Dr. JoAnn Watson is serving her first full term as a Member of the Detroit City Council, where

she has sponsored more than 1,000 laws in 5 years, including: a ban on hand-held cell phones

while driving, a ban on smoking in public places, and a law demanding that Receiving Hospital

& Hutzel Hospital remain open “in perpetuity”.  She is the only woman to serve as the

Executive Director of the Detroit NAACP.  She was appointed as vice chair of the Detroit

Human Rights Commission by Mayor Coleman A. Young and chaired Women’s Equality Day Celebrations in the City of Detroit for a decade.  Formerly, she was a local and national YWCA executive.  Prior to her election, Council Member Watson was Public Policy Liaison for

Congressman John Conyers, and was a co-founder of the Coalition for Health Care Equity. 

She has hosted an award-winning radio/television talk show “Wake Up Detroit!” for nearly two

decades, and has traveled throughout the Continent of Africa, the USSR, Caribbean and across

the nation.

 

Council Member Watson earned a Journalism Degree from the University of Michigan, where

she was active with the peace and justice movement.  Currently, she is a board member with:

ACLU, NAACP, Vice-President of the Detroit Wayne County Health Authority, Every Church

a Peace Church, and SEMCOG.  Watson is the mother of four and has garnered more than

800 awards, including an Honorary Doctorate.  She holds Lifetime Achievement Awards from

the YWCA, the NAACP, the Detroit Human Rights Commission, the SCLC, and a National

Award from the National Conference of Negro Women.  She has authored hundreds of columns,

article, and books including: Should America Pay? The ABC’s of School Finance, Reparations

Ray Jenkins’ 40-year quest for 40 acres and a Mule and an urban agenda, which she presented

to Presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama this year.  Watson is currently helping thousands

of citizens avoid foreclosures and water shut-offs & chairs the Anti-Foreclosure Committee of

a Tri-County Summit during 2008.  Council Member Watson has also played a key role in

combating scrap metal thieves by sponsoring 4 tough laws & working closely with law enforcers

& lately, she has unexpectedly become the ‘go-to’ person for citizens suffering from home

invasions and slow police response.

 

Council Member Watson led the way to fund 4,000 summer jobs in 2007 & 2008; she provided leadership to re-open the Dexter-Elmhurst Center & works with the Dr. Charles H. Wright

Museum of African American History, to sustain the African World Festival as the “signature”

Ethnic Festival on Detroit’s Riverfront.  Council Member Watson is sponsoring two young

Detroiters who are studying at the Latin American School of Medicine in Cuba, which provides

free tuition and lodging for African American Physicians-in training- who commit to return to

Detroit and she has been “The” voice fighting to close the city’s Incinerator and she has

sponsored laws and budget actions to launch citywide Recycling.  Watson has also sponsored

legislation calling for Universal-Single Payer Health care and has sponsored a Resolution

calling for a cabinet-level Peace Office to be established in the U.S.A.  During the 1980’s she

co-founded peace Links in Detroit (with the Hon. Erma Henderson and the Hon. Maryann

Mahaffey), and she visited Moscow, Leningrad and Tblisi, Georgia in the U.S.S.R. in 1989 as a

delegate with Women for a Meaningful Summit traveling with the Hon. Millie Jeffrey and the

Hon. Debbie Stabenow.