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Detroit is Different

The Piano Bench to the Picket Line: Bill Meyer’s Road from Music to Movement

Detroit is Different episode 534 with Bill Meyer

“My life will be better if everybody else’s life gets better”—that’s the heartbeat of this Detroit is Different conversation with musician and lifelong activist Bill Meyer, where jazz isn’t just sound, it’s a human-rights practice. Bill takes us from his family’s Depression-era move from Canada to Detroit, to learning piano out of pure little-brother

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‘It’s For the Community’: Bryce Huffman on Journalism, University District, and Detroit’s Future

Detroit is Different episode 532 with Bryce Huffman

“It’s for the community. It’s about the community. It is community centered”—and Bryce Huffman brings that energy from the first minute, taking us from deep family roots (“Granddad… from Alabama by way of The Bahamas”) to the neighborhoods that raised him—Conant Gardens, Anderson Memorial, Bagley/University District—where “thank God because this is my city

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Pocket Watches, Power, and Black Business: Arthur Chapman on 100 Years of Jewels

Detroit is Different episode 531 with Arthur Chapman

"We really have exactly 100 years in Detroit,” Arthur Chapman says, and that one line sets the whole episode on fire—because this isn’t just jewelry, it’s Legacy Black Detroit economics. Arthur walks us from Yazoo City, Mississippi to Black Bottom, where family relationships became the real infrastructure, and where his grandfather “Daddy E” (Eli Chapman

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Triniti Watson learned from an OG Archivists: Family Memory, Detroit Roots, and The Critical Mix

Detroit is Different episode 530 with Triniti Watson

There’s this interesting thing with time where the past collapses within the present.” Triniti Watson—Curator-in-Residence at the Boggs Center for Nurturing Community Leadership and visionary lead of The Critical Mix—pulls up with Detroit roots deep as the Great Migration and a mission to make “lost histories… more visible.” 

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The Charter, the Choir, and the Ballot: Building Legacy Black Detroit with Jonathan Kinloch

Detroit is Different episode 529 with Jonathan Kinloch

“Politics taught me and prepared me for a world that is more political than politics.” Wayne County Commissioner (District 2) and 13th Congressional District Democratic Party Chair Jonathan Kinloch joins Detroit is Different for a Detroit-rooted, world-spanning conversation that starts at Second & Myrtle—“you know you’re Detroit when you remember” it was

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From Watts to Paradise Valley: Chungalia, the US Organization, and Detroit’s Melanin Miracle

Detroit is Different episode 528 with Brother Chungalia

“Detroit is different… it’s all because of the melanin that we’re getting from the sun.” In this Detroit is Different conversation, Brother Chungalia—an original member of the US Organization founded by Dr. Maulana Karenga, creator of Kwanzaa, and among the first to celebrate it—takes us from post-riot Los Angeles to the deep roots of Black Detroit. 

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S12E2 -From Cass Tech to Compuware to Sisters Code: Marlin Williams talks Tech, Trust, and Legacy

Detroit is Different episode 527 with Marlin Williams

“We can’t just walk up in people’s neighborhoods and not come the right way—it’s not going to end well for you.” In this Detroit is Different conversation, Marlin Williams—Founder of Intentional Technology and the force behind Sisters Code—shows why tech decisions are really decisions about people, power, and legacy. 

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S12E1 -One Loving Adult: How Andre Ebron Builds Safe Spaces for Black Youth (and Grown Folks Too)

Detroit is Different episode 526 with Andre Ebron

“You can be aware without being exposed.” That’s the kind of Detroit-grown wisdom Andre Ebron drops in this powerful studio conversation—equal parts laughter, truth-telling, and strategy for building environments where Black people can breathe and become. Andre traces his roots from Marion, Alabama through the Great Migration, the Boblo childhood memories

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S7E79 -Walimu Raised Me: Dr. Tierra Bills on Mobility, Black Bottom, and Repair

Detroit is Different episode 525 with Dr. Tierra Bills

“‘We said pledges about remembering our ancestors… loving Black (at Aisha Shule)” In this episode, Dr. Tierra Bills—Assistant Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering & Public Policy at UCLA—returns home through memory, tracing her family’s East Side roots and the African-centered foundation of Aisha Shule, where “as the daughter of one of the Walimu

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