DETROIT – Here is what you missed on Sunday's episode of Flashpoint:
This Sunday’s Flashpoint picked up a groundbreaking conversation from 15 years ago on the show.
In 2004, Devin Scillian and Emery King hosted a special primetime edition of Flashpoint on race issues in southeast Michigan.
Recorded during a session at the Mackinac Policy Conference, the original show was full of candid admissions and honest conversation about a variety of ways in which people experience race.
The 2004 show also contained clips from a frank conversation on race during a dinner party hosted by Walbridge CEO John Rakolta.
During the course of the discussion, many participants came to new realizations about their personal experiences regarding race.
Flashpoint was widely praised for sparking a conversation about race in a setting attended by top business and political leaders.
At the time, Crain’s Detroit Business’s Mary Kramer wrote, “For the first time in anyone’s memory, the most important topic in Southeast Michigan – race – was center stage. Words that had never been discussed publicly on stage – segregation, a national apology for slavery, reparations, attitudes of other minorities toward black-white issues – were front and center with four panelists who engaged in lively conversation…”
Roundtable guests on this week’s Flashpoint continued the conversation, discussing what has changed regarding race over the intervening 15 years, including how race factors into regional challenges like transit and housing.
Panelists also tackled the issue of whether Americans really are talking more honestly about race or not.
Segments One and Two:
Heaster Wheeler, assistant Michigan Secretary of State; Mary Kramer, publisher, Crain's Detroit Business; Rochelle Riley, author and columnist and Sheila Cockrel, former Detroit City Council member.
Flashpoint is hosted by WDIV Local 4 anchor Devin Scillian. Watch Flashpoint on WDIV at 10 a.m. on Sundays.