Bedrock, Paradise Valley Conservancy Highlight Updates on
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Michigan Chronicle
Vol. 86 – No. 52 | Aug. 30 - Sept. 5, 2023
Donald Trump Isn’t the First President to Be Arrested By Jeremy Allen Executive Editor
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The Future of Social Change Lies in the Hands of
Young Black Attorneys
Upon turning himself into Atlanta’s Fulton County Jail, former President Donald Trump will become the second person in U.S. history to serve as president and be arrested. Trump was booked on August 24 on more than a dozen charges stemming from his efforts to reverse Georgia’s 2020 election results. Specifically, Trump asked former Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger during a phone call to help him secure over 11,000 votes, the amount in which he trailed Joe Biden Jeremy Allen in Georgia. During a recorded call that took place on January 2, 2021, Trump told Raffensperger: “All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won the state.” It is the fourth time this year the former president has faced criminal charges. Many of his 18 co-defendants, including former New York Mayor Rudi Giuliana, turned themselves into the jail well before Trump would arrive for booking at 8:30 p.m. EST on August 24. His bond was set at $200,000, and he agreed to a host of release conditions after posting bond. One of the conditions of his release after bonding is that he can’t use social media to target his co-defendants or witnesses in the case. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, the Black woman who brought the racketeering case last week following a yearslong investigation, has asked for Trump and his 18 co-defendants to be arraigned in September and for the judge to set a trial date of March 4, 2024, for the RICO indictments against Trump and his 18 co-defendants. As a Black woman, she’s stood tall in this historic indictment and arrest, facing racism, sexism, and threats of physical violence against her life, mostly from white extremist groups and domestic terrorists. Trump himself even accused Willis of an improper relationship with a member of the YSL organization that is also being tried in Fulton County. Despite many of the elements of Trump’s indictment being unprecedented in U.S. history, his arrest isn’t the first one by a former or sitting president, and, coincidentally, it was another Black person who was responsible for the only other president being arrested. The year was 1872, and President Ulysses S. Grant found himself caught on the wrong side of the law by William H. West, a young former slave and Civil War veteran who joined the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan
By Ebony JJ Curry SENIOR REPORTER
In an era marked by renewed civil rights activism and mass protests, the next generation of leaders isn’t just waiting in the wings—they’re actively shaping the world around them. At just 16 years old, Cayden Brown serves as an awe-inspiring example of this young, transformational power. Yet, he is more than an individual wunderkind. He embodies the urgent need for Black representation in the legal world—a need that is deeply rooted in the history of social justice movements and bears critical importance for the future. Brown, a student at the Walled Lake Consolidated School District in Detroit, sees himself as a fusion of his people’s collective pain and their enduring resilience. He believes his presence today serves a purpose, not just for him but for the community at large. “There is a need today,” he ex-
plains, “I recognize it today. So, I’ll do something about it today!” “My hope is to change lives. Changing systems is one of many ways to do that and I see that law is one of the most effective. People are silently dealing with so much,” Brown said in an interview with the Michigan Chronicle. “So, when we protest and advocate, it’s a loud cry. It’s a traumatic cry. I was always able to feel that. But I want to go further than simply understanding the pain. I want to eradicate it at the source.” Like many young Black leaders
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Photo Credit: Kim Brown Photography
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WHAT’S INSIDE
before him—think Fred Hampton, Angela Davis, Diane Nash, and so many others—Brown understands that change often starts with youth. Historically, young Black leaders have always been at the forefront of revolutionary movements, from the sit-ins and Freedom Rides of the Civil Rights Movement to the modern-day Black Lives Matter protests. Brown’s journey in juvenile defense law began with the Oakland County Teen Court Program. Despite initial skepticism about the impact he could make, Brown found his calling in defending young people who, like him, needed a second chance. “When I watched these children’s mothers sob in the pews because their kids barely got a second chance, I knew I had to defend,” he said. Here, Brown is representing a fight against a system that has disproportionately failed young Black people
Detroit Jazz Festival Returns Labor Day Weekend By Donald James SENIOR WRITER, REAL TIMES MEDIA
19th Annual
Fash Bash
Showcased Black Brilliance with Gold Highlights City.Life.Style. B1
$1.00
It has been branded as the world’s biggest “free” jazz festival, and in a grand annual tradition, the Detroit Jazz Festival will once again take off with the sound of music over the Labor Day weekend (Sept. 1 to Sept. 4) in downtown Detroit. Approximately 60 performances will be rendered by jazz singers, musicians, bands, and orchestras on three stages: the JPMorgan Chase Main Stage in Campus Martius, the Carhartt Amphitheater Stage in Hart Plaza, and the Absopure Waterfront Stage in Hart Plaza. Headlining this year’s festival are jazz legends and native Detroiters Regina Carter (violinist), Kenny Garrett (saxophonist), and Louis Hayes (drummer). The three are recipients of the 2023 National Endowment of the Arts Masters Award, the highest and most prestigious honor a jazz artist can receive in the United States. In addition, the 2023 Detroit Jazz Festival’s “Artist-in-Residence” is Karriem Riggins, the renowned jazz musician, producer, DJ, and Emmy Award winner. The native Detroiter is known nationally and internationally for pushing the
boundaries of music through new and older generations of musicians and recording artists in the genres of jazz, hip-hop, and R&B-soul. Riggins will perform three times during the festival, including on Sunday, 9:15 p.m., with special guests Jessica Care Moore, Beej, T3, and Common on the JPMorgan Chase Main Stage.
“We are extremely excited to feature three newly awarded NEA Jazz Masters – Regina Carter, Louis Hayes, and Kenny Garrett, who are also Detroit jazz icons, on the stages of the Festival this year,” said Chris Collins, president
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