Detroit activist shares history of city's 8 Mile community: "There's deep rooted historical things over here"
Giving back to a community that's given so much to community activist Teresa Moon, who is well known along 8 Mile Road in Detroit.
Moon's been in the community for over 50 years and calls the area resilient.
"I'm compelled. I can't stop doing it if I wanted. I say to myself a lot woah I'm tired of doing this. But I'm compelled. It's on my mind all the time to do something in my community," Moon said. "You know the fact there's a wall across the street that was a segregation wall, the fact that this community was the first community to have FSH loans, they could get a loan to buy a house."
Across the street from Moon's home sits the Birwood wall. The mural-filled structure has a sordid past.
Once a divider between communities, it now serves as a constant reminder to the community of how far African Americans have come—but still how far we have to go.
"And the purpose of it was to divide two neighborhoods. A black neighborhood from a white neighborhood that was going to be developed," Moon said. "The United States government backed this wall being built to separate these two communities."
The structure is now on the National Register of Historic Places.
All the while the wall is home to African Americans on each side.
"You know what, when I was growing up we just called it the wall. When I began to learn that people were interested in the history of this wall. I know it's called the Birwood Wall, the wailing wall, the segregation wall. But we just always called it the wall. That's all it was to us," Moon said.
Moon says growing up, she remembers her community taking care of each other. It's one of the many reasons she pays it forward.
She also experienced a lot in the city. One experience as a teen that's stuck with her forever involved her and a friend taking a joy ride on their bikes.
"Riding our bikes to Telegraph and 12 Mile and rode past a Dairy Queen, and it was a bunch of kids, White kids, and when we rode past, they called us N-word, and I'm like wow," she said.
Moon's love for the 8 Mile community runs deep. She and other residents wear their pride as a badge of honor.
"A lot of us over here wear these wristbands that says, '8 Mile for Life,'" she said.
Now, she and others have a community organization to help the area's residents, both old and young, move forward while also teaching them where they came from. From back-to-school events to winter coat giveaways, the Emerge Community Organization's purpose is to keep the 8 Mile community together.
"Every year we have a community picnic, like registering people to vote, housing," she said. "We did for a long time was a summer feeding program, the city runs a summer lunch program, the group was able to see the deep need for providing for people who can't provide for themselves."
As the city evolves and continues to change, what doesn't change is Teresa Moon's love for Detroit and her 8 Mile community.
"There's deep-rooted historical things over here, there's deep-rooted family over here," she said.
