Don’t stop me. I’m dreaming. We’ve been through centuries of injustice. Centuries of loneliness. Not now—don’t stop me. Now here forever and everywhere. I’m dreaming of freedom. Gorgeous unique anyone, let’s restore harmony to the universe. Let’s play. Knowledge is joy. It’s not mandatory schoolwork— I dream because I love you. Big dreams of the…
White people rarely recognize, let alone process and contend with, the effects of white supremacy on our own selves. These effects are in fact multifarious, and if we could only learn to recognize and consciously feel them, we’d be even more hellbent on destroying whiteness. The one effect I want to mention here is that…
On September 18, 2018, Ray Mason’s unclothed body was found in the Huron River, near Frog Island Park in Ypsilanti. When his aunt, Pat Glover, identified his body, she saw there were injuries to his face and head. It’s believed Mason was beaten, robbed, stripped, and thrown into the river. “Ray came all the way from North…
This year’s free May Day book—The Anarchy of Colored Girls Assembled in a Riotous Manner, by Saidiya Hartman—is finally on its way out into the world. It’s an 80-page sewn paperback, edited and designed by Crisis in collaboration with the author, and published in an edition of 1000 copies. Pick up your copy circa May…
Polymath editor, designer, artist, archivist, organizer, and father Josh MacPhee is in town for the symposium Talking About a Revolution: Art, Design and the Institution. He’s also got two curated walls (one of which is above) in Have We Met: Dialogues on Memory and Desire, up now at the Stamps Gallery. Tell us about your…
If you’ve tried to have a conversation with a white friend about gentrification, it’s pretty likely you reached an impasse the moment you posed any sort of critique of “revitalization.” If you’ve tried to have such a conversation with a white Ypsilanti resident about the readily apparent gentrification of this city, it’s even more likely…
Join Darius Simpson in celebration of his book Conversion Theory! With special guests Asaka the Renegade, Justin Gordon, Mikhaella, and Bayan. Sounds by DJ Kidd. Visual art by Diamond Symone. Tuesday, May 29, 6–8 p.m. Riverside Arts Center 76 N Huron St., Ypsilanti $5–$25 requested donation for entry (no one will be turned away for lack of…
We talked with legend Tateanna Hinds about her and Ike’s project 88ALASKA. 88ALASKA Radio airs every Sunday from 8–10 p.m. EST on 1shotradio.net. Can you say a bit about what 1Shot Radio is? 1Shot Radio is a platform that works to uplift the underground culture by giving exposure to musicians, producers, DJs, small businesses, and creatives…
Defend Affordable Ypsi today is releasing its second zine, Perspectives on International Village, in which roughly fifteen people weigh in on gentrification in Ypsilanti, the International Village development proposal for Water Street, and local bureaucratic ineptitude/non-transparency. It’s a passionate and factful document, as well as a much-needed reminder that history is writ from the ground…
A couple years ago, activists in the #FreedomTuesdayz collective told members of Ypsilanti’s city government that the Black Life police accountability platform they ought to study and take seriously was Campaign Zero’s, section two of which is called “Community Oversight.” Note the very particular word used there: oversight. I’m disappointed I didn’t find out until…
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