Summer

2023

Fists Clenched, Hearts Wide Open: Countering state based narratives of violence and nonviolence

One in four (25%) of Black trans and nonbinary young people reported a suicide attempt in the past year. Black Americans at every age die at an earlier age than… Read More

Detroit Love-n-War

Detroit Love-n-War by Poem by Rosemarie Wilson a.k.a One Single Rose The Spirit of Ðetroit’s head bows in shame. Uninviting images broadcast through the idiot box and the tangled web they’ve… Read More

Keepers of The Straits: Heart Of The Turtle Tribal treaty rights, sovereignty and the fight against Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline

Keepers of The Straits: Heart Of The Turtle: Tribal treaty rights, sovereignty and the fight against Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline By Hadassah GreenSky (Little Traverse Bay Bands of Chippewa and Odawa… Read More

Detroit x Stop Cop City Solidarity Statement

a riot is a prayer is a maybe is a yes—

a riot is a prayer is a maybe is a yes— (in praise of refusal, of the dark, of “yes;” in praise of every unknown regarding the world to be… Read More

if a tree falls (and No One is around)

if a tree falls (and No One is around) (new liturgies against “representation”) Does it make a sound? The man was white that named the tree “no one,” and so… Read More

An Act of Love

An Act of Love By Laura Bailey Brandon We sat on a patchwork of blankets in a field, hugged by trees. We sat facing each other, knees bent against strangers… Read More

Fat On Freedom

“Fat on Freedom” by Megan Douglass As we prepare for the long haul, we asked: What is guiding, fueling, feeding our work? All this conflict is a part of movement,… Read More

The Return of Afrofuture Fest in 2023: Reflections on the Past and Communal Futures

The Return of Afrofuture Fest in 2023: Reflections on the Past and Communal Futures By Adrienne Ayers Afrofuture Fest originated as a 25th birthday party for myself on Anishinaabe Land at… Read More

Riverwise Sacred Spaces: Concert Of Colors 2023

Suicide, Violence, and Abolition

This March, thirty-four organizations in Detroit signed on to a statement in solidarity with the abolitionist #StopCopCity protests in Atlanta, denouncing the police killing of innocent people, calling to defund… Read More

NCOE Statement Opposing Transphobic, Homophobic, and Gender Violence

Image downloaded from Just Seeds https://justseeds.org/graphic/my-body-my-choice/. Visit Kill Joy and Just Seeds online to learn more and support! On Instagram @kill.joy.land, @la.onda.grafica and @justseeds “…the issues of race and class… Read More

Cocooned and Covered

Author’s Note: Though I am not a member of the trans community, my niece and I co-created this piece about her journey of transition. We offer this story with the… Read More

Say His Name: Porter Burks; Say What This Is: Genocide

I vividly remember the bodycam footage of the murder of Porter Burks in the early morning hours last October, shortly before settling into my workday as a psychiatrist who works… Read More

Making and Baking A Greater Detroit Our Children Deserve

Too many Detroit children have inherited an unfortunate, unfair set of economic and educational inequities. Too often, when we speak or hear of Detroit, we hear or speak of scarcity… Read More

Michiganders Unsatisfied with DNR “Denial” of Camp Grayling Expansion and New MOU

Photo credits to Kenny Karpov Camp Grayling is a Michigan National Guard (MNG) training center and part of the National All-Domain Warfighting Center located in Crawford, Kalkaska, and Otsego Counties.… Read More

Holding Their Feet to the Fire

ShotSpotter is audio surveillance technology marketing itself as gunshot detection technology. City Council’s approval last fall of the Detroit Police Department’s (DPD) request to extend and expand ShotSpotter throughout the… Read More

When She Found Me

I look out at the Atlantic. This is my view, everywhere I turn. I see it in my waking hour and something in there reminds me that… As much as… Read More

Nexus (Mackinac Bridge)

“Nexus” Original Photograph by William T. Langford IV What they don't tell you about bridge-building is that it’s all about the rivets. You see, the industrial strength braided steel cables and iron bar-reinforced… Read More

Legacies of Mutual Aid in the Rising Tide

In June 2021, tens of thousands of homes were flooded as massive and unprecedented rainfall in Detroit met inadequate and disinvested water and energy infrastructure. The highways filled to the… Read More

Fly

fly for Detroit u Fly so fly back fly black to industrial complexes feeding on soul food lick fingers till they drip poems till they raise souls unfinished rebuke anyone… Read More

Riverwise Turns 5!

We’ve Always Been All We Need: Mutual Aid As Radical Co-Conspiratorship Throughout History

There is something irresistible about being a part of spaces aimed at overthrowing systems which pit human beings against one another. From passionate debates in community centers over strategic visions… Read More

Case study 4 – Detroit’s Right to Counsel Victory Shows the Power of the People

Photographer is Adrienne D. Warren, Mrktg Consultant & Publicist People in the photo are Rea Maci, Bonsitu Kitaba, Tonya Myers Phillips, Mary Sheffield, Chinelo Onuigbo, Banke Llori, and Evan Villeneuve… Read More

Case Study 3 – One Detroiter Looks Back: The Long Struggle for Cleaner Air

Photography by kim d. hunter Work to shut down the Detroit trash incinerator- at one point, the largest in the world- began even before the monstrosity was built. Three decades,… Read More

Case study 2 – Knowing what keeps us safe: A report on the Green Lights Black Future’s Community Safety Survey

Photography by Rebecca Smith Graphic Images Designed by Lauren Williams. Knowing what keeps us safe: A report on the Green Light Black Futures Community Safety Survey Since Project Green Light… Read More

Case Study 1 – “We Deserve a Say, too”

A Valerie Jean Blakely photo Photo Description: A few of the amazing youth leaders from the ECN Youth group after a Riverwise Writing Workshop held at the ECN. Pictured from… Read More

CAN YOU SEE ME

I greet family, friends and strangers with a sunny smile, dressed in my best attire, they glance at me and say, “You look good.” Not seeing me as they could.… Read More

Stop Arresting Kids, Start Listening to Them

After the tragic shooting at Oxford High School on November 30th, 2021, hundreds of schools across Michigan received copycat threats that caused them to cancel school, enter lockdown procedures for… Read More

Some call it Liberated Zones – Others: Peace Zones, Freedom Zones, Beloving Community and Healing – We call it HOME

For decades Detroiters have witnessed gentrification, displacement, marginalization, corporate and elite political control, and sale (stealing) of land. This is while simultaneously engaging in struggles to end water shut-offs while… Read More

Creating a Culture of Peace: Ukraine, Buffalo, Uvalde

We are offering this out of our deep concern for the future. We are appalled at the brutality of Russia’s war against Ukraine, the killing and uprooting of thousands, and… Read More

The Role of Wellness Practitioners in Revolution

“I share this with you because you are what’s possible”-Adela Nieves Martinez As an African, queer, and nonbinary Reiki practitioner and Master Teacher, I often reflect on how honored I… Read More