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The economic status of the city of Detroit is turning around thanks to Black homeowners.
In 2022, the city saw more homeowners than renters for the first time in 10 years, and data from Detroit Future City shows that’s because Black potential homebuyers are making those purchases happen. The report shows an 188% increase in mortgage applications between 2012 and 2021—an increase from less than 4,000 to more than 10,000. Analysts say the application increase reflects neighborhood investments and homebuyer initiatives following the City of Detroit’s 2013 bankruptcy.
Certain parts of the city have seen more new neighbors than others. Communities adjacent to the city, like Warren and Eastpointe, saw a growth of 200% in home purchase loan applications from potential Black homebuyers between those years. Other towns further away, such as Romulus and Clinton Township, are included on the list of new go-to towns for new homeowners. Some of the homeowners were born and raised in the Motor City.
Natives like Jelani Bayi stayed true to their home base after getting both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees. “I love my city. I love living in Detroit. I love the culture, and I love how Black my city is,” Bayi told Bridge Detroit. “I love how we’re improving and enhancing.” After experiencing the drastic rent increase in downtown Detroit and the Southfield community, Bayi decided to purchase a home. He looked for a spacious, well-maintained property in a safe neighborhood with access to quality grocery stores, schools, and services.
His realtor, Brittany Gardner of EXP Realty, says it was easy to find her client the perfect home—a four-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bath home for $275,000—now that things are on the come-up around the city. The partnerships formed to create incentive programs and long-term investments helped to bring Detroit’s Black middle-class back to the surface. “It’s the opportunity of equity, the opportunity of space, and the development of Detroit as well as the new conditions that they have for lending,” Gardener said.
As descendants of enslaved Africans, the word “freedom” stirs up a lot of emotions. Our ancestors knew a life of hard work and sacrifice. Freedom to them meant dreaming of a future for themselves and their descendants where rest, joy, and pleasure was a part of their daily routines.
Juneteenth, which marks the end of slavery in the United States, gives us space to honor and celebrate our ancestors’ strength and contributions to our survival. Our deceased loved ones endured hardship and still imagined living in a world where pleasure was our collective reality.
The concept of freedom includes more than just the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint. There’s also joy and pleasure wrapped up in being free, too. What’s the point of freedom if we ain’t enjoying ourselves, too?
This month, take the time to explore what freedom looks like for you. Imagine what freedom looks like to you outside of entrepreneurship and financial commitments. Are you taking time to celebrate yourself? Are you engaging in things that bring you happiness and pleasure? Let this month’s horoscopes be your guide to leaning into the pleasure you deserve.
Aries (March 21-April 20)
Don’t you think it’s about damn time you had a little fun? You deserve it, beloved. Your dedication to your business and your community is impeccable! BUT what about your dedication to yourself? Your joy? Your rest? Do you know that you don’t always have to work to deserve some self-care? July is begging you to go out and have some fun. Spend some time with yourself that isn’t related to business needs.
Taurus (April 20-May 21)
Stop! Do NOT plan that trip. As much as you would like to be somewhere far away, you’re just avoiding the real problem. Vacation isn’t going to solve it. You have to be honest with yourself about what is making you unhappy. You have to sit down and face the truth, Taurus. Ask yourself, in what ways am I hindering my ability to grow? This could be spiritually, emotionally, or even with the decisions you are making around your business. Why are you avoiding working on yourself?
Gemini (May 21-June 21)
You’re not where you want to be. Pay attention to how you feel in the environments you are in. Do you feel supported? Do you feel like you can trust who you are around? It’s not your fear that’s making you feel that way, it’s your intuition. Listen to what it is saying. Time to move on. Don’t make things work that ain’t working.
Cancer (June 21-July 23)
If you want a soft life, you have got to take care of yourself. Taking care of yourself, Cancer, looks like knowing when to let things go. Can you actually do that? You are tired because you are wearing too many hats and in charge of too many projects. Everyone loves a supporter but not a micromanager. Which are you? Take some things off of your workload and it will still get done. You need the rest, boo. Did you hear me? You need to rest, boo.
Leo (July 23-August 23)
Some things are falling out of alignment. Are you going to let them go or hold on? Your core values no longer match the commitments you have made to others. As we grow, our needs start to change. You are longing for a community of like-minded people. You want connection, not obligation. You have permission to be this new version of yourself, and that requires letting things not for you fall away.
Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 23)
You need to find time to be alone.The question isn’t should you take time off, but instead how can you step away without everything falling apart when you do? Sweet Virgo, you are strategic. Don’t just make a business plan, make a very good damn plan. You need this time alone to restore and renew yourself.
Libra ( Sept. 23-Oct. 23)
Have you imagined a different reality for yourself, Libra? Maybe you’ve been feeling out of business balance lately because your needs have changed. It’s time to experiment and create new ways to support yourself. You don’t have to continue operating in ways that don’t serve you anymore.
Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22)
You don’t belong at that table. That table is raggedy and on its last leg. Scorpio, you are talented at telling the truth. If things are not a good fit, let people know the absolute truth. The reason you don’t belong at that table has nothing to do with your skill, experiences, and voice. You know when something isn’t genuine. Aligning yourself with that project would go against what your gut is telling you. Tell them no when they ask you to join them.
Sagittarius (Nov. 23-Dec. 22)
What you need right now, Sagittarius, is the courage to change. You need to give yourself permission to be openly curious. We learn new things about ourselves when we allow ourselves the space for exploration and curiosity. If you want to invite more joy and pleasure into your life, you need to make changes. Allow yourself to be curious.
Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20)
Fill your schedule up with as much rest and pleasure as you can this month. There are so many opportunities and who says you can’t do all of them? Don’t worry too much about spending too much time out with friends. You’ve worked hard this year and deserve a break. Go ahead and plan a day or three away from the office to just lay in bed.
Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19)
Stop being hesitant. If it brings you joy, you should do it. You’re in the way of what could bless you. Did you hear me? You are in the way of your blessing. Stop being hesitant to move toward what you want. Your anxiety is getting in the way. If you want to go and do a thing, go out and do a thing. Doing it is the only way to know if you’ll like it. Go do it.
Pisces (Feb. 19-March 21)
Get ready for an unexpected opportunity. If you can dream it—it can be a reality. Have you ever sat down and made a vision board for yourself? This month write down your wildest dreams and hopes for yourself. It might seem unrealistic, but miracles happen all the time. Something good is going to happy for you, you just have to believe it to be true.
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It’s been a busy time for Marvel’s fan-favorite hero Ms. Marvel. Ms. Marvel joined the world of live-action in her own MCU Disney+ series, Ms. Marvel. Iman Vellani plays Ms. Marvel in the MCU. And Vellani’s Ms. Marvel is also getting ready to make her big-screen MCU debut in The Marvels, the Captain Marvel sequel coming in November. Meanwhile, in the world of Marvel Comics, Ms. Marvel recently died, sacrificing herself for the world in Amazing Spider-Man #26. This Marvel Comics death did not sit well with fans, though, and there was great protest on Ms. Marvel’s behalf. But death is often not permanent in Marvel’s comics, and Kamala Khan will be back.
In a delightful turn of events, the MCU’s Ms. Marvel Iman Vellani will actually be the one to write Kamala Khan’s return to Marvel Comics in Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant. This time Ms. Marvel will join a new team, becoming a member of the X-Men.
The MCU’s Ms. Marvel Iman Vellani Will Write a Ms. Marvel Comic for Marvel Comics
That’s a lot to unpack. First—we absolutely love that Iman Vellani will write this new Ms. Marvel comic for Marvel Comics alongside Sabir Pirzada. Vellani shared with Entertainment Weekly via Marvel’s website, “This was way scarier than joining the MCU for me… Those projects feel like they live in their own dimension, so I guess I can separate myself easier. But you can hold a comic book! I’ve never written anything before in my entire life, but I have read many comics, so I just wrote what I would want to read. I was given a very professional tool to write what is essentially my own fan fiction.”
We feel it’s likely that no one loves the character of Ms. Marvel more than Iman Vellani, so it’s safe to say she and the story are in good hands. Vellani herself is also known to be a huge Marvel fan. Pirzada shares of making the Ms. Marvel comic, “It was actually a very humbling experience to work with Iman [Vellani], because she knows her comics even better than I do, and that is saying something… She was throwing out references to specific comics that came out before either of us were born. She has a very great eye for what makes for a good sequence on the page as drawn by an artist. It was very impressive to me to see her throw out all these references to different artists that she’s been following through the years.”
Ms. Marvel Will Join the X-Men in Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant
Next up, we can’t wait to see Ms. Marvel join the X-Men. Ms. Marvel has been part of many Marvel Comics teams, like the Avengers and the Inhumans. But this marks the first-time Ms. Marvel will join up with the X-Men. We feel that will make for an excellent adventure, guarenteed. This crossover also makes us think more about what might happen in live-action. The X-Men will join the MCU sooner or later—if Wolverine’s yellow Deadpool 3 suit is any indicator. Maybe we’ll see Ms. Marvel as a member of the MCU X-Men team when it arrives; there will be Marvel Comics precedence now, after all.
Vellani shares more about this Ms. Marvel change in the Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant comics, noting. “I want to make it very, very clear that we are not reconning her Inhuman origin. That’s a part of Kamala’s identity that Marvel editorial and myself would very much like to keep and protect… Our book will absolutely reflect all those core themes of identity that the Ms. Marvel comics have consistently explored — only now there’s a whole new label that Kamala has to learn to accept. It’s going to be pretty crazy.”
More About Iman Vellani’s Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant: Synopsis, Release Date, and X-Men Costume
In addition, Marvel has revealed a synopsis of Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant. It reads:
After being brought back via Krakoan Resurrection Technology, Kamala is shocked to learn she is mutant. But before she has a chance to come to terms with this revelation, the catastrophic FALL OF X will throw her world into chaos…and a secret mission on behalf of the X-Men.
Ms. Marvel will also receive a brand new X-Men costume in Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant. This suit comes from “superstar artist Jamie McKelvie, who designed Carol Danvers’ iconic Captain Marvel suit and Kamala’s original Ms. Marvel look in the comics.”
Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant will be a four-issue limited series co-written by Iman Vellani and Sabir Pirzada. The new Ms. Marvel comic will be drawn by artists Carlos Gómez and Adam Gorham. Covers will be drawn by Sara Pichelli. Ms. Marvel: New Mutant #1 will go on sale August 30.
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