Dr. Juanita Lyons and Steven Johnson recount how their father, Albert Johnson, founded the Motor City Yacht Club in 1960s Detroit to help foster a black power boating community when other local yacht clubs were exclusively white. Juanita and Steven also share memories of their childhood spent boating, swimming, fishing--living, really, on the Detroit River and the Great Lakes, as well as how this shaped their passionate adulthood relationships with these bodies of water. They also speak to the dramatic changes they have witnessed in boating culture and policing throughout the years (including "river rage"), ultimately calling us to respect and love the water and others who frequent it.

Lissa MacVean is currently a researcher and lecturer at the University of Michigan–Ann Arbor, where she studies the physics of water in lakes, estuaries and marine coastal environments. But before she began her more formal studies of waterways, Lissa actually grew up along the Detroit riverfront in a commune based out of the Episcopal Church of the Messiah, which was dedicated to high-quality, affordable housing, “shared economic lifestyle,” and racial integration. 

In this episode, we explore Lissa’s childhood in the commune, how this connects to her present work studying the physics of bodies of water, and the lasting impact of the now-dissolved Detroit riverfront commune.

City of Detroit Councilmember Gabriela Santiago-Romero discusses how her representation of District 6 stems from her childhood calling to protect the water and fight for justice, from Puerto Vallarta to Detroit. She also addresses how both increased ICE activity along the Detroit River and Detroit's status as a "border city" impacts residents' relationships with the waterfront, especially those of undocumented immigrants. Finally, she details her work with other representatives and local organizations to change policies that have limited vulnerable populations' intimacy with the Detroit River, making different futures--and histories--possible.