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Detroit

VIDEO: We’ve Got The Power! Who Knew?

Nadir's MTV Street Team '08 ProfileMore than anything, the historic 2008 elections and Barack Obama’s election day victory were a testament to the power and the promise of democracy in the United States of America.  In the face of long lines, dirty politics, threatened voter suppression, and the legacy of racism, the will of the American people ruled the day and made history.

And what was the deciding factor?  Young people and African Americans – two groups that historically don’t exercise the right – discovered politics.

Young folks and black folks have always complained that voting doesn’t change America, and to a degree that’s correct.  Voting by itself has never changed anything. Continue reading

VIDEO: We’ve Got The Power! Who Knew?

Nadir's MTV Street Team '08 ProfileMore than anything, the historic 2008 elections and Barack Obama’s election day victory were a testament to the power and the promise of democracy in the United States of America.  In the face of long lines, dirty politics, threatened voter suppression, and the legacy of racism, the will of the American people ruled the day and made history.

And what was the deciding factor?  Young people and African Americans – two groups that historically don’t exercise the right – discovered politics.

Young folks and black folks have always complained that voting doesn’t change America, and to a degree that’s correct.  Voting by itself has never changed anything. Continue reading

Detroit Rebellion 1967: Forty years later

Originally published in The Michigan Citizen

For the last 40 years, the city of Detroit, the state of Michigan and the United States as a whole have struggled to come to grips with the week of anger and violence that ravaged the city on those hot summer days and nights in July 1967. Was it riot or rebellion? Why did it happen? Who is to blame? What has changed and what hasn’t?

These questions and many others have been asked and answered for decades now, but somehow the questions remain. The answers begat more questions. The frustration and fury of that time linger for many, mostly lying dormant, but rearing their ugly heads from time to time. Continue reading

Detroit Rebellion 1967: Forty years later

Originally published in The Michigan Citizen

For the last 40 years, the city of Detroit, the state of Michigan and the United States as a whole have struggled to come to grips with the week of anger and violence that ravaged the city on those hot summer days and nights in July 1967. Was it riot or rebellion? Why did it happen? Who is to blame? What has changed and what hasn’t?

These questions and many others have been asked and answered for decades now, but somehow the questions remain. The answers begat more questions. The frustration and fury of that time linger for many, mostly lying dormant, but rearing their ugly heads from time to time. Continue reading

On the Cover: Nadir Featured in Detroit Free Press “Play” Entertainment Weekly


Nadir’s photo is on the cover of this week’s “Play” Entertainment Weekly in the Detroit Free Press. The feature highlights the Detroit International River Days Festival. NADIR’s Distorted Soul performed there on Tuesday, June 26, 8:00pm at the new Detroit Riverwalk.

Special thanks to Amy Leang for the dope photo and to Nancy Schoenheide-Phares for being THE BEST.

Click HERE for Event Details and Information.

Operation Eight Mile

Originally posted by Nadir at LastChocolateCity.com

21 area law enforcement agencies have just completed Operation Eight Mile, three days of military-style police maneuvers along the 8 Mile Road corridor from the Detroit area suburbs of Harper Woods to Farmington Hills, Michigan. This unprecedented show of force – complete with tanks and helicopters – netted 289 arrests.

Police impounded 109 vehicles, made 122 arrests for narcotics and morality crimes, seized 1,460 grams of marijuana and 187 grams of cocaine, 19 guns and $20,375 in cash. Officers also arrested 22 fugitives who were wanted on warrants.

Police officials said the operation resulted in the most arrests, perhaps in history, of any regional sweep.

The campaign didn’t just target the hardened criminal element. Officers wrote 512 tickets the first day of the operation, just to show the average area resident that they meant business. Continue reading

Operation Eight Mile

Originally posted by Nadir at LastChocolateCity.com

21 area law enforcement agencies have just completed Operation Eight Mile, three days of military-style police maneuvers along the 8 Mile Road corridor from the Detroit area suburbs of Harper Woods to Farmington Hills, Michigan. This unprecedented show of force – complete with tanks and helicopters – netted 289 arrests.

Police impounded 109 vehicles, made 122 arrests for narcotics and morality crimes, seized 1,460 grams of marijuana and 187 grams of cocaine, 19 guns and $20,375 in cash. Officers also arrested 22 fugitives who were wanted on warrants.

Police officials said the operation resulted in the most arrests, perhaps in history, of any regional sweep.

The campaign didn’t just target the hardened criminal element. Officers wrote 512 tickets the first day of the operation, just to show the average area resident that they meant business. Continue reading

A Tasty Opportunity

Originally posted by Nadir at LastChocolateCity.com

As Detroit’€™s entrepreneurs search for new business opportunities, we should not overlook an important growth industry that could improve both the economic and physical well-being of the city.

Urban farming and community gardening have been touted for several years as a possible source of fresh produce and jobs for The D. Pioneers like Grace and Jimmy Boggs have shown us the way, and a few of us have followed. Continue reading

Bill Clinton, Barry Sanders and the Future of the NAACP

Originally posted by Nadir at LastChocolateCity.com

Billed as the biggest sit down dinner in the world, the 52nd Annual NAACP Fight for Freedom Fund Dinner attracted 10,000 to Detroit’€™s Cobo Hall on April 29. Dinner itself was unremarkable. (Reports confirm that each entree – cajun beef, some unidentified fish or a mushroom pasta – was equally mediocre.)

What was most important about this dinner though was the guest list. The governor, both of Michigan’€™s US senators, several congress members, the mayor and other public officials, business and union leaders, entrepreneurs and preachers all joined grassroots activists to honor and support the nation’€™s oldest and largest civil rights organization.

During the three and a half hour event, Lifetime Achievement awards were given to Judge Anna Diggs Taylor, attorney and politician Joel Ferguson and former NAACP head Ernest Lofton. But the main attraction was the keynote address from the man described by several of the night’€™s speakers as “€œour president”€, William Jefferson Clinton. Continue reading

Pistons Give Magic Bitter Pill

Originally Posted by Nadir at LastChocolateCity.com

Former Detroit Pistons Grant Hill and Darko Milicic sound a little bitter.

Both Orlando Magic players recalled bad memories of Detroit upon their return for the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. Going back to Florida down two games to none certainly won’€™t help their dispositions.

Hill was a superstar in his six seasons with the Pistons, but seems to place some blame on the team, its medical staff and Piston fans for aggravating the ankle injury that has hobbled his career since the 2000 playoffs. As the Detroit News reports the forward was tired of being called “€œsoft” so he played on a bad ankle.

Hill had grown weary of people in Detroit perceiving him as a silver-spoon softie. He had grown weary of not getting his team out of the first round of the playoffs. He was determined to play. Continue reading

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