S7E42 -From Redistricting to the Ombudsman: Sherry Gay-Dagnogo on Power, Schools & Service

“What about us?” Sherry Gay-Dagnogo asks, cutting straight to the bone as she joins Khary Frazier to chart how Detroit’s past battles shape tomorrow’s wins for Legacy Black Detroit. In a conversation braided with urgency and receipts, Sherry salutes community media—“Education is key and your platform provides that”—then lays out why she’s seeking Detroit’s Ombudsman post: a 10-year, people-first watchdog who can “scale excellent service” across city departments and build real partnership with DPSCD. She refuses business-as-usual politics: “African Americans have been the backbone of the Democratic Party,” yet too often policy priorities like CVI, juvenile lifer reform, police accountability, and fair auto insurance are stalled while candidates chase culture clout—“through rappers”—instead of respecting the 92% of Black women who show up. She revisits the redistricting fight she led—“we deserve African-American representation”—and the unanimous court ruling that followed, tying it to a longer arc of emergency management, EAA missteps, and school closures that hollowed neighborhoods. From bus routes to literacy, from Brightmoor to Birmingham lines drawn wrong, she calls for audacious leadership rooted in elders like Coleman Young and JoAnn Watson: “Justice will always ultimately prevail—but only if we demand it.” This is Detroit memory and muscle, a blueprint for accountability that insists our institutions serve the people who built them.

Detroit is Different is a podcast hosted by Khary Frazier covering people adding to the culture of an American Classic city. Visit www.detroitisdifferent.com to hear, see and experience more of what makes Detroit different.

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