In this episode of The Detroit Evening Report, we cover a celebration of African ancestors, a Detroit student facing deportation and more.

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Carnival of the Spirit returns for 25th year

Each June for the last 25 years, a ceremony has been held on Belle Isle to honor and celebrate African ancestors. The African Diaspora Ancestral Commemoration Institute of Detroit launched the Carnival of the Spirit in 2001 to “venerate” Africans lost in the Middle Passage during the slave trade.

Kefentse Chike is one of the organization’s founders. He says people from various backgrounds have found solace in the ceremony.

“When we started this, the idea was to be — I’ll use the word interfaith, for lack of a better word — but it was to be inclusive of all the various spiritual expressions of African people in the diaspora,” Chike said.

Attendees wear white and often bring items to commemorate loved ones lost. The ceremony starts at the Belle Isle Lighthouse with a procession to the river, and includes African drumming, dance and other offerings.

This year’s carnival will be at 7 a.m. on Saturday, June 21.

To celebrate the carnival’s 25th anniversary, there will also be a film screening and a spiritual healing ceremony as part of this year’s festivities. The film screening takes place on Friday, June 13 at the Shrine of the Black Madonna and features a documentary exploring African spiritual traditions as well as a panel discussion with practitioners from several African faiths. The spiritual healing ceremony, Akom, takes place on Saturday, June 21 at the Detroit Food Commons. For more information, visit ADACI Detroit on Facebook.

Detroit student faces deportation

A Detroit high school student is hoping to stay in the U.S. long enough to graduate before returning to his home country, Colombia. But 18-year-old Maykol Bogoya-Duarte now faces deportation.

Chalkbeat Detroit reports police stopped the undocumented immigrant as he was driving to Lake Erie Metropark to join his classmates for a field trip on May 20. He did not have a driver’s license and officers who couldn’t speak Spanish called Customs and Border Protection, who arrested him. His lawyer says Bogoya-Duarte was already planning to leave the country voluntarily after finishing his education.

U-M updates security

The University of Michigan says it’s cutting ties with a private security company that was accused of following pro-Palestinian activists on and off campus. The school says it found the actions of one employee to be “disturbing, unacceptable and unethical.” It did not elaborate.

Neighborhoods Day continues advocate’s legacy

ARISE Detroit’s Neighborhoods Day returns on August 2, 2025.

Longtime journalist and community advocate Luther Keith founded the event and the nonprofit to help change perceptions about city neighborhoods, and show people the good things they offer. Keith died in March, but his legacy endures.

The city-wide event includes volunteer service opportunities as well as music, car shows and other activities. For more information about Neighborhoods Day, visit arisedetroit.org.

—WDET’s Pat Batcheller contributed to this report.

Do you have a community story we should tell? Let us know in an email at detroiteveningreport@wdet.org.