Can We Get on One Agenda?

Detroit’s Black political house isn’t divided because we lack leaders, ideas, or passion. It’s divided because we lack a shared agenda rooted in real outcomes. Everybody is moving, but nobody is aligned—and fragmentation has always served those already in power.

Right now, Black politics in Detroit feels discombobulated. Some clergy who identify as Democrats are backing a former white mayor now running as an independent. Prominent Black business leaders are declaring independence from parties altogether. Friends are running for office as independents. Younger progressives see government as the primary solution. And then there are pragmatic Democrats like me, from the business side, with a capitalist twinge, who believe government’s role is to level the playing field, not tilt it.

None of these views are illegitimate on their own. But without a common agenda, they cancel each other out.

This week, a prominent white billionaire, formerly partnered with the ex-mayor, spoke about transforming Detroit’s riverfront. We’ve heard this before. The riverfront gets cranes, capital, and headlines. The neighborhoods—where most Black Detroiters live—get studies, speeches, and patience.

Nobody is seriously talking about transforming Detroit block by block—Brightmoor, the East Side, the neighborhoods where poverty is lived daily. That silence isn’t accidental. Megaprojects are safe. Neighborhoods require risk, commitment, and accountability.

Here’s the hard truth: under the former mayor’s tenure, Black poverty in Detroit rose to 34.5 percent. Whatever the branding—revitalization, renaissance, resurgence—the outcome is clear. Growth happened around Black people, not with them. Outcomes matter more than narratives.

The same problem showed up in the Reparations Task Force. The history was accurate and necessary. But history alone doesn’t close a wealth gap. The report explained injustice without building an enforceable economic framework to repair it. Reparations that live only in archives become a history-book gap, not a wealth-gap solution.

So the real question is unavoidable: what is the Black agenda in Detroit—and across Michigan—that actually puts our people on a path to win?

A real agenda starts with neighborhoods. Land matters. Ownership matters. Community land trusts governed by residents. Property tax reform that protects long-term homeowners. Block-level investment, not trickle-down growth.

It requires capital with teeth. Black businesses don’t need more “capacity-building” workshops. They need contracts, loan guarantees, procurement enforcement, and access to real capital. No more performative inclusion without deliverables.

It demands reparations as economic infrastructure—not checks or ceremonies. Down payment assistance. Student debt relief tied to residency. Housing stabilization. Business capitalization. Reparations must close gaps, not just explain them.

It also requires honesty about government. Government is not a savior, but it is a referee. Its job is to enforce fair rules, prevent displacement, and stop subsidizing inequality. Markets can build wealth—but only when the rules are fair and enforced.

My father once told me, “Beware of wolves in sheep’s clothing—especially those who prey on the most vulnerable.” Today’s wolves don’t snarl. They smile, ask for patience, and promise progress while accumulating land and power.

Detroit doesn’t need another savior or glossy vision. It needs one clear, disciplined, neighborhood-centered agenda.

Can we get on one agenda?