Bridging The Political Divide - From B(oomer) To Gen Z With Jai Smith

In this episode, Donna and Sam sat down with Jai Smith, an official Influencer for Detroit Public Schools Community District to discuss a youth perspective on politics ahead of the 2026 Michigan Primary Election.

If you’re looking to learn more about candidates in each race check out our forum, held in partnership with SEIU Michigan, which took place on July 18th, ahead of the 2026 Michigan U.S. House, State House, and State Senate elections.

At the forum, residents had the chance to learn where candidates stand on community priorities, local policy, and issues shaping Detroit’s Eastside.

To stay up to date on all things Authentically Detroit and watch the forum replay, click here. 

THIS WEEK IN THE MICHIGAN CHRONICLE:

WAYNE COUNTY VOTERS WILL SHAPE THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY'S FUTURE

WHITMER ENDORSES STEVENS IN U.S. SENATE RACE

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Up next, Authentically Detroit welcomes Jay Smith, an official influencer for Detroit Public Schools Community District, to discuss a youth perspective on politics ahead of the 2026 Michigan primary election. And of course, what we're reading from the Michigan Chronicle, we're going to talk about how Wayne County voters will shape the Democratic Party's future. And in the race for U.S. Senate, what the entire country's been talking about, Governor Whitmer is getting in the mix. She endorsed Haley Stevens uh last week. We're going to talk about that and what it means for the race. Keep it locked. Authentically Detroit starts after these messages.

SPEAKER_02 0:36

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SPEAKER_00 1:38

Welcome to another episode of Authentically Detroit. We're broadcasting live from the Stademeyer inside of the East Side Community Network. I'm Sam Robinson. And I'm Donna Givens-Davidson. We want to thank you so much for listening in and supporting our efforts to build a platform of authentic voices for real people here in the city of Detroit. We want you to like, rate, and subscribe to our podcast on all platforms. Today, we have Jay Smith here to discuss politics from the perspective of someone that you probably haven't been hearing much of. Young people. And if you missed our candidate forum, please check it out. The full replay is up on Authentically Detroit's YouTube channel under live videos. Now we are here in studio with Jay Smith. Jay, we met at the African World Festival two weeks ago, maybe a couple weeks, maybe three weeks now. Um but at that African World Fest, I talked to a number of um older, wiser, uh more experienced uh folks who uh tell me that they're voting for uh a candidate based on the ads that they see on TV. Now you told me that you're not actually able to vote yet, is that right?

SPEAKER_01 2:50

Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_00 2:51

And so if you were able to vote, uh you would not be voting for the candidate that you saw on the TV ads. You said that you may have seen some of those ads, some of those mailers as well, talking about Haley Stevens and Barack Obama. It's been incredibly effective for Stevens. Of course, Obama uh worked with Haley Stevens on his auto rescue back in uh his presidency. And she's using that fact, he's she's using his endorsement of her in 2018 and 20. That was in general elections against Republicans, uh, to campaign uh in 2026 against Abdul Al-Sayed. You mentioned to me that uh his politics are exciting to you.

SPEAKER_01 3:29

Yes, yes, yes, yes. One thing that's really concerned me about Haley Stevens is the fact that I haven't seen anything about her that is that doesn't have Obama's face on it. Um I the one thing that I would look for in a candidate is what they are going to do for the people. What are they what are you gonna do for us? And Abdul has done he's stated over and over what his plan is, and he's been very consistent in that. And when he's been asked questions to bait him into being let off his track, he's always returned back to what he what he's for, which is the people.

Donna Givens Davidson 4:00

Right. You know, I I do want to say that um there is a perspective that older voters are all for um Haley Stevens because of the Obama commercial. There's certainly many people who are not.

SPEAKER_05 4:12

Yes.

Donna Givens Davidson 4:13

Um, and many people on my Facebook page. In fact, I'd have to say that 90% at least of the people who are commenting on politics, um, black people my age or thereabouts um are actually for Abdul El-Sayed. He got the support from the um the black um slate. He's gotten support from a lot of different places. I think there's a mix, but I think that among younger voters, there's less of a mix. Yes. Is that safe to say that among younger voters there is, and I know that there's some polls that have said that 67% of older black voters are are supporting him, and maybe I just don't know black people because that's not what I'm actually seeing and hearing in my circles.

SPEAKER_01 4:54

Um I feel like that might also have a lot to do with the people that you surround yourself with because you don't seem like the type of woman to surround yourself with, people who aren't um well-versed and educated in what they do. Um but I know a lot of people who have seen both candidates, and because they see her with Obama and they don't know who Abdul Saeed is and they don't really want to do the research, they just go off of what they've seen. Um they're gonna vote for the lady who has Obama behind her, and I don't think that's really I don't think who I'm blaming is the people who are voting. I think what I'm more upset about is the fact that she's trying to use him as her whole campaign. And that's not well, that's not something I'm looking for in a candidate, to be honest.

Donna Givens Davidson 5:44

I I agree with that, and I I I'm not disagreeing with you. I'm saying that I think that, you know, and I I posted this on Facebook, I think it was yesterday, that there's no such thing as the black vote. There's um black people vote, and we have differences of opinion, and it all comes from our own perspectives. Those people who are really invested in a lot of issues, and for me, I'm really an issues-driven person around justice, they really do care what a candidate says.

SPEAKER_06 6:09

Yes.

Donna Givens Davidson 6:10

Um, there's other people who care but are not as invested, and it's easier for them to be persuaded, and I think that's what I'm hearing from you all. And then there are some people who actually agree because the other thing is that there's a split in the Democratic Party right now around um Gaza. There are some people who say, listen, Israel has the right to defend itself. Um, Jewish people have always been our allies, and we have to stick with them. And I hear that from some people. Or other people, well, this is a complicated issue, it's not a local issue, and we need to just focus on Michigan. Are you hearing that, Sam? Those things?

SPEAKER_00 6:46

Yeah, I mean, I'm man, I've over the last couple weeks I've heard literally everything. And um, you know, one of the one of the big things that I hear uh to Jay's point is uh she mentioned um people didn't know who Abdul Al-Sayed was. Uh he's of course the former Detroit and Wayne County Health Director. Um when he was, I'm just not sure that he was visible enough for people just sort of watching the news every night, or maybe they have a subscription to the free press or the news, but they're not really paying attention to the you know what's happening inside the Wayne County Juvenile Justice Center.

Donna Givens Davidson 7:25

He did run for governor in 2018.

SPEAKER_00 7:27

And so people remember him for his run for governor. A lot of the people that I hear that support him, even just like at the Apple store, I just talked to a guy named Logan Page. Uh, he told me that you know a lot of uh folks that were around in his 18 gubernatorial bid are back. And I I do think that gubernatorial bid sort of perfectly set up um his ability to have a statewide base. You know, he has supporters in Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids, Saginaw, Traverse City, all over the state. Um, of course, Haley Stevens um has been in Congress since Abdul has been a political candidate. She was first elected in 2018. And um I hear a lot of folks saying that they're gonna go with what they know. I hear some folks saying that you know they've seen Haley in their communities, and um she's she's certainly in the last stretch of this race been targeting black voters. Both Abdul El Sayyed and Haley Stevens are really prioritizing black voters in this last few days of the race.

Donna Givens Davidson 8:35

I don't think that people have really seen her in the Detroit community outside of political, um political elites, you know. She hasn't been shocked.

SPEAKER_00 8:44

I talked to a guy named Dev Devon James uh at Northwestern High School Alumni's Soulfest. Uh he told me that, you know, he he has seen Haley Stevens at community events. He's got a lot of people.

Donna Givens Davidson 8:56

What I mean is prior to this run for Senate, I don't think that she has been that visible in this community.

SPEAKER_05 9:01

I don't.

Donna Givens Davidson 9:02

Um I believe that Barack Obama is the thing that people connect her with, and that's what got her over the edge. Um because I did not know anything about Haley Stevens, and I'm out, you know, sometimes anyway, and I read a lot about people. Um so I think that she was invited into a lot of spaces, and she has done a good job um campaigning in a lot of spaces, especially spaces where she expects those type people. She was in a couple of churches um yesterday. She goes to lots and lots of churches, and so people do see her there.

SPEAKER_00 9:34

And I think too, I I will just say this in as somebody that has observed her in these spaces. Before she was running for Congress as a just a uh member of Congress from 21 to now, I've been covering the legislature and Michigan's congressional delegation. When she's in uh our spaces, maybe not your spaces, Donna, but when she's around black people like at Fixins or at a church or at um Greater Grace with uh Wendell Anthony, with Jim Clyburn, you know, she's very comfortable and it's it's a real um you know, she she she it's a reciprocal relationship that she has with a lot of those folks.

Donna Givens Davidson 10:15

She does have that. But when she ran the first time, she was running in Birmingham and Rochester Hills, she was not running in Detroit. Yes, and I think it's safe to say that that 11th Congressional District is not one that really um she had to turn out Detroiters. Yeah, she in fact the parts of Oakland County that she was representing were majority white um parts. Now, she's a good politician, I suppose, and she knows she's comfortable with people. She worked on Obama's auto rescue thing. And so she does have those skill sets. I'm not looking at her political skills. I go with what Jay says. I just don't know what she's planning to do that will solve the problems. What I hear is what she's not going to do. I'm not going to stand up. I'm going, you know, she doesn't support ICE, she says. She's going to fight um, you know, Trump and she says she's going to do those things, but I don't have a sense of where her justice platform is. Um, Abdul is also a person who is Arab American in a city where there is tension, long-standing tension between Arab and Black voters. And I think it's also help helpful to point out that some people who don't know him but do know his name is Abdul El-Sayed, will not trust him on the basis of his identity because of long-standing feelings that those people did not support us. And then you also have a layer of people who are still upset about 2024 and who believe that the Arab community in the Metro Detroit area um helped get Trump elected because they didn't um stand up and they didn't fight for um Kamala Harris. Now, he did endorse Harris, but people say he didn't all the time. You know, so I think there's a number of factors that give her some level of credibility in our community, but I don't think it's true that she has been exceptionally visible until the Senate run inside of our community.

SPEAKER_01 12:09

I think it's wonderful that you say that actually, and you brought up a wonderful point that I was gonna bring up. Um, and black communities, um, sometimes Arab with there's tensions with Arab Americans, and I have actually heard that um amongst people that like, hey, I'm not gonna vote for him because that's that I just that's just from my personal experience, that's not the type of person who I want in office. And not saying this is my opinion, but I s it is an opinion that I've heard, and I feel like at one point, at one point do we start voting for what we actually want to see happen, because we keep voting for people who who are not doing what we want them to do, but then when a person comes to you and says, Hey, I want you to have free health care, you you don't want to vote for him because he's because he's an Arab American.

Donna Givens Davidson 12:57

But that's wrong if somebody says, I don't want to vote for a black person.

SPEAKER_01 13:01

Exactly.

Donna Givens Davidson 13:01

Because I don't trust those people. And it's interesting that in the United States, in a nation where white people, enslaved black people, in a nation where you have whole memes about Karens calling the police on people, somehow there's more trust in a white woman than in an Arab man. And that to me is how white supremacy works. Somehow they are made innocent unless proven guilty, but other people of color are guilty unless proven innocent. And that is to me how internalized racism works, where we are more willing to help hold other people of color accountable than even the white people who we know have been oppressive in um in recent history. And now, I mean, the majority of white people in the United States, men and women, I believe, voted for um Trump. So if we're going on those majorities, why would we angrier at the Arab community than at the white community?

SPEAKER_00 13:57

Well, I'll tell you why, is because they think that uh the Arab Michigan's Arab community, Muslim community, played a role in Kamala Harris's defeat to Donald Trump.

Donna Givens Davidson 14:05

They don't think that that the white community did.

SPEAKER_00 14:07

Well, uh they also will blame Hispanic males who voted 46 percent for the we don't know how how they voted.

Donna Givens Davidson 14:16

There's a type of we we don't know how Hispanic males voted. The other thing is these statistics are thrown out, and when a person gets deported, we say, well, they shouldn't have voted for Donald Trump. Most people, the vast majority of people who are immigrants at risk of deportation, can't vote. Exactly. I think that the reality is that we hold other people of color accountable at a higher level than we hold white people accountable.

SPEAKER_00 14:42

Yeah. There's a certain segment of Democrats in Detroit who are so quick to say things that I think progressive leftists or members of other minority groups would call racist or xenophobic. Of course, the video that I took with the Farmington school board member Angie Smith, you know, she's been criticized for saying that, you know, don't come in here speaking Arabic, don't come out playing your Arabic music. Abdul Al Sayyed, of course, has never done that. I think she may have been referencing Amir Maklid, the uh Michigan, University of Michigan regent who defeated Jordan Acker. Uh El Sayed has not come out to any Arabic music, but of course, that prompted the Haley Stevens campaign to condemn those comments. Angie Smith is a school board member who uh the Stevens campaign has actually propped up. Uh I think they put a photo of her uh on their Instagram uh as an endorsement, as a notable um endorsement. And so talking to folks at that event, you know, it Angie Smith is not the only person that will weigh it into that conversation about how Arab Muslims um or people like Abdul Al-Sayed who supported Uncommitted, despite the fact that they endorsed and voted for Kamala Harris, they feel like uncommitted uh in February. That was, of course, the protest against President Joe Biden. They feel like that had to do with uh Kamala Harris's loss.

Donna Givens Davidson 16:10

We we we blame everybody but Kamala Harris for losing.

SPEAKER_00 16:13

You saw Jim Clyburn blame black voters yesterday.

Donna Givens Davidson 16:15

Yeah, well, Jim Clyburn is the one who brought us um Joe Biden. He's played such a significant role. First of all, Jim Um Clyburn needs to stay out of Detroit politics. When he says he doesn't see black people at these rallies, it's none of his business. I mean, I'm not trying to be rude, but who are you to tell black people? And that really upsets me for him to um be positioned as a spokesperson for black people. He certainly has his right to his opinion, but when he starts talking about what black people don't like and want and whatever, it's it's annoying to me.

SPEAKER_00 16:44

Um I wonder how many black people know who Jim Clyburn is. And I and I say that not in disrespect at all. I really're so out of touch with just American political culture. Not everybody knows who these characters are, these longstanding abuse.

Donna Givens Davidson 17:04

Keep in mind this other thing. For so long, black people had to fight our way into political representation. We didn't have it, we couldn't vote. When we got when we voted, people discriminated against us. And I think there's a lot of people feeling like we just got our own representation. And now you have these other people of color who don't even like us coming in. And it's almost like, you know, this internecine warfare where I've heard people say things like the browning of the black vote is a problem. This feeling that other people of color should not be able to represent, be represented at the national level because they cannot be trusted with our issues.

SPEAKER_00 17:45

Yeah, and they point to Shri Tanadar and of course Rashida Talib.

Donna Givens Davidson 17:48

And and they compare them and say they're the same person.

SPEAKER_00 17:51

Well, they're of course not. They are diametrically opposed. They are both non-black congressional delegates that represent Detroit. There's an interesting thing that a person that you know you don't like, but he's been so funny on Facebook lately, Keith Williams, um, he told me that Detroit does not have a Jim Clyburn. And I thought that was a really compelling thing to say. Of course, John Conyers, um, people like uh Kwame Kilpatrick's mom, people like um Griggs. What was his first name? Um I'm not from Detroit, and so I don't have the Diggs, you mean Diggs, yes, Charles Diggs, excuse me. Jeez. But keep in mind Black political power is not something at the root of Shri Tanadar or Rashida Talib's politics. And so that's the right.

Donna Givens Davidson 18:37

Rashida Talib, Rashida Talib is a Palestinian woman who was born and raised in Detroit and grew up among black people. About 20 to 25 percent of the electorate of black people, black eligible black voters in Detroit participate in the voting franchise. 30% in some years, 40% in a whole lot of years. So I think there is this pretense that the black political establishment is representative of black people all over the city when a lot of people are just completely pulled out of politics. Rashida Taleb is extremely popular among people who actually vote in her district. When she was voting in the 13th Congressional District, she was popular here. She's now in the 12th congressional district and she's popular there. And so I guess my issue with a person like Keith Williams, it's not personal to him, but my positioning is he wants to be Jim Kleiber. And he's not because he doesn't have that kind of sway. But people like him will think, will dismiss issues like environmental justice issues as not really black issues. And most of the progressive policies that I care about are not really black issues when he speaks. He cares about reparations, he cares about black businesses and black capitalism, but the average Detroit resident is trying to figure out how am I going to afford where I'm going to live. And so my issue is not liking a person personally. I don't know, Keith. And sometimes people can, some people think Donald Trump is funny. My focus in politics is are you advocating for and standing out for for issues that will materially impact black people in a positive way? And I believe Rashida Talib has, I know she has, she was a my congresswoman, and she actually had her um service office in our building. She had more people that she served than any other congressperson in Michigan. I mean, you're talking about constituent services where people are coming saying, my social security check got cut, my Medicaid got cut, I need help getting a birth uh my my passport, I need help with these things that are happening. And her constituent services system is per none the best in our state. That is what I think matters when you're talking about voters. Now compare that to Shri Tanadar. Shri Tanadar is nowhere to be found. He's not fighting for our issues. When we had polluted air and when Silantis was coming in and building up this new plant that they built, Rashida Lee was telling us before anybody else about the environmental dangers in our community. She and Stephanie Chang, who is also not black, helped circulate a petition and got over a thousand signatures and people in our community saying, please do something to make sure our environmental health is good. Now, you know, Keith Williams wouldn't care about that, but there's many black people who do. And I think that's when it gets me, is because it's not a personality thing for me. It is absolutely about issues. It is about what have you done for our community, what will you do for our community? And I takes it back to you, Jay, because that's what you want to know. Right?

SPEAKER_05 21:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:32

Um, honestly, I just like if if I was voting today, it was my vote would 100,000 percent go to Abdul. Because Haley, like, it feels like Haley's trying to manipulate black voters in every way possible. Like, um, like I've seen ads for Abdul, I mean ads against Abdul, where they call him a misogynist, where they call him all Different types of things. I feel like she's trying to manipulate black black voters in every way that she possibly can, especially with using the first black president as as uh a a whole campaign run. Like I just I don't I don't know anything that she stands for. I just know that she wants me to vote for her. Yeah. So yeah. I I would I would like to know what what what ideals is she running on.

Donna Givens Davidson 22:28

Like and and this and this is for um you know Democrats in period and people running for office. There are many people who are in office right now who I think are doing a good job. But because you are a black person who is also a Democrat does not mean that I think you are acting on our behalf.

SPEAKER_05 22:43

Yeah.

Donna Givens Davidson 22:44

Okay. I am not, I I believe, and I I hate to say this because I am such a proud black person, and I really do believe black people have to be, you know, organized and willing to build our own power. But building our power does not mean that we allow somebody simply because they are black to um represent us. You know, um, it does not mean that we allow somebody who comes to our churches and who comes to our hangouts get our vote simply because they are friendly or cool with black people. I'm a hundred percent focused on what are your policies, what do you stand for, what will you do if you're elected to office. That's it. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 23:28

Like if you look at if you look at um Mom Dani, Mom Dani has done more in the community than I've ever seen anybody in a political office do ever. And he's only been in like what a hundred, a hundred and thirty days or something, or a hundred and ten. Um if you look at if you look at um Mary Sheffield, Mary Sheffield is most of the reason that I've gotten to school on time a lot of days. She's she's a lot of the reason where I can do a lot of stuff that I I want to do because I don't have to pay to get on the bus. I don't have to, you know, she's she's works in the community, community actively. She I she's she's helped me out in more than more ways than she probably even knows. And she she makes sure she stays connected with young people in the community, which I feel like has been lost in politics. Like I feel like a lot of politicians have lost the fact that there are that young people are still here.

Donna Givens Davidson 24:20

You know, one of the most monumental things she did, the the bus is one of them, right? Yes. The other thing is ensuring that everybody who worked full-time in the city of Detroit had a living wage. That is crazy. That is so beautiful. And it's the kind of thing that a mayor can do that changes circumstances for people and says everybody who works for me deserves living wage. You can set a standard for other people when you follow that standard. That free bus fare is beautiful. I remember, you know, I worked at the Youth Development Commission. I remember how much money you used to have to spend purchasing bus tickets for young people over the summer just to make sure they could get to and from work or a bus cart, and this is year-round, right? All night and day.

SPEAKER_01 25:04

Honestly, like she's she's done so much for my community, especially people my age with the summer Fridays, the Occupy the Summers, everything. There was an Occupy the Summer a few days ago where there was money donated to people, young people in business. You do you know how much that means for our community? Like we are we are being invested in in a way that I haven't seen anybody invest in us. Like Mary Sheffield is one of them ones. I really and I feel like um the issue with voters is a lot deeper than we know. Like I feel like when we look at who we're going to vote for, I feel like a lot of the reason people don't want to, like a lot of the reason people don't want to vote for Abdul is because black people don't really mesh well with Arab Americans. I feel like we have been discriminated against and and and and beat down so long that we think everybody is against us.

Donna Givens Davidson 26:06

You know, I have to say that I hear that about Arab Americans, right? Yes. Arab American people hate us.

SPEAKER_05 26:13

Yeah.

Donna Givens Davidson 26:13

And then I go to the grocery store where Arab American people work, you know, Lafayette Market, they hire these women and they make the best sweet potato pies ever. And I went there on Christmas Eve and they were like, listen, we're open on Christmas. If you need anything else, everybody in that store, from front to back, is nice. They hire black people, they are friendly to black people. And I have all these positive experiences with human beings. And then something happens where one Arab person does something and it becomes the entire Arab community. I feel like that's how racism works, where you blame a whole group of people for the actions of some people.

SPEAKER_01 26:50

Yes. And I feel like we've been marginalized so much that we started marginalizing other people. And people don't realize that that's not okay. Just because it happened to you doesn't mean that you can just do it to other people, and that means it's okay. That's that will never be okay, actually. Um just because you saw one person do that, but you see another person has a whole different perspective on things, has a whole different plan for things, and but you would rather vote for the woman who's using a black man. Wow.

Donna Givens Davidson 27:18

And you know, and and let me say this too, because um I am humble enough to understand I'm not perfect. Yes. And so I don't look for perfection in other people. Sometimes I say the wrong thing and do the wrong thing. The question is, where is my heart?

SPEAKER_06 27:36

Yes.

Donna Givens Davidson 27:37

And you can decide where it is. You can say, you know what, she messed up this time, and therefore her heart is in a bad place. I think we played this gotcha game with politics. We look for everything the man said or done, and we find this flaw, and then we decide to disqualify the whole human being. My issue is not even that commercial, because I could have that commercial and not be irritated if there were not all of these other things. If she did not create a fake ad from his campaign and having it be Mike Rogers and send it out and say that Mike Rogers endorsed him, if she did not do some of those things. And all of this stuff about him being anti-woman to me, that is um Islamophobia in disguise because the the the bias against people who are a Muslim is that they hate women. Um a good friend of mine is Muslim. He ran for Congress as Muslim, Keith Ellison, and guess what? He was accused of hating women.

SPEAKER_05 28:29

Yes.

Donna Givens Davidson 28:30

And he is a very progressive person in terms of the right to choose. Um, all of the issues that I wanted somebody to be aggressive, and he worships differently than I do. And again, what kind of America do we want to see? Do we want to see an America where all the other people of color get treated badly except for black people because we paid our dues and we built this country, or do we want to understand that justice exists for everybody?

SPEAKER_01 28:54

Yes. And I I love the way you said that because in a lot of ways you said a lot of things that I couldn't really articulate myself. Um and I really, I really appreciate your perspective on that. And when okay, I watched an interview of Abdul and they asked him how he felt about um trans rights. And as um a black lesbian woman, that that really mattered to me. Like that, his opinion on that really mattered to me. So that video really caught my attention. And something he said really interested me. He said, when you start taking away rights from one person, you you that's you opening up the door for them to take rights from you. So I've I've he so he said that he wouldn't, he advocates for everybody. He advocates for everybody, and that's something that I haven't heard a lot of politicians say. And to know that if that was something that I decided, not that it is something I want to do, if that was something that I decided to do in my life, that I would be supported by the person who I want to be in office, you know? Yeah.

Donna Givens Davidson 29:55

I don't know Haley Stevens, and I don't know that she wouldn't, right? Yeah, I know Abdul, I've known him for 10 years. I knew when he worked in the health department. My daughter worked on his campaign when he was running for governor, and he's a person I could call up and say, I need help with this, or he's been on our show before. So also, I'm not even just looking at campaign propaganda, I'm looking at knowing who seeing a person when they're running for office, seeing them when they're not running for office, and just seeing who that where their heart is, and it gives me a sense of where he is. I don't think that again, I'm not trying to advocate against a candidate, but I do think what you said is really significant, and that is you support people because of who they what they are going to do, what they say they're going to do. And I'm, you know, I have my issues and things I agree about. So um what specifically does Abdul support that you agree with?

SPEAKER_01 30:52

The mo the biggest thing is free health care. Um because I know how difficult it has been for me to get to a good doctor. Um I know how difficult it is for me to get to a good dentist. Um and we have insurance and stuff, but how hard it is to access good health care here um without having to pay an arm and a leg for it, uh that is something that I really, really support. That is something that that like free health care is something we need, like genuinely. And I don't see enough people advocating for it, and the fact that he does really has moved me for real.

Donna Givens Davidson 31:32

So my son had a job and he was laid off and he got another job a couple weeks later. But when you get another job, then you have a waiting period to get your insurance. Yeah, and in that waiting period, he went to the doctor and had to be had some work done. And he was okay, you know, but he had to go to the doctor, and he ended up owing, you know, $13,000 for one doctor's visit. So now he's back at work and he has insurance. It's not like he's not working getting insurance, and then you have other people who are insured, and their deductible is $10,000.

SPEAKER_01 32:09

Yes, and then what about those people who can't get insurance? Who what about those people who can't work? What about those people who are homeless? What if they have to go to the hospital? Now they're left with a $10,000 debt that they'll never be able to pay.

Donna Givens Davidson 32:23

Yeah. I mean, there's so many ifs. And then the other thing is that um this this was a a true situation. Um I went through a job change, right? And so um I took my daughter to visit a friend, she fell down and hurt her toe. And so over the course of a few hours, her toe was hurting so badly. And I was like, within one of the few periods of my life where I did not have health insurance and I didn't know what to do. So I'm terrified because it's like your toe is hurting, and I'm driving her around and I'm buying her tape and trying to tape it up and doing everything but taking her to the doctor. Finally, I remembered okay, if you go to you know, emergency, they have to treat you. So I take her to the emergency room. This is like 20 years ago. Take her to the emergency room, and her toe is broken. But I delayed getting her care because I didn't think I could afford to get her health care. Yes. Um, during COVID-19, we had family members, uh, my husband had family members who had COVID and were afraid to go to the hospital because they didn't think they had health insurance. How many times we put off taking care of ourselves because we don't think we can get care, even when we can. You know, and so I had to say, listen, if they go to the hospital, the hospital's gonna sign them up for health insurance. Don't worry about it, you're gonna get care. Um, but there's that fear we have of those big bills, you know, and so I think that's an important one. Anything else before we move on to some other things?

SPEAKER_01 33:55

Um, just really the way that I've seen that he really advocates for the people. Like he doesn't his campaign isn't selfish. Like, I I've seen a lot of selfish politics lately, and a lot of people only moving off their own interests, um, or a lot of people moving to be liked. Um I saw another video where Abdul was like, he said, I don't need you to like me, I need you to like you. And you know what, yeah. You know what, yeah.

Donna Givens Davidson 34:28

So so Haley's running on some things. Let's talk about what she says she's running on. Um it says Haley Stevens is fighting back. Um, she's the only Democrat running for Senate who isn't a millionaire.

SPEAKER_05 34:42

Okay.

Donna Givens Davidson 34:42

She took on Trump to protect Obamacare, Medicare, and Social Security. She's ranked Michigan's most effective Democrat in the House, and we need Stevens in the Senate. Those are things on her website. Um, do any of those resonate with you? Uh not really. Um, can you go back over it again? Okay. Um, she's the only Democrat running for Senate who isn't a millionaire. Okay. Um she took on Trump to protect Obamacare, Medicare, and Social Security. She's ranked Michigan's most effective Democrat in the House.

SPEAKER_01 35:18

Um, the Obamacare one.

SPEAKER_00 35:22

You know, no million, you don't you don't care if the candidate is a millionaire or not, if they're rich.

SPEAKER_01 35:27

Not really. Not really. Not really.

SPEAKER_00 35:28

Um, it's like we're gonna learn more about Abdul Al-Said's finances today. He says he's gonna release his personal financial disclosure. Okay. The Stevens campaign has been hitting him over the head with that. Okay. Saying that he's hiding something. He's hiding perhaps foreign assets or a his wife owns a property um, I believe, in India.

Donna Givens Davidson 35:48

That is that really bothers me. I have to say that. Why should I care? This man is a Rhodes Scholar, he's got a PhD and an MD, and his wife has an MD. And I'm mad they are almost millionaires. I don't care. And when you start asking, do they have does it do these people who are first generation citizens of the United States have ties to people in other countries, that feels like Islamophobia to me. I'm gonna be honest with you. It feels like you are implying that if you have a house in this place or you got money from these people that you must be bad. You know, it's it actually makes me angry.

SPEAKER_05 36:25

Yeah.

Donna Givens Davidson 36:26

That that that part makes me angry. If I'm, you know, and I don't want to get angry about that. It just does make me angry because it feels like um anyway, okay.

SPEAKER_01 36:36

I I just well, I'm sorry. I wanted to comment on that. I don't care how much money a politician makes. You went to school for all of these years and did all of these debates and did you gonna have money. Like, I don't care how much money you make. Are you trying to do better for me or not?

Donna Givens Davidson 36:52

He's written two books. He's a public speaker. I'm just saying if you go to, if you look at how much doctors make, we shouldn't be surprised that two doctors in the household make that. Let's talk about these are the things that she says. This is what I was looking for. Um, equitable federal investment, ensure federal resources and infrastructure investments are delivered equitably to underserved Michigan communities to strengthen public services, transit and economic opportunity where it is needed most. How do you feel about that?

SPEAKER_01 37:20

Honestly, it sounds like the same thing that I've been hearing a lot. Like she's she's trying to win this over with Obama. I don't know.

Donna Givens Davidson 37:30

Iconomic empowerment and access, expand access to capital and training for underserved communities and advance an industrial policy that creates jobs, lowers cost, and strengthens Michigan's economic future.

SPEAKER_01 37:44

I love the strengthening Michigan's economical future. Um in what ways is what are there any ways that she's investing in people my age if she's invested in the economic future?

Donna Givens Davidson 38:02

We'll we'll get to that. Safer communities, advance fair and accountable policing, yes, invest in community-based violence into violence prevention, and strengthen Common Sense gun safety laws to protect families and rebuild trust. That's that's that's decent. That's decent. Family health and family stability, lower health care costs, advance health equity, protect science-based care, and defend social security, Medicare, and Medicaid so families can live with dignity, health, and security.

SPEAKER_01 38:27

Medicare and Medicaid are very important. I really do like that. Um Lower Medicaid, Medicare. Lower Medicare is definitely is is it would be more influencing if there wasn't another candidate advocating for free health care.

Donna Givens Davidson 38:43

Education, innovation, and STEM workforce future. Ensure Michigan leads 21st century manufacturing and innovation by investing in education, STEM and job training pipelines, policies that strengthen the supply chain, and prepare workers for the industries of the future.

SPEAKER_01 38:58

That is a place where I really do agree with her. I've I do feel like investing in education is very important. Um that is actually something that that is really that would be convincing to me. Um I feel like education is probably the best place to invest, especially in STEM, and making sure that we're are in the forefront of that, that is something I agree with.

Donna Givens Davidson 39:25

Water and infrastructure. Prioritize safe, clean drinking water, invest in lead pipe replacement and fight contamination like PFAS, especially in communities most affected by environmental injustice.

SPEAKER_01 39:38

Okay. On that, I would like to say, um, yes, I would like to um see that we invest in clean drinking water, but I also would like to see us also not investing in those data centers, those those those tech companies that are drinking up all of our water. Um I I would also see like to see that somewhere in her campaign too.

Donna Givens Davidson 40:06

The last one is lowering housing costs, increase housing supply, support low-income families, seniors, and people with disabilities, and strengthen pathways to the middle class.

SPEAKER_01 40:19

Lower housing causes lowering housing lower housing costs to what? Because No, it says increase housing supply. Increase housing supply.

Donna Givens Davidson 40:29

Support low-income families, seniors, and people with disabilities, and strengthen pathways to middle class. It doesn't say lower housing cost. So I'm just going through these are the agenda items. And then I just want to close off because this is important. The Michigan Hope Agenda is more than a policy document, it's a promise as part of my love letter to our black and brown communities in Michigan. That together we can create a Michigan that works for people and our community is not against them.

SPEAKER_01 40:57

That is triggering me a little bit. That's triggering me a little bit. Um just mainly because like I feel like her campaign is targeting us like a whole lot. Um without like actually I feel like her campaign target is targets us a lot, but it doesn't seem like once she actually gets into office that'll be something that will be a priority.

Donna Givens Davidson 41:27

It almost feels like pandering to you. Yes, this love letter to black and brown. You know who needs clean water? White people. Yes. You know who needs housing? White people. Everybody needs these things. Why why are you it's it you're saying this like it's our love letter to the blacks, like the whites don't need it. And when you position it like that, it almost makes it feel like, you know, us against them rather than to our Michigan community.

SPEAKER_01 41:51

Yes, and I feel like that's a lot of that I that was that connects with a point that I tried to bring up earlier. Um I feel like we have been forced to believe that we can't trust anybody but each other. Is it we have been forced to believe that it's either white or it's black, or black anybody who's not black is against us. Um and I also feel like that has opened a door for people who are white or who aren't black to whenever they say that they love black people, that's opened a door for black people to actually listen to them. Or when they're supported by a black person, it's opened the door for black people to listen to them instead of actually considering all of their options and wearing all of their options because one person said, Okay, I love black people, or okay, yeah, I'm I'm writing a love letter to black people. Like, and I I just feel like that's really cringy. Yeah, it's like it's it makes me feel weird. I don't I don't like that verbiage.

Donna Givens Davidson 42:53

There's a couple things I don't see here, and I'm gonna throw them out. I don't see anything here about water affordability.

SPEAKER_01 42:58

Yeah.

Donna Givens Davidson 42:59

And is water a human right? Yes, water is a human right. I don't see anything in here about housing affordability.

SPEAKER_01 43:04

I thought I thought you did. That's why I'm like, that's what I'm saying.

Donna Givens Davidson 43:08

I don't see anything I hear about industry and creating industry, but I don't see anything in here about environmental protections. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:18

One thing, um like especially with the housing, how were you wanting to increase housing availability, but not wanting to lower housing prices?

Donna Givens Davidson 43:27

I was there's um I was driving to work today and I turned, I was taking um Werner and I turned left on McClellan. And there's this new company that's gonna be building houses in that community.

SPEAKER_05 43:40

Yeah.

Donna Givens Davidson 43:41

And so um I looked it up, you know, took the little thing, and you know, they have a little QR code and I used it so I could look it up. And those houses are gonna be four hundred and fifty to four hundred and sixty seventy thousand dollars. You see what I mean? And so you can build new housing without making that housing accessible to people. Inside of our community.

SPEAKER_01 44:01

I can do you one better. How about you go into those low-income neighborhoods like mine where there are abandoned houses all the way through the neighborhood and fix those up and make those affordable housing?

Donna Givens Davidson 44:12

See, that's why you and I are going to be friends because that is exactly what I think. I think you start with fixing up the housing that we have. Yes. It is always going to be cheaper to take a vacant home and rebuild that vacant home than starting from scratch. Almost always. And I can't, you can say, no, you can't do it, but we're doing it's still expensive. You still need subsidy, but you can do for $100,000, $150,000 to an existing home, what would cost $400,000,000 to do to a new home. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 44:39

That's that's like why why would you go and build homes that are going to be expensive when the homes that are already expensive are they not able to be bought because we're not making any money.

SPEAKER_06 44:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:49

Like, and I I'm as a person who lives in a neighborhood with three at least three abandoned homes on my street. I would love to see y'all come out here and fix some of the houses.

Donna Givens Davidson 45:00

Let's let's have that conversation.

SPEAKER_01 45:01

Um okay. Let's have that conversation. I would love to see somebody come out here and and and cut down all the weeds on the city's property. I would love to see somebody come out here and put windows in those houses that that that um people who are less fortunate sneak into and just completely trash.

SPEAKER_04 45:21

Right.

SPEAKER_01 45:22

You know, I would love to see y'all actually invest in our community instead of letting people who aren't going to buy up the property and put things in our neighborhood that aren't going to help our neighborhood. Yeah.

Donna Givens Davidson 45:34

So I what I'm hearing from you is that you think that we need to make your neighborhood secure. Yes. And then help restore your neighborhood. Yes. Because a lot of the neighborhoods now has how how long have you lived in that neighborhood? Um, three or four years. Three or four years. Yes, ma'am. Are you familiar with the neighborhood, what it was like 10 years ago? How old are you?

SPEAKER_01 45:52

Um, I'm 17, but I wasn't here 10 years ago.

Donna Givens Davidson 45:54

You were seven anyway.

SPEAKER_01 45:55

Yeah, I wasn't I wasn't in Detroit. Where were you? I was in Nashville.

Donna Givens Davidson 45:59

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 45:59

Yeah. So you moved to Detroit when? Uh when I was in seventh grade, which was like five years ago. Five years ago. Oh wow. Yeah.

Donna Givens Davidson 46:08

So let's talk about your experience in Detroit um compared to Nashville.

SPEAKER_01 46:14

Um in Nashville, I lived in uh a housing project. Um and compared to what it is now, it was a lot better. Um but actually it's being gentrified right now. Um everything around it is gentrified, but that um it was never bad. Like I was safe. I was a safe kid. Like I was a kid who I could go outside and play with my friends. I knew at certain time I have to go in the house because I know it gets kind of, you know, after after it gets dark, it gets a little, but I knew as a kid in that neighborhood I was always safe. I was always gonna be protected. But here it's a little harder to believe that just based off the fact that um I've I've experienced a lot of bad things here. Like um on public transportation, I've seen multiple weapons. Um just recently on the bus? Yes. Um just recently a man tried to fight the bus driver, he got kicked off the bus, threw a brick through the window um of the bus. Um did the window shatter? It shattered. We had to wait for another bus. Um I the neighborhood that I live in specifically, like I've been to higher income neighborhood, um, and that that's not bad. But in the neighborhood that I live in specifically, is no there's no investment in my neighborhood. Like our school, the school that the only school that I know of in our neighborhood, they kids are allowed to do whatever they want to do. Well that's Duke Ellington, yes, yes, and I that that was a terrible experience for a school and it really shapes it really explains why the neighborhood is what it is.

Donna Givens Davidson 48:03

Um let me let me ask you a question because you lived in um public housing in Nashville. Yes, and um public housing has been largely dismantled in the United States. Do you believe that rebuilding public housing makes sense?

SPEAKER_01 48:15

No.

Donna Givens Davidson 48:16

Why not?

SPEAKER_01 48:17

Because when you tear the projects down and you build something on top of the projects, where are all the people from the projects gonna go?

Donna Givens Davidson 48:28

So I mean, so rebuilding the public housing so they have a place to go.

SPEAKER_01 48:31

Yeah, I'm I'm if they're all coming back, it's gonna end up in the same situation. I don't know. What situation? Um the shootings, the fighting, the the because when you're not when you're just rebuilding the buildings and not rehab rehabilitating the people, it's not gonna change anything.

Donna Givens Davidson 48:56

I do think that we need to invest more in the people, yes, and not just the physical housing.

SPEAKER_01 49:01

Cause if you just change the housing, like that's not gonna do anything.

Donna Givens Davidson 49:04

So that's a really interesting concept.

SPEAKER_01 49:05

Tell me what you would do to f rehab the people. I feel like the first place that we sh that I would start personally, if that was my I would start in trying to get people affordable counseling, um, as well as jobs, um as well as affordable transportation, which w we have here. We have pretty affordable transportation.

Donna Givens Davidson 49:30

Um You know, I see a lot of challenges in families. Yeah. That's our families sometimes it's like there's so much trauma that goes on and people don't know how to get along with each other, and people carry that trauma and they take it out on each other. Do you think family therapy or some type of family interventions are necessary in order to stabilize our community?

SPEAKER_01 49:50

Yes, but I feel like in some cases it might make it worse. I feel like self-therapy would always I feel like that should be first, and then on a case-by-case basis, that should be like family intervention if it's needed, or if that's something that feels appropriate, then that's that's definitely something that could help improve a lot of lives.

Donna Givens Davidson 50:14

Yeah, because I see a lot of parents, especially as people become teenagers, don't get along with their teenagers anymore. And you see a lot of families just broken up because of that, and the teenagers are couch surfing somewhere because the parents don't let them stay there anymore. And I think a lot of it is unhealed trauma on all sides. Like all of these bad things have happened to all of us. How can we live together in this space and um be the people we want to be to each other?

SPEAKER_01 50:37

Yeah, and then I think we also have to get out of that extreme survival mindset that I feel like a lot of people are in. Like a couple days ago, I walked into my gas station, um, the gas station by my house, and I heard some people talking about um a club that they just opened or something like that. And I asked him, I said, um, why instead of like when you guys get money, why instead of investing in your community and starting something that could actually help do we open things like clubs and gambling centers and stuff like that? And he told me to keep the mindset that I have one, but he also said, Um, that's all we know. He said, So you gotta get it how you live. And I said, No, you don't. You don't have to get it that way. That's not that that's not the only option. That's just the only option that you were taught to have.

Donna Givens Davidson 51:25

So let's talk about you. Yeah. Okay. Um, because we haven't spent a lot of time talking about you. You're a student where?

SPEAKER_01 51:32

Um, Castec. What year are you? Um a senior. And what role do you play in um Detroit public schools? Um, I'm a DPS CD influencer and um as well as a DPD intern right now. Um Detroit Public Police Department intern? Yes, ma'am. Oh, so you see a lot. Yeah. Um actually it's changed my perspective on police a lot. I used to hate the police. Um before I didn't even know that this was gonna be my job. And when I first got there, I hated it. And then I met two officers, Officer Smith and Officer Everett. Um, they completely changed my perspective on police officers, and maybe it's just because I'm in recruiting, I don't know. But those are uh I've learned that a cop doesn't equal a bad person.

Donna Givens Davidson 52:17

Yeah. I think sometimes it's the culture of policing, yeah, but not the individual officers. We had an incident in this building last year, and some officers came out and we talked, and I really liked them. I was like, wow, these are great people, wonderful people, right? And so it is not the people who are in those uniforms, and a lot of times they are risking their lives, right?

SPEAKER_01 52:37

Yeah. Um like from the stories I've heard, they do some crazy things. Like they risk their lives every single day to make sure that we're safe. And I also learned a lot about myself and that I also marginalize people sometimes. And I'm I wanna admit that I do, I did make that mistake in saying like all police officers are bad just because I've had a couple bad experiences with them. Like I've been rushally profiled before by a police officer, and I feel like I let that make me hate police.

Donna Givens Davidson 53:08

Yeah. Well, I mean, that's the human nature, right? Yeah, we have this experience with that backgroup. We already talked about happening with tariffs and other people of color, right? Yeah. So let me tell you, you want to be what when you graduate? What is your ambition?

SPEAKER_01 53:21

Um, I don't want to put myself in a box. Um but I do want to be a filmmaker. Um, I do want to work in creating opportunities and music and media for young people. Um, because I know a lot of times I feel like those types of dreams are are told people with those types of dreams are told to have a backup plan or that that dream might be a little too high. But uh a phrase that I really like to go by is shoot for the sun, even if you fall, you'll be amongst the stars.

Donna Givens Davidson 53:51

That's great.

SPEAKER_01 53:51

Yes.

Donna Givens Davidson 53:52

You know, I think not that I think you need a backup plan.

SPEAKER_01 53:55

Yeah.

Donna Givens Davidson 53:56

But I'm listening to you, and you how old are you?

SPEAKER_01 53:59

I'm 17.

Donna Givens Davidson 54:00

17, and you already have a pretty um sophisticated political philosophy, right? Yeah, like you have ideas about so many things, and you're just gonna get smarter and more knowledgeable as you go on. Would you consider politics?

SPEAKER_01 54:12

I actually have. Okay. Um uh as a kid, I wanted to be a lawyer, I wanted to be a councilwoman. Um I and that dream didn't go away. I think my passion just kind of took my heart won my heart over. Um, because I do have a really big passion for music and filmmaking.

Donna Givens Davidson 54:32

Um what's that song um by Kendrick, I Can Have It All? Is that what it is? Maybe not all at once, but I think as you think about your future, um, you know, I just it we have people who have these ideals and they're really, you know, convicted in them, and they do other things, and then we have people running for office. And somehow I see in you a person who can actually do some stuff, get your creativity there, and at the same time do a really good job representing because you told me that you have a really compelling life story.

SPEAKER_01 55:08

Yes, ma'am.

Donna Givens Davidson 55:09

And that's is that what drives you?

SPEAKER_01 55:11

Yes. Um, honestly, everything that I went through as a child and the fact that I'm just now able to be supported in the way I need to. Um, the fact that I had to see my mom struggle for so long, I'm determined to never go back to that place. Yeah. I'm I'm determined to make it off off of Corbett. I'm determined to become something bigger than what I what I am right now, and to never go back to being that person that everybody saw as nothing.

Donna Givens Davidson 55:42

I just want to tell you that you give me hope. Um, when I talk to you and I hear what you've been through, but I see who you are, how accomplished and poised you are. It just gives me hope that our future is in good hands. There's so many people who talk about young people as though somehow young people are a problem. And all of the conversations we've been having, young people, what's wrong with young people today? Come on now.

SPEAKER_00 56:06

Um They're not only a problem, they're the solution. Tell them they're the solution.

Donna Givens Davidson 56:10

And it's not the solution, and you have a vision and more ideals than so many people who are older than you, and that's why it's so important to have young people as leaders. Question.

SPEAKER_01 56:19

Yes, ma'am.

Donna Givens Davidson 56:20

Gretchen Whitmer endorsed Haley Stevens. What are your thoughts?

SPEAKER_01 56:27

I don't want to hear anything else about somebody endorsing Haley Stevens. I want to know what Haley Stevens is gonna do for me. I want to know. Like, I I actually and I love Big Rich. Love Big Gretch. Big Gretch is she's great, but I don't care what she has to say about Haley Stevens. I want to know what Haley Stevens has to say about what she's gonna do for youth.

Donna Givens Davidson 56:49

I've heard you say some really amazing things. You love our mayor, Mary Sheffield. Yes, I love it. You love Big Gretch. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 56:56

Who are the other politicians you love? I love Big Gretch, I love Mary, I love um, I love Mondani. Um, hmm. Who else do I love? Hmm. I love Dean. Do you know who Dean is? He's not really Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 57:12

Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's not really important. He's a commentator. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 57:15

Dean Withers, I think it's freaking love Dean. Freaking love Dean.

SPEAKER_00 57:18

Um I want to ask you about President Obama. Yeah. You got any memories of that or no?

SPEAKER_01 57:25

I just remember not having to think about politics when Obama was in office. And as a kid, that was something that like when Donald Trump got in office, I become I became extremely aware of politics all of a sudden. And I was eight. So the first eight years of my life, Obama was the president. So you were born in 08. Yes. Oh wow. The first eight years of my life, Obama was president. So I I didn't I wasn't worried about politics. You thought about politics. Because yeah, I had to at that point.

SPEAKER_00 57:56

I I hear from folks, it's a lot different. I was in college when Trump was elected. Um, I was a so I was a freshman or a sophomore in college. When Trump was elected, I was a sophomore that year.

SPEAKER_06 58:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 58:09

And so I was almost a year and a half, two years removed from being in high school. But I remember hearing from my friends who are in a grade below me how much it affected their high school experience, Donald Trump's presidency and the campaign. And I I went to a predominantly white school in Midland. People that went to uh DPS schools around that time tell me that it was like people there were there might have been some, you know, uh, you know, some some uh I don't want to say misinformation, but um people thought that Trump was gonna come in and just kill us all. Is that kind of like the thought? Like people were like, oh wow, like America's over, it's over, like he's gonna send us back to Africa. Is that something that you heard?

SPEAKER_01 58:52

Um that I'm I'm smart, so I'm pretty smart. So I knew he's he's not just gonna like come murder all of us, but I also knew that he doesn't have my best interest at heart. Um and that he also will not support me. Um because like I said, I'm I'm a black woman and I'm also a lesbian. He's all nothing that he stands for is something that will benefit me. Um he's trying to take away my right to get married. If I he's trying to take away the right for me to have an abortion. There's all different types of things that I just know he's not somebody who will benefit me. And honestly, I prefer my presidents without felonies, but that might just be a me thing.

Donna Givens Davidson 59:40

You know what? And I I I want to be really careful about that too, right? Because I have friends who are returning citizens, yeah, who feel as though when we say things like that, and I know this is not how you meant it, yeah, that we um we are um saying things that further marginalize them.

SPEAKER_05 59:57

Yeah.

Donna Givens Davidson 59:58

But you know, Donald Trump is not a returning citizen.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:01

Yeah.

Donna Givens Davidson 1:00:01

He didn't pay for any of his crimes.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:04

Yeah, he didn't at all.

Donna Givens Davidson 1:00:05

He didn't, he there's no consequences to him. And so I think when I hear you say that, you're not saying that you would not support somebody who had done a crime, paid their done their time, and then redeemed themselves.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:18

No. Uh what I'm saying is I would prefer to have somebody who one, either one didn't do those things, or two did those things and actually did something to rehabilitate it. I like Donald Trump has done nothing but prove that he's just gonna do it again.

Donna Givens Davidson 1:00:37

Right. So, you know, currently corrupt. Yes. And if he had a chance to do it again, he would again. That's that's the fear. He'd jump at it, yes. Right. Yes. So um, I just wanted to draw that because I do have friends and they hear that um a different kind of way.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:50

Yes. Oh, I just I don't have anything like I like I don't have anything against felons. Um my stepdad is actually um a felon, and I'll he's one of the most innovative and wise men I know. And if I could vote for him, I would, to be quite honest with you.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:10

I want to ask you an interesting question that I always think all the three people, well, one, two, three, four people uh that are doing this podcast, Michael and Griffin are are behind camera, um, and of course Donna. What generation are you a part of?

Donna Givens Davidson 1:01:25

Me?

SPEAKER_00 1:01:26

Yeah. Are you Gen X?

Donna Givens Davidson 1:01:28

I I say I'm Gen X, but I'm actually the tail end of boomers.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:31

You're a boomer, okay. And so all of us are technically, according to Google, a part of Gen Z. Jay, you were born in 2008. Yes. Are you got friends that are like, you know, 14, 15 right now? What's the difference between Gen Z and Gen Alpha? Because 2010, Gen Z ends, and it's now a new generation called Gen Alpha. Are you familiar with Gen Alpha? I am, I am. What's the difference between them?

SPEAKER_01 1:01:59

I feel like um in like the closer age gaps, it's a little harder to tell. But in those ones that are just like a little farther, they're really bratty. They're really, really bratty.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:12

Maybe that's just that they're like seven, eight, nine-year-olds.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:15

No, it's just like it's like they're a different type. Because I was a very polite and well-mannered kid. They're just really like they, but I don't say that as it's a bad thing. They I love that they have their own opinions and they have really strong minds. Like that is actually something I really admire.

Donna Givens Davidson 1:02:31

There, there are people also who really grew up in the wake of a pandemic. Yes. So that that impact on them has to be different than what your childhood was like. Although you you how old were you when when the pandemic hit?

SPEAKER_00 1:02:45

I think I was in like fifth grade, I thought it was like to go through that as a child, not realizing. I think the first thing is not realizing how different Donald Trump's presidency was. Yeah. Um, I think kids younger than me, by maybe four, five, six, seven, eight years, yeah, they don't have a full grasp on how Trump completely upended the Republican Party and how it was so shocking to watch, not just as a as a um person, perhaps you know, like Donna on the left or yourself, but to the conservative Republicans. I mean, conservatives in in Midland, uh Bay City Saginaw that I knew who were like, oh my god, what is this guy doing? This is NBC Celebrity Apprentice. What are we doing, Republican Party? It was such an episode, and then you had the pandemic years later that was so weird. Like, I never thought that that something like that could ever happen. It wasn't on anyone's bingo card, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:03:37

That's probably because it probably shouldn't have happened. Like, um there, I feel like there was better ways that that could have been dealt with. And it didn't have to be a pandemic. Sure. But that might be just an opinion.

Donna Givens Davidson 1:03:50

You know, we're we're in the midst of a semi-epidemic right now, right? In the state of Michigan. What how do you pronounce that? I don't know, but it's like lettuce for the biggest thing. We don't know if it we don't know if it's lettuce. There's people who have not eaten lettuce, there's people who have. The FDA is investigating, but you think this man laid off all of these people who are in the in the the scientific investigators who can actually help us figure out what's going on.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:14

That's one thing. Oh. And all of these storms, the our our power going out because nobody wants to investigate global warming. Oh my oh, it's just it's just everything like I really want a president who cares about our environment and our food and and our care and us.

Donna Givens Davidson 1:04:32

I I want you know, even when I think about, you know, speaking of care, yeah, all of the health workers who are being deported, oh, in senior homes are like we don't have enough staff to really take care of people. The kind of short-term crisis that we're in right now is really scary to me because yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:52

And then not only that, is the fact that we are acting like we don't have time to deal with internal issues, but we're fighting other people's wars. That's that's something that's very interesting to me because we don't have money f to have emp to employ scientists, to employ people for who can help climate control, but we have money to send money to other countries to help fight a war that they're already winning.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:24

We got a lot of money going around in the United States. That criticism is something that I've been hearing on the campaign trail. It is debate night. We are recording on Monday, July 27th, uh, after this episode is published. You guys will have already seen the US Senate Democratic primary debate between U.S. Representative Haley Stevens of Birmingham and Abdul Al Sayed of Ann Arbor. Abdul, of course, is the former Detroit and Wynne County Health Director. Um I gotta go to the um debate. It's at Fox Two in Southfield, and so I'm gonna go home and and take a shower and um Um go to Southfield. My phone has been absolutely buzzing, and I I'm yeah, it's been a whirlwind for me. I can't lie, y'all. I of course, as you guys see, I'm at the heart of this national discourse over what black voters are going to do. Uh, we appreciate uh all of you guys reading my work uh at Michigan Chronicle and on Twitter.

Donna Givens Davidson 1:06:21

Can I just say how proud I am of you, Sam? I really am. I think that you are um just doing an amazing job being in the street, talking to people, um, finding out about things, and you're not, you know, really what you're doing is listening, talking, and representing Detroit in a way I have not seen us represent it. So I'm really proud.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:42

Well, thank you very much. Yeah. Jay, I want to thank you for joining us. Um, when I saw your name on our thing, I was like, yes, you followed through because I could be telling people like, come on, like join the show. Like I really wanted a young perspective um about this Senate primary. When I met her, it just felt like you were already that was like, you're 17 years old, what?

Donna Givens Davidson 1:07:04

17 going on. What?

SPEAKER_00 1:07:06

Right. And so we want to thank you for our discussion. We close out every show by doing shout-outs. If you have anybody that you think you want to shout out, maybe something, maybe one person, maybe several people. Um, don't mean to put you on the spot. I can start with Donna.

Donna Givens Davidson 1:07:23

Oh, shout out Philip Johnson, my um baby, my son. He came to Detroit um and he was in the film festival for um LGBT, Detroit's um Hotter Than July Film Festival. Um he has a series that is now on here TV. And he showed the fourth um episode of the series. So there's been two have been released, one next week and one the week after. But this one, he was not only writing, acting, um directing, but he was actually acting in it. And he was so fantastic. I was so proud of him for everything he's done to make his dreams come true and just represent his community so well and all the sacrifice of time and everything he made. Um, Mama could not be more proud.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:09

Yeah. Um I like to shout out a few people. Um, the first person I would love to shout out is Aaron Walters. Um that was the first man who ever believed in me. Um I just hope he knows how much I appreciate him, how much he changed my life. Um another man who I want to shout out is Hugh Johnson, uh, who is helping me um host a few events called Stacklands Open Mic Nights. Um he's really been a driving force in me being able to make this possible um and create a lot of opportunities for kids who want to work in music or media and production. And I I just I'm grateful for the opportunity and I really want to say thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:51

I want to shout out um some people that I worked with in Kalamazoo. You guys don't know these people's names. Maybe I've talked about Mickey Shekilo before, but Brendan Bufa was the editor at the Western Herald when I first started. I was covering sports. Um, I hadn't even thought of doing news or political coverage. When I was at MLive, Kalamazoo Gazette Mark Tower was my main editor. Mickey Shekilo is the regional manager of MLive that gave me my first shot. Mark Tower left journalism. Mickey Shekhailo is um now at Crane's. And I also want to give another, just another shout out to Malachi Barrett. Um, he is sort of the reason why I'm going so hard right now. Um, I would say that I would try to compete with Malachi, but I never really did. He was much better than me and was always just there and was willing to um give more of his time. Um he sacrificed his self for the public. And that's I'm finally now, I think. I'm 29 years old. I think I'm finally feeling how he felt um just sort of giving your life up for public consumption of information.

Donna Givens Davidson 1:10:06

Connect protect Sam Robinson, y'all.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:08

Thank you so much. I want to, yeah, go ahead.

Donna Givens Davidson 1:10:11

But let me just say this. Yeah, Jay, you have to come back.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:14

Yeah.

Donna Givens Davidson 1:10:15

I really want to have your thoughts after the election. Okay. Um, so we can get your thoughts on what does this mean. And of course, we want to partner with you on some things. You're an e-sider and a real um credit to this community. So let's stay connected.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:28

Okay, we will, for sure. I'll definitely stay in town tech.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:32

Awesome. Thank you so much, Jay. If you guys listening, I also want to thank all you guys listening and watching and reading, please keep it locked. We are gonna have more um from voters all across Metro Detroit on this U.S. Senate race. Um, the next episode, what is it? Is that gonna be the Monday? Yeah, that's gonna be August 3rd, and so that'll come as you guys are as the polls are closing, as you guys are hitting the polls on Tuesday, August 4th. We want to thank you so much for listening to Authentically Detroit. Please hit us up on our socials at Authentically Detroit on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, or you can visit our website, authentically-detroit.com. We want to thank you so much for listening. And one last time, if you missed the candidate forum, of course, Haley and Abdul are not going to be the only people on your Democratic primary ballot. Uh, you guys have legislative races that are sort of microcosms of the greater dynamics playing out um nationally and statewide. So if you missed the candidate forum that ECN held, please check it out. The full replay is on Authentically Detroit YouTube channel under live videos. Thank you guys so much.

Donna Givens Davidson 1:11:40

Almost 1,000 views so far.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:42

Let's go. Let's pass the 1k mark, guys. Thank you so much. Thank you.