Denzel has deep roots in this city. He is a lifelong Detroiter. He has been an activist since his college days at Michigan State University. He is a founding member of Black Youth Project 100, an organization that fights against the “school-to-prison pipeline” that undermines the futures of young people of color. Denzel was also an elected Detroit City Charter Commissioner, and served as communications director and advisor for U.S. Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib.

DSA has already backed him in the past, in his run for Detroit City Clerk in 2021. This time DSA members are pouring a lot of resources and time into his campaign, in the Electoral Committee and beyond. Denzel is a self-identified and unapologetic socialist, and a lot of us are looking at the current political climate as an opportunity to elect such candidates, a climate which is reflected in our growing membership in the last year.

Americans are crying out for representation that openly addresses their economic anxiety instead of gaslighting them that everything is just great, as Joe Biden and Kamala Harris did in 2024. Voters want something different. And many of them are open to listening to someone willing to say, for example, that billionaires shouldn’t exist, and that immigrants are a vital part of our community who should not be rounded up like dogs. Denzel is one of these candidates.