![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/qline-300x204.jpg\")
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I experienced a form of enlightenment from our discussion around race, diversity, and inclusion in Detroit during our Leadership Friday, and the events following.<\/span><\/p>\n That night as I walked down Woodward Avenue, I questioned my role within the city. Did the values and experiences I\u2019ve lived since moving to Detroit contribute to its story in a meaningful way? I felt some solace in knowing that I was part of an impactful program through Challenge Detroit. But why was *I* so privileged to have the opportunity? I questioned if I belonged in Challenge Detroit, and the city of Detroit itself.<\/span><\/p>\n I hopped on the Qline, and as it stopped at Grand Circus park, my gaze met the eyes of a man in need, a man that before I might have averted my eyes to avoid a confrontation. However, as I thought about the discussions we had just earlier that day, I wanted to make sure my interactions had a positive impact within the Detroit community. How might I make this man know that I see him and I acknowledge him, with the insight and understanding of all I had learned earlier?<\/span><\/p>\n As I looked up, the man smiled and waved. A simple, universal act, but an act that meant so much to me in the scope of what I had learned. Smile and wave – to just be good to one another. That\u2019s all it takes. I did the same back at him.<\/span><\/p>\n His acknowledgment of me meant more than what I was trying to accomplish in acknowledging him. In that moment, I no longer questioned my role in the city and program – I felt I belonged.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n As the Qline pulled up at my stop at Campus Martius, I got off the streetcar with a new found sense of meaning. Looking up and walking out into the heart of Detroit, I couldn\u2019t help but smile and wave.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I experienced a form of enlightenment from our discussion around race, diversity, and inclusion in Detroit during our Leadership Friday, and the events following. That night as I walked down Woodward Avenue, I questioned my role within the city. Did the values and experiences I\u2019ve lived since moving to Detroit contribute to its story in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25220","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\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25220\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}