The Water Front Tour Opens with a Splash at Marygrove College in Detroit, Michigan, Sept. 26, 2008!

Marygrove College in Detroit, Michigan, was a natural venue for the opening of the 6-month tour of The Water Front throughout the Great Lakes region. “With the recent passage of the Great Lakes Compact and the approaching elections, this couldn’t be timelier” said Sam Finkelstein, the tour organizer, as he introduced the film. Residents from the area gathered in Marygrove College in Detroit, a leader in urban social justice education. “This film shouldn’t just touch you,” said Marian Kramer, who is featured in the film and was at the screening, “it should grab you” – and she gestured as if she was choking. And it did just that, the viewers were grabbed by this film and the subsequent discussions. “How can our water be defined as a product?” asked Lynna Kaucheck of Clean Water Action, as she highlighted the underlying economic and political issues that result in situations such as those we experienced in Highland Park. This screening was a great way to launch this historic tour to over 30 cities!

Marygrove Provost, Dr. Edward Thompson, III was at the screening and in his welcome he reminded the audience that of the three nuns who started the College, one was from Haiti and the school has maintained its commitment to urban education and diversity since then. In fact the college refused to leave Detroit after the 1967 rebellions.

http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/news.html?d=121933
http://www.marygrove.edu/alumni_donors/who_we_are/mg_history/index.html

Photographs of the event were taken by Christian Burkert, an experienced photographer from Hanover, Germany who is working on a project about Detroit.

Sam Finkelstein
September 26, 2008