My $500 house in Detroit -- and the neighbors who helped me rebuild it

If you read one book about Detroit, make it this one. A systemic examination of the racist housing, urban and governmental practices that have led Detroit to its current position as one of the poorest, most segregated, and maligned cities in the United States. As Detroit and other cities like it “rebuild,” Origins also serves as a powerful reminder of what wrongs we must fix and which pitfalls we must not repeat.

If Origins is how we got here, Boggs’ last major work before her death at 100 is where we hope to go. A handbook for activism in the 21st century, Boggs redefines “revolution” for the new millennium and illustrates her philosophy with living examples drawn from Detroit — from urban farming, to community building, to radical neighborliness.

https://video.vice.com/enuk/video/detroit-residents-are-losing-their-homes-while-wayne-county-rakes-in-cash/5a2988e8177dd467224930a5

An account of homegrown resistance to the 100,000 Detroit water shutoffs. “When reporters come to places like Detroit, their articles often read as simple catalogues of misery — records of the mute suffering of the poor and dispossessed. While it’s true Detroit has no shortage of wretchedness, taken together these stories paint the picture of helpless people who are acted upon, people with no agency. Spend some time here and a different narrative emerges.”

Sometimes seen as needy, often erroneously, places like Detroit also have quite a bit to teach the world. This edited volume of essays and interviews includes perspectives on the city from scholars, writers, planners, artists and activists — most importantly in the voices of many current Detroiters themselves — and helps to offer lessons other cities across the globe might learn from Detroit.

Resurget Cineribus tells the story of Detroit’s 1967 “uprising” or “riot” as represented by the personal story of one man — Toles’ father. Drawing from wide influences such as jazz greats Ornette Coleman and Sun Ra, to avant guard rockers Fred Frith and Brian Eno, to Detroit hip hop and electronic legends like DJ Assault and J Dilla, Cineribus is an auditory portrait of the current Detroit’s questions, struggle and conscience. A true Detroit underground masterpiece and the pinnacle of contemporary art and imagination in the city.

We cannot create a world we cannot imagine. Inspired by the speculative fiction of Octavia Butler, Octavia’s Brood brings together 20 artists and activists to imagine “a diary of our future selves,” portraits of the world not as it is but as it may be. A better world is possible, but we must imagine it first.