Co-owner of Avalon International Breads Jackie Victor writes in a commentary in the
Detroit News that the U.S. Social Forum was an example of what Detroit could be.
Excerpt from the
Detroit Free Press:
Detroit is a dangerous city. It is filled with vacant lots, abandoned houses, derelict factories and empty warehouses. We are helpless "victims" of the economy, of racism, of poverty. Or so the story is told again and again.
But the 15,000 people who came to Detroit for the U.S. Social Forum at Cobo Hall came searching for a different Detroit. The conference of progressive activists and thinkers from a variety of social movements gathered under the banner "Another World Is Possible. Another U.S. Is Necessary." To which Detroit organizers added, "Another Detroit is happening."
And Social Forum visitors saw it.
Thousands biked and walked around the city, lighting Cass all the way downtown like a group of self-organized fireflies. They rode with confidence and excitement, curiosity and optimism. They were looking for good news, for signs of transformation, and they found it. As one conference participant said to me on Saturday, the last day of the conference, "Are there any mean Detroiters? Everyone has been so nice here!"
Read the entire article
here.
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