Hey friends, it's Jer.
I hope you had a restful weekend. Let's catch up on some stories you might have missed — and a story of how a Detroit church important to American history as the last stop on the Underground Railroad is still serving the community.
🏀 Let's start out with some good news. The Pistons won 130-77 against the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday, with the 53-point margin the largest win in franchise history. The team is in first place in the Eastern Conference with a record of 36-12.
Plus, Jalen Duren has joined Cade Cunningham in being named to the NBA All-Star team, with the squad being coached by J.B. Bickerstaff. This is the first time since 2008 that the Pistons have had multiple All-Stars in the same year.
Back then it was Chauncey Billups, Rip Hamilton, and Rasheed Wallace as reserves.
💼 Companies are putting the pedal to the metal on return-to-work mandates. The latest is Stellantis, which says its workers have to come back in five days a week starting March 30. [Business Insider]
🎓 Detroit startup MeetYourClass — a Gen Z-focused college social app — is buying Traverse City-based data consultancy SightLine in an all-stock deal, folding its predictive analytics into a nine-person Detroit team. The company says this will be an enrollment-intelligence platform for colleges, not just a campus social network. [Crain's Detroit]
🏷️ A federal judge hit pause on a fast-tracked auction of downtown Detroit’s 99-year-old Leland House. This blocks a proposed sale, for now. The ruling blocks a proposed sale for now and buys displaced residents time, as the court questions the owners’ abrupt pivot from repairs to liquidation. As of this writing, tenants still haven't been able to get their belongings after the building went dark. [Metro Times] [ClickOnDetroit]
🎼 Detroit’s historic Music Hall landed a $20 million, 25-year partnership with newly rebranded Orsa Credit Union — and with it, a new name: Orsa Music Hall. The deal is part of a planned $165 million expansion on the currently empty lot next door, with a 1,900-seat concert hall, music academy, studios, and rooftop restaurant. [Model D] [Detroit Free Press]
💸 A sitting 36th District Court judge and three Detroit-area co-defendants are accused of turning guardianship into a personal ATM. They allegedly siphoned hundreds of thousands from vulnerable wards via sham legal work, bogus rents, and redirected settlement checks, per a new federal indictment. Prosecutors say the group even used one ward’s $70,000 to buy a bar stake and another’s funds to lease a Ford Expedition. [DOJ]
🏘️ Detroit’s new seven-point homeless response has expanded 24/7 outreach, helplines, and drop-in beds, but families are still waiting months for shelter as homelessness — and time in the system — grow. Families are cycling through hotlines, standby shelters and crowded drop-in centers, with providers warning that without more truly affordable housing, Detroiters will remain stuck in an overwhelmed shelter network. [Bridge Detroit]
🏡 The Detroit Housing Commission is putting all 195 of its single-family homes up for sale. Current tenants will get first chance at buying at a discount, plus down payment and repair help from a new Rocket Community Fund partnership. [Outlier Media]
🎶 Detroit’s own CeCe Winans just picked up her 18th Grammy for “Come Jesus Come,” her collaboration with Shirley Caesar, which won Best Gospel Performance/Song.
This latest Grammy ties her with Aretha Franklin for second-most Grammys by a Detroit artist, behind only Stevie Wonder — and places her among the winningest women in Grammy history.
In a moment when there's intense pressure to gloss over or sanitize our past, it feels especially important to lift up institutions that didn’t just witness history, but made it — and are still doing the work right now.
To kick off Black History Month, I’m grounding you in the deep history of a Detroit church that was the last stop on the Underground Railroad — and is also building for the future.
Although Michigan became a “free state,” slave catchers were able to operate here because federal fugitive slave laws explicitly gave them that power and forced even free states to cooperate, putting people in the position of choosing between following the law and compromising their humanity.
The pastor of Detroit's Second Baptist Church, Lawrence Rodgers, tells the story:
“In fact, one of our very first pastors, William Monroe, was a member of the Underground Railroad and Second Baptist was the last stop. If you could make it to Second, we would hide you in the basement, and we had a member named George DeBaptist who owned a steamboat and we had a wagon with a false bottom.
When the slave catchers were away, we would put people in the wagon and drive them to the river and put them in the steamboat and help them to get across to what was called affectionately in hymns, in a codified way, Canaan’s Land. ‘To Canaan’s land I’m on my way, where the soul of man never dies.’ This means, ‘I’m going to Canada, where there is freedom.’”
The conversation also looks to the future, including their community programs and what they’re planning to do when the streetscape renovations are done in Detroit’s Greektown.
You can listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.
Remember that our work is powered by the community, so if you’re able, chip in and get some neat Daily Detroit swag like our sticker set.
That’s it for tonight. I’m working hard to do more of these, and thousands of you are now reading these words. It’s an honor to be able to do this.
Remember that you are somebody,
-Jer
p.s. You don't think I'd leave you without a track? Here's some house-infused Stevie Wonder from Ibiza, courtesy of the legendary UK DJ and producer Carl Cox. Of course, the original “As” is a masterpiece, but I wanted to give you a little extra energy because we have to have joy to make it through.
p.p.s. - Be sure to catch our live stream on our YouTube channel tomorrow (Tuesday) afternoon.
