there to find a job? Ged, you know we studying, you know, to learn to take the test. We're not doing the test, but you could come there and practice. You know we just a whole lot of coming together and that was just the main thing about it. I've been on that block for 55 years, so I know everybody, you know. So it's just feel good to be able to help people.
Speaker 1:Were you always this convener, were you always this community, oriented Like who taught you? My mother, your mother, talk about your mom.
Speaker 4:Well, my mother when I was younger, when we used to have a phone jack in the middle of our dining room wall and the phone would ring and my mother say the bus meant office for the city of Detroit and I love that, I mean, and it really it was something. I could have been outside playing, I could have been doing anything, but I loved it there. I loved the fact that my mother taught us to care and to help other people. All the kids used to come to our house, the parents, any kind of problems. They called my mother, we marching, we got signs and you know it's just a lot of stuff that my mother showed me as I grew up to know that everybody matters. Everybody might not like you, but that's okay, you love everybody and that's me.
Speaker 3:You love everybody so you know, can I tell you something that made me really happy. I know I've already told you this, but I saw one of the young people who was in a youth program 20 years ago or so Well, longer than that and I realized I don't know how I put it together that her grandmother lives across the street from you and I mentioned that to you. And then I saw her and I realized that she is now living with her grandmother, taking care of her grandmother, and so I asked her if she knew you and she says, yeah, my daughter has been over there her house. And she says you know, I want to buy these lots down the block from me, their her house and she's. You know, I want to buy these lots down the block from me and I want to fix them up.
Speaker 3:And she was sharing with me her vision, and you know she's not a person who always feels confident to speak about her vision. You influenced her, you helped give her a vision for change, and I can't even tell you how happy that makes me, because you know it's one of my babies, right. And so I reached out to her when we had our Eastside Extravaganza and I wanted to make sure she was going to be there and so I said are you able to get off work and come? She says, oh yeah, I'll be there, and I realized she's at your table. She's already made that connection.
Speaker 3:That's what you do for young people in the community, even though she's not what many people would consider young certainly not the young lady to my right, but to young people, to me and our community, is you inspire them. There's another young lady who came to a meeting and she was speaking up and she was really being very articulate about her way of working with and organizing young people and it was you. And she says well, tam is my mentor. Can you talk about the mentoring you've done with young people over the years and your vision for that?
Speaker 4:Yeah, you know, I was always the go-to. Everybody come to me, the young people oh, miss Tam, this happened and Miss Tam, that happened, you know, and we always had a conversation and they felt important. You know, they would say things to me like Miss Tam, you know, you tell us that, tell them I don't have to be your mother to love you, you know. And they love that, you know. And they would come to me with all the problems, this going on, my mama doing that.
Speaker 4:I said hold it now, hold it now. I can't be getting y'all in your mama's business, but we talk about it, you know, and they just really gravitated to me because they saw how nurturing I was with my sons, you know, because I have three sons and I'm very nurturing. They call it overprotective, but that's okay, but I'm very nurturing and they really love that and they would come and help. We work together, we go places and I mean it was just like they was like okay, I know, if I go to Ms Tam's house I'm safe, I know we're going to have a good time, you know, and they'll tell me. Now, you know, I'm just so glad to be able to have met you because you're a nice person. I said thank you. And a lot of people come and go different places to talk about me and when I hear people tell me I'll be like okay.
Speaker 1:It's good to feel you know really, that people really you know, love you. They love what you do to try to help them, because some people don't pay attention to their children, but love will always find you because you're always giving it out. You are a well of just love. Talk a little bit about what about us Inc and you know some of the challenges that you may be facing that you could probably use some resource and help with, because a lot of people listen to this podcast and I want them to know that. You know what About Us Inc is thriving, but it can always use some more resources. What you got going on?
Speaker 4:Well, right now we got going on. We trying to get a get our hub together where we have a bathroom with water crocks and stuff, and we don't have the money to get that. But we're, you know, we still have people coming and engaging. We have a port-a-john and portable sinks, but people really love the space and they love to come there and be able to feel, you know, loved. You know we had some people come that other night a community birthday party.
Speaker 1:Nice.
Speaker 4:And it was just so nice. And you know we're not financially able to have big, big things, but the Lord going to bless us and if anybody want to help us we appreciate it.
Speaker 3:Can you talk about your special focus on disabled people? Yeah, because I think that's really important.
Speaker 4:That's really good, you know, and as far as I come with the gifted and the talented, people with disabilities and stuff, I just feel like that, everything that we do, we always have a way that they can be a part of it too, because nobody should be left out. And I feel that a lot of these services and stuff I want to be able to offer them, because they are human beings and we want them to feel empowered and whole, just like everybody else. So nobody gets left out. What about us? It's everybody, you know, and, like I say, all with the LGT, whatever you know.
Speaker 1:LGBTQ hey, I love that too. Yeah, you know, you are over 20 years in.
Speaker 4:Yes.
Speaker 1:And you still going. You're not tired yet. What drives you in?
Speaker 4:Yes, and you're still going. You're not tired yet.
Speaker 3:What drives you? Love, love. You know, the first time I met you, I came here to a community meeting when I first started here, and you were serving food. That's what you do. You show up and you just put on the gloves and you say, how can I help? That's right, and you just never let anything, you know, stop you from doing that and you've done really special things for many people. You've certainly been a source of support for everybody who works here. Actually, I've got some exciting news to support. You know what? The exciting news is? Right, the mobility grant.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay, yeah, I don't think she knows it went out today.
Speaker 4:It went out today.
Speaker 3:Okay, all right, can you? Yes, so she is one of our mobility grantees.
Speaker 1:Oh, congratulations, Sam Howard. In addition to her hub.
Speaker 3:She's got some funds that we're going to be working with her on distributing resources in our community.
Speaker 3:You just do great work and I'm always excited to be able to recognize you for the work that you do and to help you grow. To recognize you for the work that you do and to help you grow, Because where you are now and where you were when I started here in 2016 is you are light years from where you were. All of these ideas were just in your head and Tam I don't know if it's a Virgo thing, but Tam has lots and lots of ideas Okay.
Speaker 1:Just like Donna Gibbons Davidson, I used to have to tell Donna okay, donna, no more ideas, stop it. You know the name. What About Us? I love the name, but how did you come up with the name? What does it mean?
Speaker 4:It means no one is left out, everybody. You know, like I was telling Donna, you know, I'm just, I think, so wide and big, I want everybody to win and I'm like, okay, I'm all over, my mind is here, there, all over the world, literally all over the world it is that's how I feel. I just want everybody to feel empowered, important, loved, and that's just what I really want to happen people to come together as community families. It don't matter who you is, come on, we can work together to make things better. Because you know the young people, we got to be examples. You know the grown people got to let these young people know that, hey, it's better days and we need to learn how to get along and not hurt one another, because everybody got a problem, but we got to learn how to work on those problems.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, tam, tell folks how they can get involved with what About Us.
Speaker 4:Well, what About Us? We're on Belvedere, between Warren and Moffitt at 5013 Belvedere. Our phone number is 313-918-9604. Our email address is whataboutusatworldorg, so if anybody would like to come out and visit us, you're always welcome.
Speaker 1:And I know you probably are already getting ready for 2025's Health and Safety Fair right. Yes, I am.
Speaker 4:It'll be our 18th, when the Lord bless. It'll be our 18th Health and Safety Fair we have every year. We have various doctor's offices and health insurances and main metro places. They help you with your bills. And Eastside Community Network come out too and you know just a big support system for the community and they look forward to that.
Speaker 3:And it's a really large event. It's a large event and everybody's there, you know.
Speaker 1:Tam, I got to tell you this and I want to tell you this publicly. You know I'm always talking, black people in Detroit being the cause for death, decay and dilapidation, like you, with people like Moe's Premise, who I saw at the extravaganza, bart Martin, who I saw at the extravaganza Jay Henderson, all of these titans in my world right that nobody really knows, you know, unless you're on the east side, showed me that that was a lie.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You told me and you showed me that all of those horrible things that was being said about Detroit and Detroiters was a lie and it emboldened me in a way. To all of these years later, I'm still speaking that truth and I'm still debunking that myth and I want to tell you thank you and I want to honor you.
Speaker 3:Thank you for being you and you know I did all to everything he said. Right, and people talk about our community. It is you and it is people like you. You know you're part of an area that is called Goodstock and you're one of the founding members of Goodstock, and Goodstock was formed because it was actually an area that received no investment. The city had decided to cut this area out of an investment area and yet the people like you and Barb and others did not leave. You just stood dug in and said I'm going to take this vacant lot and turn it into something beautiful. I'm going to take this space and I'm going to build an orchard. Other people saw a block. You saw an orchard and you inspire me every day to come to work because it is. I think that community development was about the buildings and about everything. Is it about the people? Because if you give people what they need, the people are going to rebuild the community in their own vision. So I'm really proud of you, thank you.
Speaker 1:And we love you. Thank you for coming on, tana, I love you lots, thank you. All right, keep it locked. We will be right back with Nico Noir.
Speaker 2:Founded in 2021, the Stoudemire is a membership-based community recreation and wellness center centrally located on the east side of Detroit. Membership in the Stoudemire is available on a sliding scale for up to $20 per year or 20 hours of volunteer time. The Stoudemire offers art, dance and fitness classes, community meetings and events, resource fairs, pop-up events, the Neighborhood Tech Hub and more. Members who are residents of the Eastside have access to exclusive services in the Wellness Network. Join today and live well, play well, be well. Visit ecndetroitorg.
Speaker 1:Welcome back everyone. Nico Noir is an artist, performer, songwriter, vocal producer and producer hailing from Detroit's East Side. The 25-year-old, who attended Detroit School of Arts, began releasing music at the start of college. Nico describes her music as melodic, poetic and authentic, with a sound heavily reminiscent of 2000s R&B. Reminiscent of 2000s R&B. She released her first EP, blame Nico in 2021 and plans to release two more EPs this year. Nico, welcome to Authentically Detroit.
Speaker 6:Hi, hi, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1:It's a pleasure and honor to welcome another Detroit School of Arts alum. Achievers Stand-Up yes Achievers.
Speaker 6:We are Achievers and you just achieving.
Speaker 1:Yes, you putting out music and doing all achievers and you just achieving. Yes, you putting out music and doing all of that. Were you a vocal major at DSA? I was Okay, I mean what?
Speaker 5:else, what else yeah?
Speaker 1:Did you know? You always wanted to sing.
Speaker 6:Yes, when did you know? Oh, I kind of have a cliche story of like, since I was a kid seven, eight years old just singing. My dad always just used to take me to his studio sessions, so I so dad was a musician.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what kind of musician. He was a songwriter, singer, yeah, yeah, and he trained your ear.
Speaker 6:Yeah, yeah, basically yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and who did you love listening to coming up? Oh?
Speaker 6:hmm, I listened to a lot of Keisha, cole. Ooh, I listen to a lot of Keisha.
Speaker 1:Cole.
Speaker 6:Ooh.
Speaker 2:Like Fantasia.
Speaker 1:A lot of grit. Mary J Blige Some grit, yeah, some story.
Speaker 5:It was my mama. Your mama was going through something, yeah.
Speaker 6:Yeah, yeah, jill Scott Like that was definitely her thing.
Speaker 5:What about Lauryn Hill?
Speaker 6:Yes, lauryn Hill for sure.
Speaker 3:Lauryn Hill is probably like one of my biggest influences from like the female side of just when you describe what you do. Yeah, it sounds like learn hill it does. And learn hill, let me tell you learn hill is is. My children had to listen to her and I got divorced every single day about five times a day, backwards and forwards. They know the whole album okay but you want to know something.
Speaker 1:I'm listening to your speaking voice and you know what you are. The singers that you are naming aren't singers who are all up in the rafters.
Speaker 6:It's interesting.
Speaker 1:These are singers that work that middle like nobody's business Right, and I love a raspy, gritty alto, strong alto singer. And is that where your voice is?
Speaker 6:Yes, describe your voice Contralto Contralto To be more technical. Okay, come on DSA education. Yeah, contralto, mezzo-soprano, but I do, I don't know. I feel like it's changed as I've gotten older, my music taste.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 6:Like even the names that I've said. They were very popular at the time when I was a kid, but now it's shifted more towards Brandy's and Jasmine Sullivan.
Speaker 1:Vocal Bibles yes exactly.
Speaker 6:So I feel like I've always just gravitated towards my lower register, but I had a conversation about this yesterday. I'm trying to get out of it.
Speaker 1:I'm trying to sing higher, but I know you could probably work that lower register I love it A gladdest night.
Speaker 3:Consider the fact that some of my favorite artists are at that. Oh my goodness, I just love it. Keep in mind, we love that gritty song.
Speaker 5:I'm sticking to it.
Speaker 3:We need to incorporate poetry with that. There's such a need for Detroit artists. I'll tell you how much we love music. We actually have an event monthly and we're going to start it again. I guess we're going to have one soon, in November.
Speaker 1:The day before Thanksgiving, the day before Thanksgiving called.
Speaker 3:Playlist Live, where we are trying to feature local musicians.
Speaker 1:That's how much we love music.
Speaker 3:That's how much we use it, and I think that people think Detroit's music is just Motown, but Detroit's music is so much bigger than Motown, as you know. There's a whole lot of music that's coming out and I'm trying to determine whether I can somehow detect a Detroit sound.
Speaker 6:I'm wondering is there a Detroit sound or is that just in my head? I feel like now it's so diverse, like yeah, we have our typical Detroit rap scene Because that's the sound.
Speaker 1:That's the sound. That's definitely a sound.
Speaker 6:But as far as, like the singers, charity, yes, you, it's so many different sounds. I don't think Detroit really has a sound, because we're just so diverse sonically.
Speaker 1:I want to ask you a question. You dropped out of college.
Speaker 4:Yes.
Speaker 1:Where were you at college? Where did you go to college? I?
Speaker 6:went to Bethune-Cookman. First that was in Daytona Beach, Florida, and then I transferred to Dime downtown, but they shut down, right, but I left before they shut down.
Speaker 6:You dropped out why? Because I felt like I was pursuing my plan B before I even tried my plan A, which was singing personal music, being an artist, and that's something that I battle with even to this day. Like should I have done that? It's just a constant like mental thing, like that would have secured more stability, for sure, financially, but I found ways to make income just off of music. Now, and tell us how you do that?
Speaker 3:How do you income just off of music? Now Tell us how you do that. How do you make money off of?
Speaker 6:music Performing really features mostly, though I get like a lot of people asking for features and I charge for the features and yeah, just like that.
Speaker 3:So do you perform like for audiences? Yes, where?
Speaker 6:Just recently I opened for Elder Barge at Music Hall. That was, for sure, my biggest thing that I've done lately. Thank you, thank you, thank you. But before it would just be like artistic events. People would invite me to perform. Sometimes people would have gigs I just performed at. I sang the anthem at BUF, buf's Gallup, black United Funds Gallup.
Speaker 1:So you know, I have this conversation with Jessica Caremore all the time she's a friend of mine about the journey of being an independent artist and Jessica Caremore is an independent artist, Right and the ups and downs that come with that and I want to lean into. You know, like what you're saying, like you're gigging, you're singing, you are an indie artist. What has that journey been like for you?
Speaker 6:Tumultuous. Tumultuous To put it all into one word.
Speaker 1:And I think this is a good conversation to have, because I think when people look at artists on stage and see them singing and see them in lights, they have this picturesque view of glamour, yeah, and it being all glitz and glow, but you say it's tumultuous tumultuous, simply, but a lot, a lot of like the turbulence is self-inflicted, um, mentally, like me, I'm a chronic overthinker, like chronic overthinker.
Speaker 6:so I've like overthought my way out of opportunities like, or I've overthought my way into opportunities that I should not have taken. It's just, it's mentally, it's been, it was a battle for real, but I kind of got to a point where I'm starting to have balance and I'm starting to realize that's a big part of life, like yin and yang, for a reason. You just need balance, like it's always going to be. I don't want to say negative or positive, but it's always just, you know, a matter of balancing the scales. But yeah, tumultuous, to say the least.
Speaker 3:Is there a place? Is there a Detroit music scene, and does it need to be reestablished?
Speaker 6:It feels like there is a lot of support for people who rap but not a lot of support for people who rap but not a lot of support for people who sing. Definitely need the support, definitely for sure. But I also feel like the rap scene is completely different from the singer scene because the rappers are a little more consistent and in your face, and for the singers, we kind of are just like, well, well, I have to have a video, a visual, we want to do a whole market plan, a promo plan, before we even put the actual project together, and I think that kind of hinders us from releasing as often as we should.
Speaker 1:What's the support that's needed? You say we need more support. What do you see as support?
Speaker 6:Funding for sure, just having organization as well in the music scene. I feel like we don't really have like like there are people, there are different crews and stuff that roll together and they have like their slew of artists and musicians that they work with, but I feel like there isn't any community like y'all like the same thing, like I watched Love and Marriage Detroit and I saw the Star Factory and I was not encouraged.
Speaker 3:You know, I just feel as though we need a Motown or something a little bit more robust, and I think with a Motown or something more robust, singers could be rewarded and supported. I'm sorry, we do need that. I'm sorry. Listen, we can't have this downtime. I just have to keep talking. I wasn't expecting it. I'm sorry.
Speaker 1:I'm sorry. Okay, we are back. Talk about some of your. Who do you dream about working with, like? Who do you want to collaborate with?
Speaker 5:Donna, you know something else, go ahead.
Speaker 6:It changes often. Right now, at the moment, I would say Dwele. Well, that's possible?
Speaker 4:yes, I know.
Speaker 1:I'm trying. Isn't it fun to to have dreams that you know are possible? Yes, like our dreams aren't impossible.
Speaker 6:They really aren't, and people are not as hard to get in touch with as we think yeah social media just has people thinking that like yeah, but yeah, dwelle is.
Speaker 6:He's definitely been on the top of my radar right now, simply because I just love his sound. I feel like he has a detroit sound, but like authentic duele in his slum village slum village days. Like that was detroit for me, at least for me. Um, james fontleroy as well. I think he's a phenomenal writer. Oh, who else? Brandy, of course. I would love brandy to vocal produce. For me, I think that would be, you know what and you are a vocal producer yourself and she's really inspired me.
Speaker 6:Between brandy and james fallaroy they really taught me how to like stack harmonies.
Speaker 3:But basically, brandy, brandy is literally brandy is a singer's singer okay because, as Okay Because as a non-singer I didn't know she was great and other singers I'm serious. Like she sounds, you know. But singers, like every singer I know, loves Brandy's voice. What is it?
Speaker 1:Her choices. It's the choices. Yeah.
Speaker 6:It's the technicality of it all Just knowing like the strengths of your voice and playing to it, just knowing the strengths of your voice and playing to it.
Speaker 1:And playing to it Not even being in the rap, you know, because I have this ear too it's like her stacks, the harmonies that she produces and the engineering of it, yeah, phenomenal, nobody does it better. Phenomenal, no body does it better. And I love her latest work more than her early work, like my favorite Brandy album is 2.11 really, oh my goodness.
Speaker 6:2.11 was really good though it was really good, wasn't it?
Speaker 5:I'm gonna give you that. I'm gonna give you that Full Moon has always had me in a chocobo.
Speaker 1:Of course, that goes without saying 2.11 was good so talk about your latest EP and what the inspiration was for it.
Speaker 6:Latest Gosh. That was really inspired by a slew of emotions, young emotions at that. I'll say that, oh wait, are we talking about the first or the one I'm preparing?
Speaker 1:The one you're preparing.
Speaker 6:Okay, great. Yeah, this one is more so geared towards, I want to say, in a sense, self-love or just dealing with the emotions that comes from the consequences of my actions and just getting out of like that self self-loathing, um energy. I feel like the first one was more so just like me being timid around my feelings, but this one is more like this is my decision. I am an adult. This is how I'm feeling. This I'm moving emotionally. They're more so songs geared to more like my romantic life. So all right yeah all right.
Speaker 1:Where did that you know? Where did that apprehension come from in the first place?
Speaker 6:because romantic life right now, I would say I think I'm I'm the youngest one in here. How old are you? Okay, he gets it like the dating pool right now for our age group is it's like I don't know. Thumbs down, it's not fun, it's no fun. And so I say romantic life, because does it even exist?
Speaker 1:yeah, you know. Okay, I hear you. Where can people find out more about your music? Tell the people where they can hear you um.
Speaker 6:You can hear me and follow you yes, spotify. Well, music everywhere on all streaming platforms. Nico Noir Instagram. I'm most active there. It's Nico period Noir N-I-K-O, period N-O-I-R. I'm on Twitter More so, just like free thoughts. Nico X Noir, and then Facebook. I guess Facebook is connected to Instagram.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay.
Speaker 6:What's your favorite song to sing? Oh gosh.
Speaker 1:It's a live show. You can't. It's crazy.
Speaker 6:I know when you Touch Me, Brandy Brandy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, when you Touch Me, can we hear a little bit of it?
Speaker 6:Oh gosh, I should have known.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 6:I hoped you were going there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean we have a singer in the house we got to hear a little bit of it.
Speaker 6:Okay, yes, just a little bit. I didn't warm up at all.
Speaker 1:It's okay, whatever come on, no disclaimer needed, all right, You're DSA trained. You got this. Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 5:Wish I could hold you just for a little while. Let me. I wish I could see you right now, but you're so far away. It's driving me crazy. I'm missing you, baby, in the ways you touch me, and it's nothing like anything I've ever felt before. That's how I know I am yours. Now is the time to relax your mind and go and unwind now. Waiting for too long, I'm waiting.
Speaker 6:Tonight's the night on tone. I'll be trying to sing the harmonies right, thank you.
Speaker 1:You got tone for days, thank you, thank you. I love a singer. Listen, I stand a singer, especially a live singer listen okay, you sing live.
Speaker 3:No preparation, no practice, no music. That was great, thank you I can't wait to listen to your music and you have to come to.
Speaker 1:Playlist.
Speaker 4:Live. You have to come, I want to. We'll make sure you get it okay alright, listen.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for coming on the podcast. Thank you, we appreciate having you, fellow DSA Achiever, listen. If you have topics that you want discussed on the podcast, you can hit us up on our socials at Authentically Detrayed at Facebook, instagram or Twitter, or you can email us at authenticallydetrayed at gmailcom. All right, it's time for shout outs. Donna, you have any shout outs?
Speaker 3:shout outs. I do, sure, I want to shout out Dr Rose Moten. Yeah, the Globe Transformation Center.
Speaker 3:The way she came through stepping you hear me she did At the east side of Strava gone. She's the baddest right, but no, she is such a good person. And the next, the day after the election, she went on television I think I don't remember which channel she was on, but she was there and some of our community members said we need her to come back to ECN to help us heal because we are in pain, and the fact that she has created this connection to women and men, but especially women in our community, where they really want more from her, says a lot. We gave her the Eastside Innovators Award and it's so well deserved. So I just want to thank her because I think she's going to be the calm that we all need and she'll be here this Friday on the 15th, at between 5.30 and 7 pm at Eastside Community Network so people can come here and get healed.
Speaker 1:All right, Nico. You have any shout outs?
Speaker 6:Shout out to Shout out to Shout out to Brandy, my Brandy, you merked that.
Speaker 1:Oh, my nose ran out.
Speaker 6:Yeah, shout out to Brandy, I'll get it on my mom as well. That's my girl, that's my homegirl. She even behind me regarding anything with music. So yeah, my support system for real.
Speaker 1:Tam Tam, you have any shout-outs?
Speaker 4:I have a shout-out to my community families that's out here that know I love them and I'm just looking forward to keep on working with them and my family. They got my back and my children. They love community just like they. Mama.
Speaker 2:And.
Speaker 4:I just wanted to just keep it going. That's my shout-out. All right, y they mama, and I just wanted to just keep it going, that's my shout out All right, y'all.
Speaker 1:And shout out to the East Side hey, all day, all right, vroomville East Side is in here, All right, everybody. We thank you so much for listening and remember to love on somebody and allow yourself to be loved on. We'll see you next time. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Outro Music.
