Today on Stateside, amidst a rise in hate crimes against both Jews and Muslims in the world, leaders of both faith communities in Southeast Michigan are coming together to find common ground in fighting against that hate. Plus, why the state of Michigan once had a registry of pro-wrestlers like Andre the Giant and Bruno Sammartino.
Muslim and Jewish leaders in SE Michigan stand together to combat rise in hate
- Both Jewish and Muslim houses of worship have become scenes of violent acts of terrorism in recent months. In light of the increasing violence and hate, Muslim and Jewish community leaders in Southeast Michigan are working together to fight that hate.
- David Kurzmann is the executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council and the American Jewish Committee (AJC). Dr. Muzammil Ahmed is an executive board member of the Michigan Muslim Community Council. They join Stateside to talk about their work to form a Muslim Jewish Advisory Council for the region.
Government headlock: When the state of Michigan required pro-wrestlers to register as “athletes”
- It's now commonly accepted that professional wrestling is simply entertainment. But did you know that for decades, Michigan required professional wrestlers to register with the state as athletes? And the Michigan History Center has all those registrations archived.
- Joining Stateside to talk about how the state “regulated” the professional wrestling industry for decades is WCSX radio personality, and ringside manager for many independent wrestling events across Michigan, Shaffee Abraham, and state archvist at the Michigan History Center Mark Harvey.
Coloring book for girls in foster care aims to let them know they’re not alone
- Artist and illustrator Kim Bonner has designed something especially for girls who are in foster care. It’s written for middle and high school girls who may be wrestling with self-doubt, and wondering where they belong. It's a workbook titled Courageous Coloring.
- We talk to Kim Bonner, who lives in Fenton, about what inspired her to create the book, and how she’s getting it into the hands of girls in the foster care system.
Mechanical boxes become a gallery of prominent American women in Grand Rapids
- Every city, every town has those bulky metal containers that house things like traffic signal controls or electrical controls. We walk right past these boxes without even seeing them. That will no longer be the case in Grand Rapids, thanks to a public art project inspired by the bestselling book Rad American Women A-Z by Kate Schatz that illustrates outstanding women, one for every letter of the alphabet.
- Hannah Berry is an artist and the owner of the Lions and Rabbits Gallery. We talk to her about the project and what she hopes people get out of seeing so many prominent women featured in public spaces in the city.
Photographer who captured RFK’s Detroit campaign reunites with girl in the crowd 51 years later
- In May 1968, Michigan Daily student photographer snapped a photo of Robert F. Kennedy shaking the hand of a young African-American girl in Detroit. Three weeks later, Kennedy was assassinated. When the photo resurfaced half a century later, it brought together the photographer and little girl in his photo together.
- We talk to that photographer, Andy Sacks, and the girl in the photo, Michigan Medicine nurse Sybil Martin, about what they remember about the day, and how they reconnected more than 50 years after the photo was taken.
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