This past Saturday was Gabriela Santiago-Romero’s birthday party fundraising event. She had set out to raise $20,000 in just over a month to help support a campaign while working full time for the city. The event proved successful and the room roared as Santiago-Romero unexpectedly crossed the finish line. However, the real story was still unfolding down the street.
Last Monday, Southwest Detroit had fallen into crisis when a water main — more specifically, a 54-inch transmission line which is much larger than a standard water main — ruptured and flooded the streets with water as deep as four feet in some parts.
Santiago-Romero admitted that she had almost canceled the fundraising event. After a week that saw part of her district and her community submerged in water in freezing temperatures — damaging hundreds of homes, leaving many displaced and without running water — her and her staff were exhausted and nearly postponed what was to be a hopeful celebration.
All too often disasters like this fall upon residents from which to save themselves. The efforts are, of course, applauded by politicians and the public alike. However, the applause has taken precedence and residents saving residents — whether through responding before emergency services, collecting and distributing food and goods, or mutual aid — is now the presumed first response. It is an unfortunate symptom of a truly cynical time and it seems impossible to find a politician who cares more about the work to help and prevent such disasters than their career.
Santiago-Romero and her office could have gone about their day, taking on business-as-usual, and addressed the crisis with something formal that Monday night. However, it was only moments after the rupture that her office was not only engaged, but acting. Santiago-Romero was already responding to residents while simultaneously chairing a Public Health & Safety committee meeting. This was only the beginning of what would be a very long week of meetings, press conferences, collecting and providing resources, and being there for her constituents and neighbors who were in the midst of danger and loss.
Luckily for us, she not only showed up to work that Monday and then showed up for residents whose livelihoods were submerged beneath freezing waters, but she continued to show up every day that week right up until the end. Crossing the $20,000 line was an exciting moment and for more reasons than just the immediate.
When it happened, Santiago-Romero was quick to acknowledge something else that we are all in desperate need of remembering: Difficult things are still accomplishable. This does not only bear witness to a difficult fundraising goal, though. It also speaks to Santiago-Romero’s career and what she has done for Detroiters.
It has almost been four years since she took office representing Detroit’s 6th District. It does not feel like it has already been that long, but in that time Santiago-Romero has championed the development of a non-police response for mental health calls; fought against concrete crushers coming into Core City; chaired City Council’s Immigration Task Force, Public Health & Safety Committee, and the Economic Development Task Force; marched and supported striking workers; and has been hosting Know Your Rights trainings for residents potentially impacted by the ICE raids spurred on by the Trump administration.
This, of course, is not everything she has done. Much of what she has given is not quantifiable. Now, with a couple of challengers entering the race for her seat, the importance of Santiago-Romero’s work must be remembered and the urgency of our political climate has only become more apparent against the background of her work.
We live in a time of short-attention spans, not only because we seemingly cannot focus for more than a few minutes, but more so because focus means confronting so many unbearable situations going on around the globe. We truly are in a time rife with hopelessness, when many politicians are nothing more than their title and seem to throw up their hands saying “Hey, I just work here.”
Santiago-Romero, on the other hand, is very clear on what she brings to the table.
“I’m not here to make promises, because that’s not how I work,” she stated at the fundraiser. “I’m not here to say I can solve all the problems, because I know how hard that is.”
She added, “What I’m here to say is that I want to come back and I want to build with you, I want to organize with you.”
These are more than words, though — more than promises in exchange for a vote. There is something more to them.
“I think we should be demanding this of any single candidate that wants to run for office,” said Santiago-Romero. “It’s not just about what promises you are going to make, it’s ‘How are you going to work with us?’”
There is something incredibly noteworthy in the difference that she illustrated that Saturday and the good news is that it’s something people still value: While she refuses to promise anything, she is doing something better than making promises. Santiago-Romero is outlining a statement of work. For her, the work is and always has been the most important part, and she even acknowledged as much during the event.
“I know we’re here to talk about the re-election, but I can’t stop thinking about the work, because for me it is all about the work,” she said.
Anyone who has ever had to interview another person for a job can spot the gap between someone who has experience and someone who has experience and is still passionate about what they do. Gabriela Santiago-Romero is more than passionate about politics — she is passionate about her city, her community, and the people who inhabit one to create the other. Not only has she proven this through what her office has been able to accomplish, but what is even more extraordinary is that she has proven new things are possible in Detroit.
There still is a lot of work to be done and, to put it as succinctly as possible, the revolution will not have an intermission. And so, when political change is occurring, it is more than a gamble of if it will continue when those who have affected it are removed or replaced. The work itself must be taken up again, embodied, and an impassioned connection rebuilt. This is the real gamble and it puts all political projects at risk, abdicating any responsibility to those geared toward better futures.
“I deeply love and care for our city,” said Santiago-Romero to a room full of those who have been touched by her work. “I deeply love and care for our people.” It would be a mistake to forget this come election time and it is of the utmost importance for people in District 6, for immigrant communities, for the forgotten, and for the history of Detroit that we re-elect Gabriela Santiago-Romero.
