- Hi, I'm Christy McDonald, and here's what's ahead this week on "One Detroit."

The transition of power on display in Washington, as Joe Biden is sworn in as the 46th President of the United States.

Contributors, Stephen Henderson and Nolan Finley, on what expectations are ahead, and the future of the Republican party in the State.

Plus, a closer look at extremist groups and security with militia expert, Dr. Amy Cooter.

Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence on impeachment, for former President Trump.

And what students want President Biden, and our country's leaders to work on now.

It's all coming up on "One Detroit."

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The Kresge Foundation, Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan.

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(upbeat music) - Hi there, and welcome to "One Detroit."

I'm Christy McDonald.

Thanks so much for being with me.

We are in another week of history, as Joe Biden becomes the 46th President of the United States.

It was a peaceful transition of power during a global pandemic, but still full of the celebration and promise of a new administration.

Coming up, "One Detroit" contributors, Stephen Henderson and Nolan Finley will talk about the expectations.

Then, the ongoing concern about violence, radicalization and anger from fringe groups over the election that may not be going away anytime soon.

Dr. Amy Cooter on militias.

Plus we'll hear from Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence, from the 14th, talking about impeachment to former President Trump.

And we'll end up with the hopes and thoughts of the next generation, what kids would like to see from the new president and lawmakers.

It's just ahead.

(upbeat music) - Lot to talk about this week, of course, the inauguration in Washington, which was a really amazing display, as always to see the transfer of power and the swearing in of a new president.

But also word out of Lansing, Governor Whitmer is coming up with a large budget and money that she wants to put to towards COVID.

And then also the news that Kwame Kilpatrick's sentence was commuted by former President Trump, and that he will be going free soon.

And of all of those things, Stephen, you say that that got the most traction of people that you were talking about today.

- Oh my goodness.

When we opened the phones on the radio show, on WDET, no one wanted to talk about inauguration.

Everybody wanted to talk about Kwame, and it's amazing to me, whether you are for him or against him how much hold he still seems to have on Detroiters, how much emotional investment there still seems to be.

He'd been gone from the mayor's office for 12 years.

We've moved on in this city in some really important ways, but boy, if he comes back, he will be the center of a lot of attention, and- - So that's the question, if he comes back.

And yet, we saw the statement from Mayor Duggan saying, that he still has so much good to do.

And Nolan, you're saying he should not come back to Detroit.

- No, I mean, if you look at what the damage he's done to the city, I don't know if he's got any good, left in him to do.

But the investigators believe that he and Bobby Ferguson, their criminal enterprise took $75 million from the taxpayers of one of the, at the time, one of the most financially distressed cities in America.

His actions contributed mildly, to this city going into bankruptcy.

To people losing their pensions, their benefits, getting their pay cut.

He is not a hero.

He destroyed the lives of so many talented young people, who, many of, some of them who went to jail because they were part of his inner circle.

And to celebrate him as some kind of Detroit hero, and welcome him back as a prodigal son, you know, I'm not for it.

- What do you think it is Stephen, that is still resonating with people?

- You know, I spent a lot of time thinking about this.

I mean, I am very much of a split mind about this in some ways.

I mean, I think, look, everybody deserves another chance.

I believe in redemption.

I think sending him away for 28 years, really condemned him to the end of a productive life.

And I don't believe in that, but Nolan's right.

I mean, this is somebody who betrayed us, and did incredible damage to the city.

And I don't have an easy way to figure how you just wipe that away either.

But the emotional hold that he has on us really speaks to the promise, I think that he had.

And how charismatic he was when he was mayor, especially in that second term.

I mean, if you remember the things he did to win that second term, the confidence he won to Detroiters, and some of the things that he was really delivering on for this city.

It still really matters to people.

And it's hard, I think, it's hard to accept that somebody like that did what he did.

I think a lot of Detroiters identify with him in the sense that, you know as an African-American man who, caught up in the criminal justice system, which we all know is imbalanced against us.

There's a lot to sort out there, and I think we're just starting to see how Detroiters are gonna do it.

- Well, it was one of the last acts President Trump did while he was in office.

And that leads us to the inauguration this week.

And really, I think the expectations now, that we see on the Biden administration.

I just wanna take a step back though, and acknowledge the history that happened this week, and watching the inauguration, and with my my oldest daughter who is specifically touched when we saw Kamala Harris come walking out, and then taking the oath as the Vice President.

Nolan, talk to me a little bit about what your expectations are for the Biden administration now.

- Well, you know, I'm not optimistic.

Up until this point, it's been all about gettin' rid of Trump, and that's all that's been sort of expected of him.

Win the election, get rid of Trump, seemed to be all anyone cares about.

Now, you know we're looking at what it's actually gonna mean in terms of policy, in terms of direction of the nation.

I wasn't encouraged by this first set of executive orders.

I think many of them risk harming an economy that's already struggling.

I think the energy policies, America has ridden this cheap energy boom.

And I fear that's about to go away, and with it a whole lot of jobs, and a whole lot of prosperity.

- Stephen, what are your expectations?

I see that you totally disagree with what Nolan said.

- (chuckling) I think it's funny that Republicans, think of the last two Republican presidents, what kind of condition we've been in when they left office.

When George Bush left in the 2009, we were losing 700,000 jobs a month.

President Trump leaves with nearly half a million Americans dead from a pandemic, and the economy in almost as bad of shape as what Bush left it in.

I'm not worried.

I think what I'm worried about, is who the next Republican is, that will come along, and when, and what they'll do.

Democrats have always been seems now, left in the position of cleaning up the mess that the Republican who proceeded them left behind.

And you know, you talk about prosperity going away.

It's gone, it's gone because this administration couldn't manage the things that have happened to us in the last 12 months.

- Well, I don't think we're gonna be able to have the luxury to look four years, or eight years, down the road, to when the next Republican comes in.

But I do think that we're going to have to figure out how Democrats and Republicans work together moving forward in looking at, if you're holding Republicans accountable, if they lined up behind President Trump, in these last couple of weeks.

And I saw, you know, someone writing something about the false choice between unity and accountability right now.

Where does this leave the Republican party, Nolan?

- Well, the Republican party is in shambles.

And, you know, in terms of unity, this narrative that there's gotta be some sort of atonement for blood on their hands.

There's gotta be a reprogram.

We've gotta treat anybody who supported Trump, and that's 75 million Americans, as if they were Confederates, and have to swear a loyalty oath.

I think that's not going to serve the cause of unity.

But Donald Trump suggested yesterday, that he might form a new party.

And God, I hope he does.

And I hope he takes all these people, who have trashed the Republican party over the last several years with him, and give the party a chance to return to its traditional values, its traditional roots, and you know, end all of this nonsense that we've seen out of the Trumpites, and before them, the Tea Party.

They have not helped the Republican party.

- And should that though include, Stephen, the people in Congress, in the Senate, and in the House, who did not want to certify the election?

- Well, I mean, there's no other word for them, than infidel.

I mean, this has happened before in our history.

1861, a large number of people in Congress refused to certify the election.

They weren't seated.

They were put out.

I don't think there's any equivocation that you can have about this.

The posture that a large percentage of the party has taken is traitorous.

It is about trying to end the democratic experiment, as we know it, in order for them to hold power.

If Donald Trump wants to take those votes, and start a new party, I guess that's okay.

But, the Republican party does own that, at this point.

And it goes back way before Donald Trump, too.

- Nolan, does the Republican Party own this?

- Well, I mean portions of the Republican party do.

But when you talk about punishing people, for the steps they took challenging elections.

I opposed challenging the election at every step, but they followed the process set out in the law that allowed for legal challenges.

I don't know how you punish people who did not break the law.

They may have acted despicably, and you pay a price at the ballot box for that.

And I expect many of them will.

- There was a lot of security surrounding the events in Washington this week.

The ongoing concern about violence, radicalization, and anger from fringe groups over the election will not be going away anytime soon.

In Michigan, and across the country, there is anxiety over the safety at state houses and protecting lawmakers.

National Guard surrounded the State Capitol for a small demonstration this past weekend.

Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Secretary of State, Jocelyn Benson, and Attorney General, Dana Nessel appeared together this week on MSNBC to address safety concerns.

- What we have seen is a scary, very concerning elevation of actions taken to intimidate or to hurt people who are simply trying to do their jobs, and keep people safe.

And whether that's directed at me, or Dr. Fauci, or Secretary Benson, or the Secretary of State, and Georgia, it is wrong.

And I'm grateful that people are coming to this conclusion, after it being directed at the United States Congress.

But this has been going on for 10 months, and we've been asking people to take this seriously.

- One Detroit's Will Glover spoke with Dr. Amy Cooter, at Vanderbilt University, who studies domestic militias, and their motives about what happens now.

- The last time we spoke, we talked about some of the concerns that you had, because we had just come off of finding out that there was a plot to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer, of Michigan.

And luckily that plot was foiled.

But you said that, I'm concerned quite frankly that things like that have already begun in other places.

Were you surprised when you saw the attack on the Capitol?

- I wasn't surprised.

I was obviously appalled, still shocking to see exactly how that played out, but it seemed to me to be a fairly logical conclusion to the upset, to the rhetoric that we've seen develop in recent months.

- Were there any militias involved with the attack on the Capitol?

- As far as we can see right now, yes.

I can't give you any super solid names of militia groups, or particular states beyond, the Oath Keepers, and the Three Percenters right now.

Some of that is a little bit ambiguous based off of some of the chatter I'm seeing.

There were some reports, and some groups from Texas and Arizona having their insignia in particular, but there are some concerns that some of that might not be accurate.

But there are definitely folks who believe in the general militia approach, being armed, being prepared, thinking of themselves as super patriots, who are the last line of defense for the constitution.

- Right, and that was another thing that you touched on the last time we spoke, is that you said that even then, you had been seeing Trump signaling to people, that at the time, they need to, you know, take up arms and protect themselves from what were, you know Black Lives Matters protests going on at the time.

Do you think that his messaging, and his, you know words to his followers were a large part of why things have transpired, or gotten to the point that they have?

- I think we absolutely have to consider that a large variable.

Again, not for every single actor in this morass that we've seen develop.

But it was very clear from the online chatter, that groups were paying attention to him, taking that as a personal message, as a legitimizing message for their concerns and for their planned action.

I think were at not for his repeated messaging on that very topic, we would have seen a smaller presence at the Capitol.

- Right, and (scoffs) it just seems like we should have been more prepared for this.

It seems like we should have seen this coming a little more clearly.

What do you think was missed by both, I guess the general public, as well as the people who are supposed to be in charge of making sure stuff like this doesn't happen?

- Right, well, (sighs) these guys have a long history of sitting right back and kind of talking a big game, about certain things, and not necessarily acting on them.

And I think that, alongside the fact that these are mostly White folks factored into law enforcement, in particular underestimating their potential risk here.

We have a long history in this country of treating Black protestors very differently, than White protestors, despite a very different history of violence going with each group.

We've also seen, especially over the course, of the summer where Black Lives Matter, Antifa, were framed as being very anti-police.

Militias and other groups then sort of became seen as pro-police.

And I think that's factored into law enforcement, sort of taking for granted, oh they're on our side.

They wouldn't act against us.

And thus again, sort of underplaying the potential risk here, not just to the Capitol and to democracy, but to some of the police officers on site themselves.

- Since then, since the attack on the Capitol, what have you seen as far as what the sentiment among some of these groups has been around what happened?

- Right, well, (sighs) it's really complicated, in fact.

Some of the groups have now backed off, in terms of some of their fervor in general, also backed off in terms of their plans to actually go to their own state capitols and protest on Inauguration Day.

Many of them don't want to be seen as the bad guy, or were themselves surprised at how far things escalated.

There are others though, who feel like that was like a morally, just action, and maybe stir into further action, possibly not just on Inauguration Day.

But a while after into Biden's administration, as they feel like that's not a legitimate administration and it's still their job to speak out against that in some form or fashion.

- The process of impeachment against former President Trump continues, as do security concerns in DC.

Michigan Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence was on "American Black Journal" this week.

She talked with ABJ contributor, Orlando Bailey from Bridge Detroit.

- What is the strategy here for this impeachment?

- Accountability.

I mean, the fact the president did it, 12 days before he was gonna leave office does not negate that what he did sitting in the seat of the President of the United States was wrong, illegal, deadly, and there has to be accountability.

What are we supposed to do?

You know what?

I was getting ready to divorce my wife, and it's only 13 days from now.

So I shot her.

So what's the big deal?

They're not gonna be together.

Just let it go.

No!

The crime happened.

He led that.

He said, "Go to the Capitol."

He directed them.

They had on everything Trump.

They said, "Hang Pence."

They beat people.

They destroyed it.

They were looking for members of Congress.

- Tell us what you're seeing happen in Washington around security prep.

And even at the Capitol, I'm hearing lawmakers having to go through metal detectors to get to the floor.

Do you have security concerns about the inauguration?

And do you feel safe at the Capitol?

- I had to go back two days ago, to Washington.

I had so much anxiety.

You know, we had federal marshals now that meet us in airports and fly on the planes, because the intense aggression that members of Congress are being subjected to.

And the amount of National Guard is unbelievable.

The gates are up, but I couldn't go five feet, without running into two, three, four National Guards.

You've seen photos of them.

They're not taking this lightly.

The crowd size will be minimum.

Someone just asked me, "Then why don't you just do it in private?"

This is the narrative that we're fighting.

That Joe Biden is not a legitimate, legal president.

And if we don't go through a public display, of the legal transfer of power, that validates that Biden is now the President of the United States, that narrative will grow and say, just like they said, Obama was not an American citizen.

But we must, we must, just like Nancy Pelosi.

After I went through all that trauma, and was in a safe room and sitting there for hours, she walked in and said, "We must go back to the Capitol."

And I'm sitting there going like, "Oh my God, I'm trying to pull it together here."

She said, "We have been attacked.

They want to stop us.

They can't win.

We are elected by the people.

We had taken an oath to protect the constitution.

We will go back and do our job."

And she was right.

We could not allow.

And we walk in past tear gas cans, broken glass, doors being dis-hinged, and all of the wounds of war.

And we walk in past all that, to go to the floor to vote.

We must have an inauguration that shows America that democracy wins.

- And finally, in a week of changing leadership, and hope in fighting the pandemic, we listen to the voices of the next generation, and what they're looking for.

The PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs, chooses kids from around the country to help them tell stories from a student perspective.

And we have several high school students across our area here.

They've been telling us about their school experiences, and stories that are important to them.

Well their assignment this week, a video diary to express what they'd like to see President Biden take on.

- I do have many wishes and expectations for you as our president in the next four years.

I really hope to see an end to COVID-19, or at least a decrease in COVID-19 cases.

- I hope your administration will figure out how to deal with the logistical problems of distributing the COVID-19 vaccine to everybody in need of it.

- As someone who's currently COVID positive in quarantining in their bedroom, what's really important to me is seeing that the pandemic is handled with urgency and care.

- My hope is that you stay true to your word, and you gain some sort of control on the virus.

Many countries are doing better than us.

So it is clear that we could do better, too.

- During that four years of office I hope you make education your top priority.

And also find a way to lower the cost to attend college and universities for all Americans.

- Because not everyone has enough money to afford it.

And it's really important for people's futures to have an education and everyone deserves an education.

- Another thing I hope you will look into is the school system.

To think upon it, the teenagers, the pre-teens, and the kids that are in school now will be running the future someday.

And we should have a greater education, if we want the future to become a greater place.

- Another thing that I hope your administration will accomplish is allocating the necessary resources for schools to thrive and get back up and running as soon as possible.

- It's especially important to me, because this whole pandemic has made me realize how much I've taken in-person schooling for granted.

I find it much harder to focus online than in school.

- I want you to know that global warming is affecting the entire world.

I care for this problem, because it is impacting young people and the future generations.

- I want you to know that I've had a pretty negative outlook on presidents, and in the past couple of years.

And I really wanna be able to look at presidency as a positive thing, and look up to you.

- My hope for you as a president is that you can create more jobs for the people of the U. S. This is important to me because during the pandemic, many people have lost their jobs, there's also them being homeless, and even starving.

- My hope for my community and country is I hope we can start being more accepting and loving, towards people of all gender, sexualities, and races, 'cause I don't think any of that matters.

We're all just human, and we just all need to love and appreciate each other.

- And I hope that you guys can keep pushing for racial equality and peace and justice for all ethnicities.

- Especially back in May and June, all the way through the rest of the summer, right, we saw numerous videos of police brutality and situations such as, George Floyd and Jacob Blake, and Breonna Taylor.

And it's really, it's really horrifying to know that in a country that is known as the land of the free, Black men can't walk the street without being scared of being pulled over by police.

- My hope for my community and for this country is that we all come together, and stand side-by-side and fight together.

I hope that you understand and will help us overcome this.

- My sincerest hope is that you will be the president that everyone will remember, as the one who reunited the people, and brought this country out of the pandemic.

- I hope you can make this happen, and listen to our concerns.

Thank you.

- And that is gonna do it for me this week.

Head to OneDetroitPBS.org for all of the stories we are working on.

Plus One Detroit Arts and Culture, Monday nights at 7:30.

I hope you have a great weekend.

I will see you next time.

Be well, and take care.

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Masco, serving Michigan communities since 1929.

- [Male Spokesperson] Support for this program provided by the Cynthia and Edsel Ford Fund for Journalism at Detroit Public TV.

The Kresge Foundation, Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan.

- [Female Spokesperson] The DTE Foundation is a proud sponsor of Detroit Public TV.

Among the state's largest foundations, committed to Michigan-focused giving.

We support organizations that are doing exceptional work in our state.

Visit DTEFoundation.com to learn more.

- [Male Spokesperson] Business Leaders for Michigan.

Dedicated to making Michigan a top 10 state for jobs, personal income, and a healthy economy.

Nissan Foundation, Ally, and viewers like you.

(bold piano music)