Cast
Luke Bergmann, PH.D.
When interviewed for this film, Dr. Bergmann was Research Director at the Detroit Department of Health and Wellness Promotion and a faculty associate of the University of Michigan. He is now Director of Recovery Services with the New York City Department of Health & Mental Hygiene.
He is the author of Getting Ghost: Two Young Lives and the Struggle for the Soul of an American City (2008), which he wrote and researched in Detroit, while a postdoctoral fellow with the UC Berkeley School of Public Health.
Alan Curtis, Ph.D.
Dr. Alan Curtis, is the President and CEO of the Milton S. Eisenhower Foundation.
Dr. Curtis was the Executive Director of President Carter's Interagency Urban and Regional Policy Group, served as Urban Policy Adviser to the U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and later administered the $43 million employment and crime prevention demonstration program in public housing that was part of National Urban Policy. Earlier, he was co-director of the Crimes of Violence Task Force of President Johnson's National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence.
He is author, co-author, or editor of 11 books and member of the Executive Committee of Partners for Democratic Change, which teaches democratic decision-making world-wide. He is also a former trustee of the American Academy of Political and Social Science.
Detroit Neighborhood Residents
M.L Elrick
M.L. Elrick is a long-time Investigative Reporter for the Detroit Free Press.
In a long and distinguished career in print and television journalism, Elrick has been recognized with numerous awards including the 2009 Pulitzer Prize, which he and partner Jim Schaefer earned for exposing Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's perjury. Elrick and Schaefer recently published a book about the former-mayor entitled, The Kwame Sutra: Musings on lust, life and leadership, from Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick (2009).
Son of a Detroit police officer, M.L., 42, started working in Detroit when he was 14 and has lived in the city's East English Village neighborhood since 1999.
Reynolds Farley, PH.D
Dr. Farley is Research Professor Emeritus, with University of Michigan’s Population Studies Center and Professor Emeritus of Sociology.
His research interests concern population trends in the United States, focusing on racial differences, ethnicity, and urban structure. His current work includes an investigation of the residential consequences of revitalization in the Rust Belt.
He is Author, Co-Author, and editor of over half a dozen books, including Detroit Divided (2000), Blacks and Whites: Narrowing the Gap? (1999) The New American Reality: Who We Are, How We Got Here, Where We Are Going (1998) amongst numerous research studies.
Stanford "Neil" Franklin
Major Neill Franklin is the Executive Director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP). ? ?
A 33-year law enforcement veteran, Major Franklin retired from the Maryland State Police in 1999 to reconstruct and command the Baltimore Police Department's Education and Training Section. During his time as a police officer he held many positions including that of commander for the Maryland State Police Education and Training Division and the Bureau of Drug and Criminal Enforcement.
When not working Neill Franklin volunteers his time by serving on many boards that include:
• Children 1st (child advocate organization)
• Faith Based Community Council on Law Enforcement and Intelligence
• Place of Grace Church
• Anne Arundel Community College Criminal Justice Advisory Board
• TurnAround, Inc. (domestic violence, sexual assault victim advocate providing counseling and shelter services)
Harry G. Hutchison
HGH is a Professor of Law at George Mason University. He has produced more than thirty-five law review article, public policy studies, and Civil Rights opinions which concentrate on corporate governance, labor law, employment law, transnational labor and employment law and international trade.
Before joining the Mason School of Law faculty, Professor Hutchison served as Professor of Law at both Wayne State University in Detroit and the University of Detroit Mercy.
During his time in Detroit, Professor Hutchison served on the Board of Directors for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy- authoring many reports on problems facing the Public Education System and Detroit City Government. He also served as a member of the Michigan Civil Rights Commission from 1991-1994.
Judith Jackson
Judith D. Jackson is the President & CEO of YouthVille Detroit which she helped establish with the late Dr. Gerald K. Smith.
She is the Immediate Past National President of the National Association of Black Social Workers, Inc. and former Executive Director of Franklin-Wright Settlements, Inc.
Active in civic and community affairs, she is the Vice President of Plymouth Educational Charter School, member of the Community Impact Council of United Way of Southeastern Michigan, University of Michigan Ginsberg Center for Community Service and Learning national board member, and Executive Board member of the Michigan Youth Opportunities Initiative.
Eleanor Josaitis
Eleanor M. Josaitis co-founded Focus: HOPE with Father William T. Cunningham in the aftermath of the 1967 Detroit riots.
The organization works to eliminate racism, poverty and injustice primarily by accessing individuals to the financial mainstream. Originally founded to provide assistance to pregnant women, nursing mothers, and children, Focus: HOPE has since grown to nearly 300 colleagues supported by thousands of volunteers and donors. It has provided training for more than 11,000 people.
Sadly, Eleanor Josaitis passed away August 9, 2011, but her legacy remains as a shining example of the power of Hope.
Kwame Kenyatta
Kwame Kenyatta is currently serving his second term as a Member of Detroit’s City Council where he chairs the Council’s Neighborhood & Community Services Standing Committee.
He formerly served as Wayne County Commissioner of the 7th District as well as member and Vice-President of the Detroit Board of Education. Active in local social advocacy groups since the 70’s, Kenyatta also hosted a morning talk show for 10-years.
He is the author of a book titled Guide To Implementing Afrikan Centered Education.?
Chris Parks, Ph.D.
Dr. Christopher Parks, works for the Neighborhood Service Organization (NSO) as Director of Homeless Services.
In that capacity he oversees the NSO-Tumaini Center, a drop-in center for people that are homeless that provides substance abuse, mental health, and housing services in the Cass Corridor section of Detroit and Detroit's Helping Hands Project, an outreach and rehabilitation program for people that are homeless run by Neighborhood Service Organization and Detroit's Bureau of Substance Abuse Prevention, Treatment and Recovery.
He has worked for over 25 years in this area with those who are disenfranchised.
Laura Sager
Laura Sager is the Executive Director of the Campaign for Justice, a broad based coalition of organizations with a mission of reforming Michigan’s Public Defense System.
Previously, she served as the National Campaign Director for Families Against Mandatory Minimums, where she led successful campaigns in several states to reduce or eliminate mandatory minimum drug sentencing. Beginning in 1997, Mrs. Sager spearheaded a successful reform of the entire structure of Michigan’s mandatory minimum drug sentences and a repeal of “lifetime probation.” For her service to prisoners and families, Laura received a tribute from both Michigan’s House of Representatives and Senate.
Ron Scott
Ron Scott is the Director of the Detroit Coalition against Police Brutality, which he founded in 1996.
A longtime Detroiter, Mr. Scott has been a tireless advocate for non-violence and justice in the community for more than three decades. Prior to founding the Coalition, Scott was a member of Save our Sons and Daughters (SOSAD) and We the People Reclaim Our Streets (WEPROS).
A regularly featured commentator in the Detroit news media, Mr. Scott’s leadership has publicly exposed dozens of instances of egregious police and prosecutorial misconduct.
Michael O. Smith
Michael Smith is the Director of the Walter Reuther Library of Labor and Urban Affairs at Wayne State University.
The author of numerous journal articles, book reviews and co-author of three books, and Mike Smith also directed the Graduate Program in Archival Administration at Wayne State University. Smith has served as curator for several creative shows and major exhibit and has written and produced projects for television. In 1999, he received the Telly Award as producer/writer of Forjando Una Comunidad: A History of Mexicans in Detroit, a production of the Walter P. Reuther Library and Wayne State University Television.
Anthony Thompson
Born and raised in Detroit, Anthony E. Thompson is the Managing Director of YouthVille Detroit. ??
Formerly the Senior Deputy Director and COO for the District of Columbia Department of Mental Health, Mr. Thompson has also worked as President and CEO of Wayne Center, CEO of the Pauline Warfield Lewis Center for the Ohio Department of Mental Health, and CEO of Woodside Hospital in Ohio.
Bankole Thompson
Bankole Thompson is the Senior Editor of the Michigan Chronicle, a prominent Detroit-based weekly newspaper and a Senior News Analyst for WDET-101.9FM (Detroit NPR Affiliate).
A correspondent for Inter Press Service (IPS), where he covered the 2008 presidential campaign including a series of sit-down interviews President Barack Obama on the campaign trail, Thompson has been featured on CNN Newsroom, WXYZ, WDIV, Black Enterprise Magazine and a visiting lecturer at University of Michigan Dearborn.
Bankole is the author of several books including Ignoring The Underprivileged: A Journalist's Indictment of Mainstream Media (published in 2005).
Reverend Dr. Kevin Turman
Dr. Turman, has been Pastor at Second Baptist Church of Detroit since 1988. His involvement in civic, professional and community activities both within and outside Detroit include:
• Executive Board Member, Home Mission Board, Progressive National Baptist Convention
• Past President, Michigan Progressive Baptist Convention
• Board of Directors, Metropolitan Detroit Jail Ministry
• Member, Board of Directors, Detroit Urban League and Michigan Coalition for Human Rights
• Member, Detroit Ministers Council
• NAACP
• Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity
• Prince Hall Grand Lodge F&AM
• President, Metropolitan Organizing Strategy Enabling Strength (M.O.S.E.S.), an ecumenical social justice organization in Detroit
In addition, Dr. Turman is a Chaplain in the United States Naval Reserve with a rank of Captain.
He has lectured and delivered sermons at churches and seminaries throughout the United States.
www.secondbaptistdetroit.org