George A. Romero’s 1968 film ‘Night of the Living Dead’ featured an invasion of ghouls – mindless cannibals, thriving off the flesh and brains of humans. While not called zombies in the movie, for many people it was their first introduction to these kinds of paranormal beings.

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The term “zombie” is said to come from Haiti, and Haitians used it to describe an enslaved person being controlled by the will of another. And that story tracks, especially knowing Haiti’s history involved with the enslavement of Africans and Natives on the island of Hispaniola. 

To talk about how the term “zombie” transformed from its original meaning to its current one, we were joined by Chera Kee, a Wayne State University assistant professor teaching film and media topics with a focus on the horror genre. Kee is also the author of “Not Your Average Zombie: Re-Humanizing the Zombie from Voodoo to Zombie Walks” and “Corpse Crusaders: The Zombie in American Comics”

Kee says zombies really took off in 1929 when author William Seabrook wrote “The Magic Island” about his travels in Haiti. 

“He had a whole chapter on zombies and he was thoroughly impressed, because he’d never heard of anything like this,” Kee said. “It was completely unique to his experience. And people were like, ‘We can take you to see real zombies,’ and that really blew his mind.”

A quarter century of screams in Pontiac 

While Erebus Haunted House does not have a history as long as zombies, co-owner Edward Terebus and his brother Jim have been in the haunted house business for almost 45 years. They’re celebrating 25 years of making people scream at Erebus Haunted Attraction in Pontiac. 

Edward Terebus spoke to WDET assistant producer Dorothy Jones about the haunted house’s history. In 1981, the Terebus brothers set up their first haunted house in the K-Mart parking lot at 12 Mile Road and Van Dyke. It grew over the years until they founded a permanent haunted home in Pontiac.

At Erebus Haunted Attraction, there’s no age limit, Terebus says. If your kid can’t watch horror movies, the haunted house probably is not for them.

“I’ve seen five year olds make it through the haunted house. I’ve seen 25 year olds pee themselves and faint. So it really depends on the person and the people coming through,” Terebus says. 

Use the media player above to hear the full conversations with Terebus and Kee.

More headlines from The Metro on Halloween 2024: 

• To win the race for president, the Harris campaign needs to win over moderate and swing voters, which likely includes people who often vote republican. That’s why it was significant when Fred Upton endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris last week. Upton served 36 years in the House of Representatives and is the most prominent Republican in Michigan to publicly back the Democratic presidential nominee. Upton joined the show to discuss his decision to support Kamala Harris over Donald Trump and why he thinks other Republicans should also do so.
• It was November 2020 and President Biden had taken the lead in the election. Meanwhile, poll workers in Detroit were sifting through piles of absentee ballots. Dozens of protesters, some of them armed, showed up and claimed there had been election fraud. They were echoing Trump’s false claims and pushing for a recount. WDET senior news editor Quinn Klinefelter spoke with Detroit election officials and poll workers to discover how things have changed ahead of this year’s presidential election.  

The day before Halloween is referred to as Mischief Night in many parts of the country, but in Detroit, it used to be called Devil’s Night.

For decades, that night filled many with fear, as neighborhoods with abandoned homes or businesses prepared themselves for possible arson. City of Detroit Historian Jamon Jordan joined The Metro on Wednesday — the day before Halloween — to share more about the history of Devil’s Night in Detroit and how community members came together with the city to put an end to it.

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

Throughout the U.S. there’s always been pranks connected to Halloween — draping toilet paper on trees, throwing eggs at cars, and other mischief that didn’t cause the most damage. 

In the 1980s there were about 800 fires around Halloween, Jordan said. Community groups and the city took steps to wipe out Devil’s Night, oftentimes doing patrols the day before Halloween and enforcing youth curfews. In the ’90s, the community and city started doing joint patrols and renamed it Angel’s Night. 

“So these things begin to work in concert with one another, and there’s thousands of people who begin to volunteer. By this point, with so many people out on the street with eyes on almost every neighborhood, especially the vacant houses in the neighborhood, it begins to make it have an effect on stopping the fires,” he said. “Within a few years, the fires really go way way down and then eventually we don’t even talk about Devil’s Night…”

Use the media player above to hear the full conversation with Jordan.

More headlines from The Metro on Oct. 30, 2024:

• Yesterday, a poll by The Hill showed Vice President Kamala Harris ahead of Donald Trump by five points. But polling has generally been very tight, and most political scientists believe this election could easily go either way. To discuss why the election is so tight in Michigan and how voters are feeling right now, we were joined by Matt Grossman, head of the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research. 
• In the latest spooky episode of CuriosiD, WDET’s Jeff Milo looked into chilling rumors that the Detroit Public Library’s Main Branch on Woodward might be haunted by ghosts. 
• Early voting is underway in Michigan, and we’ve heard from some of you that with more than 20 Detroit Public Schools Community District Board candidates vying for three seats, people are feeling overwhelmed with all the choices. To help us break down the race we’re joined by Chalkbeat Detroit Bureau Chief Lori Higgins.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 11 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

When Donald Trump says, “Make America Great Again,” what era is he referring to and which demographic is he appealing to?

Robert P. Jones, author of the New York Times bestselling book “The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy,” argues that the slogan is aimed at white Christian voters who fear a lose of cultural control.

Subscribe to Created Equal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

He joined Created Equal to discuss how white Christian nationalism has steered U.S. history and politics. Jones detailed the hidden roots of white supremacy in American society; defined white Christian Nationalism and revealed its anti-democratic nature; and gave his thoughts on what needs to be done to move toward a country that truly values all its citizens equally.

“We’re living in a real moment of reckoning, and part of that reckoning is telling the truth about what happened,” Jones said.

Jones will be giving a talk on democracy, social values and the American story at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, Oct. 23-24, at the University of Detroit Mercy.

Use the media player above to hear the full conversation with Jones.

Guest:

• Robert P. Jones is the founder of the Public Religion Research Institute and author of “The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy and the Path to a Shared American Future.”

Listen to Created Equal with host Stephen Henderson weekdays from 9-10 a.m. ET on 101.9 WDET and streaming on-demand.

Tejano music, or Tex-Mex music, is a blend of different sounds and instruments from Mexico and other countries — like Poland and the Czech Republic. 

Martin Solis helped make Tejano music popular in Detroit with his band Los Primos. 

As a self-taught musician, he started playing the Bajo Sexto, a Mexican 12-string instrument from the guitar family, and developed his own unique musical style.

Solis wasn’t born here, but Detroit was his home. And the history of Southwest Detroit can’t be told properly without the inclusion of Martin Solis and Los Primos. Solis is the first person from Michigan to be inducted into the Texas Conjunto Music Hall of Fame in San Benito, Texas, and the Tejano Roots Hall of Fame in Alice, Texas.

Martin Solis’ son, Frank Solis, is a local historian who’s preserving Tejano music in Detroit. He joined The Metro to discuss his father’s legacy.

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

There were few recordings of Los Primos, but Frank found some lost treasures while cleaning out his father’s attic. He uncovered a bag of cassettes, filled with rehearsal recordings of the band.  

“(Jack White), he’d hear these Mexican bands, and that was my dad,” Frank said. “So he assigned his brother to clean them up with an engineer. They cleaned up the tapes, and the album came — his first and last album.”

Use the media player above to hear the full conversation with Frank Solis about Tejano music in Detroit.

More headlines from The Metro on Oct. 10, 2024: 

• A local author wants to spread the joy of reading, writing and stretching imagination. Mianne Adufutse is a graduate of Columbia College of Chicago where she studied fiction writing and poetry. Adufutse joined the show to discuss her new book, “Garbage Dump” – a dystopian fictional story set in Detroit. 
• The Tigers are red hot. They beat the Houston Astros in the wild card round and now lead the Cleveland Guardians 2-to-1 in the American League Division Series. The Tigers could win the series and move on to the next round if they win today at Comerica Park. Detroit Free Press Sports Columnist Shawn Windsor joined the show to talk about the team’s unpredictable run. 
• The holiest day of the year for the Jewish people starts tomorrow night. Yom Kippur goes from sunset to sunset and is marked by fasting, prayer and atonement. For Jews observing the holiday, that means apologizing directly to those they’ve wronged over the year. Professor and writer Susan Shapiro joined the show to talk about apology, forgiveness and why those two things are important to everyone, everywhere. Shapiro’s most recent book is titled “The Forgiveness Tour: How To Find the Perfect Apology.”

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 11 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

Editor’s note: A previous version of this story incorrectly suggested that the benefit event was being held at the Redford Theatre in Detroit.

Detroiter James E. Wheeler collected 40,000 pieces of Black independent film memorabilia, preserving the history of what is known as “race films” and more. Wheeler died in 2022, but his kids Alima Wheeler Trapp and Ali J. Wheeler started The Black Canon to preserve and show the collection.

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

The Black Canon, with support from the Redford Theatre, is hosting its first benefit Art of the Ages, on Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. at Taylor’d Garden in Livonia. The event will include an exhibition of rare Black films dating back to the 1920s. Brunch will also be served.

Redford Theatre Programmer and volunteer John Monaghan joined The Metro on Monday to discuss the collection and how you can see part of it this weekend.

“It all starts with my friendship with James Wheeler, who is sort of a well known figure in Detroit, really, for the last 40 or 50 years as an activist, as a collector, involved in theater,” Monaghan said. “He passed about three years ago. And his kids, Ali and Alima, they’ve taken on this amazing project of cataloging and preserving all the stuff that he collected over the years. And I’m talking about a lot of stuff. This is a warehouse that’s filled with, I compare it to that scene at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark, maybe a little smaller. But it’s just, it’s full of books and records and posters and magazines, toys, dolls, photos, and a lot of 16 millimeter film.”

Use the media player above to hear the full conversation with Monaghan.

More headlines from The Metro on Oct. 7, 2024:

• The rural landscape of West Tennessee is undergoing a massive change. That’s because Ford is building a “BlueOval City” complex that spans six square miles and is expected to bring 6,000 jobs to the area. Last week on Created Equal, Stephen Henderson spoke with Mason, Tennessee resident and BlueOval Good Neighbors member Shannon Whitfield and Tennessee for All Statewide Coordinator Rebekah Gorbea.
• The College For Creative Studies recently launched a Practicing Design Center meant to not only provide work experience for students, but also advance design efforts for Detroit nonprofits and organizations. Vice President of Strategy and Communications at CCS, Olga Stella, joined the show to discuss how the program will benefit students, nonprofits and small businesses in the city.
• Vesey Lane Goods is a Detroit small business that sells crafted goods and personalized items. But it’s also a space for artists and educators to connect and grow a community. Owner Robin Wilson joined the show to discuss how the space is fostering community. Author Jean Alicia Elster will give a talk and book signing at the store from 2 to 3:30 p.m. this Saturday, Oct. 12.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 11 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

The Detroit Parks Coalition’s Freedom Arts Festival is celebrating the Buffalo Soldiers on Saturday at Rouge Park with a family-friendly blues festival.

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

The Buffalo Soldiers were an all-Black U.S. Army unit that made a name for themselves during the 19th century. The Buffalo Soldiers Heritage Association (BSHA) has kept the history of African Americans in the military alive by introducing youth in the community to horses housed in Rouge Park. In 2007, with support from the Friends of Rouge Park, BSHA worked out an agreement with city officials to operate the Rouge Park barn after the Detroit Police Mounted Division relocated. 

Read more: Detroit students follow the path of the Buffalo Soldiers in Yosemite

The Buffalo Soldiers and Blues Freedom Festival will take place from 1 to 5 p.m. on Saturday at the Rouge Park Horse Barn, 8886 Lahser Rd., Detroit. The free event will offer pony rides, games, food, and live music from Big Pete and Friends and others.

Friends of Rouge Park Program Director Lex Allen and Land Stewardship Manager Antonio Cosme joined The Metro on Thursday to discuss the history of the Buffalo Soldiers and how they’re being honored through this weekend’s event.

Use the media player above to hear the conversation with Allen and Cosme.

More headlines from The Metro on Oct. 3, 2024: 

• Vice Presidential Candidates JD Vance and Tim Walz met on Tuesday for their only scheduled debate of the 2024 election. Vice President Kamala Harris and Former President Donald Trump took the stage in September and are not likely to meet for another debate. We are 33 days away from the election and absentee voting has already started in Michigan. To discuss what young people are thinking about the election and the importance of local media today, freelance reporter Sam Robinson joined the show. 
• Some residents and experts believe that Detroit no longer needs to capture taxes to grow downtown since it is already developed. The Metro Producer Sam Corey spoke with Citizens Research Council of Michigan President Eric Lupher on a new report they published advocating for the phasing out of the tax capture practice.
• Last week, the Michigan House passed two bills that aim to improve reading instruction. They specifically would help schools identify and teach students with dyslexia or other reading difficulties. They would also require that public schools and teacher programs emphasize phonics to teach children to read. American Public Media Reporter Chris Peak joined the show to discuss the new bills. He investigated U.S. reading curriculum for the podcast “Sold a Story.”

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 11 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

For many Black Americans, the idea of religion intersects with freedom in a complicated way. Enslaved Africans came to this country with religions and traditions, most of which were stripped upon arrival and replaced with new forms of worship. 

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

Once the freedoms of Black Americans were slowly granted after the Civil War, the ideas for what the future could look like and how to achieve that future were beginning to take root. Black-led cities, towns and small communities began to flourish — many short-lived — but their ideas of a paradise on earth persisted. 

Detroiter Aaron Robertson’s new book, “The Black Utopians: Searching for Paradise and the Promised Land in America,” takes a nonfiction look at what happened when Black Americans were dreaming of better lives and different ways of religious thinking. 

The book follows along the histories of these movements — including the history of the Black Christian Nationalist Movement and the Shrine of the Black Madonna in Detroit.

Roberston joined The Metro on Tuesday to chat more about the book and its significance.

Use the media player above to listen to the full conversation with Robertson.

More headlines from The Metro on Oct. 1, 2024: 

• A recent set of bills passed by the Michigan state House and Senate would allow home health care workers to unionize. Gongwer News Service reporter Elena Durnbaugh joined the show to discuss the proposed legislation.
• In the late ’80s and ’90s, Michigan adopted punitive criminal policies — at one point incarcerating more juvenile lifers than any other state in the country. But while they’re still possible, life-without-parole sentences are not automatic and much less likely after U.S. Supreme Court rulings limited these sentences. Still, many in criminal justice reform spaces are trying to end life-without-parole sentences completely in Michigan. Tonight, several former juvenile lifers are speaking at Wayne State to share their stories as part of a panel conversation and film called “Life Beyond Life.” Community Engagement Specialist for Safe & Just Michigan Ronnie Waters joined the show to share more about the event.
• Art has the ability to tell stories and weave us together. That’s the theme of a newly renovated studio, gallery and event space, Schinkel Fine Art, located on East Jefferson in Detroit. The gallery’s inaugural exhibition, “Threads of Connection” opens on Thursday, Oct. 3, with a public reception. Gallery owners and mother/son duo Linda and Teddy Schinkel joined The Metro to talk about the new gallery space.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 11 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

Subscribe to Created Equal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

• Alice Randall is a New York Times best-selling author, award-winning songwriter, educator and food activist.

Listen to Created Equal with host Stephen Henderson weekdays from 9-10 a.m. ET on 101.9 WDET and streaming on-demand.

Art is one of the oldest forms of storytelling, but a lot of Black stories get overlooked, particularly in Detroit. 

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

The Black Artists Archive (BAA) aims to ensure all people’s stories are preserved. The Detroit based-initiative fosters creativity, exhibition, learning, and the preservation of Black art history and visual culture.

BAA Founder Dr. Kelli Morgan joined The Metro on Monday to discuss how the organization is preserving history in the city. 

Use the media player above to hear the conversation with Morgan.

More headlines from The Metro on Sept. 30, 2024: 

• For Freedoms is hosting a conversation called “Pollution Has No Boundaries: Where Do We Go From Here?” on Monday night. The event aims to bring people together to share their personal climate stories and envision steps toward a cleaner environment. Community organizer and activist Theresa Landrum and Filmmaker  Wesaam Al-Badry joined the show ahead of the event to share more.
• It’s been gray for the last few days. And because of climate change, this season has also been unusually warm. Former WDIV Meteorologist Paul Gross joined the show to discuss what kind of weather patterns to expect this fall. 
• It’s now been a few years since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. While cases are going around in parts of the Midwest, it’s hard to know by how much since Michigan and other states no longer track the virus. Dr. Paul Kilgore is the director of research in the department of pharmacy practice and the co-director of the Center for Emerging and Infectious Diseases at Wayne State University. He joined the show to discuss the importance of flu and COVID-19 vaccines this fall.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 11 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

The Charles H. Wright Museum is hosting a series of carefully curated lectures by both nationally-recognized and local performers.

The series, titled The Wright Performances, kicked off on Thursday with a set of performances from internationally acclaimed actor, playwright and director Roger Guenveur Smith — best known for roles in Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing,” “Malcolm X,” and Ridley Scott’s “American Gangster.”

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

Smith began the series with the first of three solo performances, titled “Frederick Douglass NOW.” Smith joined The Metro on Thursday before the show to talk about Douglass and this weekend’s performances.

“We’re in a very extraordinary political moment in this country. And I think that Douglass certainly [would have] a lot to say about this particular moment,” Smith said. “He spoke in 1861 when Fort Sumter was fired upon by Confederate troops. And he saw it as an immediate opportunity for the country to liberate the one-seventh of the inhabitants of the country who were enslaved at that point,.

“He saw the Civil War as an abolition war, and I think that he would see this particular moment as a continuation of that war in which people are fighting for freedom and people are fighting for a certain kind of slavery.”

Smith will perform the second one-man play of the series, “Otto Frank,” on Friday, followed by “In Honor of Jean-Michel Basquiat” on Saturday.

Use the media player above to hear the full interview with Smith.

More headlines from The Metro on Sept. 26: 

• The Federal Reserve recently lowered interest rates to hopefully tame prices, but a new report by the U.S. Census Bureau just showed that Michiganders household incomes are falling behind rising prices. To discuss why this is happening, and what can be done about it, economist Don Grimes joined The Metro.
• A collection of musicians are coming together at the Fox Theater for Smooth Jazz Fall Fest. Founder of Detroit Musix Sam Donald and Co-owner of Anderson and Denham Entertainment Derek Denham joined the show to share more about the event.
• Detroit is full of artists, but many of them are not well known. Art Clvb is a new app that works to connect artists and collectors. And as part of their work, the app is throwing an in-person event called Art Fair at five locations around Detroit starting Friday. The event will include about 200 artists selling their work. Detroit artists Dorota and Steve Coy joined the show to talk about the Art Clvb app and Art Fair event.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 11 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

WDET’s CuriosiD podcast answers your questions about everything Detroit. Subscribe to CuriosiD on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

For the past decade, CuriosiD has captivated WDET listeners with its unique take on Detroit-centric stories. But what does it take to bring an episode of this beloved series to life?

CuriosiD is a listener-focused podcast about Detroit, where listeners guide the content by asking questions that we provide the answers to.

“Our listeners write or call in with questions they have about Detroit or the metro area,” explains WDET reporter and CuriosiD host Amanda LeClaire. “They’re just curious about things.”

The process begins by exploring a continually evolving list of listener-submitted questions. LeClaire says she carefully selects the most compelling topics for each episode.

Each question requires extensive research. In some cases that means examining hard to find historical and archived documents, or researching Nike missile sites from the 1950s.

Sometimes that means physically investigating locations on-site, like visiting Detroit’s underground steam tunnels.

“It takes a great deal of time, energy, and planning,” LeClaire says. “We’re always thinking about how to keep the high level of creativity and thoughtfulness that CuriosiD is known for.”

Former CuriosiD producer and host Laura Herberg agrees.

“CuriosiD actually takes a lot of work,” she said. “The stories sound light-hearted, but they’re little mysteries that can take a lot of time and energy to tell well.”

WDET’s Pat Batcheller, a frequent contributor, recounts one of his favorite episodes, which answers the question of how the Detroit Lions chose the iconic Honolulu Blue as a team color.

“George Richards, the original owner of the Lions, saw the hue of the ocean in Hawaii and said, ‘That’s the color I want for my team,’” Batcheller said. To tell the full story, Batcheller consulted football historians and even tracked down historical recordings of the team from the 1930s.

The digital side of storytelling also plays a significant role in CuriosiD’s success, leveraging the power of social media to reach new audiences — and new potential questions from listeners. WDET Digital Manager Dave Kim says one of his favorite social videos for the series was about the origins of Superman ice cream, which became a hit on TikTok and Instagram Reels.

Whether it’s unraveling the history of Detroit’s Boston Cooler or exploring who Lewis Cass was, CuriosiD remains committed to bringing listener questions to life.

Batcheller emphasized that it’s the listeners who keep CuriosiD moving forward, calling it “an opportunity for our listeners to have an impact on what we do and guide our journalism.”

Since the series launched in 2014, CuriosiD has produced 70 episodes, with more in the works.

Listeners are encouraged to continue sending their questions, because the future of CuriosiD is in your hands.

We want to hear from you! 

Do you have a question about Detroit? Let us know here or fill out the form below.

More from CuriosiD:

• Who was Thomas Mollicone? The story behind the naming of an east side Detroit park
• What is the history behind the Belle Isle Boathouse?
• What happened to Detroit jazz venue Strata Concert Gallery?

The Hamtramck Historical Museum is getting a new exhibit based on the Bengali diaspora, focusing on communities in Hamtramck. 

Subscribe to the Detroit Evening Report on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

The museum had a soft launch on Saturday to get people excited about a full exhibit. 

Rumana Rahman is an anthropologist who serves on the committee for the new exhibition. She says the museum can capture more Bengali representation in a city with a large Bangladeshi community. 

“We want to really capture the diversity of our Bangladeshi heritage, our linguistic diversity, or textile diversity,” said Rahman. “So, yeah, I’m just really excited when I kind of feel like this is sort of the beginning. We’re just kind of scratching the surface.”

Rahman says the exhibit will feature rickshaw art, textile art, and sports like cricket. It will also incorporate different spiritual traditions of Bangladesh from the Buddhist, Muslim and Hindu communities.  

The exhibit’s launch is slated for Oct. 29.

Other headlines for Monday, Sept. 23, 2024:

• Salina Intermedia School in Dearborn is hosting “Pollution Has No Boundaries: Where Do We Go From Here?” — a conversation about climate change with journalists, community activists and artists — from 6-8 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 30. 
• Northwest Detroiters are invited to a community roundtable at Simanek Park from 6-7 p.m. Sept. 26 to share feedback on the city’s park design and improvement plans.
• The Detroit Police Department is looking for individuals ages 15-24 to join the Youth Advisory Panel by the Sept. 30 deadline. Participants will serve as resources for the Board of Police Commissioners, help with civilian oversight and get educational, civic and networking opportunities. Youth should be in high school or college.
• The Detroit Public Library main branch is hosting a free youth public safety town hall from 4-6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 1 to discuss students’ concerns and thoughts on violence at home, in schools and traveling between home and school.
• The city of Detroit is hosting a Healthy Home Resource Day from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Sept. 28 to share information about HOPE application assistance, water affordability plans, foreclosure prevention and more. The resource fair will take place at the Northwest Activity Center, 18100 Meyers St., Detroit.

Do you have a community story we should tell? Let us know in an email at detroiteveningreport@wdet.org.

The landscape of voting in Michigan has evolved significantly, with expanded early in-person voting, enhanced absentee ballot tracking, and permanent absentee ballot registration now available.

As voters prepare to head to the polls again in November, a new monument in Detroit commemorates the long journey toward voting rights for all.

The dedication ceremony for the Civil Rights Monument took place at Viola Liuzzo Playground, located at the corner of Winthrop and Trojan on Detroit’s west side. The monument honors Viola Liuzzo, a Detroit woman inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who traveled to Alabama to participate in the Selma to Montgomery marches in 1965. Tragically, Liuzzo was murdered by the Ku Klux Klan in Lowndes County. Before her departure, she asked her friend, Sarah Evans, to care for her five children if anything happened to her—a promise that Evans kept.

The monument features images of Liuzzo and Evans with the inscription “Sisters in life…Sisters in struggle,” and on the opposite side, it lists the names of Detroiters who answered Dr. King’s call to support the Selma marches, including notable figures like Rosa Parks and John Lewis.

Dorothy Dewberry Aldridge, a civil rights activist and historian, described the monument as a “teaching monument,” intended to educate the public about the events of 1965.

Collette Mezza, also a member of the Viola Liuzzo Park Association, emphasized the significance of each name on the monument.

“They each have their own remarkable story, and what inspired them to go down to Selma in 1965, and many of them are still alive and many of them continue their activism like Dorothy,” Mezza said.

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, who attended the ceremony, said everyone today has an opportunity to continue the fight for voting rights.

“Let us all recommit to continuing on that legacy as a new generation of foot soldiers who are marching forward for democracy teaching about the past and being clear-eyed about the present challenges and the work we must do to preserve that sacred promise of democracy for everyone.”

The event concluded with a ceremonial march around the park, echoing the marches of 1965 and honoring those who fought for voting rights.

The Sept. 9 debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump took place at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. It’s not far from Independence Hall, where the first Constitutional Convention delegates signed the document on Sept. 17, 1787.

The United States observes Constitution Day every Sept. 17. To mark the occasion, WDET hosts and reporters read two key parts of the Constitution — the Preamble and the Bill of Rights. Some also shared what certain amendments mean to them.

As the 2024 election approaches, we hope this will spark your interest in American history and the democratic process.

Preamble

Read by Pat Batcheller, host of Morning Edition; senior news editor

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, ensure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Amendment I

Read by Tristan McFolley, WDET intern

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

What Tristan said about it:

“The First Amendment is a cornerstone of democracy. The right to freely express oneself is how diverse societies are nurtured. Progressive ideas develop more rapidly when people may publicly represent their beliefs and cultures. The First Amendment —and ideas similar to it — are all crucial principles in moving the world forward.”

Amendment II

Read by Alex McLenon, reporter

A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.

What Alex said about it:

“Possibly the most talked about amendment in popular culture, the Second Amendment grants U.S. citizens the constitutional right to purchase and own firearms. It justifies private gun ownership by stating that a “well-regulated militia” is a necessary part of protecting the fundamental freedoms granted in the First Amendment.  The wording stems from the days of the Revolutionary War, when citizen armies – known as “militias” – were formed to fight the British. Those militia groups were the basis for what would eventually become the organized United States Armed Forces that we know today. Therefore, legal experts say the amendment does not allow for modern-day militant groups — with rules against the formation of such outfits now baked into most state constitutions. Nevertheless, the amendment continues to function today on the weight of the latter part of its text — ‘the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.’ Modern day debates over gun control center around how far that protection should go.”

Amendment III

Read by Nargis Rahman, civic reporter

No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

Amendment IV

Read by Annelle Scott, WDET intern

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Amendment V

Read by Cary Junior II, producer of Created Equal

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Amendment VI

Read by Karen Brundidge, WDET intern

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense.

What Karen said about it:

“It is imperative that we have due process, including the right to counsel, an impartial jury, and so forth. There should be checks on the power of the government and a fair procedure for handling criminal cases in this country. In times where some — especially African Americans or low-income people — have had issues with their rights being violated or have had to contend with inequities in the criminal justice system, adhering to the stated terms of the sixth amendment is crucial to uphold the liberty and future of all people.”

Amendment VII

Read by Amanda LeClaire, reporter and CuriosiD producer

In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

Amendment VIII

Read by Sydney Waelchli, WDET intern

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted.

What Sydney said about it:

“While the United States criminal justice system still needs a lot of improvements, the Eighth Amendment keeps me hopeful that fair and equal punishments are enacted. To me, the Eighth Amendment brings me peace of mind that individuals who have acted wrongfully or made unlawful mistakes are treated with a degree of respect in the system.”

Amendment IX

Read by Jack Filbrandt, assistant producer of The Metro

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Amendment X

Read by Bre’Anna Tinsley, reporter

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

Use the featured media player above to hear the full Preamble and Bill of Rights read together.

Read more:

• The right to vote wasn’t included in the Constitution. Why not?
• The man who lived according to the constitution — literally
• Our immigration system is broken. What does the Constitution say about it? 
• Two new Americans reflect on immigration stories on Constitution Day