“When I arrived in Detroit in 1984, I thought I had come to another country.” Desiree Cooper remembers discovering a Detroit the national story rarely showed: Black people owning, leading, creating, gathering, and finding joy. Detroit is Different recorded this special Father’s Day event on Sunday, June 21, 2026, at Source Booksellers, celebrating the release of Cooper’s Black Summers, published by Wayne State University Press. Through stories and poems, Black Summers explores generations of Black Detroit summer experiences, tracing Black joy alongside the racial boundaries that shaped who could move, play, and experience summer freely. Cooper, a journalist who wrote for the Metro Times and Detroit Free Press during the 1980s and 1990s, introduces Sarah Elizabeth Ray, a daughter of the Great Migration who challenged segregation on the Boblo Boat and “won at every single level of American court till the US Supreme Court ruled Boblo can no longer withhold admission of Black people,” yet she never boarded the Boblo Boat. Cooper also honors the late Luther Keith through his memories of alley baseball, getting his first glove from Kresge, and growing up in a community that nurtured possibility even when institutions did not. From swimmobiles and Belle Isle to block parties, journalism, Detroit’s Black middle class, and neighborhood self-determination, Cooper reminds us that Black Detroit history cannot be reduced to struggle: “That is not a story of lack. That is a story of victory and ingenuity.” Listen for a Detroit summer where Black joy becomes history worth preserving.

“I didn’t know how poor we were until really much later in life.” Wafa Dinaro came to America from Lebanon at three years old and grew up near Wyoming and Warren in East Dearborn, where Detroit was always part of her world. She remembers going to Focus Hope and experiencing assistance with dignity—an early lesson in what it means for resources to actually reach people who need them. Years later, that understanding would take on new meaning as Dinaro made her way into economic development where she now resides as the Executive Director of New Economy Initiative. During COVID, when small businesses were fighting to stay alive, her work became about getting resources into the hands of entrepreneurs who could not afford to wait. Through Wayne County data, relationships, and direct engagement, she saw how trusted networks often determined who found support and who got left behind. Today, she sees neighborhood economic development happening “one storefront at a time,” connecting small-business survival to economic gardening and generational wealth. “Be curious about people,” Dinaro says—a lesson connecting where she came from to how she helps build what comes next.

“If my cat or you were hanging over a cliff I’m sorry man.” Jeff Horste returns to Detroit is Different with the kind of conversation where comedy becomes cultural criticism before anybody notices the turn. From remembering the Lions’ 0–16 season to breaking down Detroiters, navigating Los Angeles auditions, voiceover work, streaming culture, and the cartoons that shaped generations, Jeff moves between ridiculous jokes and sharp observations about entertainment, representation, and creative life. His lesson from auditioning lands beyond Hollywood: “You just got to do what you can do not worry about it,” especially when chasing perfection can “drive you insane.” Detroit stays present through sports memory, comedy, media, and the inside references outsiders may enjoy without fully understanding. By the time Jeff argues for Speedy Gonzales and asks whether questionable representation can sometimes be more complicated than simply erasing a character, the jokes have opened a deeper question about who gets seen and who decides. Listen for the laughs and stay for how Jeff turns pop culture into an argument worth having.

“I would come down here and tear out the walls and do the demo myself after I got off work from the Bank.” Richard Hosey didn’t enter Detroit development simply moving money—he grabbed a crowbar, sledgehammer and Sawzall and put his own hands on his first building. “I had to get hit in the head with something before I got a hard hat,” Hosey laughs while describing tearing down walls, hauling debris with day workers and transforming a courtyard into one massive makeshift dumpster to save money. That building became the only property he owns completely himself and, as Hosey says, “by far my baby.” In this Detroit is Different conversation, Hosey connects that sweat equity to a journey rooted in Black Detroit family migration, Bates Academy, Renaissance High School, FAMU, Wall Street ambitions, banking and eventually development. His story reveals how education, access to information and understanding finance can become tools for community ownership. Looking toward Detroit’s future, Hosey wants development knowledge shared wider so more Black and Brown developers can enter the game. His vision moves beyond being one of a few: Detroit’s next chapter should have Black ownership everywhere.