Some news: At the end of this week, I’ve decided to leave WDET, after 10 years as host of the station’s morning public affairs show - formerly Detroit Today, now Created Equal, a daily examination of the tensions between inequality and opportunity in America, with a focus on how those issues play out here in Detroit. I’ve made this decision in response to nearly three years of disinvestment by the station in the show, and my work and ideas. That culminated during recent contract negotiations, when the station proposed cutting the show back to once a week, with no full-time staff assigned. The station faces severe financial difficulties and must make difficult decisions about which programming to keep, and support. But the proposed cuts to Created Equal represent, in my judgment, an unsustainable withdrawal of commitment to the show (the station’s most-listened-to local program) and its mission. Budgets are moral documents - statements of our values and priorities, reflections of the things we hold dear and those we see as expendable. WDET has chosen not to give Created Equal what it needs to thrive. The last episode of Created Equal will air on WDET Nov. 22, 2024. I want to thank all my WDET colleagues, present and past, for the honor of working with them through pivotal and tumultuous times - elections, the profound changes unfolding in Detroit, the pandemic. Most of all, I want to thank the broad community of listeners, in Detroit and beyond, who’ve made this last 10 years so meaningful. My goal on radio was always to build a community space where critical issues could be explored, discussed and debated, in civil and constructive ways. We did that - against many odds on a media landscape that is increasingly harsh and reductionist. The work will continue - for now, on other platforms: at BridgeDetroit, the non-profit news and engagement organization I co-founded in 2020; and on DetroitPBS, where I host American Black Journal and am a contributor to One Detroit. My work with Detroit News Editorial Page Editor Nolan Finley at our Great Lakes Civility Project also continues, and Wayne State University Press will publish a book we’ve co-written in spring 2025. I’ve got other work in development, as well, and will continue, of course, to focus on the kind of journalism, engagement and dialogue that I cherish and deeply enjoy.