Detroit is now a Hot Spot because it's been a HOT MESS since Emergency Management

Detroit is now a COVID-19 Hot Spot because it’s been a HOT MESS since Emergency Management.

In the face of the coronavirus pandemic, we pause to give thanks and honor to the front line workers and neighborhood volunteers who are sacrificing their lives and the lives of their families by providing food, water, counseling, housing and direct medical care and mental health support to those in need.

Although it is conventional wisdom that during a crisis we avoid the blame game,the pointing of fingers and suspend judgement about misguided public policies of the past, Detroiters must remain vigilant about how our government is showing up for us and how our democracy is responding on our behalf. Failed economic and social public policies of the recent past have no doubt contributed to the rapid rise of Detroit as one of the coronavirus hot spots. Those policies range from mass water shutoffs and home foreclosures; over investment of public resources in the downtown/midtown sports and entertainment and disinvestment in our neighborhood social and economic infrastructure.

Detroiters must demand accountability from those elected and in power who continue to make decisions everyday in the midst of the epidemic – decisions that will have life and death consequences right now and for years to come.

The aftermath of this pandemic will have far reaching consequences and shape the future of the nation’s largest majority Black city. We need to make sure that the long standing needs of our neighborhoods and communities are positioned first to receive resources that are allocated for the local corona virus recovery.

Finally, as we hold each other in care and solidarity, we invite you to join with the Detroit People’s Platform to build and exercise power in creating a sustainable and vibrant future Detroit rooted in racial and economic justice.