A Profound Loss
in loving memory of Curtis Renee

Curtis Renee was a steadfast, passionate, and caring leader in Detroit, and beyond and it is a loss that many of us are still trying to fathom. You may have seen them leading efforts of Detroit Safety Team, Black Lives Matter Detroit, spearheading an intentional meal, coordinating + delivering food boxes of Detroit-raised produce, or speaking out at a protest, rally, or the like; to name a few.

They have impacted many of us, instilling and encouraging loving leadership of our own; one that is rooted in the radical care and overall radical practices we continue to dream and envision for our communities. 

May Curtis Renee rest in power and may their spirit live on in those they have touched.

We Call Each Other
film screening + community safety exhibit closing

We will begin with a screening of the 2026 film, “We Call Each Other,” which was written, directed and produced by renowned filmmaker Sarah Oberholtzer.

This project grew out of Sarah’s community organizing work, knocking on doors and holding conversations with community members about many campaigns advocating for a divestment from policing/military strategies and an investment in people-centered infrastructure instead.

We are very fortunate to be joined by Sarah and Frank Joyce, Detroit-based member of the National Council of Elders. Building on key themes from the film, Sarah and Frank will facilitate a discussion around what it means to take responsibility for community safety in our own neighborhoods.

Following this discussion, we will celebrate and mark the closing of the Boggs Center’s Community Safety Exhibit and Critical Mix Series, both of which uplift the history of local community safety work in which Jimmy, Grace, and Boggs Center comrades have long been engaged.

Sunday, Oct. 11

2-5pm

3061 Field St.

LEARN MORE + REGISTER

How Neighborhood Organizing Shaped Councilmember Latisha Johnson
presented by Detroit is Different

“I just knew I wanted something different from what I had seen growing up.” Councilmember Latisha Johnson’s story is about discovering Detroit, serving Detroit, and eventually helping shape Detroit’s future. 

Johnson’s journey offers a look at how neighborhood associations, civic participation, relationship building, and simply showing up can become preparation for public leadership—and why understanding the people on the block matters when you become responsible for decisions on behalf of others as a legislator.

WATCH IT HERE

More from Detroit is Different:

• Norris Howard From Brightmoor to the Media Shaping Detroit's Story | LISTEN HERE

• I Wanted to Come Back to the City That Raised Me, Dr. Madeline Walker Miller | LISTEN HERE

Spirit of Justice
featuring Michael Bennett + Michelle Alexander

Join Michelle Alexander, best-selling author of The New Jim Crow, New York Times columnist and Visiting Professor of Social Justice at Union Theological Seminary, in a special edition of her Spirit of Justice lecture series, with Super Bowl Champion Michael Bennett. More than just an NFL superstar, Bennett is a fearless activist, proud feminist, grassroots philanthropist, and zealous change maker. He made news in recent years as he publicly voiced solidarity with Colin Kaepernick and joined him in refusing to stand for the national anthem to draw attention to racial injustice and police brutality. Michael has continued to work tirelessly with other athletes to help effectuate real systemic change not only in his communities, but within the very system that employs him and his fellow teammates.

LISTEN HERE

Rehearsing the Future
preorder your copy

Rehearsing the Future explores the work and legacy of James and Grace Lee Boggs, two of the most influential American radical thinkers of the twentieth century. Grace Lee Boggs earned a PhD in philosophy in the 1940s, though facing obstacles to an academic career as a young Chinese American woman, she left and became a political organizer in Detroit, where she met and married James Boggs, a Black autoworker and labor organizer from Alabama who had moved North during the Great Migration. Over the course of more than forty years of partnership and participation in labor, civil rights, Black Power, anticolonial, and feminist movements, the Boggses articulated a philosophy of long-term revolutionary strategy they called “dialectical humanism.” Rejecting state socialism and traditional Marxism, dialectical humanism instead attributes social change to the conscious, collective activity of people engaged in place-based organizing with a view to transforming everyday life, with hallmark projects such as community gardens, daycare networks, and mediation programs. Above all, revolution is not a fixed program but must evolve as ideas, movements, and institutions are changed through collective practice.

PREORDER FROM AK PRESS

Israel’s Elimination Project
presented by New York Times

About a year ago, at B’Tselem, the Israeli human rights organization I lead, we realized we were struggling to explain what was happening in the West Bank. The problem was not a lack of information. Quite the opposite: By then, for almost three years, day after day, we had documented homes being burned and demolished, communities being expelled, children being shot and killed, roads being blocked and humiliating assertions of Jewish supremacy by settlers and by the Israeli government alike.

READ MORE

We Outside
latest events from BYP100

The lineup:

• Aug 31 – Black Queer Feminism (postponed for Oct. 5)

• Sep 14 – Abolition 101

• Sep 21 – Anti-Capitalism / Building Black Futures

• Sep 28 – Radical Consent

Who should come? Anyone who wants to learn and organize – no experience needed. This series is open to prospective members, new members, and community members who are curious about BYP100's framework.

How to get the address: Fill out the interest form – bit.ly/bypDetroit

P.S. – If you're Black, 18–35, and ready to plug in, our next Membership Orientation is Wednesday, September 16 at 6:00 PM EST on Zoom. It's the official entry point to join BYP100 Detroit.

LEARN MORE + RSVP

A Better Way: James Lawson and the Fierce Urgency of Now
a celebration of Rev. James Lawson’s legacy

Rev. James Lawson prepared the students who led the Nashville sit-ins and participated in the Freedom Rides, brought the discipline of nonviolent direct action into the heart of the civil rights movement, and kept preparing leaders for six more decades: in Memphis alongside the sanitation workers, in Los Angeles with the labor and immigrant rights movements, and in classrooms until the end of his life.

September 22 is his 98th birthday. Rather than only look back, a coalition of organizations committed to liberation through strategic nonviolence is gathering to ask the questions he would want us to ask: what should organizers and movement builders take from his teachings, and what is this moment calling us to do?

Join this free online convening bringing veteran movement leaders into conversation with emerging organizers, connecting the wisdom of those who trained under Lawson with the energy of those carrying his methods forward today.

Tuesday, Sept. 22

7-8:30pm EST

LEARN MORE + REGISTER

No Exception to the Promise
a film screening

Join Represent Justice Ambassador Marcus Kelley for the debut of his short film "No Exception to the Promise". This film examines the history of the 13th Amendment’s exception clause, which legalizes involuntary servitude as punishment for a crime, and how the justice system can’t be transformed without constitutional reform.

Saturday Sept. 26

2:30pm and 6pm

Pontiac Little Art Theatre

47 N Saginaw St. Pontiac, MI 48342

RSVP for event updates.

Detroit Solidarity Economy Assembly
a gathering for visionary collectives

Join the Metro Detroit Solidarity Economy Network for a convening across organizations to co-learn about the state of the solidarity economy city-wide, and a collective mapping project being built to visualize efforts.

Sunday, Sept. 27

3-5pm

General Baker Institute

15798 Livernois

LEARN MORE + RSVP

For the past two years, Detroit People’s Food Co-op (DPFC) has served as a model of community-ownership, cooperative economics and Black Food Sovereignty. We have endured personnel changes, equipment failures, vandalism and escalating food prices.  While we are currently generating close to $3 million in annual sales, we need to significantly increase sales to become sustainable.

To support the store’s urgent and immediate cashflow needs and to build the community support needed for the Co-op to survive and thrive, the DPFC Board of Directors has launched the Mframadan Campaign. Mframadan is one of many Adinkra symbols used by the Akan peoples of Ghana, West Africa.  The meaning of the symbol translates into English as “a house built to withstand windy and treacherous conditions.”

They are asking our community to support the Mframadan Campaign in one or more of the following ways:

• Become a member/owner of Detroit People’s Food Co-op and encourage three friends to do the same.  We are seeking to recruit 500 new member/owners.

• Shop at Detroit People’s Food Co-op regularly.  If you are already a shopper, and are able, increase your purchase amount by an additional $10 each time you shop. If you have been intending to shop at DPFC and have not yet done so, now is the time! We need your support!

• For those who are able to invest $1,000 or more, contact them at invest@detroitpeoplesfoodcoop.com about becoming an investor in our Non-Voting Investment Certificate Program.

• Schedule an opportunity for a DPFC rep to talk with your church, block club, fraternity, sorority, social club, or community organization about the Co-op’s community-ownership model by emailing moc@detroitpeoplesfoodcoop.com

• Donate to our online fundraiser at https://gofund.me/e32302e6d
  
  

The Mframadan Campaign runs from September 8 – November 30, 2026.