Interviewer:

What is the biggest problem facing Detroit students today?

Elizabeth Williams:

I think there's been a bipartisan attack on Detroit for a very long time, and that attack on public education on Detroit itself is being emboldened by Trump. So I would say right now, the question of the day is Trump. Like, and I think we just have to have a fighting school board that's going to defend its students, defend its LGBT students. Its immigrant students. And like, really be prepared to mobilize with the community to, like, get ICE out of our schools and, you know, defeat Trump's attacks, but also be prepared to call for him to get out of office. Being part of the BAMN slate means I have experience marching Well, a lot of people in the Troy have been a part of the No Kings movement. I think it's really is a question of leadership. Like if people see a leadership really prepared to fight and be on their side and also say, you know what? What you're feeling is right, we're not going to gaslight you into thinking that everything is fine. I think people will want to fight. They will want to be a part of these big marches. like, I think one thing we have to do is really have, each school be a center of community organizing and really, like, if something happens, like if there's, like a ICE incident or police brutality incident, we really need to, like, have that school have be a part of the community and have a meeting there and really come with a plan together on how to respond and really build community defense guard networks. Because like the truth of the matter is, no student is safe as long as our immigrant students aren't safe.

Interviewer:

As a student, I wish my school had

Elizabeth Williams:

I wish my school had a sense of community that felt humanizing and not atomizing and isolating. Like, I've been thinking a lot about the teen takeovers, and how they're being seen as like a safety problem because the group of young people gathering, being themselves. And I think, you know, people need a place to belong. You know, human beings are social creatures. That place for me when I was a young person was the movement. And I think if that's something that young people are interested in, that could be the answer.

Candidates appear in ballot order, alphabetical by last name.

Vote for not more than 4

• Natalie Bien-Aime*

• Steve Bland Jr.

• Michelle Broughton

• Katrina Brown

• Cidney Calloway

• Bobby Christian*

• Nicole Conaway

• Vilma Escamilla Duran

• Daniel Ferguson III*

• Duane Larry Grigsby Jr.

• Bessie L. Harris

• David Harris

• C. Allan Hubbard

• Henrietta Ivey*

• Tabrian C. Joe

• Shinese Johnson

• Theodore Jones

• Georgia Mae Lemmons

• LaMar D. Lemmons

• Clement O. Lett*

• Phil Lloyd II

• Darious Morris*

• Liana Mulholland

• Tyshea Pope

• DaNetta L. Simpson

• Tawanna Simpson

• Jameel Montgomery Smith

• Calesther Smith-Arnold*

• Terry E. Whitfield

• Elizabeth A. Williams

• Theresa Williams*

* Did not participate in the CitizenDetroit candidate video series.

Ijazz Jackson*

Aliya Moore

Shawn Vaughn

* Did not participate in the CitizenDetroit candidate video series.