Adrienne Maree Brown

The writer on organizing in Detroit, how to combat in-fighting, and smoking dollar bills.

AS TOLD TO PATTY CARNEVALE

Due to COVID-related restrictions, this photoshoot happened entirely via FaceTime.

I moved to Detroit on purpose over a decade ago. I always say that I moved here on purpose because I think a lot of people make the migration the other way, from Detroit to New York, or from Detroit to the Bay Area, both places I lived and worked in before coming here. 

I was first brought here to help a group called Detroit Summer to facilitate change work, and was immediately struck by the way movement was building here. It felt so woven into the community, and there was really brilliant post-apocalyptic thinking. By the time that I came, Detroit had already been through economic downfall. Half the city was a place that people would visit to take pictures of ruins. The population had dropped significantly. Capitalism had abandoned the city for a period of time.