- Welcome to "American Black Journal."

I'm your host, Stephen Henderson.

Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield is marking six months in office after making history as the first woman elected to the city's top job.

I sat down with Mayor Sheffield recently to talk about her family's legacy in the city for an upcoming Detroit PBS special, titled, "Destination Detroit."

We also talked about the people who inspired her political career, the importance of leadership, and her priorities for the city.

Madam Mayor, thanks very much for joining us.

And congratulations on all your early success.

It's been really interesting to watch how this all unfolds.

So I'm gonna start here.

You know, things like history, and legacy, and story mean different things to us in Detroit than they do in other cities where I've lived.

They have a stronger residents with us here.

And your presence in this office calls on those things in a different way than we have seen for a really long time in Detroit.

Decades, in fact.

And I think anyone can go and read about your history or about your legacy.

But I really would love to have you talk about how those things kind of visit with you every day now that you're in this role.

Just little things that remind you, I guess, of the weight of those things and their importance.

- My own personal legacy continues to push me, and shape me, and mold me into who I am today.

As you know, I come from civil rights, labor leaders who were unapologetic about investing in people and standing up for social justice and civil rights.

And, I mean, it really is what motivated me to run for office, and to stand up, and to fight, and to lead the way in which I do, which I think is a fresh, a breath air in the sense that it's about people.

It's about neighborhoods.

It's about the most vulnerable in our city.

About social justice.

And I think that's needed in such a critical time in Detroit.

So, I mean, I think about Coleman Young, and Erma Henderson, and Maryann Mahaffey.

I mean, all of these legendary leaders.

Joanne Watson, had she not got up and decided not to run, I would not have even been able to sit down.

- Well, that's, you know, I forgot about that.

- [Sheffield] To run for office.

- That she steps aside.

- Yes.

And then I ran in the exact same seat that she would've run for for city council.

So, I mean, they continue to inspire me and to remind me that during these very critical times, we have to always stand up and be bold and speak, especially at just a critical time that we are in the history of our country.

- You were a city council president.

- [Sheffield] Yeah.

- And in a leadership role, obviously, there.

This is a bigger leadership role.

How do you get people to think more about everyone moving together to a better place?

- I mean, I do think it takes leadership.

I mean, we had, you know, transformational, inspirational leaders in Coleman Young and Martin Luther King.

And so, like, even my grandfather's generation.

We need more leaders that can inspire and empower, especially our young people to see that they also have to step up in political offices.

We'll want to be a part of social change.

So I think it takes leadership.

And it really takes everyone playing their role in stepping up as well.

- Yeah.

What do you say to folks who say, "Look, it's my turn."

(laughs) That's a common kind of point of view here.

"It's my turn.

I wanna do this."

How do you get 'em to think about, okay, well, maybe it's your turn.

But maybe it's our turn instead.

- Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, when I think back to Coleman Young days, I've read a lot and I've heard a lot about how, even if someone wanted to run for office, and it maybe wasn't the right time where they didn't have the best chance, they will find something for that person to do to cultivate the gifts so that they can still serve in different capacities.

And so I would say, again, it's always something to do.

It doesn't always have to be political office.

It can be a board.

It can be a commission.

It can be other ways that you can serve and give.

But I think we have to be more strategic in how we are electing people to office to have a greater impact on the overall political power in Detroit, the state, and in the country, to be quite honest.

- You have had a real focus, in the early part of your administration, on young people here in Detroit.

Things like Rx Kids, which I think is a phenomenal program.

And, now, we have that citywide in Detroit.

This idea of supporting every pregnant woman in a way that will lead to the sort of successful first year of her child.

And sort of on from there.

You've also talked a lot about older young people.

You know, teenagers and things.

That seems to me, again, to call back to that history and that legacy because that's the future.

And that's what we've gotta kind of invest in.

- No, I agree.

And then, as the youngest ever elected to city council at 26, I feel like it's the obligation and a duty for me to invest and to represent for our young people.

And so it comes from our legacy.

But I think also, again, making history as the youngest person on city council, I just feel like it's a duty of mine to invest and to support our young people.

And I have to be honest.

I mean, our young people are looking for, right, attention and support and investment in a way that we haven't seen before.

And so I'm very proud of the approach that this administration has taken.

Incorporating young people in all of our policies and programs and ensuring that we're investing directly in them.

- Yeah.

You've also had this real focus on, you know, social service and social safety net, I think, in the city, which has been really tattered for a long time.

Partially because of, you know, funding challenges.

But also because of priority.

- [Sheffield] Priority.

- You know, what matters the most to the people in charge.

Talk about how you're trying to, I guess, sew that back together in a more supportive way than what we- - Yeah, and I think some of it is funding.

But, as you mentioned, some of it is priorities.

And I say that because this budget that we presented to council that was passed, another balanced budget, $3 billion budget, it was a shifting priorities to take care of the most vulnerable and to support social services.

And we were able to do it.

And so it goes back to how you want to prioritize things.

But I believe that, you know, in order for Detroit to really rise, in order for us to continue the momentum and the growth, we have to start investing in people.

Building our middle class.

Raising the incomes of Detroiters.

In order for Detroit to reach its next step, we have to invest in and raise the incomes of the most vulnerable in our city.

And so I'm very passionate about that.

Because, again, we don't wanna grow a city where most of our residents don't benefit.

- Don't have any real stake in it.

- We want to them to benefit from it as well.

Yes, yeah.

- Yeah, yeah.

That reminds me what you were just saying of that labor legacy that you have in your family.

And, of course, that we have in this city.

You know, Detroit would not be what it is without labor and the role that labor played.

I'm looking for places where, for you, that calls directly to you.

- As you mentioned, I come from labor.

Labor is in my blood.

And, you know, having a strong middle class is about labor.

And I think all of the work that I do, policies and programs, are about how do we invest in people and build our middle class with good quality jobs in our city.

And so it comes from the history of my family and what I know.

That's what I was taught.

That's what I was molded to believe.

And so it's a very, very important thing to me.

We created, for the first time ever, a new position, which is a labor liaison director.

And that person is consistently building relationships with all of our labor unions as well.

- Yeah, yeah.

Challenges.

I mean, it's early.

And, you know, I think you need time to figure out where things are and what you want to do.

But the kind of things that you see that will push us in the next couple of years to do these things and to refocus the way that you have on the things that call to that legacy.

- Yeah.

I mean, some of the challenges for me is, you know, Detroit is such a big city from a demographic standpoint.

Geographic standpoint, I should say.

And our population, right, is not there to meet kind of the demand of services.

I would say, you know, property tax reform or educational system is difficult to try to crack because the mayor doesn't control the school system.

But it directly impacts the quality of life and the ability for families to wanna stay and to move to Detroit.

And some of these things are systemic.

I mean, going back to generations and decades ago, that really put us in a position, in a lot of ways, I feel, like, to fail.

Like, for Detroit to fail, right?

Insurance, redlining.

I mean, all of these things are not easy fixes.

But they are challenges that I'm excited to try to take on as much as possible to try to fix.

- Your family comes here from Georgia and settles, as you said, in Black Bottom.

- [Sheffield] Black bottom.

- Which is then destroyed.

Partially by the freeway.

But also just by development and gentrification.

We're talking about now.

What to do with that history and maybe how to clean it up.

I mean, I don't think we're quite there.

But I wonder how that resonates with you in this office now.

The mayor can have some influence, probably a lot, over how that goes and how much we do to sort of fix what got broken there.

I wonder what that means to you.

- Yeah, it means a lot.

As you mentioned, my grandfather migrated to the Black Bottom.

And just understanding the history of Black Bottom and what it meant for, you know, African Americans as far as wealth, and business, and ownership, and entertainment.

I mean, that was a place where they settled.

And whatever happens on that site, we are definitely having conversations around ensuring that there's access for, you know, legacy Detroiters and that Black Detroiters really actually have a participation and access to that site for sure.

- Do you think we can repair that?

I mean, that's kind of the central question, is how do you fix what was done to all of those families?

- I think generations, right, have been impacted by it.

I don't think you can ever fix it.

But I think there's ways to try to repair and to right the wrong of what happened at Black Bottom, in general.

But I think it was so much harm caused.

I mean, generational wealth.

Businesses stripped from people.

- [Henderson] All of it wiped out.

- Yeah, all of it wiped out.

I don't think you can ever fix it.

But I think there's ways to take steps to at least right the wrongs and to acknowledge the harm that was caused.

- Yeah.

My grandfather and your grandfather were friends.

And they worked together at the UAW.

And I've seen pictures of them.

Not just here.

With Walter Reuther and other folks.

But I've seen pictures of them in the White House.

- [Sheffield] Oh, yeah.

- With presidents and in other places.

I mean, I've seen pictures of 'em in Africa together, spreading that message about the importance of labor, but also the importance of the African American role in labor, which develops here in Detroit.

- Yeah.

No, I completely agree.

I've seen pictures.

And my father has told me many stories of how my grandfather was not just a local leader.

He was national.

He had national prominence.

And he was known all over the nation, to be quite honest, about his work.

I mean, my father mentioned stories where he would go to the White House and swim in, I think, Lyndon's pool or something, he always tells a story about.

But, yes.

My grandfather was a national leader who was, I think, fight for civil rights.

And inclusion of African Americans in labor was instrumental and touch more than just Detroit, but also around the nation as well.

- Yeah.

And Mayor Sheffield reflects on her grandfather's influence in Detroit's labor movement in the special "Destination Detroit," airing on June 22nd at 9:00 PM.

The hour-long documentary explores the rich histories of people who helped shape southeast Michigan.

Detroit PBS invited residents to share stories of how their families came to the area and the lives they built here.

Here's a preview.

- [Reporter] Detroit's iconic train station.

Full of history.

American history.

Some called it the Ellis Island of the Midwest.

- My family came to Detroit via my grandmother.

- [Reporter] People sharing their migration stories.

- She came from Natchez, Mississippi.

She came on train.

- [Reporter] Everybody comes from somewhere.

But why come here?

Watch "Destination Detroit."

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