Local Inkster, Michigan residents are interested in restoring the home where civil rights activist Malcolm X once lived.
The group would like to turn the boarded up residence at 4336 Williams Street into a historic landmark, similar to the Lansing home Malcolm X lived in as a child.
“We want to promote it so people can see we have something positive here,” town resident Dawon Lynn told the Detroit News. “There’s really been nothing positive going on in the city, so we want to let people know Malcolm did stay here and give the kids walking to school something they can be proud of.”
Aaron Sims, operator of the non-profit organization Project: We Hope, Dream and Believe, cleaned up the property in July with the help of volunteers. Since the cleanup effort, the property has become overgrown and littered with garbage again.
“When you don’t share information about who lived there, people just treat it like a regular abandoned house,” said Sims, a fourth-generation Inkster resident, said to the Detroit News. “I don’t think the owners knew too much of the history and neither do the kids in the community.”
Follow Carrie Healey on Twitter @CarrieHeals.