By Cody Yarbrough, Contributing Writer
Walking into Mama Akua’s Community House for the first time is jarring but in a good way.
On the outside, it doesn’t look like much. In fact, if it wasn’t for the large pan-African sign in the front, most people would assume that it was just another old building slowly decaying in Z8ne (a local nickname for the 48208-zip code pronounced “Zone 8”). But once you step through the front door into the gathering space, your vision is bombarded with images of Black power and intellectualism.
Everywhere your eyes can fall, there are depictions of Black leaders, thinkers, and culture. Yet, the home still finds a way to feel extremely inviting. Seats and tables are readily available throughout the home, Black music fills the place from open till close, and the smell of home-cooked meals invites all who visit to stay for a while. Even without ever hearing about the house or its founder, it’s automatically evident to anyone who walks in that this is a safe space for Black people and a resource for the surrounding community.
Dr. Yusef “Bunchy” Shakur is the founder of Mama Akua’s Community House. Born and raised in Z8ne, he found himself engulfed in street life during his teen years and ultimately was thrown in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. However, it was there in that prison where he would meet his father for the very first time and where he would slowly rewrite his mental, intellectual, and spiritual state of being. By the time he was finally released, Shakur had transformed into a full-blown Black revolutionary with a burning desire to help his people.
The idea of creating a space for his community wasn’t new to Shakur. He had done something similar with a cybercafe that he ran a decade prior. What was different about this project was that he planned to renovate an old house in the area and turn it into a small-scale community center. The house would then serve two purposes, as a resource to the people of Z8ne, and as a form of resistance against the gentrification sweeping the city.
The name is a kind of social rebellion as well. Inspired by the Ghanaian culture of matriarchy and the philosophy of “giving people their flowers while they can still smell them,” Shakur decided to name the house after the still-living Detroit activist as opposed to naming it after some long-gone Black thinker.
Shakur further explained this decision in an interview a few months before the house’s completion. “As a Black man that had been influenced and raised by Black women, and overstanding that relationship, and part of our struggle is against patriarchy and we tend to, whether we realize it or not, especially as a man, uphold patriarchy in many ways. So I’m doing my part in deconstructing that in naming it after a Black woman who exemplifies liberation and exemplifies the values that we want to have to achieve it through transformation.”
The mission of the house is simple: provide resources to the neighborhood and cultivate Afrocentric thought amongst its visitors. According to Shakur himself, the best way to accomplish this is by being whatever the community needs.
“[We fulfill our mission] by being a multi-purpose space. We have the Amy Jo’s Gathering Space for folks to come in interact and engage. he Abigail kitchen where we cook a meal once a month and distribute it to the community. We do movie nights. There’s an after-school program that runs out of here. There’s outdoor events. There’s just a multitude of things that we do. And keep in mind that we’re in a neighborhood that has been under siege by high-level gentrification that’s taken away from the quality of the community and we’re continuing to fight for the quality of the community.”
With the help of other like-minded individuals they call “community partners,” the house is able to offer things like free daycare on Thursdays, F.A.T (Fresh And Tasty) Burger Fridays, where they offer fast and healthy food at a low price, and free community dinners every last Saturday of the month. Wednesdays through Fridays, Mama Akua’s operates like a workspace where anyone can sit down and enjoy a cup of coffee or juice while getting some work done.
Mama Akua’s does much more than feed the hungry, however. In addition to their normal services, the house hosts several classes and seminars put on by community partners monthly. Everything from courses on personal finance to group talks about romantic relationships is hosted in their classroom. Small businesses can set up a table at their “Circulate the Black Dollar” pop-ups and sell they’re products. Several donation drives and giveaways are held throughout the year. Local artist can use their indoor or outdoor stage for their performances.
In many ways, the community partners of Mama Akua’s are just as important as the building itself. The house may have been Shakur’s dream, but it fully belongs to the neighborhood. Not only do the residents of Z8ne benefit from the house, but they contribute to it. From the classes to the donations, Mama Akua’s is for the people, by the people. What they put in they get back both monetarily, and timewise.
“If there’s 10 programs operating out of here, seven of them are with our community partners, and three of them are in-house,” Shakur said. “We truly believe that circulating the dollar, particularly the Black dollar, is not about improving our bottom line. So if you come buy a burger here, there’s a percentage of those funds are going directly back into our community initiatives and our community programs.”
Despite being small, Mama Akua’s Community House is having a big impact on the community it serves. As the threat of gentrification looms larger with every passing day, the house also grows stronger with every person who comes through their doors looking to contribute.
In fact, Shakur and his collaborators are already working on creating a second community house right next to the first and are considering combining the two backyards so that they can host larger outdoor events. Only time will tell if Shakur’s plan to fight gentrification will succeed, and only he knows how many houses he plans to buy and repurpose. Whatever the case may be, two things are for certain: Dr. Yusef Shakur doesn’t plan on going anywhere anytime soon, and the people of Z8ne have his back.
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