By Cod Yarbrough, Contributing Writer
The fight for Michigan is in high gear. Once considered part of “The Blue Wall” for its long trend of supporting the Democrats, Michigan recently has become one of the most crucial battleground states for the presidential election. Now with the voting day quickly approaching, both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are intensely campaigning in Michigan in hopes of tipping the scales. However, if either side wishes to claim victory in this state, they first have to go through Detroit.
The northern Black Mecca of Detroit is well known in the political world as a must-have for any presidential hopeful. But the Democrats and Republicans are fighting two very different battles when they campaign in the Motor City. Trump’s visits to Black churches and sit-downs with Black journalists are meant to sway African American voters to his side. Meanwhile, whenever Harris visits the city her main message to the crowd of supporters and undecided attendees is to “Get out and vote!”
Despite the rumors of Black people (specifically Black men) falling for Trump’s rhetoric en masse, Harris and her Democratic allies seem convinced that every Black vote is a vote they can count on. It’s no wonder then why Harris was here in the city encouraging Black people to cast their ballots during the first day of early voting while Trump, on the other hand, was in Pennsylvania describing a steamy shower scene featuring Arnold Palmer. The primary issue for the left isn’t, “How do we get Black people to vote for Harris?” it’s “How do we get Black people to the polls?”
This mindset leads to the creation of events like the Pistonsland: What Up Doe festival. Held during the start of early voting in Detroit, Pistonsland was a free concert held in the streets of Midtown Detroit featuring Skilla Baby, Tay B, and Lil Baby.
On paper, the idea of having the local basketball team throw a rap concert to get Black people to vote sounds like the perfect fuel for national outrage. But while you can argue against the method, you can’t argue against the results. About 800 of the mostly young Black crowd voted early on the day of the festival, making up a huge portion of the 1,890 votes cast that day. And when you look at the way the festival was laid out, this number becomes much less surprising.
If you simply wanted to go to the concert and have a good time, the free ticket you received in your email was all that you needed. But if you wanted to sit down in the shade any time during the 7-hour event, you needed access to a guarded VIP area with its hundreds of tables and chairs. Of course, the only way to obtain a VIP pass was to vote early at a station that just so happened to be only a few feet away from the VIP area. It was a slick setup, but it worked. Hundreds of registered Detroit voters cast their ballots and the entire event went off without an incident.
“It’s nice to see everybody out here. Not on B.S. Just having a good time” said one attendee who had just finished voting at the festival. “I usually vote anyway, but I think that this’ll help a lot of other people vote. I think they should keep this kinda thing going for sure. It puts the city in a good light and give the people something positive to focus on.”
Lil Baby and the others weren’t the only stars to perform in front of Detroit voters however. A few days later as part of his “Sing Your Song! As We Fix Our Nation’s Broken Heart!” tour, Stevie Wonder made a rare public appearance at the Little Cesar’s Arena. Accompanied by a world-class band, his children, and an unrivaled discography, the legendary Motown singer and Michigan native stopped by his old stomping grounds with the same goal as the creators of the Pistonsland festival. Get people to vote.
“The idea of doing this tour was based on my seeing how disconnected we are as a nation,” He explained during one of his stops in the city, “and we gotta fix that…The most important thing is I believe we can. It takes coming together and doing what we need to do, not just talking about it but doing it and being about it. I just have so much confidence in just the city and the people who can make a difference”
Despite some audio issues, the sold-out show was a night to remember. Wonder’s set played like a “best of” album, featuring several of his classics such as, Do I Do, My Eyes Don’t Cry, Master Blaster (Jammin’), Another Star, and many others. Between songs, he constantly reminded the crowd to vote in the upcoming election, emphasizing the importance of making sure that Black voices are heard on November 5th. Of course, like many other “get out and vote” organizers, Wonder’s efforts are far from non-partisan. Despite being a very apolitical and unifying figure for most of his career, he has made it clear over the past few years that he is very anti-Trump.
He even went as far as to outright speak out against Trump during his tour, stating, “I just gotta say for the record, I don’t like nobody talking bad about Detroit,” and “All this has gotta stop…Somebody says ‘great again.’ Let’s make America LOVE again…We got to do this together.”
Events like Pistonsland and Stevie Wonder’s tour might be non-partisan officially, but getting as many Black people as possible into the voting booth falls perfectly into the Democrats’ plan for success. Just like in 2020, Black voter turnout in Detroit could be the deciding factor in Michigan coming up for Harris or Trump. Even though Black people aren’t a monolith, our votes for the past 50+ years have been reliably left leaning. Of all straight-ticket votes in Detroit during the last presidential election94% were for the Democrats. And despite the national panic over Black men leaning more conservative in recent years, Black men are still the No. 1 demographic of men who vote Democrat each election.
Harris and her fellow left-wing organizers understand this and are pulling out all the stops they can to get Black voters to just show up. That’s why early voting events like Pistonsland and voting-themed concerts by Motown legends the likes of Stevie Wonder are so crucial to beating Donald Trump in November. Because when put in a position to choose, Black people both in the city of Detroit and beyond overwhelmingly support progressive candidates every single time.