(marchers chanting) - [Will Glover] Coming up on "One Detroit", a milestone anniversary for two civil rights marches led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Plus, a member of Governor Whitmer's Growing Michigan Together Council talks about the group's goals and strategies.

Also ahead, it's National Black Business Month.

We'll hear from two African American entrepreneurs about the ups and downs of owning a business.

And we'll offer some suggestions on fun things to do this weekend.

It's all coming up next on "One Detroit".

- [Announcer] From Delta Faucets to Behr Paint, Masco Corporation is proud to deliver products that enhance the way consumers all over the world experience and enjoy their living spaces.

Masco: Serving Michigan Communities Since 1929.

Support for this program is provided by: The Cynthia and Edsel Ford Fund for Journalism at Detroit Public TV.

- [Female Announcer] The DTE Foundation is a proud sponsor of Detroit Public TV.

Among the state's largest foundations committed to Michigan-focused giving, we support organizations that are doing exceptional work in our state.

Visit DTEFoundation.com to learn more.

- [Announcer] Nissan Foundation.

And viewers like you.

(soft jazzy music) - [Will Glover] Just ahead on this week's "One Detroit", State Senator Darrin Camilleri sits down with contributor Zoe Clark to talk about his participation on the Governor's Growing Michigan Together Council, plus two African American business owners open up about overcoming the challenges of being entrepreneurs, and Peter Whorf of 90.9 WRCJ shares some ideas on things to do this weekend and beyond in metro Detroit.

But first up, August 28th marks the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

That's where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.

The massive civil rights protest came two months after another large march featuring Dr. King that took place here in Detroit.

"One Detroit"'s Bill Kubota examines how the 1963 Detroit Walk to Freedom and the March on Washington changed America.

- [Leader] When do we want it?

- [Marchers] Now!

(soft jazzy music) - [Bill Kubota] The 1963 march led by Dr. Martin Luther King and that "I Have a Dream" speech in Detroit commemorated two months ago along Woodward Avenue, hundreds taking part.

- I hope that as you step out into the street this morning, you are making a commitment, (marchers chatting) a commitment to organize our community.

- [Marcher] Pick it up, pick it up, pick it up.

- This is a generational moment, and it's personal for me.

My father marched 60 years ago as a six year-old in this march.

- Organized labor and the Civil Rights Movement are inextricably intertwined.

You know, we stand together and it is a great, great prestigious honor to be a part of this.

- We see people banning books.

People want to ban the book that talks about Dr. King!

This march would not be acceptable in Florida under the current governor, under the current legislature.

- [Marcher] Hey, free at last!

- You can never stop marching.

You know, it's critically important though that we affix policy to protest.

Protest without policy is pure performance.

- [Marchers] Freedom!

- [Leader] When do we want it?

- [Marchers] Now!

- [Bill Kubota] The fight now, the fight back then.

- 1963!

- [Bill Kubota] Then it was the Walk to Freedom.

Detroiters and Dr. King, historic, some say the beginning of a change that was going to come.

- Why is it a little-known fact that Dr. King rehearsed the "I Have a Dream" speech here in the city of Detroit first before he took it to DC?

- Right.

Well, you know how it is, man.

You know, you're getting your sing on at one place before you go sing.

- You working it out.

- Yeah, that's right.

You working out the kinks and stuff.

And this ain't no small place, Detroit.

If you can do it in Detroit, then you can withstand all kinds of critique, 'cause people here are rigorous about performance, about intelligence, about oratory and the like.

- Charity, you were intentional with bringing your daughter here.

Why?

- Absolutely.

Well, she has to see this in action, and she also gets to see Mom at work in a number of ways.

She also needs to see Mom marching down and she needs to get the opportunity so that 10 years from now, 20 years from now, 30 years from now, she'll be able to say she participated in the march as one of the first steps toward her own fight for freedom for all of us.

- This is commemorating the downtown Detroit downtown walk from Woodward to Cobo Hall in 1963.

I was six years old when I was in the first march in '63.

- [Orlando Bailey] So you were in the original march in 1963?

- Yes, my dad brought me.

- [Bill Kubota] Memories 60 years on for Gregory Gunn and for Dorothy Dewberry Aldridge.

- For one, it was a beautiful, beautiful day, and no one expected these many people to show out.

- [Bill Kubota] An estimated 125,000.

Aldridge was 20 years old in 1963.

She's talking with "One Detroit" contributor, Bryce Huffman.

- You asked me if there were a lot of white people there.

It was well-integrated.

And then, you know, at the time, the mayor of Detroit, Mayor Cavanagh, was a white person.

So there was no conflict between Blacks and whites as such, no.

- [Bill Kubota] "One Detroit" spoke to the late Reverend Dr. JoAnn Watson just before this year's Detroit walk.

- It meant a lot, because the injustice that was happening around the country was not just in the South.

It also included the North.

There were housing issues, employment issues, issues just related to the quality of your life.

- In 1963, of course, there was the question about police harassment, police brutality of the young people in Detroit.

Now, one other thing I want to add that Medgar Evers had just been killed in Jackson, Mississippi.

- [Bill Kubota] Medgar Evers, an NAACP official, assassinated by a white supremacist less than two weeks before.

- And it was a motivating force that caused people to come out to the march that may not have, had Evers not been killed only days before.

- That March was organized by the Detroit Council for Human Rights, which was led by Reverend C.L.

Franklin.

And of course, if you don't know C.L., you probably know his daughter, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin; Reverend Albert Cleage, who will become the founder of the Shrine of Black Madonna and change his name to Jaramogi Abebe Agyeman; Benjamin McFall, the owner of McFall Brothers Funeral Homes; and James Del Rio, who would go on to become a judge.

- Reverend Cleage and Reverend Franklin decided to start the Detroit Council for Human Rights with the idea that there really hadn't been enough improvement for African Americans since the 1943 race riot.

And the march of the Walk to Freedom was the first major event that the organization organized.

- [Bill Kubota] The local NAACP, not in on the planning.

Seemed to them these activists were pushing too hard, too fast.

- Some thought that Reverend Cleage was clearly more radical than the Detroit NAACP, and at times, so was Reverend Franklin.

- [Bill Kubota] The NAACP did bring protest signs, but the United Auto Workers union was a real driver of the march.

- [Ken Coleman] There's no doubt that the Walk to Freedom could not have happened without the UAW, under the leadership of Walter Reuther.

- These are some really cool objects from the march.

- [Bill Kubota] UAW archivist Gavin Strassel sits on a wealth of research material at the Walter P. Reuther Library at Wayne State University.

- The records really reflect that as figures like Martin Luther King start to make inroads in American society, you can see that the UAW takes notice and becomes a major financial contributor and supporter of the Civil Rights Movement.

- [Bill Kubota] Dr. King spoke before the union's membership two years before the march.

The UAW's Lillian Hatcher was a Walk to Freedom organizer.

- I think having the UAW involved in the planning probably went a long way in letting Martin Luther King know that this is a legitimate event and that this is something that he wants to take part in.

- So Reuther and King had a great bond.

In fact, there is some thought that King might've written some of the "I Have a Dream" speech at Solidarity House, UAW's headquarters in Detroit.

- [Bill Kubota] So, with the UAW and Reverend C.L.

Franklin, there was Dr. King's other Detroit connection.

- Berry Gordy Jr., the founder of Motown Records, had met King we know several years before 1963, probably the late 1950s.

- And what came from that was Berry Gordy actually covering payroll for Dr. King to pay his staff.

And my understanding is that that happened more than once.

And so, in so many ways, not only, you know, was Motown organically helping the Civil Rights Movement and being a catalyst for bringing people together, but also in a very intentional way they were supporting the efforts of Dr. King.

- [Bill Kubota] The Detroit speech at Cobo Hall, preserved on record by Motown.

- Segregation is wrong because it is nothing but a new form of slavery covered up with certain niceties of complexity.

(audience applauds) - [Bill Kubota] Dr. King would finish his speech in Detroit with the words perhaps he's most remembered, "I have a dream," "Free at last," words he'd take to Washington two months later.

- [Narrator] They came from Los Angeles and San Francisco.

They came from Cleveland, from Chicago.

- [Bill Kubota] And they came from Detroit.

♪ Keep your eyes on the prize ♪ ♪ Oh Lord, Oh Lord ♪ - [Bill Kubota] August, 1963, the March on Washington.

Detroiter Edith Lee-Payne was there with her mother.

- She decided that we would go to Washington.

- [Marchers] Now!

Now!

Now!

- She would always stress to me how important it was for me to be the best that I could always be, and I could achieve and be whatever I wanted to be.

It helped me be more of an American, which is what I am.

The fact that I'm a Black American is secondary.

That doesn't define me.

And our color should never define us.

Dr. King didn't want our colors to define us.

He wanted our character to define us and who we were as a person.

(crowd cheering) - And in Birmingham, Alabama, and all over the South and all over the nation, we are simply saying that we will no longer sell our birthright of freedom for a mess of segregated pottage.

(audience cheers) - Historians have written and said often that had there not been those two marches, we may not have achieved the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act without those marches, which take place just before the passing of that landmark two pieces of legislation.

- ...and working together in a collaborative way.

- [Will Glover] Let's turn now to Governor Gretchen Whitmer's Growing Michigan Together Council, which she announced at the Detroit Regional Chamber's Mackinac Policy Conference in June.

The bipartisan group is tasked with creating strategies to grow the state's population and economy.

They're focusing on several key areas, including education, infrastructure, jobs, and talent.

"One Detroit" contributor and Michigan Radio political director Zoe Clark sat down with the recent council appointee, State Senator Darrin Camilleri to talk about Growing Michigan Together.

(soft jazzy music) - Let's first talk about the council that you've been appointed to.

What are you looking forward to?

What is actually gonna get done here?

- I'm excited that we'll have a chance to dive deep into population trends, not only in Michigan but across the country, as we look to figuring out solutions to help put us on the map for being one of the best places to live, grow a family, and have a job and work here.

We've got a fantastic, you know, features for people to, you know, have recreation and love being here and work here, but we need more people to know that that is a story that Michigan has to tell.

- Where is that disconnect, right?

Because there was also a report that said Michigan is second only behind West Virginia when it comes to population growth.

- I think as a young person and knowing a lot of my friends who have moved out of state or even out of the area that I grew up in, in Downriver, people are looking for places where you have a lot of activity, where you can walk to coffee shops or museums or art shows, and a place that you can feel like you're part of a community.

And I think we need to go back to more of those types of communities.

If you look at Michigan and the places that are growing, it's places like Traverse City or Ann Arbor, or places like Royal Oak and Oakland County.

And those are walkable, livable communities that people are attracted to based on the experience that they have there.

And so we need more of that across the state.

- So those places that you just named also happen to be, you know, very wealthy (laughs) areas.

Talk to me a little bit about how, when we're talking about growing population, that fits in with inclusivity for all and so that everyone can make a home in these areas that can be tough to find housing, affordable living.

- And that's actually a key piece that was brought up in our first Population Council meeting, is that we want to ensure that any of the data that we are looking at and analyzing is really inclusive of every experience of all of our Michiganders.

And so when we're talking about communities of color, some of that data is not always aggregated in a way that is... telling the full story, let's put it that way.

Where we're talking about Latino communities or Black communities or any of our other diverse, beautiful members of Michigan, we want to ensure that every piece of the data is accurate and that we are inclusive for all of those voices.

- Growing Michigan's population has been on the top of politicians', lawmakers', academics', economists' minds for decades here in Michigan.

How will this council, do you think, be different this time than previous conversations, iterations, idea-making?

- I think for a lot of the conversation previously, it's always been about, how do we harken back to the past?

How can we become a place that is still a beacon of hope for the future?

It's about climate, it's about our environment.

We are going to be the place, that because of the lack of action at the national and worldwide level for climate change, Michigan is the place where you can seek refuge in the future.

You know, we do have our moments of really high heat, but we're not sitting in 120 degrees like in Arizona.

There's gonna be a point pretty soon where people are starting to realize that we wanna live in a place that is bearable and beautiful all at the same time.

- Let's talk a little bit about education.

You are Chair of the Pre-K through 12 Education Budget in the Senate.

The Governor just recently announced an entire new department.

- [Sen. Camilleri] Yes.

- It will go into effect in December.

Talk to me a little bit about MiLEAP.

- I think for this new department that the governor is creating, it's again back to that principle of we need to be focused on a goal as a state and we need all be working towards that direction.

And so with her new initiative, with MiLEAP, I think it's gonna be, you know, very important that we again focus on those early learners as well as those who are looking to go right into the economy and to get a job.

And we do know that those who have been working in the Department of Education, I've heard it over and over again during this budget process, they need more staff, they need more support.

And so if we can figure out ways to balance that workload, I think this new department's really gonna help.

- So you just mentioned the Department of Education.

So these are going to be two separate departments.

And there's been some consternation from some folks who are part of the Department of Education, including the state superintendent, Michael Rice, the education board members actually asking for an opinion from the state attorney general, Dana Nessel, about the constitutionality of this new department.

Is it not great that it's already, (laughs) you know, with its announcement, that there's already a little controversy surrounding whether it's something that even Democrats are going to back?

- I think that there's always going to be resistance to change, no matter whether it's coming from a Democratic administration or a Republican administration.

But this one component around education, no matter the party of the governor, there has not been an ability for the governor to really lead in a direction unless they do some systemic departmental changes.

And that's one way that I know that Governor Whitmer is trying to lead in this space.

She has the constitutional authority to create her own departments, and to reorganize departments as well.

I'm backing it, I think a lot of legislators are backing it too, because we do see the benefit of working with a department that is focused on some of these early and post opportunities for education.

- Let's think about 2033.

Write me a headline, (laughs) if Michigan is a successful state when it comes to population growth and particularly your passion, which is education.

- The headline that I'd like to see is that Michigan is a Top 10 state for growth and that we are in a Top 10 state for education across the country.

When we look at some of the things that we're investing in right now, we are trying to plant the seeds for future opportunities not only for our students, but for our educators as well.

If we can be the place for an education workforce, it's gonna set us up for so many opportunities for success.

- [Will Glover] August is National Black Business Month, a time to recognize the contributions of African American entrepreneurs.

According to the latest census data, there are nearly 141,000 Black-owned businesses in the U.S. "One Detroit" contributor and "American Black Journal" host Stephen Henderson talked with two African American women business owners, Linda Hendricks, co-founder of the Detroit Dance Center, and Chinonye Akunne, CEO of ILERA Apothecary, about the unique challenges faced by Black entrepreneurs.

(soft jazzy music) - I want to talk about what some of the day-to-day reminders I guess that you get about the challenges that exist because of who you are, the things that might be easier for other people who start and own businesses than they are for you.

- You know, it's interesting because in business, you don't know what you don't know until you come across that hurdle, and then you have to start figuring it out.

And I don't have just like a dedicated group of people that I can go and say like, "This is what I'm dealing with.

How can you help me, or where do I go?"

It's like, I talk to one person, they introduce me to another person.

And so it's like, the time to resolve issues, the more that I'm like learning about business and getting familiar with it, it decreases.

But you have to be intentionally in those spaces to even get that access.

And so really just like understanding what you need in business and how you can make it work for you, even if it is something as a tangible dollar.

- Yeah, yeah.

I mean, this idea that you need the support of other people, other people who own businesses, other people who know what it's like to start a business, Linda, talk about how that challenge looks if you're an African American woman and trying to make it, trying to make a business work.

- Yep, absolutely.

Well, you know, one good thing about me and my business partners is that we are career professionals first and dancers second.

We have that passion for dance, we love to dance, but we do other things.

Myself, I am an internal auditor, have been so for over 20 years.

My partner, Jasmine, is a chemistry teacher, so she works on all the curriculum development, and then Dominique is a project manager.

So with those things we're able to, you know, work the business, put out, you know, processes and procedures and operations, and know about customer service.

However, we struggled a lot with that marketing, so being able to use that Comcast grant to join other groups that are similar with doing dance studios, and how do you get students in, and bring in the babies so you can help them grow up within your studio, and everything like that.

So, you know, that has been a struggle.

And then on a personal level, because we are minority women, we're also mothers, so our husbands have had to take on the role (laughs) of Mr.

Mom, if you want to say, because we teach classes in the evening.

So my husband is, you know, running around picking up the kids from school, dropping 'em off, and he comes home late at night saying, "Oh, I'm pooped!"

I'm like, "Oh, really?

(Stephen laughs) Isn't that so interesting?"

So that's a challenge of just being able to definitely have that support system of, you know, being able to operate in the evenings when, you know, most family, or even women, are at home, be it taking care of family or running errands or you know, just, you know, being the family Uber.

- I want to have you give some advice to people out there who might be thinking about starting their own business and may be apprehensive about the idea, maybe don't think that it will work or that they'll have the support.

- Yeah, absolutely understand your why.

Why are you going into business?

Often I've found that people have said they're going into business because they don't want to work for another person.

But what they don't realize is that when you go into business, you get a lot more managers.

You're answering to your customers, you're answering to your employees, your vendors, everyone.

And so really like understand what value are you bringing, why you, and what difference are you trying to make with your business?

Understand your business, know your numbers.

Know, like I said, like know the value that you bring, and really like, make sure that you're organizing, you have your ducks in a row, but also don't think that you have to know everything.

Don't wait for perfection to get to where you want to be.

People fail so many times, but as long as you get up after every single one of those failures, you've learned something new where you can then go and take it to the next thing that you do.

- [Will Glover] Labor Day is just around the corner and students are heading back to school, but there are still a lot of summer events for all ages to enjoy this weekend and beyond in metro Detroit.

Peter Whorf of 90.9 WRCJ has the rundown in today's "One Detroit Weekend".

- Summer is flying by, but there's still a lot of fun things to scope out, so let's get to it.

The Detroit Funk Festival hosted by Bootsy Collins is hitting the stage at Music Hall Amphitheater August 26th from noon until 10 p.m. People can look forward to performances by local and up-and-coming Detroit artists.

Also on Saturday, at 2 p.m., the Detroit Institute of Arts will show "Puppets: The Adventures of Kitty Montellier."

The puppet show is for people of all ages and follows art lover Dimitri on an adventure through the city of Detroit to find his lost cat, Kitty Montellier.

Then on August 28th, Aretha's Jazz Cafe will play host to a Tribute to Nina Simone.

Detroit native Faye Bradford will show off her skills to honor Simone, the great singer, songwriter, musician, civil rights activist, and more.

The show starts at 8 p.m. And if you're a yogi, you can get your daily dose of yoga at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, where they host Yoga with Detroit Yoga Lab.

Get yourself and your mat there for a 6 p.m. session on August 30th.

Of course, you can't end summer without the Michigan State Fair, and it starts August 31st through Labor Day at the Suburban Showplace Collection.

There's so much more going on in and around Detroit, so here are more events.

Have a great weekend.

(soft jazzy music) - [Will Glover] That'll do it for this week's "One Detroit".

Thanks for watching.

Head to the "One Detroit" website for all the stories we're working on, follow us on social media, and sign up for our weekly newsletter.

(soft jazzy music) - [Announcer] From Delta Faucets to Behr Paint, Masco Corporation is proud to deliver products that enhance the way consumers all over the world experience and enjoy their living spaces.

Masco: Serving Michigan Communities Since 1929.

Support for this program is provided by: The Cynthia and Edsel Ford Fund for Journalism at Detroit Public TV.

- [Female Announcer] The DTE Foundation is a proud sponsor of Detroit Public TV.

Among the state's largest foundations committed to Michigan-focused giving, we support organizations that are doing exceptional work in our state.

Visit DTEFoundation.com to learn more.

- [Announcer] Nissan Foundation.

And viewers like you.

(soft jazzy music) (staccato piano music)