A few months ago, when Carole Watson realized there was little media attention paid to black-owned businesses in Detroit, she set out not only to create a tour but also to make a statement about being black in the rapidly changing city.
“I just said to myself, ‘I don’t want to hear another story about the renaissance of Detroit and not have it include my people,’” she said. “God has created enough for everybody. So why do we have to work so hard for exposure?”
Detroit is 82.7 percent African-American, according to 2011 U.S. Census figures, the most recent available. Yet if you were to tour the city through the pages and websites of the local and national media, you might get the impression that its business are almost all owned by white people.
A few weeks later, Watson and her collaborators hired a school bus from a black-owned bus company and began Us Too Detroit. Their first tour was in April, and tickets, priced at $20 each, sold out. Their second tour, in May, sold out weeks ahead of time.