On Hand

Two months before Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech at the March on Washington, tens of thousands gathered to watch him speak in Detroit — a city that’s home to so many Black activists, artists, and entrepreneurs. 

Since then, it hasn’t all been easy for Black Detroiters, but the elections of Mayor Coleman A. Young, and Congressman John Conyers brought forward a new era of Black leadership. 

In recent years, Detroit has lost Black representation in both local and national leadership. In the latest election, two non-Black candidates came out on top to represent the city in Congress, meaning, for the first time in 70 years, Detroit has no Black lawmaker representing the city.

Bridge Detroit and public radio station WDET have partnered to create a podcast called “What Had Happened Was." The limited series interrogates in real-time what loss of Black representation means for the city.

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GUEST:

Orlando Bailey, engagement director at Bridge Detroit, co-host of "What Had Happened Was"

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Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Remember video rental stores? We went to one of the last ones in Michigan.

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Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions.

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"Cheers!" has been a longstanding Stateside feature, and now co-hosts Tammy Coxen and Lester Graham have prepped their last call. After 100 drinks from the mixology team, they'll wrap up their run in February. Today, we toast them!

GUESTS:

Lester Graham and Tammy Coxen are co-hosts of the radio series "Cheers!" and co-authors of the book Cheers to Michigan: A Celebration of Cocktail Culture and Craft Distillers. 

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If you like what you hear on the pod, consider supporting our work.

Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions.

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In Ottawa County - in West Michigan, a slate of nine new commissioners just took office. In their first meeting on January 3rd, they made some sweeping changes to county operations. Not everybody was happy about it. Today on the pod, a new kind of Republican takes control in reliably red Ottawa County. 

GUEST:

Dustin Dwyer, Michigan Radio's West Michigan reporter 

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Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions.

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French documentary filmmaker Dorian Degoutte couldn't bare dumping his 1997 Ford Fiesta. So instead he took took his car from France for one last journey to where it all began: Detroit.

Read the original article here.

GUEST:

Dorian Degoutte, filmmaker

Phoebe Wall Howard, reporter at the Detroit Free Press

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Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions.

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Michigan Supreme Court Justice Richard Bernstein publicly admonished a colleague on the court for hiring a clerk whose past Bernstein thought unbecoming of the court. Bernstein's decision to lambast Justice Kyra Harris Bolden, and her clerk, has drawn sharp criticism. Bernstein issued a statement to apologize today, but not before the clerk resigned under duress. Here's Bernstein's statement:

“Today, I apologized to my colleague Justice Kyra Harris Bolden in-person at the Hall of Justice and she has accepted my apology. I regret overstepping Justice Bolden’s hiring process and should not have disturbed her ability to lead her Chambers.

I would also like to apologize to Mr. Peter Martel. Mr. Martel is not an elected official and my actions invited people into his life in a way that he had not signed up for and he deserved more consideration.  

I am committed to working with Justice Bolden in the coming years to advance our many shared values, including immediately working to expand opportunities in the legal field for those who have repaid their debts to society.

My day-to-day priority going forward will be to fulfill the confidence placed in me by the people of Michigan. I will not take that for granted and will focus on evaluating each case based on its merits and the laws of Michigan, as the citizens of our State expect.”

GUEST:

Colin Jackson, Michigan Public Radio Network

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Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions.

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“Liar, Dreamer, Thief,” which is listed as a Most Anticipated Book of 2023 by Goodreads and Overdrive, is about a young woman trying to repair her glitched-up life as she surveils a man she works with – a man with whom she believes she shares some kind of connection. The truth that unravels turns out to be more surprising than she can imagine.

Author Maria Dong joined us to talk about how her Korean-American identity and experience living with ADHD informed the protagonist's adventure in her debut novel. "Liar, Dreamer, Thief," will be released on Tuesday, Jan. 10.

GUEST: 

Maria Dong, author of "Liar, Dreamer, Thief"

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Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions.

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Michigan musicians released an impressive list of hits in 2022. Joe Hertler, frontman of Lansing-based band Joe Hertler and the Rainbow Seekers, brought us a mixtape of some of his favorite Michigan-based bands and songs from the year. 

You can find the full list of songs here. 

GUESTS:

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Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions.

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Four-term US Senator Debbie Stabenow announced that she will retire at the end of this term in 2025. Today we’re talking about what Senator Stabenow has accomplished in her time and what this news means for the senate race in 2024.

GUESTS:

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Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions.

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Kevin McCarthy has failed, numerous times, to win over his caucus for enough votes to become Speaker of the U.S. House. What's the view from Michigan's Republicans in Congress? All of Michigan's Republicans in Congress support McCarthy for Speaker. Here's our conversation with one of them.

GUEST:

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Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions.

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