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
Youth Art and Black History: Bridging Past and Present with Kenneth Russell and Ian Grant
This week, Donna and Orlando sat down with Vaulted Youth Voices participant, Kenneth Russell and the curator for Umoja Fine Arts to discuss the Youth Artist Workshop, an initiative dedicated to celebrating African American creativity.
Kenneth Russell is a young artist and sophomore at Southeastern High School who has been learning to combine his artistic background with civic engagement through the Vaulted Youth Voices podcasting program.
Umoja Fine Arts (UFA) is a family-owned art publishing and distribution company committed to helping the Detroit Metropolitan area celebrate the great artistic achievements of local and internationally acclaimed artist.
Founded by Ian Grant, they recently organized the Black History Month Youth Artist Workshop, an initiative dedicated to celebrating African American creativity and fostering the next generation of artists while encouraging the preservation of Black history and Culture through art.
To learn more about Umoja Fine Arts and Ian’s work, click here.
FOR HOT TAKES:
MICHIGAN SCHOOLS, FAMILIES GRAPPLE WITH NEW TRUMP IMMIGRATION POLICIES
Up next. Curator Ian Grant joins Authentically Detroit to discuss Umoja Fine Arts, black History Month, youth Artist Workshop and an initiative dedicated to celebrating African-American creativity. But first this week's hot takes from Chalkbeat Detroit Michigan schools, families grapple with new Trump immigration policies. Keep it locked. Authentically Detroit starts after these messages. Hey y'all, it's Orlando.
Speaker 1: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. Hello fine in the kitchen, hello Detroit and the world. Welcome to another episode of Authentically Detroit, broadcasting live from Detroit's East Side at the Steidlmeier Inside of the East Side Community Network Headquarters. I'm Orlando Bailey and I'm Donna Givens-Davidson. 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. We have closed out Black History Month, but now we want to say happy Women's History Month to everyone. Donna and I are joined today by one of our Vault at Youth Voices participants, kenneth Russell, and the curator for Umojafine Arts, ian Grant, who is here to discuss the Black History Month Youth Artist Workshop that they hosted throughout the month of February. Ian and Kenneth, welcome to Authentically Detroit.
Speaker 4:Hello, hello Hello.
Speaker 1:Good afternoon to everyone. Happy to have you, Donna. Happy Women's History Month.
Speaker 5:Oh, happy Listen.
Speaker 1:How you doing.
Speaker 5:I'm doing well. How are you? I'm good you blacked out today. I see you. Today is literally picture day. Oh, you had picture day today. Yes, we had picture day. Carl Ford came here and I had to.
Speaker 1:Carl Ford still doing the photos still doing it, sorry, carl. Lest Ford shout out to Carl Lestford. Carl Lestford, no, he loves us calling him Carl. Okay, all right, all right. Oh well, you look great, you look great. You know, I was saying today, today was good, it's Monday, but it really did give Monday vibes, like one thing after the next today.
Speaker 5:Monday was Monday-ing today. Okay, First of all, we had the grandchildren yesterday. All of them. Well, you know the two who are here, Maverick and Luna, and that was fun, Did you?
Speaker 1:get any sleep.
Speaker 5:It was good. No, I mean they didn't spend the night. They were both home by 7 pm, but when you have your grandchildren they have you, so not much rest, but it was fun.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was fun and you got to do something really cool over the weekend. I did. What did you do?
Speaker 5:I went to Classical Roots and I saw the. Is it the Marlowe Rising video?
Speaker 1:I'll tell you exactly what it is Marlowe's.
Speaker 5:Wings. I think it's Marlowe's Wings what it is. Music that was composed by Chris Johnson, who is an amazing trumpeter, a great composer. It was really a good time Got to see a lot of wonderful people.
Speaker 1:Marlowe's Wings, Detroit's champion of change. World premiere.
Speaker 5:World premiere and I saw it. So yeah, was Valencia there? You know she may have been. We were seated in the crowd. We weren't in one of those fancy box seats and we didn't get there as early as some people did.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay, because they also present an award in his name.
Speaker 5:They did they presented the award to—.
Speaker 1:Who got it? Oh my goodness, Do we know who got it? Yes, I do know who got it, but it's going to take me a minute to remember who got it.
Speaker 5:They did honor Walt Douglas. Oh wow.
Speaker 5:That was really amazing he was a friend of my dad's, and so it was great to see him and to just reminisce on just how wonderful he's been over the years. He was funny too, because he talked about when he joined the DSO and he says you know, when he was there he was one of two black people on the board. He says they've come a long way. You have a long way to go too. But come a long way. You have a long way to go too. But we won't talk about that now. And I was like I just love the fact that he put that in there.
Speaker 1:Shout out to former ECN staffer Mary Madigan for putting us on game about this new composition that the orchestra honoring Marlo. I thought that was really sweet. Absolutely, and for Deanna Solomon for reaching out and getting us free tickets, because I tried to buy tickets and they were like the tickets are all sold out.
Speaker 5:And then next thing I know she's emailed and talked to Chris Johnson and he wants to work with us and he's going to do some work with us.
Speaker 1:Deanna Solomon, ECN's chief development officer, making it happen.
Speaker 5:Exactly, right away.
Speaker 1:Right away.
Speaker 5:When I was there, everybody was like oh, thank you for hiring Deanna. And I was like she's all right, she listens to the podcast, so hopefully she'll laugh at that. No, I mean the excitement is there.
Speaker 1:It is. It's really exciting. 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, michigan schools, families grapple with new Trump immigration policies.
Speaker 1:With President Donald Trump changes to immigration policy, many immigrant parents in Michigan fear it is no longer safe to send their children to school and are preparing emergency plans for who will care for their children if they are detained. A lot of people lost hope, said Samantha Magdaleno, executive director of One Michigan, a youth-led immigrant rights organization. They feel nobody wants to protect them, with uncertainty about how the new policies and directives for mass deportations will play out, schools and educators across the state are grappling with what their legal and ethical obligations will be if immigration agents come into their buildings. In January, the Trump administration ended the decades-old practice of treating schools and child care centers, along with churches and hospitals, as sensitive or protected locations. Us Department of Homeland Security officials announced that they had reversed the latest version of the policy, which was issued by the Biden administration, in 2021. That policy added places where children gather, like after school programs and playgrounds, to the protected areas.
Speaker 1:The change means undocumented parents and students may be detained by federal immigration officers during school pickups and drop-offs. Julie Powers, executive Director of Immigration Law and Justice Michigan, said no one knows how the new policy will be enforced yet. Our biggest concern is that there may be attempts by immigration staff to enter schools and even go into private places like bathrooms and attempt to remove children. The order will likely be challenged in court and it may take months for a legal resolution. Federal immigration agents can already conduct warrantless stops in Michigan within 100 miles of the US border to Canada, which is literally anywhere in Michigan. The potential impacts of Trump's new immigration policies could upend education for thousands of Michigan students. Donna, what say you, ken, if we really want to hear your perspective on this too?
Speaker 5:Well, if you close your eyes and look at the policy and then you remember where we came from, you know, 150 years ago there were people who were coming to Detroit to be free and they sent slave catchers here. And I just want us to imagine the difference between ethics and legality. If a slave catcher went into a school or a church or a place of worship to get somebody who had escaped slavery, who was undocumented in this city and you had to have free papers, right, you couldn't just be here. We would have agreed, perhaps, that it was illegal but also unethical. And the challenge for schools is the schools are required to figure out how to toe that line.
Speaker 5:But I would hope that some people would be willing to break the law under just a conscious objectors, you know, I mean a conscientious objections to the law that people are not illegal, people are human beings. And if you say you're a Christian nation, I don't know if we're a Christian nation anymore, I don't know if that's the rhetoric they're using, but if you say you're a Christian nation, I want you to imagine what Jesus would say in response to this that we've got to protect children. It doesn't matter whether their children's parents are here, legally or not. These children are inside of a school building where they should be safe. All children have the right to be safe. I've also heard stories that are really troubling about children being bullied by other children because they look like they might be immigrants, and so I'm concerned about the fact that what does an immigrant look like?
Speaker 5:Well, you know, non-white right Trump said that English was the official language. He had signed that executive order, and I was like, pretty soon he's going to sign an executive order saying white is the official race of America. It's on brand right. He has no respect for people who are different. But the reality is this is a man who's married not one, but two immigrant women, one of whom may have come here under some questionable terms.
Speaker 1:Elon Musk is an immigrant and these are people who are overseen who doesn't wear a suit to the White House, by the way.
Speaker 5:Doesn't wear a suit to the White House. So when you look at what they're really saying, they don't want brown and black immigrants in this nation. The other thing and the final thing I want to say about this is keep in mind.
Speaker 1:When we say immigrant, we're not just talking about Hispanic, latino.
Speaker 5:We are also talking about Haitian. Jamaican. African immigrants exist inside of our community and our brown brothers and sisters are being represented by nobody when they're shipped out of here. So my heart goes out to the families. My heart goes out to the teachers and other staff members who want to do the right thing, and my expectation goes out to the families. My heart goes out to the teachers and other staff members who want to do the right thing, and my expectation goes out to the leadership that sometimes resisting is a moral responsibility, even when you might encounter some legal challenges. If all of us resist, then this policy is not going to go through. But when some of us say well, let's just figure out how to get along with this evil, because you can't really negotiate with evil without becoming evil, that's my opinion, but anyway, I don't want to.
Speaker 1:You know it's an impossible position. I think, especially for educators inside of schools to also be the, the barrier or boundary between ICE agents and young people. You know it's, it's, it's. It's such a tall order. But I guess my comment, or my question, or my existential question, is does the goalpost for morality in this nation keep moving? Because I believe that this is a moral crisis. And Martin Luther King said when there is neutrality in a moral crisis, you're on the side of you know, like the oppressed. I don't quote me officially, but I, martin Luther King has a quote about neutrality in a moral crisis. This is a moral crisis and you point out that sometimes it's incongruent with what, what the law is. How do we, is it our job, to convince power of morality Like it's, it's, it's a, it's a. It's an overarching question, it's an existential question because everybody's different, everybody's definition of morality is so different. I mean, donald Trump's moral compass is vastly different.
Speaker 5:You know what I mean? Yeah, well listen. Ice followed one of our colleagues from Southwest Detroit here when they came to a meeting a few weeks ago. I promise you, if ICE tried to come in this building, I'd try to keep them out.
Speaker 5:Oh, of course we're not covered by any of that, but there's no way I'm complying with forcible removal of human beings, especially not children. I think it's disgusting and I stand on that. I stand on the fact that we're all on stolen land and we are stolen people and the laws of this nation have been so corrupt and so unjust for us to pretend as though legal and moral have ever in this nation been the same thing. It's never been congruent. I mean, you have so many things that are considered legal, so many people who are killing people. And what was the kid who I always forget his name because he's not important to me but the kid who crossed state lines and shot somebody with a gun? 16 years old, he shouldn't have a gun. He shot and killed somebody at a protest. I think it was in Oregon or something like that. It was in the Pacific Northwest. You know who he is? Dylann Roof Is that the name? Rittenhouse? Oh, kyle.
Speaker 1:Rittenhouse Kyle.
Speaker 5:Rittenhouse is celebrated as a hero, and yet look what he did. This is considered legal when it's done by some people. No-transcript. And I stand with people, human beings, who came because they didn't come here to take anything from somebody. They came here and a lot of times they're lured here by employers who choose not to pay people a living wage and choose to hire these people, and we never send them to jail. I want to hear one of these employers, one of these firms that is bringing all these people in here illegally, one of them get indicted for a crime, but that's not who's criminalized. Instead, it's the workers who are underpaid, underhoused and treated as though they are non-human and so-.
Speaker 1:Chained, taken into military cargo planes and are awaiting deportation at what is the equivalent to a concentration camp. And this is 2025. Yeah, sure it is, this is 2025. And that remains the inhumane critique I have of this administration. And the last one, because I remember the last one was rounding up people at the border with horses and whips. This is US foreign policy.
Speaker 5:This is US foreign policy.
Speaker 1:This is US foreign policy.
Speaker 5:yes, we can say this administration makes US foreign policy worse. But US foreign policy says we can go into your land in Mexico, in Guatemala, in Panama, in Colombia, and we can destroy your economies. We can take all of your land and give it to corporations. We can help facilitate drugs coming from your country into this company and help facilitate the buildup of a drug economy and also prop up these horrible fascistic governments to the south of us. And if your people try to escape here we can say, oh no, stay in your place. But where are we? We're all over the world exploiting and extracting from people's you know economies. And so I think again, this is and I've said this too I think this is a time for us to really have a reckoning with who we are and who we want to be as a nation. Everybody has their definition of make America great again.
Speaker 5:Whether it's those of us who say, oh, let's go back to the Clinton years, let's go back to Obama years, we go back to anybody's years. There's injustice. Let's go forward and figure out who we want to be. And if we want to be a just nation and we want to live up to the promise of all people being created equal, then we've got to do some things different. Because it doesn't say all citizens of the United States are created equal or endowed with rights. It says all men.
Speaker 5:And you know, sometimes we know they're talking about women, but I mean, you know, live up to that promise and as black Americans, we've always demanded that they live up to the language, even if we knew it was not intended for us.
Speaker 1:Well, isn't that what Nicole Hannah-Jones said, that black people have made this nation bend its arc toward democracy. She also said black people have been the perfectors of democracy in the 1619 Project. That's my next column. Yeah, ken, if I want to come to you.
Speaker 5:Real quickly. I just want to ask ourselves because, you know, as we talk about that, I think it's important for us to differentiate between that message and the idea that it's our responsibility to fix the Democratic Party. Fixing democracy has always been our thing and I think we need to stay there.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's good. So, um, let's say, you are in school and you have friends who are children of immigrant parents.
Speaker 3:I actually do, you do Okay.
Speaker 1:So talk to me about some of the conversations that you are maybe having in regards to them. Maybe not feeling as protected with, uh, the new orders coming from the Trump administration.
Speaker 4:So I have a few friends, no name, said they actually feel uncomfortable because they get jokes about them all the time, saying that they're going to get deported or calling them like slurs or something, and it kind of makes me feel uncomfortable because I read and see all of this that happens all the time and I keep up with the news like them being put to them really um, I forgot them camps names, but the camps that they have, the immigrants. That is very inhumane because it feels like how can I say it? Like in prison environments, like I can even say the people in prison got a bet, got it better than the immigrants because they're in chains all the time. People in prison, they're not in chains. So it makes me feel uncomfortable how they can do all this to the immigrants. But when people do that to us in them other countries, they ready to rage war or go attack them. So it it's very what's the word I forgot, but it's dumb how they can do all this but when someone else do it to us, they wait.
Speaker 1:Are your friends coming to school with these new orders? Have you seen them?
Speaker 4:Yeah, they don't carry their birth certificate or nothing on them, but ICE hasn't came towards this side of town that I've heard. I've been keeping track, but it's pretty.
Speaker 5:And just remind us of where you're in school.
Speaker 4:Yeah when.
Speaker 1:Southeastern. Southeastern, a junglier.
Speaker 5:Yeah, so we're not really thinking of immigrants being in school at Southeastern, but you know people are moving. Detroit is becoming less segregated. As we speak, there are a lot of immigrant people who are moving here from southwest Detroit Because of the bridging program that when they were building the Gordie Howe Bridge, they gave people houses over here in exchange for taking their properties to build the bridge. Is that how your friends ended up over?
Speaker 4:here. No, they've always lived here, or they're from out of state. Okay, how your friends?
Speaker 1:ended up over here. No, they've always lived here, or they're from out of state. Okay, you know, one of the things that is also occurring to me is that, you know, in the conversation, in our national politic, when we think of border states, we typically think about Texas. We never talk about Michigan being a border state, right, and we never talk about Michigan being a border state and we never talk about the fact that ICE essentially has complete and total jurisdiction in Michigan because of how close we are to the Canadian border and so, since you're on the southeast side, you're actually closer, a little closer to—.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I'm right off the water so I could go up to my roof and I could see Canada.
Speaker 5:That's how close I am.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 5:And it wouldn't be like Sarah Palin's scene in Russia either. You have to be old enough to get that joke. Okay, that's funny. I'll explain it later. No, I mean you can. It's interesting because in the 19, during Prohibition, there was more liquor that came through Detroit in the 1920s than anywhere in the nation. This was like the. You know, that's when the contraband was liquor. Bootlegging.
Speaker 1:Bootlegging. Was it Bootlegging Detroit?
Speaker 5:So you know, we don't think about bootlegging here now, but there's people bringing in drugs and other kinds of contraband even today across the bridges and tunnels, and you know that's why the Coast Guard has to monitor the water so closely.
Speaker 4:So yeah, yeah. Do you think that they should more or less be worried about the criminal immigrants than the non-criminal immigrants?
Speaker 5:I think you have to understand that to be an immigrant in America without documentation means that you're criminalized. Just your presence here makes you criminal. In my class I have this slide In my first class we talk about citizenship and you know this concept of being born a crime.
Speaker 1:Trevor Noah wrote it.
Speaker 5:Trevor Noah was born a crime in.
Speaker 5:South Africa, there are people who are born a crime in the United States, the fact of their existence. Now they're given birthright citizenship, but they are evidence of their parents' crimes. Right, because you weren't supposed to be here. We treat these papers as if they mean something, keeping in mind that this land was occupied by Native American people who did not become citizens of this United States until the 1920s and still don't have full citizenship rights, if we're being honest. So you know. It's like who has the right to this space, who has the right to push people out of this space, and what God-given right do we have to decide that some people have the right to live and some people have the right to die? It is if you really want to look at it from a spiritual standpoint. If you want to look at it from humanity standpoint. None of this makes sense.
Speaker 4:None of this is ours.
Speaker 5:God did not give the earth to these people because they had enough money. That goes against everything my faith belief tells me, and if your faith belief tells you that, then we're not. We don't belong to the same religion. Okay, and it doesn't even matter, because I don't know anybody's religion who says that. Anyway, I want to make sure that we're hearing from our guest, our other guest. So what are your thoughts on this? I know this is not what you came to talk about, but yeah, Well, that's why we did what we did for Black History Month.
Speaker 6:When we get in there and we start talking about the visual art, because you know they say a picture is worth a thousand words they say a picture is worth a thousand words. So, stability on your mind, you need to see positive images of who you are and whose you are, and they're trying to erase our history, and so it's very, very important that people step up and we preserve our history. I know Trump decided that he wanted to get rid of Martin Luther King Holiday and he wanted to get rid of Black History Month, but I think we have to step up. It's up to us. We have to quit depending on other people. We have to step up ourselves and take care of our own history and be involved. So this is the first year that we got involved pretty much with the program and again we went to the youth. That's very, very important because those are the programs that's been cut. They're not being taught, they're taking the history out of the schools and the books. So we said, as a gallery, emotion Fine Arts is one of the largest publishers and distributors of African-American art in the US. Publishers and distributors of African-American art in the US. So we said what can we do? And what can we do during Black History Month and get the youth involved? And so we developed a program called Diversity and Freedom, which was very, very important. And we created two workshops and we made sure one was in Oakland County at the YMCA and the other one was at the Northwest NCA Northwest Activity Center in the city of Detroit, where we had workshops with professional artists. Where they came in, they taught them to draw and they taught them about their history and they let them basically bring out of themselves what they thought freedom was and what they wanted to put on canvas. And we had over 40 students that participated and with their parents, when we finally did have our final showcase, we had over 100 and something people there. So it was really, really amazing, it was heartfelt, it was heart-touching, and from there we selected six individual winners that will showcase their artwork in our gallery for the next month, until the end of March, with professional, internationally acclaimed artists, and they'll be given certificates. And so we want to teach them. We want to continue to invest in those kind of programs and we have other things on the board to come up.
Speaker 6:But talking about immigrants and immigration. It's funny you said Jamaican. A lot of people don't know this. I'm Jamaican, you know, I was born in Jamaica. I didn't come to America until I was eight years old. So most of my family, you know, went around the world when you were in Jamaica. You know, went around the world when you were in Jamaica. You know you're going to England, you're coming to America, and just you know all the different countries around the world pretty much. So I mean I guess fortunately I got my citizenship, because if I didn't, I guess I still could be a little nervous today, just kind of like based on how things are going, and that was taken for granted. When I did that, you know everybody kept saying you should get dual citizenship, you should get dual citizenship and I just decided not to. But again, I'm glad I did go ahead and get my citizenship.
Speaker 5:I think it's so important that you say that because growing up, you know, my aunt is Guatemalan and she did not get her citizenship until George Bush. She wanted to vote against George Bush. I think she was like I'm going to become a citizen because she was really, you know, still mad at the US for what the US had done in Guatemala. So when I speak about what happened in Central South America, that's my family history right when I was growing up. She's my uncle's wife, so we're not related by blood but by love all of my life. And when I was growing up she always had people she was bringing over from Guatemala to the United States to escape the terror and escape oppression. It was a beautiful thing and to have people treat that as if it's something bad feels very personal to me.
Speaker 5:The other thing that feels very personal is all of this American descendants of slavery, all of this, you know, decision to try to unravel any sense of trans.
Speaker 5:African diaspora, this mindset that we're all in this together. All of a sudden, you know, I'm hearing people who really don't know the history of Jamaica making very ignorant statements about Jamaica. So thank you for speaking up. I have other friends who are Jamaican and from other parts of the world and I think it's important that we see the world in each other and we understand that. You know you have family who could be harmed by this.
Speaker 6:Absolutely, and it's based on the browning of America and it's based on ignorance and it's based on fear, you know, of basically what's about to happen Now.
Speaker 6:Jamaica has always had somewhat of a protective status from the United States because Jamaica is pretty much considered like America's playground. You know, and I would tell people who have never been there because all they hear is nothing but beautiful things about Jamaica pretty much. But it's still a third country, you know, considered to a third country nation when you go outside of the areas of the beaches and you know the different resort areas and things of that nature. But a lot of people don't realize and know that. So America has pretty much established that they made it a playground. Now, with Trump and that crew coming in, they've kind of put everybody they don't care who you are, on whatever status level they want to be, while you said he's married to foreigners, so they feel it's okay to let the people from Ireland and different things like that. That's what they want the immigrants to be, or the immigration that they want to be able to let in this country.
Speaker 5:So when I went to Jamaica, I went to Montego Bay and we stayed in a resort and I remember the resort told us don't leave this, these grounds. And so we went shopping in this little area and the black Jamaicans were on strike and I'm standing in line, going in this place, and they said you should be ashamed of yourself, you're a black person. I was like I am ashamed of myself. But I also wanted to get into the city and so I went to the mountains and I visited communities where black people lived and I felt like, if I'm going to go to Jamaica, I got to see my people, I can't just stay here. And they were like are you sure you want to go? Absolutely, I want to go Now.
Speaker 5:I was terrified on my way up. Let's just say the driving patterns are not the same as in the US. There were no lines in the street and I was pretty sure we were going to drive off a road. But it was a beautiful, enriching experience and I was able to witness just the abject poverty of so many parts of Montego Bay outside of the resort areas. It was, you know, really stunning. So I think it is important that when we do visit those places, as black people traveling the world, that we look and see how our brothers and sisters are living in other places too. It was a lesson for me and I appreciate you sharing that.
Speaker 6:And I know we could talk forever.
Speaker 5:I'm going to talk about Queen Nanny at some point, but not now because Orlando's looking at me. But you guys have a fascinating history and thank you for bringing that up.
Speaker 1:We're going to be right back with Ian Grant.
Speaker 3: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 east side have access to exclusive services in the Wellness Network. Join today and live well, play well, be well, visit ecndetroitorg.
Speaker 1:Welcome back to Authentically Detroit everybody. Umoja Fine Arts is an art publishing and distribution company committed to helping the Detroit metropolitan area celebrate the great artistic achievements of local and internationally acclaimed artists. They recently announced the Black History Month Youth Artist Workshop, an initiative dedicated to celebrating African-American creativity and fostering the next generation of artists, while encouraging the preservation of Black history and culture through art. It took place throughout February 2025 in honor of Black History Month. The workshop and art exhibit and award presentation that followed invited young creators to explore the themes of diversity and freedom through art, while engaging the community in a celebration of Black culture in history. You know this is really fascinating, Ian, and I want to ask you about what the impetus was for your involvement so heavily, not only just within the arts world, but making sure you leave an imprint into the next generation of artists. Where does that come from?
Speaker 6:And we, you know we talk about those things and I indicated early, you know, on the mind, if we look back to slavery days, you know they wanted you to look at Jesus and basically they just put a picture up there of Jesus with blue eyes and blonde hair and long hair, and everybody think that's how Jesus looked, and almost in all the slaves' homes. That is key, because when they come back thousands of years from now, like they did during, let's say, the caveman days and they went into the caves, that's the first thing they did. They looked at the art and they looked at the history of what was going on. So right now, when our artists paint, they try to capture what's going on right now, even during the time with Floyd and the cops and just everything going on.
Speaker 6:The artists are producing and they're producing work of what's going on during these times, and these are things that we need to support, and we need to support the arts in all format, from the dance, from the music, from the booming voice of Africa, from the booming colors of Africa. The way we paint, the way we move and everything we do is in our own style and within our own rhythm, and so that's very, very, very key and important, but I thought it was important that we got to the youth this year and we invested in them. We'll continue to invest a little further down into the year, a couple of months from now, and so I've even now sat down with some people and probably starting to take a look at an art academy, you know, where we can have not only the visual arts but all arts, from poetry to dancing, on and on and on, because I came from the concert world, that's where I started out giving like back in the day, prince Time Vanity Luther.
Speaker 1:What did you do with them? I used to give concerts. I was a promoter. You're a promoter.
Speaker 6:I'm still a promoter today. That's why I'm a gallerist, because I don't draw myself or paint. I promote the artists and I take them across the country. We're working on something right now. Matter of fact, we're waiting to close the deal today, so I can't say too much about it, but it's going to be coming up with pretty much the Alvin Haley dancers and when they come in and we want to make sure some things are going on right here in this city and that the people have somewhere to go when the show is over, because you know, a lot of times at 9, 10 at night, it's nowhere to go and eat, nowhere to go and socialize, to go see some good art in our culture. So we need to get a little bit more like Miami. We need to get a little bit more like Chicago, a little bit more like New York.
Speaker 1:Say more. Say more about what does Miami look like and what do they have that we need here in the city of Detroit. I know Miami does Art Basel and stuff like that. Yeah, I've been to Art Basel and things of that nature.
Speaker 6:So the lifestyle is just totally different. Because my oldest son he actually lived in Miami for 10 years, so I spent a lot of time down there and they actually don't go out until like 10 at night. You know they don't start going out to eat until 10 o'clock.
Speaker 1:So by 12. So artists need a nightlife scene. Yes, they need nightlife, yeah.
Speaker 6:You need an actual nightlife and that's what we're seeing in these other cities, and sometimes I fly back in here and by 9, 10 o'clock you want to go get something to eat. You really can't. You've got to get some fast food or just something real quick. So that's what we want to do is try to change the atmosphere and how Detroit is looked at. And if you've got a major dance company coming in and it's pretty much sold out and people are paying up to $150 for tickets and they have already paid $30, $40 for parking when they get finished with that show they probably would like to stay downtown and continue to enjoy the atmosphere. So we're going to try to create something in two weeks.
Speaker 5:I think that is very exciting and I want to hear more. Detroit needs more venues, more exciting places. I want to go back to your work in inspiring youth art. First of all, I don't know that there's been any revolution or any change in the world history where art of some sort has not been part of it. Whether it's been music, dance, visual arts, I always look at art as touching the spirit in ways that a lot of the language touches the intellect.
Speaker 5:When you can touch the spirit of people, that's when they change. And so art is really important to me. My mother is an artist, was an artist, I'm sorry. My mother got her bachelor's in fine arts when I was a little girl, so she was going to the DIA and take me there when I was a little girl and she took classes at Wayne State and we had to sit in the labs and stuff like that. But she was so creative and the way she saw the world was different and so, you know, unsurprising, when I met my husband, who is an artist, it was sort of like okay, you and mommy have something in common.
Speaker 6:Wow, an art family.
Speaker 5:Yes, right.
Speaker 5:And so you know, he is a person whose life was changed through art. Art gave him a way into a whole nother place in life, and he is now celebrating his 41st year it's 41 or 42, at the Charles Wright Museum, 42nd year at the longest standing employee as a director of design and fabrication, and so he has had an opportunity to now showcase other people's art. I'd love for you to talk to him and see how perhaps the museum could work on that. But we're on the east side, we're not northwest, and if we can get an Arts Academy weekend or something like that, kenneth, would you come?
Speaker 4:Yeah, I'm actually really interested in drawing, acting and a little bit of music.
Speaker 5:Because you have your own. What is it that you do? I'm trying to remember.
Speaker 4:I am a small-time YouTuber. I do voice acting and a little bit of gaming here and there.
Speaker 6:So he would be perfect for Moja Art Academy. Yeah, so an individual like this. But let's touch on this a little bit more and let's get a little deeper about art. Art is about also generational wealth. No one is taking a look at that of the wealth that is creating. Let's take a look at the Ernie Barnes piece that just sold Sugar Shack for $120 million. Abbas Ghiat sold for $130 million million. A Basquiat sold for $130 million.
Speaker 6:You hear Jay-Z and the rest of the guys in the group talking about it and these millions that are being made. This is where the rich hide their funds is in art, and so if you buy an art piece and it, let's say, appreciates to $50,000 or $100,000 once you get it insured, you do know that's equity, just like equity in your home that you could take and get a loan against. So these are the type of things that we teach. These are the things that we've been doing and teaching about art and collecting. But when you first start collecting, you have to collect what you like and then, once you move through the realm of the collecting, to understand the different categories of the art, whether it's oil, acrylic, a print, a limited edition, a stone, lithograph, on and on and on. Unfortunately, it takes years to get this down pat, but we don't want to take the time and I'm just going to say this real quick. I just want to go through this because I always talk about this If we look back to the 1920s, when they would say, hey, that's the Negro League over there, they'll never be able to play in the big leagues.
Speaker 6:But we saw what happened when Jackie Robinson, satchel, paige and all of them got over there. But the unfortunate thing is we don't own most of that industry. We own less than 1%. And then we went to the music industry the same thing less than 1%. So I even look at the beaches. Right now, across the country, a lot of people don't realize that Hilton Head Beach, myrtle Beach, on and on, was all black owned, because when they dropped us, they dropped us on the shores, off the slave ships, right on the beaches, but they moved us out to take all the beaches over. So it's about one or two beaches left right now. That's still, you know, totally black.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I want to challenge that a little bit, though I appreciate you bringing it up, because I think it's good that black people can become wealthy with art, but I think, you know, people become wealthy through the white gaze, not through the black gaze, and so I think that we have to also differentiate between great art and the art white people are going to purchase, because most black artists will not become wealthy, most black artists will never get that kind of recognition and their art is still great. And the other thing, I think, is that so it's a pathway for some people and it's also a pathway for people to invest, and I respect that. Well, I'm going to say this to you real quick.
Speaker 5:One of the significance of art, and one of the things that scares me, is when it's no longer us. When you talk about hip hop, for example, hip hop was started by us, we started by hip hop, but we no longer have control over the music that's produced by those folks. Okay, we lost control of it. So when it gets commercialized, when it gets to a certain level, we lose control, and so I think it's also important for us to preserve a piece of the art that's just for us, that's just for our people, that's circulated in our community, so that we don't lose, it's not commercialized and it doesn't change its value.
Speaker 6:And that's what I was going to say. You know that while we're collecting, we have to believe in ourselves and we have to believe in our own product and we don't want to wait till they tell us it's time to buy it. That's the challenge that we face with a lot of us. We are not taking a look at it or you know you don't want to collect it, but when the other persuasion tell you that's important, it's too late, because they have invested in it, they've purchased it all pretty much and you're going to pay a premium price for it and you know they were able to get it for a little of nothing. So it's not just in the art world. We have to believe in ourselves overall.
Speaker 5:And control and have ways of controlling the production and the management and distribution of that which we create, so that is not extracted. Some of the most valuable pieces in museums worldwide were stolen from the continent of Africa. You know, you all saw Black. Panther, you know what I'm talking about, right. We know that and you know. Belgium, for example, has some beautiful museums, but they were cutting off people's hands. It's disgusting.
Speaker 5:They were putting them in cans and stolen from the Congo, and so the wealth and the. You know, there's this way of fetishizing that which black people create, while we also take it from black people, and so what I appreciate about Umoja is that it's us.
Speaker 6:Yeah, and I hope it stays us. Umoja means unity and we've been in business for over 25 years and this is the last thing I want to say right here about this is that this is the last Mohican. This is the last area that we have the opportunity to invest in while it's at the groundswell. We're the fastest growing segment in the art world period, Hands down. But again, I'm again a business person and things are green and we want to maintain it to our people and we want to educate them. But the business has to stay alive and so I'm letting our people know it's the fastest growing. We continue to do educational sessions, we have sessions with the artists that you can learn about them, and this is why we feel now we have to take it to the youth.
Speaker 5:But we want to invest through people like you, absolutely. And we want to invest, while it's with people like you, while it's still expensive, but maybe we can afford it. Put it on a payment plan, save for it, right, but when it gets to beyond that, the Basquiat's, we can't touch that anymore. He's with.
Speaker 5:Tiffany and Kehinde. We can't touch them anymore. They've become no longer ours, and that scares me because on the one hand, it's great that we have our art making it to those high places and I'm glad, happy for those artists, but I just I think it's something special about us having stuff that we relate to and other people don't, and that's not coming from a business standpoint. I'm not a nonprofit, ok, I'm social justice. So from my social justice standpoint I say how do we hold on? What is the most important art that we can think of? Who are the most important artists and writers and creators? And a lot of times those weren't the people who got rich.
Speaker 1:Sometimes the people who are getting the richest aren't the ones who have done stuff that means the most. I think we're holding in this conversation, this tension of black cultural preservation, preservation and all of that means and it being the antithesis of what this nation wants us to be, which is individualistic and capitalistic. And I think that when we talk about black cultural economy, it is circular, it is barter, it is love and it is community. There's no rugged individualism, this thing that America tries to force on us, and I think, in this conversation, living in the reality that we are still in and of America, and we have all of these forces that are the antithesis of who we are, just how we are intrinsically, when it comes to community and circular economy, how do we hold them right? And how do we make space for what you're doing? How do we make space and hold space and hold that I can tell you. Tiff Massey is a friend of mine. I could tell you that Tiff Massey still need us. Yeah exactly.
Speaker 1:You know what I'm saying. She still needs us, she still need that community, she still needs that connection. And so it is so complex and it's so nuanced, but I think we're smart enough and we love each other enough to figure this out.
Speaker 5:We do. We just have to have these conversations. I think that we have to decide we're going to invest in black art. I think we have to decide we're going to invest in black artists so that we can keep it ours. When we don't do that, then we're sort of like, okay, well, you have no choice but to sell to other folks because we're not bringing you into our homes. I think it is important for us to do that and for us to do it with the conscious thought that, yes, these pieces may appreciate in value and maybe other people are going to own it, like you said. And now I have something that's worth $5 million, that I bought for $5,000, and that's amazing because that is a wealth opportunity for me. But I think balancing that is my only thing, because you know, and there's so many amazing artists who don't get paid, who struggle, and I know that- Well, you said a key word balance, and this is very important.
Speaker 6:A lot of times we don't do our research. So, with this being the fastest-growing segment of the art world and it makes a difference, no matter what color you are if that's the fastest-growing segment of the art world and you know how to paint, you're going to start painting those images because it's selling. So it's very important that we get educated, we find out who the artist is. You go into a gallery. You want to find out. Is this a black artist? You know, tell me a little bit about him and give me the history, Because now we're seeing a lot of Caucasians that are painting black art. So that's another area. Wow, A lot of times because we spend the dollar so fast.
Speaker 5:Well, that mural, that great big mural, with the guy in the baseball cap on that building going downtown that was not painted by a black artist. Oh, that was with the out-of-town people, those out-of-town people Backpack yeah. Yeah, the backpack guy, I mean, he's a perfect example of what you're saying he's a great artist but it wasn't painted by black folk.
Speaker 1:That's so crazy, Right? How can folks get involved with Umoja Fine Arts? How can they support?
Speaker 6:Well, first of all, you could go to our website. You could go to UmojaFineArtscom that's U-M-O-J-A. Findartscom, or you can give us a call at 248-773-9008. Emotion means unity. We're located right in Southfield on Northland Drive, in the Crossroad building. So we know right now that a lot of checks are getting ready to be released In the next two months.
Speaker 6:Detroit is going to have the highest level of income flow out right now, because the checks are being released by the automotive industry. And then also you have the tax ones coming back the profit-sharing checks, the profit-sharing checks, absolutely. So come and see us. We're geared up for you, we're ready for you, and you need to invest with us and you need to. What's nice about Emoja? We have a stable of over 40 artists around the country. So at any time, and right here in Detroit too that's our whole mantra is to make sure that we work with internationally acclaimed artists and local Detroit artists, because what we do is we piggyback the artists. We use the local artists to give shows to internationally acclaimed artists, to help bring them up and prop them up.
Speaker 5:So I have a couple other questions. One you started this business with your wife.
Speaker 6:Yes.
Speaker 5:Can you talk about the start and how that happened? You transitioned from music to art.
Speaker 6:Well, yes, I transitioned from music to art pretty much, and then she came in with the colorization, she came in with the marketing and just also not only being the vice president of the company, she also took care of the hospitality portion of everything and running those portions of the business. So that's very key. She's always there and she, you know. Sometimes she says you know, it's my dream and things I want to do, but it's so nice to have your wife after 35 years. That's supporting you, you know. But she knows how important it is for the community. Also, she's in real estate. So it's a nice pairing. You can sell a house and sell some art.
Speaker 6:Oh, that's wonderful, it's a nice pairing.
Speaker 5:Can you talk about your custom framing business?
Speaker 6:Yeah, we have a custom framing business where you can come in and you can get the art framed. Start bringing those pieces out. That's under your bed, that's been put in tubes, that's just been put away. It's time for you to bring it out and it's time for you to get it on the wall also. Last year we started a corporate art division, so we're dealing with a lot of corporate corporations. Now we also have our national minority license. Okay, and in addition to having our national minority license and the framing, we're just going in and just, you know, taking care of the whole community.
Speaker 5:So is the gallery also going to be event space. Is that the big announcement?
Speaker 6:The gallery is an event space. Right now people rent that out. They have parties in there, they come in there to shoot videos, live videos. So yes, it's rentable. How?
Speaker 5:large is it.
Speaker 6:We're at about 12,000. Excuse me, not 12,000, 1,200 square. That's about the average size of your galleries, about 1,000 to 1,200. You have some that's a little larger, but 1,000 to 1,200. You have some that's a little larger, but 1,000 to 1,200, you can put up about 60 pieces of art and that's usually pretty good yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, congratulations and thank you for coming on Authentically. Detroit.
Speaker 6:Thank you for giving me the opportunity today. It was really really a beautiful day.
Speaker 1:Good conversation. We appreciate you. If you have topics that you want discussed on Authentically Detroit, you can hit us up on our socials at Authentically Detroit on Facebook, instagram and Twitter, or you can email us at AuthenticallyDetroit at gmailcom. Donna, it is time for shout outs.
Speaker 5:You have any? Yes, I want to shout out Chris Johnson, who composed and performed Marlowe's Wings on Saturday A black classical composer. Yes, it was great. It was absolutely beautiful and meaningful. I mean, people couldn't stop clapping at the end. It was just it moved us. So thank you to him, and you know he gave us tickets, so I'm always happy to get a comp ticket somewhere. I'm not like you, orlando, that doesn't happen every weekend, you know.
Speaker 1:That's so funny.
Speaker 5:I'm not at your level but I was there.
Speaker 1:I'm putting my business out in the street, Kenneth. Do you have anybody you want to shout out?
Speaker 4:Not to my friend.
Speaker 1:Not right now. How about your friends that are worried about what the immigration policy is? Send them some good vibes.
Speaker 4:I pray for them and just stay strong out there. There's no need to really be scared if you have people out here who's going to support you.
Speaker 1:Love it. Love it, Ian. You have any shout outs?
Speaker 6:Yes, I would say to the youth, to the parents and also to the teachers at all the different schools, the public schools or charter schools come see us at Umoja Fine Arts, because we got a treat coming up for you, okay.
Speaker 1:Vetted up. I have a shout out. I would like to shout out Professor David Porter, over at University of Michigan. Last Friday I had was it Friday or Thursday? Thursday, thursday, thursday I had the distinct privilege and opportunity to travel to Ann Arbor to speak to their black journalism class.
Speaker 1:It's their first black journalism class offered at University of Michigan, first ever. This is what they told me Dang blue, I know right. And it's housed in the English department. And let me tell you what happened. I stepped onto that campus and I saw all of these young minds who are curious and trying to set up their lives for the rest of their lives and got so excited and enthused around, being in an atmosphere where learning was encouraged. And I went into that class and I talked about Black literary journalism and how Black journalism, especially on the literary side, rarely divorce ourselves from the stories that we tell, because it's impossible and that's okay, even though it's not seen widely as it is okay. Nicole's Hannah Jones started 1619 Project talking about her father and this American flag that he kept on his porch. She couldn't divorce herself from this story. Nobody can.
Speaker 1:And so I got to talk about that and it was so good, Donna. And I'm like, oh, do I want to like teach a class? When I feel like teaching a class, it's addictive. And I'm like, well, I don't have the academic pedigree, I only got a little undergraduate degree, U of M, what's up. But what Professor Porter said is they're talking about bringing it back and they're asking him who should teach it. And he's like I'm submitting your name. I'm like, do you think they're going to let me teach this class? I would love to teach young people about black literary journalism.
Speaker 5:I mean, that's something that is makes so so much sense from your background and who you are, and I've seen you teach young people and you are great at it, so hopefully that that comes to pass.
Speaker 5:I think you know we need more practitioners in the space of academia, people who've done the work they brought me in. You know, sometimes people who've done the work they brought me in, you know, sometimes crisis situations create opportunities for people to get into spaces they normally would not be in. If not for what happened in 2020, george Floyd and the pandemic, I would not be teaching at Columbia University, but they were like we need somebody who understands racism and what's going on in the community and policy. Do you know of anybody? And they're like there's this one speaker who's come. They didn't pay me who's come, and so they offer me a class and I've been doing it since January of 2021. So it's really great. I just got a message back from a student today. I have to tell you about it. Yeah, what did it say? It said hold on. It was just While you're looking for it.
Speaker 1:Hold on, I have it Okay.
Speaker 5:Hold on, I have it right quick. It was hi. I took the Detroit class with you in the fall of, I think, 2023. And I just wanted to say the Kirshigay book and the class are such a delicious reference material for 2025 season of America Honestly the best class I took at Columbia. So that feels good to have students and they consistently tell me that my class is the best class they take because it's real world to them and it's changing how they think. It's not just giving them a bunch of information.
Speaker 1:You know why? Because I think young people are used to academic atmospheres being agnostic to the current conditions in the world and it's as if we're living in some freaking bubble or Truman show when we step into some of these classrooms and I know you keep it a book every time- Ethnosticism.
Speaker 5:Let's talk about what that means, though. Right, because if you are not biased, that means that you are teaching Eurocentric stuff. Okay, the bias is, I'm correcting the bias, and so, therefore, I have to be intentional about it. Teach journalism without you know, bringing in your grandmother, without bringing in your history, and what you're teaching is white supremacy, because journalism is based on a set of assumptions and beliefs that are rooted in favor of. How can you be neutral? Let me tell both sides of the immigration story.
Speaker 5:Yeah, no, there is no both sides, both sides of slavery, tell both sides of the immigration story. Yeah, no, there is no. Both sides, both sides of slavery. And you know the only thing.
Speaker 5:I want to go back to this and I apologize because I know we're in these shout outs, but I want to go back to this America has never done a good job teaching black history. America has never done a good job with diversity, equity and inclusion. So let's not act like we lost something good. We lost the pretense and the effort to pretend that we're going to get somewhere good, and it's kind of reminded us that it's still our responsibility to teach our own kids.
Speaker 5:What you did is important, ian, because our kids need to learn from people who are committed to teaching truth and committed to our outcome being a better sense of my history, a better sense of myself, a better sense of my capacity as a human being, and not, you know, gotcha questions to see how well you fit in. If you look at the way we do standardized testing, if you look at curriculum, our young people are being miseducated to believe in their inferiority and we've got to correct that. So I'm willing and able to, I think, to take this into my own hands at ECN and say how do we do a better job teaching black history here? How do we partner with places like the Umoja Gallery to bring in experts, because we don't have all the answers. And how do we partner with our friend Orlando Bailey to teach a black journalism class?
Speaker 1:here at ECN. I would be tickled pink at that opportunity. I would jump on that.
Speaker 5:We're going to take up all your time with that.
Speaker 1:Put you on the catalog for the Stoudemire you have no idea, we'll talk about cadence, all right, y'all. Thank you so much for listening. Remember to love on your neighbor. We'll see you next time. Outro Music.
