Created Equal: Shining a light on inequities in Detroit, America
Listen to “Created Equal” with host Stephen Henderson weekdays from 9-10 a.m. ET on 101.9 WDET and streaming on-demand.
Former Michigan Gov. George Romney and former Detroit Mayor Jerome Cavanaugh at the front of a 10,000-person march at Fort Street and Woodward Avenue in Detroit, in solidarity with the 1965 Selma to Montgomery voting rights marches.
Detroit, and its history, is ground zero for understanding the promise of opportunity and the challenge of inequality in this country. That is exactly what inspired WDET’s Stephen Henderson to launch Created Equal, his newest program at WDET.
In daily one-hour conversations, guests will join Henderson to explore what can be learned about inequity from the city that built America, continuing the thread of many themes discussed on WDET’s Detroit Today — which Henderson hosted since 2015.
On the inaugural episode of Created Equal, Henderson sat down with Jamon Jordan, Detroit’s official historian, and Desiree Cooper, a writer and activist, whose work helps explain the impacts of inequality — both locally and nationally.
Guests:
Jamon Jordan is the city of Detroit’s first official historian. He says the time is now to be much more direct and intentional about destroying inequality in Detroit and across the country.
“We’re living in an era where there are people who are almost willing to state that they want inequality for certain groups of people,” said Jordan. “They’re going up to the edge of saying that we don’t mind the fact that people are treated unequally and we want that to be the standard.”
Desiree Cooper is an award-winning author, activist and poet whose work helps to crystalize issues of equality and opportunity. She says as Detroit continues to attract different demographics and those of higher socioeconomic status, it becomes more and more important to ensure native Detroiters are not left behind through the city’s transformation.
“There’s this feeling that a certain generation held it together with bubblegum and string and now that Detroit is enjoying a little bit more popularity, people want to sort of just come in and snatch it from under them,” Cooper said.
Listen to Created Equal with host Stephen Henderson weekdays from 9-10 a.m. ET on 101.9 WDET and streaming on-demand.
Read more:
- WDET announces new programming with more local shows coming to Detroit public radio
- How is Black history actually taught in American schools?
- Detroit historian Jamon Jordan offers fuller picture of city’s past that goes beyond cars and Motown
