racism

The Washtenaw County Office of Community and Economic Development will be awarding grants of $40,000 each to eight local community organizations. WEMU’s Kevin Meerschaert reports.

There are a great number of organizations working in Washtenaw County and southeast Michigan to combat unequal power dynamics and systemic racism. These social sector organizations have become increasingly important amid rising inflation and a divided political climate. Nonprofit Enterprise at Work (NEW) has always put these issues at the fore. Now it is working to build collective power in the social sector to more effectively create the visions and strategies to better provide needed services and to remove the barriers to change. NEW president and CEO Yodit Mesfin-Johnson and Vice President of Strategy Will Jones III joined WEMU's David Fair for a look at how to build that infrastructure.

A number of Washtenaw County Trial Court employees have alleged bullying and discrimination by some of their supervisors. WEMU’s Ana Longoria reports.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has reached a resolution agreement with the Ann Arbor Schools regarding a discrimination case where a counselor referred to a student as a “terrorist.” WEMU’s Kevin Meerschaert reports.

In the year 2024, right here in Washtenaw County, there are still racially restrictive covenants written into thousands of property deeds. These property deeds are dedicated to preventing people of color for buying or renting homes. Exposing and combatting these provisions is the mission of the group Justice InDeed. WEMU's David Fair spoke with Justice InDeed co-leads Justin Schell and Jessica Letaw about the effort to eradicate these covenants and fight segregation and economic inequality.

A few dozen union activists and others marched at a construction site in Ann Arbor on Wednesday calling for a boycott of United Electrical Contractors. WEMU’s Kevin Meerschaert has the story.

Today is Juneteenth. This is the is day celebrating the end of slavery in America. The Juneteenth celebration in Ypsilanti this year is bigger and better than ever and will run Friday through Sunday, Rylee Barnsdale sat down with Survivors Speak founder and Juneteenth organizer Trische' Duckworth to discuss the growth that the community will have the opportunity to enjoy.

The City of Ann Arbor is considering a reparations program to remediate historical injustices. WEMU’s Kevin Meerschaert reports.

Racism exists, and it is called a lot of things. One of the more under-represented ways it is characterized is as a public health crisis. All of the evidence shows that is right on target. WEMU's David Fair is joined by the Washtenaw County Health Department's health equity manager, Charyln VanDeventer. She tells us how and where racism shows up as a public health crisis and what's being done about it in our community.

The Michigan House has passed a resolution denouncing the use of racist language among lawmakers. Colin Jackson has more.