A quiet shift is underway in Detroit, one led by residents pushing for change inside the places that have long excluded or marginalized Black people, people of color, and other vulnerable communities.

The Detroit Equity Action Lab, directed by Asandi Conner, is at the heart of this effort.

Conner trains and supports a network of fellows working in Detroit’s schools, hospitals, nonprofits, and arts organizations. Their mission is to bring equity into the institutions where it is often resisted.

For Conner, this is justice work. It is about shifting how organizations make decisions, whose voices get heard, and what accountability looks like. She says protests wield power and capture public attention, but lasting change often happens in the daily grind of strategy and persistence.

That approach feels especially urgent now, as political support for diversity, equity, and inclusion shrinks nationwide under the Trump administration. 

In a separate conversation, Conner’s colleague Angel McKissic spoke about restorative justice circles that repair harm and build trust at the community level. Together, their approaches speak to Detroit’s vast justice landscape. McKissic works to heal relationships between people, while Conner challenges inequity inside traditional systems of power.

Conner sat down with Robyn Vincent to discuss what it means to rebuild systems from within.

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Under the Trump administration, the space for diversity, equity, and inclusion is shrinking. Federal dollars are drying up, and programs that once opened doors are disappearing. 

Given this climate, could restorative practices hold additional weight? Restorative justice is not DEI. It does not sit in a binder or hide inside a grant report. It lives in people — survivors and those who have caused harm sitting together, telling the truth, trying to mend what was broken. It is harder to measure, but also harder to erase because it is built on relationships.

While restorative justice is not the same as DEI, both often speak to the same communities, those historically marginalized by race, class, or circumstance. Where DEI seeks to create fairer systems, restorative justice offers a way to repair harm when those systems fall short.

Angel McKissic, director of the Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights at Wayne State Law and founder of the Metro Detroit Restorative Justice Network, helped lead the recent report Unraveling Harm, Cultivating Safety. Based on surveys and interviews with Detroiters, the report found that many residents want alternatives to the traditional justice system — responses that emphasize healing and accountability rather than punishment.

McKissic’s work brings those findings into practice. Through trainings and community partnerships, McKissic is helping Detroiters use restorative practices in schools, courtrooms, and neighborhoods. For her, justice can mean both accountability and healing.

She joined Robyn Vincent on The Metro to demystify some of the haze around restorative justice and why she believes it could transform Detroit communities and the criminal justice system more broadly.

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When protests on college campuses in response to the Israel-Hamas war erupted across the nation, leaders at some universities cracked down.

The conflict between demonstrators and university officials raises questions about the limits of free speech for college students, and it’s just one of many points of friction on campuses that major institutions must confront. 

Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum is a psychologist who has spent over 40 years in higher education. She spent 13 of those years as the president Spelman College. Dr. Tatum believes these institutions need to create an environment to work through deep divisions. 

She joined the show to discuss her new book “Peril and Promise: College Leadership in Turbulent Times” and how officials at major institutions can do that. 

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