Detroit, MI

Don’t Call It a Comeback for Detroit

Published

2 years ago

May 27, 2024

The Detroit Lions have not won a championship since 1957. That same year, Detroit’s population grew for the last time—until last year. The Lions still haven’t won the Super Bowl, but they’re gaining momentum. And, for the first time since 1957, Detroit’s population is growing.

The increase was modest; the U.S. Census Bureau reported a 1,852-person bump in the Motor City’s ranks. Still, that’s more than can be said for cities like Baltimore, Philadelphia, Chicago, and New Orleans, where populations declined over the same period. Whether Detroit’s growth is a one-off or the beginning of the comeback often forecasted but never imminent, only time will tell. Detroit will have to prove itself capable of overcoming the factors that led to its demise.

Founded by French fur traders and missionaries, Detroit has long been subject to demographic change. The once-small city was a bargaining chip for great powers through the latter half of the 18th century, traded from French to British to American hands, often with incursions from regional Native American tribes. Located along the waterway connecting Lake Huron to Lake Erie, Detroit was well-positioned for the growth of the young nation’s industry.

Over the next century, European immigrants came to Detroit, mostly from Poland, Ireland, and Germany. Unlike residents of most major American cities, Detroit’s citizens lived mainly in single-family homes rather than tenements or row houses—immigrants included. But, as was common, immigrants settled in ethnically homogeneous neighborhoods, giving rise to Poletown, Germantown, and Greektown within the city limits.

When Henry Ford transformed Detroit into Motor City, he hired factory workers from among the city’s immigrant population, attracting labor with the generous $5 workday. But the growth of Ford Motor Company soon outpaced the growth of Detroit’s immigrant population. The automobile industry needed more factory workers, but fewer Europeans were moving to the city due to several restrictive immigration bills in the 1920s. Looking for workers domestically, Ford began hiring black Americans who had moved north in search of work and a reprieve from the Jim Crow South.

Ford’s continued expansion would not just change Detroit economically but demographically, culturally, and geographically. By 1930, Detroit’s black population grew 25-fold to 150,000. Like European immigrants before them, black Americans lived in ethnically homogeneous neighborhoods in the city.

And as both money and workers poured into Detroit, rapid industrialization heightened racial tensions in the city. Searching for available land and lower prices, companies began building new factories on the outskirts of Detroit. And as companies moved out of downtown, so did their employees. A 1932 population survey concluded that “the outward expansion of the city has pushed suburban development farther and farther away from the down-town section. As a result…Detroit is deteriorating within the heart of the city itself.”

But the deterioration was slow—for a while, at least. Detroit residents moved to subdivisions on the city’s outskirts, many of which advertised themselves as havens from the city’s ethnic integration. Some new neighborhoods offered buyers assurance that, “ten years from today, the neighborhood will be just as desirable as it is today,” not so subtly hinting at race occupancy restrictions for the new developments.

Property owners in Detroit were concerned about the same thing. Those who didn’t, or couldn’t afford to, move away became wary of fluctuations in property value. With the financial disaster of the Great Depression still in recent memory, white, working-class homeowners were skeptical of anything that could jeopardize their property value—including racial integration. Where suburban homeowners had recourse to realtors, urban homeowners often took matters into their own hands, heightening racial tensions.

By 1957, more people were leaving Detroit than were moving in, and the black population remained fairly concentrated in central neighborhoods. Then, a decade later, came the summer of rage.

Of the 158 race riots that exploded in cities across America during the summer of 1967, Detroit’s riots were the bloodiest. Over five days, 43 people were injured, 7,2000 arrested, and more than 2,500 buildings were looted or destroyed. Michigan’s governor sent in the

The hemorrhage of white residents to the suburbs turned into abject flight. In 1967, 47,000 people left Detroit, headed for the suburbs. The following year, 80,000 people left. In the next decade, Detroit public schools saw a 74 percent decrease in the number of white students enrolled. Following white flight, Detroit became a majority-black city.

As Detroit’s population plummeted, neighborhoods were abandoned, and once-bustling subdivisions became blighted. Crime spiked, heroin use grew, and gun violence became commonplace. For decades, Detroit went up in flames every Halloween when arsonists torched hundreds of homes on “Devil’s Night,” as it became known.

By the time deindustrialization created the Rust Belt, Detroit had already fallen. Ironically, the very industry that built the city had also served as a vehicle for displacement and inflamed racial conflict.

As the city’s demographics shifted, so too did its politics. Activists looked to profit from stoking racial tensions, like lawyer and black labor organizer Kenneth Cockrel Sr. In one case, Cockrel was able to convince a jury that his defendant — who had taken an M-1 carbine to his shift at a Chrysler plant and killed two foremen and a fellow worker — was “not guilty by reason of insanity as a result of racism and conditions inside the plant.” As Bill McGraw wrote in the Detroit Free Press, “With such unlikely victories, much of white Detroit was incredulous — and angry — that black radicals were overthrowing the old order downtown.”

In 1973, Coleman Young, a former black radical, ran for mayor against police commissioner John Nichols. Young won the election by three points, supported by the majority of black voters but only 10 percent of white voters.

As time went on, white residents weren’t the only ones who left Detroit. From 2000 to 2020, Detroit lost a third of its black population, undergoing the greatest loss of black residents in any American city. In 2010, 82 percent of Detroiters were black—the highest ratio in the nation—compared to 77 percent today.

Detroiters left, but their houses still stood, creating long stretches of neighborhood blight. Houses in the city sold for as little as $100 in 2011. Mayor Mike Duggan has knocked down over 25,000 blighted houses, aiming for a goal of “next to zero” abandoned homes by the end of next year.

Since 2013, when Duggan first ran for mayor, he claimed that Detroit would gain population under his leadership. Whether he can sustain the growth—or ameliorate frustrated Detroiters who accuse investors of racist gentrification—is another question. As small numbers of white residents return to the city, some black Detroiters feel displaced by new commercial and residential investments. Some are still resentful that white flight to the suburbs crippled Detroit’s tax base, throwing the city into decades of poverty and underfunded resources.

But white people certainly aren’t the only ones moving to Detroit. As mayor, Duggan established an office of immigrant affairs headed up by Fayrouz Saad, who was tapped by Governor Gretchen Whitmer to run Michigan’s immigration policy. Saad’s department administers Whitmer’s Newcomer Rental Subsidy program, which provides up to $500 a month in rental assistance for immigrants and refugees in hopes of reversing Michigan’s decline in population. Program applications can be completed in English, Arabic, Dari, Haitian Creole, Kinyarwanda, Pashto, Spanish, and Ukrainian.

In the years since white flight, Detroit has experienced a new wave of immigration. Immigrants from Middle Eastern countries have flocked to the region in recent years, giving the Detroit metro area the largest Muslim population in the nation. Dearborn, which lies just outside of the Detroit city limits, recently became America’s first majority-Muslim city.

Inside Detroit, too, Arab-Americans have moved into the neighborhoods founded by European immigrants. For years, Polish-Americans lived in Hamtramck, creating a small enclave of Polish culture. In 2021, however, Hamtramck elected a completely Muslim city council, and Amer Ghalib became the first mayor of Hamtramck in 100 years without Polish heritage.

Demographic change has long been the story of Detroit, but the last seventy years have shown the perils of that change. An increase in population could be the harbinger of urban renewal, though it’s ultimately more likely to bring about heightened ethnic tensions. And if Dearborn and Hamtramck are indicators, the future of Detroit could be shaped less by black-white dynamics and more by the burgeoning conflict between Americans and anti-western values.

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Detroit, MI

Terrion Arnold ‘maintains complete innocence’ in kidnapping, theft case

Published

8 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

Terrion Arnold ‘maintains complete innocence’ in kidnapping, theft case

I represent Mr. Terrion Arnold in connection with an incident that allegedly occurred on February 4, 2026, in Tampa, Florida, which resulted in the arrest of five individuals on serious felony charges.

To be clear, Mr. Arnold had no involvement whatsoever in the activities that led to those arrests. He did not participate in, nor was he present for, any conduct related to the alleged offenses. There is no evidence in police reports, text messages, or witness statements that implicates Mr. Arnold in any way.

In fact, after direct communication with the lead prosecutor, it has been confirmed that no charges have been filed against Mr. Arnold in connection with this matter.

Recent media coverage has referenced an Order issued by Circuit Judge J. Logan Murphy, which improperly suggests Mr. Arnold’s involvement in the incident. That same Order also incorrectly identifies Ms. Devalle as Mr. Arnold’s girlfriend. Both assertions are false, misleading, and entirely unsupported by the record.

Mr. Arnold categorically denies these unfounded claims and maintains his complete innocence. He was not involved in the crimes allegedly committed on February 4, 2026, in Tampa, Florida.

We strongly urge members of the media to refrain from perpetuating inaccurate or speculative narratives. The facts are clear, and they do not support any claim of wrongdoing by Mr. Arnold.

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Detroit, MI

Robert ‘Fish’ Jenkins helped Detroit students soar in sports and life

Published

20 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

Robert ‘Fish’ Jenkins helped Detroit students soar in sports and life

There was a time when many Historical Black Colleges had swimming teams. The late Robert ‘Fish’ Jenkins benefited from that era and then he spent much of his adult life lifting up youths in Detroit.

Robert ‘Fish’ Jenkins Sr. was a longtime Detroit educator and coach who created opportunities for young people.
Jenkins led teams to 24 championships in less common sports like swimming, golf, and soccer.
He mentored countless students who went on to become community leaders, doctors, and educators.

The celebration of Black History Month throughout February provides an opportunity to share stories about Detroiters that have positively impacted the lives of others in a variety of ways.

And included among those stories that have been shared this month is a “Fish” story that is unique, without exaggeration.

That is because this story is about the late Robert “Fish” Jenkins Sr., a longtime Detroit educator and a groundbreaking coach, whose superpower was his ability to create life-changing opportunities for young people in unconventional spaces.

In 1969, Jenkins arrived at Detroit’s Northern High School as a physical education teacher and coach. During Northern’s heyday, the high school, formerly located on Woodward Avenue at Owen in the city’s North End, produced a host of high-profile sports stars, including basketball greats Bill Buntin — a two-time All-American center at the University of Michigan during the 1960s — and Derrick Coleman — the first overall pick in the 1990 NBA draft. And record-breaking sprinter Marshall Dill, Track & Field News’ High School Athlete of the Year in 1971, who set world records in the 300-yard dash while running for Michigan State University.

However, Jenkins specialized in coaching sports that were a little less popular among young people in Detroit, particularly Black students. Jenkins coached teams at Northern — and for one year at East English Village Preparatory Academy after he retired from teaching in 2001 — to 24 Detroit Public School League championships in swimming, golf and soccer.

“No matter what the sport was, he had the formula to make a team a champion,” Robert Jenkins Jr. said about his father, who died on Jan. 14 at the age 86.

“But more than that, my father had a profound impact on the minds of every student he touched. He brought golf, and all the lessons golf teaches, to the North End. And, in the summer, he had members of the swim team teach the younger kids in the neighborhood how to swim, which taught his swim team members how to give back to the community.”

During the evening of Feb. 22, Robert Jenkins Jr. took pride in sharing stories about young people who were coached and mentored by his father across multiple decades that went on to become “doctors, educators, business leaders, and parents” that have made positive contributions to the city of Detroit.

Robert Jenkins Jr. also described some of the friendly interactions that his dad had with notable people like U.S. Olympic sprint champion Wilma Rudolph and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer Dick Barnett at Tennessee State University, where the elder Jenkins received the education and training that he needed to teach and coach student-athletes in Detroit.

But earlier that day, an equally compelling “Fish” story was told by another community member.

“Mr. Jenkins was a very important person in my life and he is one of the reasons why I have always tried to do my part when it comes to providing opportunities for young people in our city,” said Gary Peterson, who has coached young swimmers in Detroit for 47 years, including at Detroit’s King High School, where he coaches boys and girls swimmers today.

Long before Peterson coached high school swimmers — and youth swimmers of virtually all ages when he was a full-time swimming instructor for the city of Detroit’s Recreation Department — Peterson was on the swim team at King High School (Class of 1974), when Robert Jenkins Sr. came into his life.

“There were coaches at other schools that helped young swimmers that wanted to improve and go to another level, and Mr. Jenkins was one of those coaches,” said Peterson, who was coached at King High School by Clyde James, a lifelong friend and teammate of Jenkins on the Tennessee State University swimming team during the late 1950s and early 1960s, when they brought national attention to the school’s swimming program.

“Mr. Jenkins would make his pool at Northern available to students from other schools that wanted to get in extra practice. Then, as I got closer to going to college, Mr. Jenkins was the person who introduced me to the colleges that were recruiting Black high school swimmers.

“At that time, there were more than 20 HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) that had competitive swimming programs. Today, there is only one (Howard University in Washington, DC). But back then, Mr. Jenkins wanted to make sure we had the opportunities and exposure, which included sending a small group of us to South Carolina State for a recruiting trip.

“Afterwards, Mr. Jenkins even came over to King from Northern to present me with my scholarship to South Carolina State, while I was sitting in a King classroom. I couldn’t believe it and I was ecstatic, but everything that he did for me and other young swimmers in the city he did so willingly. And that’s what I always thought I was supposed to do as a coach.”

Peterson said he would do even more with Jenkins when Peterson returned to Detroit from Orangeburg, South Carolina, after graduating from college.

“In the late 1980s, a team I was coaching at Johnson Recreation Center and Mr. Jenkins’ team at Northern, traveled to Washington DC as one team in February to compete in the Black History Invitational Swim Meet. And that tradition of Detroit competing as one team at that meet continued every year until COVID,” said Peterson, who also recalled that Jenkins coached softball and even junior varsity football for a time, in addition to swimming, golf and soccer.

“Just as Mr. Jenkins thought it was critical for us to come together and take our kids to DC for that swim meet because it was the biggest showcase for Black swimmers, he wanted all the young people he coached to have good training and exposure. And in my case, as the son of sharecroppers, I can say that Mr. Jenkins inspired me as well, as a swimmer and a coach.”

Every time Peterson walks into King High to coach the current group of swimmers at the school, he said he is reminded of Jenkins and other important people that paved the way for Black swimmers in Detroit.

For example, in 2023, the natatorium at King was rededicated as the Clyde James Natatorium by the Detroit Public Schools Community District. Peterson says the renaming was not only a salute to James, who was a finalist in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Championships in the 100-yard butterfly during the 1960-61 season while swimming for Tennessee State, but also a tribute to the fabled swimming program that was once housed at the Brewster Recreation Center, which helped to develop James, Jenkins and many other Detroit swimmers that competed nationally. Brewster’s early swimming program was led by the legendary Clarence Gatliff, an all-city swimmer at Cass Tech during the 1920s.

Another pleasant reminder of the history and evolution of Black swimmers in Detroit that Peterson sees when inside King High is 54-year-old Robert Jenkins Jr., an educator like his father, who is teaching personal finance this school year at King and hopes to honor his father’s legacy this summer by offering a swimming and golf program to students.

“I want to make sure that Detroiters understand my father’s legacy,” said Jenkins, a 1989 graduate of Northern High School, who explained that his father and mother (Norma Jean Jenkins) taught him and his sister (Dr. Marlo Rencher) that “we don’t half do anything.”

And that includes community service.

“My father was a servant leader and he would offer encouragement to any young person he was around, not just the students he coached. And paying it (that support) forward was a lesson he always taught in the process.”

Scott Talley is a native Detroiter, a proud product of Detroit Public Schools and a lifelong lover of Detroit culture in its diverse forms. In his second tour with the Free Press, which he grew up reading as a child, he is excited and humbled to cover the city’s neighborhoods and the many interesting people who define its various communities. Contact him at stalley@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @STalleyfreep. Read more of Scott’s stories at www.freep.com/mosaic/detroit-is/. Please help us grow great community-focused journalism by becoming a subscriber.

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Detroit, MI

Fox 2 Detroit anchor Amy Andrews updates viewers on her medical leave

Published

1 day ago

February 26, 2026

Press Room

Fox 2 Detroit anchor Amy Andrews updates viewers on her medical leave

Amy Andrews posted on Instagram that for now, “my focus is following my doctors’ guidance so that I can return safely and consistently” to work.
Andrews told viewers, “I miss our mornings together more than I can say.”

Fox 2 Detroit (WJBK-TV) morning news anchor Amy Andrews took to social media on Thursday, Feb. 26, to share with viewers why she has been off the air again.

Andrews posted on Instagram that she is on a “physician-directed medical leave” as she continues treatment for dysautonomia, which she described as “a disorder of the autonomic nervous system that affects things like heart rate, blood pressure, and circulation.”

Wrote Andrews, “For me, it can cause significant dizziness, vision changes, brain fog, and sudden drops in blood pressure, making live television unsafe until it’s properly stabilized.”

According to the Dysautonomia Project, a nonprofit collaborative effort to provide education on the condition, an estimated 70 million people across the globe have some form of dysfunction to the autonomic system that regulates “functions that are automatic in nature such as heart rate, blood pressure, digestion, excretion, perspiration, temperature regulation, pupil dilation, circulation, and respiration” and more.

“Often dysautonomias are invisible illnesses. Patients may not look sick, and yet they have symptoms that make it difficult to work, go to school, and perform activities of daily living,” the collaborative effort says.

Andrews explained on her post that she doesn’t take her decision to step back from work lightly “I love what I do, and I love serving this community. Right now, my focus is following my doctors’ guidance so that I can return safely and consistently.”

She added, “I miss our mornings together more than I can say. Please know I am working hard, I am not giving up, and my goal is to return as soon as I am medically able. Thank you for the incredible support so many of you have shown me over the years. It means everything.”

Andrews received several supportive comments to her posting, including from Local 4 News (WDIV-TV) anchors Rhonda Walker, Karen Drew and Jason Colthorp.

“From your friends and competitors across town: Get well soon. Hope to look up and see your face soon,,” wrote Colthorp.

Andrews, who is an anchor of “Fox 2 News Mornings,” returned to work in September 2025 after an extended absence for what she said at the time on social media were health issues, describing symptoms like “extreme dizziness, balance issues, brain fog and blurred vision.”

Before that, in July 2025, she wrote online to thank staffers at the Michigan Institute for Neurological Disorders (which has several locations in metro Detroit) for taking “amazing” care of her and wrote shortly afterward in August 2025: “My neurologist was able to rule out what would’ve been a devastating diagnosis! … However, that means I move on to different specialists and different tests until we figure this out.”

Andrews has been open about her medical challenges in the past and is also an advocate for mental health awareness. Through social media, she revealed in 2022 and 2024 that she had taken medical leaves to deal with depression and anxiety.In 2021, she underwent back surgery to remove herniated disc fragments in her lower back after an injury suffered during a vacation in Florida.Andrews is an alum of Indiana University, Oakland University and the Specs Howard School of Media Arts. She worked at TV stations in Colorado, Nevada, California and the Flint and Saginaw market before joining Fox 2 Detroit in 2011.

She is involved with many community causes including Gleaners Community Food Bank, C.A.T.C.H Children’s Charity, the Crohn’s Colitis Foundation of America, Habitat for Humanity, the American Heart Association and Angels of Hope, according to her Fox 2 Detroit biography.Contact Detroit Free Press pop culture critic Julie Hinds at jhinds@freepress.com.

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