I ran for Mayor of Detroit on the Bus. LET NOTHING KILL YOUR SPIRIT ✊🏾

The first time I ran for Mayor I was at the lowest point of my life. I was fired from my job at D15 possibly from the direct request of the incumbent mayor of Detroit Mike Duggan. This was the first time I truly lost everything. The only way I could fight back or at least the only way I felt like I could fight back was to run for the city’s highest public office so I could help people that have lost everything and others who are oppressed. At first people laughed and said I was arrogant and crazy to think I would make a good mayor even though I completely changed my life as an adult from everything I knew for sure could make me money in a fast way to fight the good fight. Most of the people who laughed at me had a dead end job or they earned a decent living at the plant but they were terrible at managing money.

It seemed like it was freezing almost everyday in the beginning of 2017 when I went out to petition for signatures. My hands would be so cold my fingers started locking up on me after a few hours. Most of the people wouldn’t even sign my petition so I could make the ballot. They said some of the most spirit killing things you could even tell anybody to their face without a fistfight breaking out. But there where enough people who signed my petition so I could exercise my right as an American and run for office. I gathered 878 signatures in 63 days knocking out 2200+ doors and that got me on the ballot for the 2017 mayoral primary election. A contributor from “The Huffington Post” reached out to me do a story on my reason for running for office and Johnny came right to Webbst the block I grew up on to cover the story. It was great to be able to put my story on a national platform for other people who felt like they had nothing to live for as I did at the time.

I was invited to iheart radio to do an interview where I explained my plans to restore, rebuild, and make Detroit a better place to live. I did radio spots and a video interview for iheart radio it helped but it wasn’t enough. Then several stories came out from the News and many other online newspapers that read “Half of Detroit’s Mayoral Candidates are Felons.” Those articles spoke lowly of all that I’ve accomplished but it highlighted my failures to the maximum. I would have gotten at a least a few thousand votes but I only got 307 votes after the damaging stories. Catching the bus all over the city was the reality of a man that didn’t need to catch the bus since he was a teenager and at 32 there I was running for mayor of Detroit riding the DDOT (Detroit Department of Transportation).

I knew it was a hell of a long-shot for me to beat Mike Duggan because I was broke and he had money to burn but I had to let my voice be heard and I would not be silent. My family thought I crazy they still probably do but since then I’ve met so many famous people and they know who I am wouldn’t believe it. I even met “Les Brown” and he personally invited me to hear him speak I didn’t know who he was because he was in Radio1 just listening to me getting trashed by people calling in. Les told me you have greatness in you. The Perks of running for a high-profile political office are ok but I must do better. Though my family showed very little support for me running for office they think it was a great stepping stone for me though. I wasn’t to expecting to win but I wanted to win the race because I was catching hell like I’d never though I could endure and I miraculously survived it.

Losing the race did everything but kill my spirit two women that had national coverage for their run and a very popular pastor did not have enough confirmed voters to make the ballot from their petitions. They didn’t do the hardwork they expected the media to carry them. I knew I had no chance of the media helping me so I grinded. That blew my mind I knew if I made it and they didn’t that hardwork does bring the right opportunity to shine sometimes you just must have the courage to grind and try. I hate losing and in no way am I saying that losing was a good thing but it did provide experience that can’t be learned except by running for office.

Going from a Jaguar to riding the bus again is enough to make someone give up on themselves. But not me I would show up to every candidate forum I was invited to dressed like I just came from Washington DC. I didn’t invent riding the bus wearing designer suits and wingtips but the people riding the bus with me thought I did. They looked at me like I was totally out-of-place and I felt like it too but damn it I had places to be. I would ride the “ironpimp” to my destinations daydreaming about delivering breathtaking speeches and I did every time. I gained a reputation for being an articulate speaker with the educational credentials to back it up.

I’ve gone on since 2017 to do more things in the political arena but I’m still not an elected official but my electric personality and unquestionable intelligence has blessed me. I’m known by almost all politicians in Michigan but all of the top ranking politicians in Michigan know who I am especially in the city of Detroit my old town road. I’m running for Mayor again still with very high odds against me but if this is the life I was born to to live I’m going to fight and improve until I get where the universe wants me to be. Never give up because that’s the only way you’ll never reach your goals. If I gained from losing I wonder what the rewards of winning will bring? We’ll just have to see.🤷🏾‍♂️