Residents urge action on racism and local cannabis testing; library director invites community events

Public comment at the Mount Clemens City Commission meeting highlighted two issues: concerns about rising racist and white-supremacist rhetoric and a plea to explore local cannabis testing capacity after a reported lab closure.

Ruthie Stevenson, who identified herself and her address, said the nation is "facing dark times" and warned that rising racism and white supremacist ideas have contributed to deadly attacks around the country. She pushed back against a historic racist statement read at a prior meeting and argued that jazz and blues grew from African Americans' tradition of verbalizing life and protest.

Another resident, Mike Zu (who gave an address), recounted historical claims about hemp and said industrial hemp had been suppressed for economic reasons. He raised concerns that a testing lab in the region had been shut down for "fudging their numbers" and urged the city to explore building local testing capacity so that cannabis testing would not be routed to Detroit or farther away.

Brandon Bowman, introduced as the library director, used the public-comment period to invite residents to an outdoor performance by the Blue Cat Band and described new library programming funded by an expanded programming budget, including weekly movie days and an ice-cream social.

The commission heard the comments during the public-participation portion of the agenda and did not take formal action on the items during the meeting.