Living in Detroit, race has been at the forefront of my consciousness. This city is over 80% black and yet I find myself in many white spaces. While I may not fully comprehend the implications of my experience yet, I consciously seek opportunities to observe, listen, learn and support the broader community. I am working to address my white fragility through reading, reflecting on my own thoughts and actions, and listening. It\u2019s been an ongoing process to discern who I am in relationship to this city, to native Detroiters, and to the work that I do. It\u2019s important and sometimes hard to examine my presence and role in Detroit through the lens of race, privilege, power, and place. Detroit\u2019s revitalization \u2013 and the narrative around it \u2013 needs to be inclusive and diverse, and I strive to be part of the solution, not the problem.<\/p>\n
This fellowship year has highlighted some of the major, interconnected issues surrounding Detroit\u2019s revitalization including racism, poverty, blight, education, employment, mobility, and gentrification. These are very real challenges, especially when trying to ensure equitable results. With that said, I am grateful for the opportunity to learn about the city\u2019s revitalization models, build a network of people who are socially conscious and intentional, and help to create a collective vision for the future. Being in Detroit has allowed me and, at times, forced me to be uncomfortable. I\u2019m grateful for those moments too as they continue to help me grow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Living in Detroit, race has been at the forefront of my consciousness. This city is over 80% black and yet I find myself in many white spaces. While I may not fully comprehend the implications of my experience yet, I consciously seek opportunities to observe, listen, learn and support the broader community. I am working […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":259,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/259"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22460\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}