On Saturday, participants in a local workshop for community improvement and justice heard about historic visits to Saginaw by Frederick Douglass during the 19th century.
A followup forum at 4:30 p.m. Monday, May 22, will feature visitors from a group that embodies the “speak truth to power” approach of the abolitionist civil rights legend.
Community Alliance for the People, C.A.P., will host activists from Black Leaders Detroit, BLD, on early leg of their weeklong “Ride for Equity,” a 300-mile bicycle route from the Motor City to Mackinac Island, where the Grand Hotel is hosting an annual Detroit Chamber of Commerce policy conference.
The meeting place is on the second floor of the downtown Saginaw Marketplace at Washington and Federal, the same site as Alliance gatherings on the third Saturday of each month.
When Black Leaders Detroit made a similar stop a year ago, founding Chief Executive Dwan Dandridge offered Douglass references similar to those presented during Saturday’s C.A.P. session by local historian and educator Leo Romo, who reported on multiple rallies that were organized by the Goodridge Brothers photographers.
Some advocate groups sugarcoat their concerns, Dandridge said, but the best approach is to be assertive by speaking truth to power.
“It’s not going to hurt your organization, it’s going to help,” he said.
A leading Ride for Equity organizer is Saginaw-born Ken Elkins (Arthur Hill High, 1993), who resides in Detroit and serves as the Black Leaders chief operations officer.
“Our intent for the ride is to bring attention to the difficulties that African Americans entrepreneurs face in attaining equal access to capital” from both private lenders and from foundation boards, said Elkins, a product of Ferris State University with a bachelor’s degree in television and multimedia production.
For 2021’s inaugural venture along the state highways and byways, the riders anticipated possible race-based friction, especially the farther north they traversed. But Elkins noted, “We experienced nothing of the kind. In fact, once when we stopped at a country store for Gatorade and water, one lady (store clerk) asked about our purpose, and we talked about it, and she supported us and she even paid for our supplies.”
He added, “Up north, our group (of seven riders) was sort of similar to white people who are fearful of going to their downtowns. If we all take the time to communicate, we can have a much better community.”
If anyone from Saginaw wishes to join a portion of the Ride for Equity, arrangements may be pursued at Monday’s forum.
