Dear Family and Friends,

After having lived in Detroit for the past year, I have come to understand how the great world spins from a multitude of perspectives. I continue to be amazed at how my thoughts, values, and opinions have been challenged over this past year. I have learned to argue from different viewpoints and have learned to carry conversations with people who do not see the world the same way I do. Challenge Detroit and life in Detroit in general have encouraged me to have tough conversations that we as a society often avoid. These conversations mainly pertain to racism, classism, and overall inequality in the United States. I cannot think of a better place in our country than Detroit to have these experiences, given its especially rocky past decade. The following paragraphs contain some of the lessons I have learned this year:

Everyone is supposedly an expert about everything, even if they cannot relate.

We as a society far too often forget to listen to one another. We seek answers from sources that preach our own individual values and forget that people view the same problem in different ways. Listening to a myriad of ideas and opinions from a number of sources allows one to comment and to form a stance on issues not directly related to him or her. The media does an excellent job of polluting the minds of the general public, invoking fear and paranoia that only perpetuate the problems further. Challenge Detroit provides the opportunity to talk about the issues relevant to Detroit and to produce meaningful solutions and deliverables to compliment current efforts of revitalization in the city and in the neighborhoods. Empathy activities in addition to the requirement of living in the city, allows me to comprehend and immerse myself in the plight that generations of families of color have experienced through the decades in the city. Listening before pursuing action is vital.

We have some pretty major race problems in the United States.

As a white male, I did not realize the caliber of our race problems in the United States before moving to Detroit. The city may be on the up and up; however, I see the policies of primarily conservative, old white men cause major issues in the lives of Detroit’s black population in addition to other people of color on the daily. To put it short and sweet, if #Alllivesmatter, then why are Detroit Public Schools still a mess with very limited resources to educate primarily children of color? Why are their buildings dilapidated and falling apart while schools in predominantly white neighborhoods just a few miles away have beautiful, shiny facilities? Why does the city not have reliable public transportation to serve the one-third of the city’s population without access to a car? Why do we as a society constantly operate off of the status quo or business as usual to develop certain areas of the city that do not include the populations of people who have been living in these places for generations upon generations? Until neighborhoods primarily consisting of residents of color receive the same resources like education, health services, public transportation, and overall access to capital, I will say #Blacklivesmatter. I think of our country as a human skeleton and functioning body. People, we have some broken bones that need some special attention, and we do not treat these broken bones without zeroing in on them and offering them the required care to fully heal.

Detroiters are some of the most hardworking people I have ever met.

I often hear a rhetoric, primarily from people living in the suburbs around Detroit, that people living in poverty choose that life out of laziness or that they do not do anything to change their neighborhoods or quality of life. Detroit has many populations who live in poverty; however, residents living in these neighborhoods are also some of the hardest working people I have had the pleasure to meet. Detroiters take pride in what they have and work extra hard to provide for their family and friends. Grassroots movements pop up left and right, as Detroiters utilize available resources to create community gardens, to educate fellow residents about mental health, and to create opportunities for the city’s youth to build a brighter future for themselves. Detroiters do not expect some savior to come along and do all of the work for them. They have full capability and the drive to do these things themselves but far too often lack the resources and opportunities that support their goals and dreams.

This city constantly amazes me and proves to us all how change can and should work moving forward into the future. If we invest in one another instead of greed, we eliminate barriers of fear that only contribute to the status quo and to the roller coaster movement of constant growth and decline. Let’s take a hint and think and do differently so that one day, maybe all lives truly can matter.