An engaged crowd filled the Ambassador ballroom at the Marriott in downtown Detroit Thursday for day one of New Detroit’s conference called “Just Lead: Advancing Racial Equity.”
New Detroit is a long-standing racial justice organization that was created after the civil unrest in Detroit in 1967. Through the years, New Detroit has advocated for racial understanding and equity across Metro Detroit with a series of leadership events and advocating for policy change.
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The keynote speaker was Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, founding director of the Boston University Center for Anti Racist Research and best-selling author. He was awarded the 2021 MacArthur fellowship and is a national book award winner.
I moderated the one-on-one discussion with Dr. Kendi on the mainstage. The focus of our conversation was his book “How to be an Antiracist”. As a historian, he spoke about the history of racism in the country, how that impacts systemic racism today and how racist policies can lead to reinforcing racist ideas.
Dr. Kendi advocates for striving to be antiracist, which according to his definition, is someone supporting an antiracist policy through their actions or expressing an antiracist idea.
He explains, “We can unknowingly strive to be a racist. We can knowingly strive to be antiracist.. it requires self-awareness, constant self-criticism and regular self-examination.” Dr. Kendi stressed action and supporting policies that change outcomes.
Dr. Kendi’s appearance was just one of several discussion sessions throughout the day, including a discussion of structural racism, racial equity in business, education and housing and why health equity matters.
New Detroit concludes the event on Friday. If you’d like to learn more about what New Detroit is working on, head to their site at newdetroit.org.