The Metro

The African World Festival is an annual event hosted by the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. It’s a three-day experience with vendors, music and other performances that represent all the beauty and talent in the African Diaspora. 

African culture is so rich and widely recognized here in the city of Detroit. The festival — taking place this Friday, July 18 to Sunday, July 20 in Hart Plaza — has been around for 60 years. 

Zu Vernon, programming lead for the festival, joined The Metro on Wednesday to talk about what's in store at this year's event.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

Since entering the Detroit mayoral race in December, City Council President Mary Sheffield has become a frontrunner in the race.

According to recent polling, she's leading the charge in front of Rev. Solomon Kinloch Jr. and former Detroit Police Chief James Craig.

As the daughter of Rev. Horace Sheffield III — the leader of the Detroit Association of Black Organizations — and the granddaughter of Detroit labor leader Horace Sheffield Jr., Sheffield has been steeped in politics and the Black church for her entire life. She was also the youngest person elected to Detroit City Council when she was just 26 years old. 

Today, the millennial candidate is very social media savvy, often using TikTok and Instagram to connect with city residents. She's also gained favor from many young people, including big-name Detroit rappers like Sada Baby and Skilla Baby — who both appeared at her annual “Occupy the Corner” events.

But behind Sheffield's popularity, what does she stand for? She joined The Metro on Wednesday to talk more about the priorities of her campaign and what she'd bring to the table as Detroit's next mayor.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

Affordable housing has been a major issue for many voters in Detroit.

In fact, according to recent University of Michigan surveys, housing affordability is a top priority for residents. In the majority renter city that is Detroit, 60% of those renters are cost-burdened — meaning they spend over 30% of their income on housing costs.

A lack of affordable housing is considered one of the root causes of homelessness. In 2024, a one-night count conducted by the city of Detroit and two local nonprofits showed a 16% increase in Detroit, Hamtramck and Highland Park’s homeless population compared to the year before.

Ted Phillips, executive director for the United Community Housing Coalition, and Nushrat Rahman, economic mobility reporter for the Detroit Free Press and BridgeDetroit, joined the show to discuss the drivers of and possible solutions to this growing problem.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

The world can learn a lot from Detroit. Last week, the nonprofit Global Citizen came to the Hudson’s building to do just that.

The convening featured panels and discussions with Detroit artists and changemakers — but also some names that people recognize around the world — people like Wyclef Jean and Mark Cuban. 

The Metro’s Tia Graham attended the Global Citizen NOW Detroit summit and spoke with featured panelist, celebrity chef, restaurateur and author, Marcus Samuelsson about Detroit's global food scene and its ability to bring cultures together.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

Public media began as classroom radio in the 1920s. It was dry, instructional, and pretty boring. Most only thought of news as newspapers or the anchors you see on your parents' favorite channel every morning.

But it evolved to combine entertainment, education, and lessons in democracy. That evolution helped shape National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service into platforms that elevate untold community stories and give us and our kids the tools to live better lives. NPR and PBS not only tells us the news happening locally and nationally, they give children a safe avenue for early learning.

Josh Shepperd is a historian and author specializing in public media at the University of Colorado Boulder.

He joined The Metro to talk about the history of public media in the United States, and the Trump administration's current attacks on public broadcasting.

President Donald Trump has asked Congress to pass a rescission package that would claw back funding for foreign aid programs and for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The package has already passed the House and now the Senate has until July 18 to approve it.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

Detroit City Council recently approved changes to city ordinances to make the licensing process easier and less cumbersome for small businesses.

The changes, which were unanimously approved by the council, will reduce administrative burdens by cutting redundant licensing requirements that "do not protect health and safety"; allow businesses to renew their business licenses every two years instead of annually; improve the city’s permitting and licensing processes and more.

Hassan Beydoun, group executive of Economic Development for the city of Detroit, joined The Metro on Tuesday to elaborate on what these new resolutions mean for small businesses in Detroit.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

Last week, Detroit Police Chief Todd Bettison joined Mayor Mike Duggan and other officials in announcing the launch of a new teen violence prevention plan.

Under the new plan, minors age 15 and under must be with a parent after 10 p.m. The curfew for children ages 16 and 17 is 11 p.m. The plan also calls for increased curfew enforcement, illegal block party enforcement, and higher fines for breaking curfews.

The "crackdown" on curfew violations is in response to recent shooting incidents involving children in the city. But how effective can that be in stopping violent crime, and what else is the city doing to stop violence at the root?

Bettison joined The Metro on Tuesday to discuss the city's new violence prevention plan and talk about why violence tends to spike during the summer months.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

In the 1999 film, "The Best Man," we were introduced to novelist Harper Stewart (Taye Diggs), whose writes a book loosely based on his friend group that causes chaos and tests relationships amid a close friend's wedding — for which he served as best man.

“The Best Man” was a staple film in the Black community. The friendships highlight the struggles of young adults trying to get their careers off the ground, early marriage stages and more. The bonds between those characters are so nuanced, it's one of the reasons it became a hit.

For many it showed a multitude of different characters that we typically don't see in film and television. That's one of the reasons writer and director of the film, Malcolm D. Lee, says he created the film.

Now, 27 years later, after a second film and a series on Peacock, those characters are transitioning from the screen to a new book, “The Best Man: Unfinished Business,” co-written by Lee and author Jayne Allen.

Lee joined The Metro to share more about the book ahead of an author event on Tuesday at Detroit's Garden Theater.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

In the 1970s and '80s, Detroit had over 50 gay bars and spaces for LGBTQ+ residents to be their authentic selves. Today, there are only about 10 — and of those 10, very few have dedicated time and space to honor queer women.

Women are nearly twice as likely to identify as LGBTQ compared to their counterparts, and according to a 2021 study by UCLA, they make up about 55% of metro Detroit’s queer population.

So what can be done to create a space for queer and LGBTQ women in and around Detroit? Detroiter Randi Watson has one solution: An exclusive social event for queer women only. 

The Sapphic Social event will take place from 6 to 9 p.m. on Saturday, July 19, at Florian East Lagers & Ales, 9350 Joseph Campau Ave., Hamtramck.

Watson joined The Metro to share more about the event and why she says queer women in Detroit deserve a space to themselves.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

Sounds from across the globe are coming to Detroit this weekend as the Concert of Colors music festival returns for its 34th year.

The four-day free global music festival, taking place July 16-20 in Detroit's Cass Corridor, will feature artists from all corners of the globe — from Africa and the Middle East to the Caribbean, Latin America and more. 

WDET's own Ismael Ahmed of This Island Earth established the Concert of Colors with New Detroit in 1993, as a one-day event on Detroit’s riverfront. Today, the event draws tens of thousands of visitors to the city, helping to put a spotlight on indigenous music and cultures around the world.

Events will take place across 12 venues, from the DIA to the historical museum, with headliners including legendary R&B/gospel singer Mavis Staples, '70s soul and R&B group War, New York's Spanish Flight and more. In addition to music, the festival brings global food and merchandise vendors, movies, poetry, children’s activities and much more to the city.

A full schedule of events can be found at concertofcolors.com.

As a proud partner of Concert of Colors, WDET will be broadcasting special programming related to the festival throughout the weekend. Also, Ahmed joined The Metro to share more about what Detroiters can expect at the event this year.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.