Kwame Hampton, May 4th, 2024
Title
Kwame Hampton, May 4th, 2024
Description
In this interview, Kwame Hampton shares how he is trying to spread awareness about climate change and what he thinks works.
In partnership with the Manistique Community Treehouse Center
In partnership with the Manistique Community Treehouse Center
Publisher
Detroit Historical Society
Date
5/4/24
Rights
Detroit Historical Society
Language
en-US
Narrator/Interviewee's Name
Kwame Hampton
Brief Biography
Kwame Hampton is a lifelong Detroit resident and a community program coordinator with Freshwater Future who has been involved with politics and environmental justice for many years
Interviewer's Name
Kevin Hawthorne
Interview Length
23:08
Transcription
Kevin Hawthorne: This is my—Yeah. Hello. My name is Kevin Hawthorne. I'm with the Detroit Historical Society. Interviewing for the oral history. And I am here with.
Kwame Hampton: Kwame Hampton.
Kevin Hawthorne: Nice to meet you. And could you spell your name for the record, please?
Kwame Hampton: Yes. K w a m e H a m p t o n.
Kevin Hawthorne: All right excellent and do you live in the city of Detroit?
Kwame Hampton: Yes, I do.
Kevin Hawthorne: What neighborhood?
Kwame Hampton: I live in the Jefferson Chalmers neighborhood.
Kevin Hawthorne: Jefferson Chalmers and how long have you lived there?
Kwame Hampton: Almost four years.
Kevin Hawthorne: Four years. And have you lived in other neighborhoods in the city of Detroit?
Kwame Hampton: Yes, I have, in the Midtown area, Wayne State's campus.
Kevin Hawthorne: Excellent did you attend Wayne State?
Kwame Hampton: Yes, I did.
Kevin Hawthorne: What was your degree in?
Kwame Hampton: I did not finish at Wayne State my degree was in liberal arts.
Kevin Hawthorne: Excellent So, do you work in the city of Detroit currently?
Kwame Hampton: I work from home in the city of Detroit.
Kevin Hawthorne: Work from home in the city of Detroit Excellent. What is, your line of work?
Kwame Hampton: I'm a community program coordinator with an organization named Freshwater Future and we focus on change and helping change policies to improve the quality of water throughout the Great Lakes region, which, of course, encompasses Detroit. Yes, we do that through funding, capacity building, as well as toolkits and tech assistance.
Kevin Hawthorne: How did you get involved with that?
Kwame Hampton: I was kind of brought up that way. My father was was heavily, heavily into politics, which which led him into environmental work as well. He eventually started working with the water department, and in that, I was often volun-told growing up, just, hey, you're going to come along and help with these clean ups or this information and I eventually just naturally led into it over the years, started doing some nonprofit work, with Lake Shore Engineering Corporation some years ago and, just eventually led into working with Freshwater Future. Yeah.
Kevin Hawthorne: So how long have you been with Freshwater Future? How many years?
Kwame Hampton: A year and a half now.
Kevin Hawthorne: Year and a half excellent and, what are the main things that you've, you talked about some of the things you've been doing with, water testing and stuff like that what are the main things you've been doing recently?
Kwame Hampton: Helping organizations on the ground level, record what's been occurring in their neighborhoods in regards to flooding, so that we can have some quantifiable data along with the anecdotal information that they have they share their stories.
Kevin Hawthorne: How have you been working with the tree house, association for very long?
Kwame Hampton: I started volunteering prior to working with Freshwater Future with the tree house, because I moved to the neighborhood and just was just going around, just seeing what it had to offer is a beautiful neighborhood with these canals is truly unique. Lake Saint Clair is right there and Detroit River and I eventually just ran into Tammy Black. I saw the community, tree house garden, and I was like, wow, this is interesting. I see this this solar, and I see these gardens. I see the rain garden and the raised garden beds. It's like, all right, I'm gonna. I want to meet this person because I didn't know it was Tammy at first. And then once I did as I go. This is awesome and we just grew from there.
Kevin Hawthorne: So did your work with the tree house, do you think, prepare you to be able to be working with the freshwater futures?
Kwame Hampton: Yes, yes from, from the community perspective yeah.
Kevin Hawthorne: So, with tree house and, freshwater futures, how do you try to offer the, the community ways to combat climate change? What do you think, are your biggest contributions to help people?
Kwame Hampton: Making sure that the data is recorded, so that when they do go to the elected officials, and developers or whoever they may deem necessary to bring about those changes, they would have information to show them, that, hey, this is what is occurring in our neighborhoods. This is what we would like to see happen and how can we work together?
Kevin Hawthorne: So, definitely with freshwater futures I know one of the big concerns, especially in many areas of Detroit, has been flooding, and the tree house has been doing, flooding prevention did the two organizations ever overlap on flood prevention and, ways to combat that?
Kwame Hampton: With the Manistique Community Treehouse and Freshwater Future?
Kevin Hawthorne: Yes.
Kwame Hampton: Yes, yes. I strive to push for rain gardens or some type of water retention. Rain barrels, cisterns, bioswales, things of that nature, green stormwater infrastructure projects, or what some may call a low impact development and Tammy is into. She's definitely looking forward to that and incorporating that within the the grounds of the the Treehouse Center. So there are some plans for a rain garden as well as, bio swales and some, catch basins for alternative uses of that rainwater. So yes it's overlapped yeah.
Kevin Hawthorne: Have you seen any increase in flooding in your area in the past couple of years within there?
Kwame Hampton: Yes. Yes. There are areas say like, along Alter Road where, where the seawall is adjacent to Alter and there are certain areas in the streets where water just sits now. Where it possibly is due to inundation, where water is coming from up under the seawall or something of that nature and it's just settling in the street so it's not only puddling, but it's settling there, for days at a time when there is no, no wet weather. We're seeing more occurrences with that, storm drains that do not drain the water. It's more of a occurrence now and I think that's due to the aging infrastructure in the area, which there are plans to, to mitigate that and correct that but things are moving at a pace that is still upsetting residents because it's not being done yet.
Kevin Hawthorne: Does, the city really, like you said, there's been efforts to try and, like, replace some of the older infrastructure, but does it, does the city, like, kind of keep open communications on how they're doing on that, or is it kind of like it goes months without them saying?
Kwame Hampton: As far as like with transparency?
Kevin Hawthorne: Yes.
Kwame Hampton: Yes. It's challenging at time speaking with elected officials and their in their staff. They strive to be as transparent as possible in our district as, district four so our councilwoman is Leticia Johnson and Councilwoman Johnson, and she is as transparent as she can be if she has information, she's willing to share it with us on a political scale. But when we deal with Great Lakes Water Authority or DWSD, is not always as easy to extract that information from them. It's been times where we had to submit a FOIA to get information, say, in regards to the development of AB ford park and the tree removal and how that will affect the floodplain.
Kevin Hawthorne: So there's like a lot of red tape to try and like, get transparency with these— more like you say, the politicians is not really as much as you're not having trouble, like reaching out and talking to them It's more like the corporations you're having difficulty with?
Kwame Hampton: Yes the utility companies yes yeah and I can't speak for all politicians and I just know that Councilwoman Johnson is pretty up front with the Us
Kevin Hawthorne: Excellent yes. So there's, you know, the tree house is, working on flood prevention. Another big effort they've been trying, to do I know, is with solar panels, have you had any experience with the solar panel?
Kwame Hampton: Outside of, speaking with Tammy and learning from Tammy in that in that regards? No, I haven't, I've since I've met Tammy, I've met others but I can't say that their passion is is the same as Mrs. Black.
Kevin Hawthorne: Could you elaborate on that?
Kwame Hampton: She really strives to incorporate the community and help others become trained or certified I should say, in doing the work for solar replacement, solar installation as well as alternative energies within the neighborhood and she's just truly passionate about that and I've met others I can't speak of any names of course, is more so looking to work with the local government, and more so instead of directly with the people who could be directly impacted.
Kevin Hawthorne: So, have you been considering putting solar panels in yourself?
Kwame Hampton: Not myself.
Kevin Hawthorne: No. Not physically installing it yourself.
Kwame Hampton: And, unless I have others there to show me. Yeah, yeah but yes, you answer your question yes. I'm interested.
Kevin Hawthorne: I know some people in the community, not just in the community of, like, Jefferson Chalmers, but just as a whole in the city of Detroit. sometimes solar panels seem a bit daunting because of the price, and it's a little bit. It can seem really inaccessible. Do you think of, the tree house and not just the tree house, but the city of Detroit could be doing more to try and incentivize people to, move to a greener system like solar panels?
Kwame Hampton: Kind of hesitant to say that they could be doing more because I don't know everything that the city is doing but I believe that maybe they could do more to incentivize to accelerate the, the, the inquisitiveness of it, as well as, getting residents to understand or realize that it's not such a big price pricey endeavor and that is possible maybe don't know I don't know if the city has this, available, programs or grants, free funding that they are able to take advantage of to, to take on this endeavor because I know it can be for me personally, it's like that can be quite expensive. When will I receive some type of payback for it? When can I see some differences in my financial standings? So, yeah, that's that's a concern for many, including myself.
Kevin Hawthorne: Absolutely. And with the tree house and, do you think how do you engage with the community? What do you think the best way you are able to engage with the community to get them invested in, like climate change and, green efforts?
Kwame Hampton: Showing up is is a big part yeah showing up is a big part and meeting the residents where there are being authentic. But in regards to bringing them in just simply talking about it, in spaces where it may not be popular to talk about those things, to get the conversation going to, to have people share that information with their friends ad it was get a discussion.
Kevin Hawthorne: You say in areas where it, might not be popular? What do you mean by that?
Kwame Hampton: In regards to installation of the solar?
Kevin Hawthorne: Or just in general about— are you talking about the solar panels or just climate change in general.
Kwame Hampton: I'm sorry I see what you're saying because there's many that believe that climate change is not a real thing.
Kevin Hawthorne: Yes.
Kwame Hampton: And these efforts are a band aid to to hemorrhaging issues that we're dealing with but you can make changes. Truly the saying that it only takes one grain of sand to move the world, it only takes one individual to truly embrace it and let others know that, hey, this is not so challenging I'm one of you, I was able to and yet to take on this endeavor.
Kevin Hawthorne: And there's also often talk with, you know, because there is a lot of conflicting information sometimes with people, about climate change and we always talk about how to educate people and, seems like what you're saying, if I'm understanding right, is that the best way to educate people is just to have a normal conversation with them and just talk to them about the issues of how, especially a lot of people are worried about more like the infrastructure and how, but you can talk about how maybe some things like climate change and the infrastructure are, you know, very connected and you can help do both.
Kwame Hampton: Yes. I agree and also utilizing social media outlets. I think that would be a great way to also reach out and and attract others.
Kevin Hawthorne: Which social media outlets in particular do you think would be the best to reach to people?
Kwame Hampton: Lately I've been on next door a lot.
Kevin Hawthorne: Next door.
Kwame Hampton: I've been on next door a lot. I'm finding out is more so like, Facebook for for adults and homeowners.
Kevin Hawthorne: Yes, yes, and very much.
Kwame Hampton: But some issues that need to be addressed are brought up in those in those forums. There's also lots of opportunities for discussions and educating, educating others, within that forum, you know, even Facebook, our organization utilizes, Facebook blast. These we call it blast where you have a mass, a mass, like an announcement in a specific zip code or city municipality. And, just to let them know what is occurring within their region. So yeah, those two outlets are I think are great. Yes. Yeah.
Kevin Hawthorne: Excellent. So are you saying overall, what do you think the feedback from the community has been to your efforts? Has it been accepting a little bit more apathetic? What have you been saying.
Kwame Hampton: For climate change?
Kevin Hawthorne: Yes.
Kwame Hampton: Yeah, it's it's been more accepted. I would say, I have. I'm from Inkster originally.
Kevin Hawthorne: Where?
Kwame Hampton: Sorry. Inkster. Inkster, Michigan. Small small town west of, further west of Detroit between Dearborn, Garden City. Wayne not too far from Romulus and not that I was truly involved like that with the environmental, community at that time, but I, I have never seen such a of a such a collectiveness within the community to come out together and say, hey, these issues need to be addressed. What have you heard of? What can you do? What have you done to improve flooding on your property? Or things of that nature. What are ways that I can I can supplement my income, with solar? So you have the the discussions are happening in.
Kevin Hawthorne: And have you seen the amount of people interested in the tree house increase since you've been there over this time?
Kwame Hampton: Yes. Community engagement meetings, just events that are hosted by Mrs. Black and it's wonderful. I've seen some increase within the attendance, which is great.
Kevin Hawthorne: And with that increase with that, and, with your other work, what do you hope for the future with your organizations?
Kwame Hampton: I hope for, more funding, more, more funding and the more funding that we have, the more we're able to assist those that are on the ground level. And our members and, those who truly want to see the changes that are necessary within their community, whether it's lead service line replacements or lead exceedance levels, flooding, things of that nature. I believe the more funding that is available, the more resources that we can create for the community since we're so based on helping others.
Kevin Hawthorne: Yeah. You mentioned, because, with, the water, you mentioned lead levels, is that a big concern with a lot of people in the community?
Kwame Hampton: I haven't seen that much of a, concern with the lead levels as far as, lead exceedance. However, the lead service line replacement that that was, highly talked about within the community, which which occurred about a year or so ago when they started removing lead service lines throughout the city. In my part, I was striving to let residents know, the difference between a partial and a full replacement and partial replacements would involve cutting off the service line sets in the lead service, the service line, is in the front house. Not to cut it in half and then attached a copper line, because that cutting of that lead line will cause seepage of lead within the water so make sure that the city is doing a full replacement.
Kevin Hawthorne: yeah. Have you had any, personal experiences with flooding with, your neighborhood in particular?
Kwame Hampton: Yes. I, I stay on Marlborough, within Jefferson Chalmers and in 2001, was still. Getting acclimated, being within a neighborhood and I came home that night and had 36in of water in my basement. Thankfully I didn't have a washer and dryer just yet. I was concerned my water heater and my furnace would be damaged. I did have some breaking in, some fracturing in the foundation and, yeah, it was quite an experience. Still experiencing some issues with inundation now since the walls have been compromised.
Kevin Hawthorne: Just for the record, I believe you, did you say 2001? Did you mean 2021?
Kwame Hampton: Thank you. Yeah, 2021.
Kevin Hawthorne: You know, it is easy I do that all the time I still think 2015 was five years ago, but it was very much not. Yes. But no, I definitely 2021, in these interviews have been has it been recurring one of people said that was the absolute worst year for flooding. Have you seen any improvement, you think, in the way that, the city has been handling the flooding since the year of 2021 in the past, about three years?
Kwame Hampton: Yes. There's a, there's a, there's a plan to replace the stormwater drains or the main lines that carry stormwater as well as sewage they increase the capacity. I, you can only imagine the condition that our, that our infrastructure is and within the neighborhood and so we did receive a grant from FEMA, I believe is, 11.3 to conduct a study to see what is the issue within the infrastructure and how they can increase capacity. That hasn't it's— that it just it hasn't happened yet. So we've been reaching out to the city, freshwater future, that is, to help get some answers from FEMA as well, as WSD and there's been— scheduled meetings have been pushed back, which it further impedes the engagement process for the community but it seems like they are striving to make some additional changes. So we have the we have the service lines that are going to be replaced. Pardon myself, the, sewer main lines that we replaced but then we also have this pumping station on Fruit Street that is being installed that is hopefully going to help with the capacity with the, with the piping in the area but it's yet to be seen. My gripe would be ten years atorm drain installations are not enough, ten year storms happen quite often now they're not just every ten years where we experienced two 500 year floods in a matter of two years. and we need something that have more capacity. So that's been my gripe. Yeah.
Kevin Hawthorne: Absolutely understandable. So with your work with, you know, storm drains, solar panels, is there any other green infrastructure you would like to see implemented throughout the city?
Kwame Hampton: That's a good question. Because water and and, solar is such a big deal. I would love to see some type of wind is that, you know, something to do.
Kevin Hawthorne: Some like wind turbines?
Kwame Hampton: Yes, I know those are can be quite large. So maybe something that is new on the edge that is still being researched. Something that maybe we can incorporate within the next ten years or so. I, I know the, the field is always changing and tech is always improving but yeah, I would like to see, you know, something with wind as well.
Kevin Hawthorne: And this is just a general question because we've been talking about the community and how people are affected but, obviously, as you said, a big issue is with climate changes so many people still do not believe in it and my general question is, what would you say to someone who says climate change isn't real and it's not a big deal for me?
Kwame Hampton: Do a little research, research about the the polar caps and and how they're disappearing. The number of species that are on the brink of extinction. The the availability of of on the fish fishing. It's real It's a real deal and you can see the climate change with the climate change and you can see the erosion, of certain areas that were there years prior but now due to the erosion, it's no longer there. Or on the flip side, where, where there used to be wetlands, now there isn't any wetlands. All those things are contributors or factors of climate change. And it's not just. And I know it can. These things can happen by nature, but it seem like it's being accelerated. By what? How we contribute to it.
Kevin Hawthorne: Absolutely. And, I think we're about ready to wrap up. But before then, do you have any other things that we haven't touched on that you would like to discuss?
Kwame Hampton: No, I, I'm just grateful that you all are conducting these interviews. And the Manistique Community Treehouse. Mrs. Black, has brought us together to document this information, because this is necessary to document and share with others and to wake up others who may not believe in climate change.
Kevin Hawthorne: Yes. And we appreciate you so much for coming. Thank you so much, Kwame
Kwame Hampton: Thank you.
Kwame Hampton: Kwame Hampton.
Kevin Hawthorne: Nice to meet you. And could you spell your name for the record, please?
Kwame Hampton: Yes. K w a m e H a m p t o n.
Kevin Hawthorne: All right excellent and do you live in the city of Detroit?
Kwame Hampton: Yes, I do.
Kevin Hawthorne: What neighborhood?
Kwame Hampton: I live in the Jefferson Chalmers neighborhood.
Kevin Hawthorne: Jefferson Chalmers and how long have you lived there?
Kwame Hampton: Almost four years.
Kevin Hawthorne: Four years. And have you lived in other neighborhoods in the city of Detroit?
Kwame Hampton: Yes, I have, in the Midtown area, Wayne State's campus.
Kevin Hawthorne: Excellent did you attend Wayne State?
Kwame Hampton: Yes, I did.
Kevin Hawthorne: What was your degree in?
Kwame Hampton: I did not finish at Wayne State my degree was in liberal arts.
Kevin Hawthorne: Excellent So, do you work in the city of Detroit currently?
Kwame Hampton: I work from home in the city of Detroit.
Kevin Hawthorne: Work from home in the city of Detroit Excellent. What is, your line of work?
Kwame Hampton: I'm a community program coordinator with an organization named Freshwater Future and we focus on change and helping change policies to improve the quality of water throughout the Great Lakes region, which, of course, encompasses Detroit. Yes, we do that through funding, capacity building, as well as toolkits and tech assistance.
Kevin Hawthorne: How did you get involved with that?
Kwame Hampton: I was kind of brought up that way. My father was was heavily, heavily into politics, which which led him into environmental work as well. He eventually started working with the water department, and in that, I was often volun-told growing up, just, hey, you're going to come along and help with these clean ups or this information and I eventually just naturally led into it over the years, started doing some nonprofit work, with Lake Shore Engineering Corporation some years ago and, just eventually led into working with Freshwater Future. Yeah.
Kevin Hawthorne: So how long have you been with Freshwater Future? How many years?
Kwame Hampton: A year and a half now.
Kevin Hawthorne: Year and a half excellent and, what are the main things that you've, you talked about some of the things you've been doing with, water testing and stuff like that what are the main things you've been doing recently?
Kwame Hampton: Helping organizations on the ground level, record what's been occurring in their neighborhoods in regards to flooding, so that we can have some quantifiable data along with the anecdotal information that they have they share their stories.
Kevin Hawthorne: How have you been working with the tree house, association for very long?
Kwame Hampton: I started volunteering prior to working with Freshwater Future with the tree house, because I moved to the neighborhood and just was just going around, just seeing what it had to offer is a beautiful neighborhood with these canals is truly unique. Lake Saint Clair is right there and Detroit River and I eventually just ran into Tammy Black. I saw the community, tree house garden, and I was like, wow, this is interesting. I see this this solar, and I see these gardens. I see the rain garden and the raised garden beds. It's like, all right, I'm gonna. I want to meet this person because I didn't know it was Tammy at first. And then once I did as I go. This is awesome and we just grew from there.
Kevin Hawthorne: So did your work with the tree house, do you think, prepare you to be able to be working with the freshwater futures?
Kwame Hampton: Yes, yes from, from the community perspective yeah.
Kevin Hawthorne: So, with tree house and, freshwater futures, how do you try to offer the, the community ways to combat climate change? What do you think, are your biggest contributions to help people?
Kwame Hampton: Making sure that the data is recorded, so that when they do go to the elected officials, and developers or whoever they may deem necessary to bring about those changes, they would have information to show them, that, hey, this is what is occurring in our neighborhoods. This is what we would like to see happen and how can we work together?
Kevin Hawthorne: So, definitely with freshwater futures I know one of the big concerns, especially in many areas of Detroit, has been flooding, and the tree house has been doing, flooding prevention did the two organizations ever overlap on flood prevention and, ways to combat that?
Kwame Hampton: With the Manistique Community Treehouse and Freshwater Future?
Kevin Hawthorne: Yes.
Kwame Hampton: Yes, yes. I strive to push for rain gardens or some type of water retention. Rain barrels, cisterns, bioswales, things of that nature, green stormwater infrastructure projects, or what some may call a low impact development and Tammy is into. She's definitely looking forward to that and incorporating that within the the grounds of the the Treehouse Center. So there are some plans for a rain garden as well as, bio swales and some, catch basins for alternative uses of that rainwater. So yes it's overlapped yeah.
Kevin Hawthorne: Have you seen any increase in flooding in your area in the past couple of years within there?
Kwame Hampton: Yes. Yes. There are areas say like, along Alter Road where, where the seawall is adjacent to Alter and there are certain areas in the streets where water just sits now. Where it possibly is due to inundation, where water is coming from up under the seawall or something of that nature and it's just settling in the street so it's not only puddling, but it's settling there, for days at a time when there is no, no wet weather. We're seeing more occurrences with that, storm drains that do not drain the water. It's more of a occurrence now and I think that's due to the aging infrastructure in the area, which there are plans to, to mitigate that and correct that but things are moving at a pace that is still upsetting residents because it's not being done yet.
Kevin Hawthorne: Does, the city really, like you said, there's been efforts to try and, like, replace some of the older infrastructure, but does it, does the city, like, kind of keep open communications on how they're doing on that, or is it kind of like it goes months without them saying?
Kwame Hampton: As far as like with transparency?
Kevin Hawthorne: Yes.
Kwame Hampton: Yes. It's challenging at time speaking with elected officials and their in their staff. They strive to be as transparent as possible in our district as, district four so our councilwoman is Leticia Johnson and Councilwoman Johnson, and she is as transparent as she can be if she has information, she's willing to share it with us on a political scale. But when we deal with Great Lakes Water Authority or DWSD, is not always as easy to extract that information from them. It's been times where we had to submit a FOIA to get information, say, in regards to the development of AB ford park and the tree removal and how that will affect the floodplain.
Kevin Hawthorne: So there's like a lot of red tape to try and like, get transparency with these— more like you say, the politicians is not really as much as you're not having trouble, like reaching out and talking to them It's more like the corporations you're having difficulty with?
Kwame Hampton: Yes the utility companies yes yeah and I can't speak for all politicians and I just know that Councilwoman Johnson is pretty up front with the Us
Kevin Hawthorne: Excellent yes. So there's, you know, the tree house is, working on flood prevention. Another big effort they've been trying, to do I know, is with solar panels, have you had any experience with the solar panel?
Kwame Hampton: Outside of, speaking with Tammy and learning from Tammy in that in that regards? No, I haven't, I've since I've met Tammy, I've met others but I can't say that their passion is is the same as Mrs. Black.
Kevin Hawthorne: Could you elaborate on that?
Kwame Hampton: She really strives to incorporate the community and help others become trained or certified I should say, in doing the work for solar replacement, solar installation as well as alternative energies within the neighborhood and she's just truly passionate about that and I've met others I can't speak of any names of course, is more so looking to work with the local government, and more so instead of directly with the people who could be directly impacted.
Kevin Hawthorne: So, have you been considering putting solar panels in yourself?
Kwame Hampton: Not myself.
Kevin Hawthorne: No. Not physically installing it yourself.
Kwame Hampton: And, unless I have others there to show me. Yeah, yeah but yes, you answer your question yes. I'm interested.
Kevin Hawthorne: I know some people in the community, not just in the community of, like, Jefferson Chalmers, but just as a whole in the city of Detroit. sometimes solar panels seem a bit daunting because of the price, and it's a little bit. It can seem really inaccessible. Do you think of, the tree house and not just the tree house, but the city of Detroit could be doing more to try and incentivize people to, move to a greener system like solar panels?
Kwame Hampton: Kind of hesitant to say that they could be doing more because I don't know everything that the city is doing but I believe that maybe they could do more to incentivize to accelerate the, the, the inquisitiveness of it, as well as, getting residents to understand or realize that it's not such a big price pricey endeavor and that is possible maybe don't know I don't know if the city has this, available, programs or grants, free funding that they are able to take advantage of to, to take on this endeavor because I know it can be for me personally, it's like that can be quite expensive. When will I receive some type of payback for it? When can I see some differences in my financial standings? So, yeah, that's that's a concern for many, including myself.
Kevin Hawthorne: Absolutely. And with the tree house and, do you think how do you engage with the community? What do you think the best way you are able to engage with the community to get them invested in, like climate change and, green efforts?
Kwame Hampton: Showing up is is a big part yeah showing up is a big part and meeting the residents where there are being authentic. But in regards to bringing them in just simply talking about it, in spaces where it may not be popular to talk about those things, to get the conversation going to, to have people share that information with their friends ad it was get a discussion.
Kevin Hawthorne: You say in areas where it, might not be popular? What do you mean by that?
Kwame Hampton: In regards to installation of the solar?
Kevin Hawthorne: Or just in general about— are you talking about the solar panels or just climate change in general.
Kwame Hampton: I'm sorry I see what you're saying because there's many that believe that climate change is not a real thing.
Kevin Hawthorne: Yes.
Kwame Hampton: And these efforts are a band aid to to hemorrhaging issues that we're dealing with but you can make changes. Truly the saying that it only takes one grain of sand to move the world, it only takes one individual to truly embrace it and let others know that, hey, this is not so challenging I'm one of you, I was able to and yet to take on this endeavor.
Kevin Hawthorne: And there's also often talk with, you know, because there is a lot of conflicting information sometimes with people, about climate change and we always talk about how to educate people and, seems like what you're saying, if I'm understanding right, is that the best way to educate people is just to have a normal conversation with them and just talk to them about the issues of how, especially a lot of people are worried about more like the infrastructure and how, but you can talk about how maybe some things like climate change and the infrastructure are, you know, very connected and you can help do both.
Kwame Hampton: Yes. I agree and also utilizing social media outlets. I think that would be a great way to also reach out and and attract others.
Kevin Hawthorne: Which social media outlets in particular do you think would be the best to reach to people?
Kwame Hampton: Lately I've been on next door a lot.
Kevin Hawthorne: Next door.
Kwame Hampton: I've been on next door a lot. I'm finding out is more so like, Facebook for for adults and homeowners.
Kevin Hawthorne: Yes, yes, and very much.
Kwame Hampton: But some issues that need to be addressed are brought up in those in those forums. There's also lots of opportunities for discussions and educating, educating others, within that forum, you know, even Facebook, our organization utilizes, Facebook blast. These we call it blast where you have a mass, a mass, like an announcement in a specific zip code or city municipality. And, just to let them know what is occurring within their region. So yeah, those two outlets are I think are great. Yes. Yeah.
Kevin Hawthorne: Excellent. So are you saying overall, what do you think the feedback from the community has been to your efforts? Has it been accepting a little bit more apathetic? What have you been saying.
Kwame Hampton: For climate change?
Kevin Hawthorne: Yes.
Kwame Hampton: Yeah, it's it's been more accepted. I would say, I have. I'm from Inkster originally.
Kevin Hawthorne: Where?
Kwame Hampton: Sorry. Inkster. Inkster, Michigan. Small small town west of, further west of Detroit between Dearborn, Garden City. Wayne not too far from Romulus and not that I was truly involved like that with the environmental, community at that time, but I, I have never seen such a of a such a collectiveness within the community to come out together and say, hey, these issues need to be addressed. What have you heard of? What can you do? What have you done to improve flooding on your property? Or things of that nature. What are ways that I can I can supplement my income, with solar? So you have the the discussions are happening in.
Kevin Hawthorne: And have you seen the amount of people interested in the tree house increase since you've been there over this time?
Kwame Hampton: Yes. Community engagement meetings, just events that are hosted by Mrs. Black and it's wonderful. I've seen some increase within the attendance, which is great.
Kevin Hawthorne: And with that increase with that, and, with your other work, what do you hope for the future with your organizations?
Kwame Hampton: I hope for, more funding, more, more funding and the more funding that we have, the more we're able to assist those that are on the ground level. And our members and, those who truly want to see the changes that are necessary within their community, whether it's lead service line replacements or lead exceedance levels, flooding, things of that nature. I believe the more funding that is available, the more resources that we can create for the community since we're so based on helping others.
Kevin Hawthorne: Yeah. You mentioned, because, with, the water, you mentioned lead levels, is that a big concern with a lot of people in the community?
Kwame Hampton: I haven't seen that much of a, concern with the lead levels as far as, lead exceedance. However, the lead service line replacement that that was, highly talked about within the community, which which occurred about a year or so ago when they started removing lead service lines throughout the city. In my part, I was striving to let residents know, the difference between a partial and a full replacement and partial replacements would involve cutting off the service line sets in the lead service, the service line, is in the front house. Not to cut it in half and then attached a copper line, because that cutting of that lead line will cause seepage of lead within the water so make sure that the city is doing a full replacement.
Kevin Hawthorne: yeah. Have you had any, personal experiences with flooding with, your neighborhood in particular?
Kwame Hampton: Yes. I, I stay on Marlborough, within Jefferson Chalmers and in 2001, was still. Getting acclimated, being within a neighborhood and I came home that night and had 36in of water in my basement. Thankfully I didn't have a washer and dryer just yet. I was concerned my water heater and my furnace would be damaged. I did have some breaking in, some fracturing in the foundation and, yeah, it was quite an experience. Still experiencing some issues with inundation now since the walls have been compromised.
Kevin Hawthorne: Just for the record, I believe you, did you say 2001? Did you mean 2021?
Kwame Hampton: Thank you. Yeah, 2021.
Kevin Hawthorne: You know, it is easy I do that all the time I still think 2015 was five years ago, but it was very much not. Yes. But no, I definitely 2021, in these interviews have been has it been recurring one of people said that was the absolute worst year for flooding. Have you seen any improvement, you think, in the way that, the city has been handling the flooding since the year of 2021 in the past, about three years?
Kwame Hampton: Yes. There's a, there's a, there's a plan to replace the stormwater drains or the main lines that carry stormwater as well as sewage they increase the capacity. I, you can only imagine the condition that our, that our infrastructure is and within the neighborhood and so we did receive a grant from FEMA, I believe is, 11.3 to conduct a study to see what is the issue within the infrastructure and how they can increase capacity. That hasn't it's— that it just it hasn't happened yet. So we've been reaching out to the city, freshwater future, that is, to help get some answers from FEMA as well, as WSD and there's been— scheduled meetings have been pushed back, which it further impedes the engagement process for the community but it seems like they are striving to make some additional changes. So we have the we have the service lines that are going to be replaced. Pardon myself, the, sewer main lines that we replaced but then we also have this pumping station on Fruit Street that is being installed that is hopefully going to help with the capacity with the, with the piping in the area but it's yet to be seen. My gripe would be ten years atorm drain installations are not enough, ten year storms happen quite often now they're not just every ten years where we experienced two 500 year floods in a matter of two years. and we need something that have more capacity. So that's been my gripe. Yeah.
Kevin Hawthorne: Absolutely understandable. So with your work with, you know, storm drains, solar panels, is there any other green infrastructure you would like to see implemented throughout the city?
Kwame Hampton: That's a good question. Because water and and, solar is such a big deal. I would love to see some type of wind is that, you know, something to do.
Kevin Hawthorne: Some like wind turbines?
Kwame Hampton: Yes, I know those are can be quite large. So maybe something that is new on the edge that is still being researched. Something that maybe we can incorporate within the next ten years or so. I, I know the, the field is always changing and tech is always improving but yeah, I would like to see, you know, something with wind as well.
Kevin Hawthorne: And this is just a general question because we've been talking about the community and how people are affected but, obviously, as you said, a big issue is with climate changes so many people still do not believe in it and my general question is, what would you say to someone who says climate change isn't real and it's not a big deal for me?
Kwame Hampton: Do a little research, research about the the polar caps and and how they're disappearing. The number of species that are on the brink of extinction. The the availability of of on the fish fishing. It's real It's a real deal and you can see the climate change with the climate change and you can see the erosion, of certain areas that were there years prior but now due to the erosion, it's no longer there. Or on the flip side, where, where there used to be wetlands, now there isn't any wetlands. All those things are contributors or factors of climate change. And it's not just. And I know it can. These things can happen by nature, but it seem like it's being accelerated. By what? How we contribute to it.
Kevin Hawthorne: Absolutely. And, I think we're about ready to wrap up. But before then, do you have any other things that we haven't touched on that you would like to discuss?
Kwame Hampton: No, I, I'm just grateful that you all are conducting these interviews. And the Manistique Community Treehouse. Mrs. Black, has brought us together to document this information, because this is necessary to document and share with others and to wake up others who may not believe in climate change.
Kevin Hawthorne: Yes. And we appreciate you so much for coming. Thank you so much, Kwame
Kwame Hampton: Thank you.
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Citation
“Kwame Hampton, May 4th, 2024,” Detroit Historical Society Oral History Archive, accessed January 21, 2025, https://oralhistory.detroithistorical.org/items/show/1030.