Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Day 2025 & THE STRUGGLE FOR BLACK LIBERATION
2025 will mark yet another phase in the history of Black Americans in the struggle for liberation in this nation. Without a doubt the Black community will face a concerted effort to dismantle the hard fought for civil rights gains, social policies and accompanying movement infrastructure won over the past half century.
In Dr. Martin Luther King’s influential work: “Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community “ Dr. King cautioned: “First, the line of progress is never straight. For a period a movement may follow a straight line and then it encounters obstacles and the path bends. …The inevitable counter revolution that succeeds every period of progress is taking place.”
We are living in such a time and we also acknowledge that this cycle repeats itself throughout US history as demonstrated post Reconstruction. Then, newly freed enslaved persons organized and formed political power to enact progressive laws designed to improve the material conditions of newly freed Black men and women. Coincidentally, these progressive polices such as public schools also improved the outcomes for Whites as well.
Yet, time and time again, it is the persistence of racism and white supremacy that interrupts the forward march of progress for racial justice and racial unity. And predictably systems and structures coalesce to accommodate this disruption to racial progress. The Black Codes and Jim Crow laws are clear evidence of this trend. And now, Project 2025, although not explicitly anti Black, pledges to target public policies that benefit Detroiters and Black communities across the nation.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), affordable health care and social welfare benefits are all on the chopping block. The challenge for majority Black Detroit in the face of these heightened threats and attacks is to figure out how we hold on to and advance the vision for racial equity and racial justice in the nation’s largest majority Black city.
In 2013, Detroit People’s Platform (DPP) was founded in response to a similar disruption. DPP and committed residents organized in response to the takeover of Detroit city government by Emergency Management led by a largely white and conservative State legislature. The takeover was followed by the seizure of valuable Detroit assets thru the filing of what is to date the nation’s largest municipal bankruptcy. These actions set the stage over the next decade for the Battle with the Billionaires when Detroiters organized
to push back against the transfer of hundreds of millions of dollars in public wealth to local billionaires in the name of economic progress.
In 2025 what is our stance? What is our pivot? Let’s begin with the conditions that inform the reality for majority Black Detroiters and therefore should drive future tactics and strategies for DPP and our allies. Some of the conditions include:
- Detroit remains the nation’s largest majority Black city. - US Census Quick Facts July 2024
- Roughly $39K is the annual median household income.- US Census Quick Facts
- Poverty rate among Detroiters is 31.5% with childhood poverty (those under 18 years of age) at 44.5% and majority are female headed households. - State of the Detroit Child /Data Driven Detroit (ACS Census Data 2022 Five Year)
- 65.7% of households receive some form of public benefits including: SNAP (food stamps); SSI (Supplemental Security Income); and cash assistance. - State of the Detroit Child /Data Driven Detroit (ACS Census Data 2022 Five Year)
- Fifty percent (50%) of Detroiters depend on public health insurance such as Medicaid and Medicare. - University of Michigan, Detroit Metro Area Communities Survey (Winter 2029)
- 60% of renters are cost-burdened, meaning they spend more than 30% of their income on rent. - nationalequityatlas.org/indicators/Housing_burden
These disparate conditions are linked to historical public policies that result in racialized poverty limiting access to housing, employment, education and other opportunities for majority Black Detroiters. To counter this reality, DPP has organized with low income majority Black Detroiters to build power and WIN public policies that alter these conditions and increase material benefits for these households.
In 2025 DPP will maintain our stance to advance this legacy in furtherance of the principle that government exist to serve the needs of the community and we will continue to make that demand of all forms of government including local, state, and federal. 2025 is also a consequential political year in Detroit with Mayor and the seven (7) city council district seats up for election. We believe there is an opportunity for a shift and reset to elect a government that is more responsive and accountable to Detroiters. Therefore, DPPs pivot will include a push to imbed co-governance as a strategy in local government where ever possible.
Detroiters are uniquely positioned to leverage co-governance power using the tools and structures created thru the City Charter and existing ordinances. In addition to City Council acting as the legislative branch and the Executive office of the Mayor, there exist some 15 appointed boards and commissions that advise and help shape public policies and resource allocations that impact everyday life for Detroiters on critical issues like affordable housing, basic services, transportation, health and employment opportunities to name a few.
As we anticipate the profound challenges ahead, we call on majority Black Detroit to rededicate ourselves to the vision for a more just and equitable Detroit. In pursuit of that vision we offer the following guidance from Dr. King:
“A final victory is an accumulation of many short term encounters. To lightly dismiss success because it does not usher in a complete order of justice is to fail to comprehend the process of achieving full victory. It underestimates the value of confrontation and dissolves the confidence born of a partial victory by which new efforts are powered.”
Detroit People's Platform
linktr.ee/detroitpeoples