Jamil Abdul Hakim speaks with a Michigan Daily reporter about the high incidence of blight in his neighborhood and his desire to buy some of the neighboring vacant lots for his family.
Jamil Abdul Hakim's daughters, who are home-schooled by their mother, cross the street in the Brightmoor neighborhood. Their father owns land on both sides of the street and is hoping to buy more.
Jamil Abdul Hakim's eldest daughter relaxes in a community-built park near their home in the Brightmoor neighborhood of Detroit in June of 2014. Behind her sit multiple vacant lots that have been cleared due to blight - deterioration due to abandonment, crime, and arson - and are now used by her family to ride their all-terrain vehicles.
