Detroit 48202: Conversations Along a Postal Route

Coming of age in Detroit during the 1960s and 1970s gave me a specific and very special view on race and racism, unions, and social justice movements. I have known my main protagonist Wendell Watkins since 1972 when we were fellow student activists at Cass Technical High School.

When I returned to Detroit in 2009, after not living in the city for a number of years, I was stunned by the devastation I witnessed and had many questions about what happened to the jobs, the people, and the buildings. It felt natural to turn to Wendell, a quintessential storyteller, to look for answers. That’s how Detroit 48202: Conversations Along a Postal Route was born.

My relationship with Wendell opened doors for me to develop ties with residents along his postal route, several of whom are in the film. Other long-term friends in Detroit connected me to invaluable sources of information, scholars, and activists who have helped tell this story.

The approach I took to making Detroit 48202: Conversations Along a Postal Route flowed from my history with the city and my ties to Wendell. I stayed “close to the ground,” doing most of the cinematography as I followed Wendell on his route. Wendell lead me to the customers he thought had the most interesting stories to share about the history of Detroit and/or their current activism. My historical and archival research was guided by the stories Wendell and his customers shared. Interviews with scholars and journalists were used judiciously in order to foreground the voices of these mostly black Detroiters.

Music! For starters I turned to guitarist A. Spencer Barefield, fellow Cass Technical High School alum and a center of Detroit’s jazz scene. His “Soul Steppin’ Through the Fabulous Ruins” became the theme song of the film. I then reached out to two other Detroit based musicians-drummer Bob White, of Hastings Street Blues Band, and folksinger Josh White, Jr., whose contributions deepened the score thematically.

Throughout the production process I kept close contact with the film’s subjects, inviting them to work-in- progress showings and eliciting their feedback in rough- cut screenings. I never wanted to parachute in and take away footage. I began a process of discovery with Wendell and his people, and the resulting film is my love letter to Detroit.