As an ex-suburbanite and a current resident of (downtown) Detroit, I can say with the utmost certainty that the problem is racism, in all it's glorious forms (and on both sides of the proverbial train tracks).
The question is: who is going to stand up and start taking responsibility first? Is it the suburbs, who oh-so-easily snuggle in their beds every night knowing they're safe from the bogeyman, knowing it ain't their fault (those "lazy, welfare lovin' blacks")? Or is it the people of my city, many of whom wait around for someone else to solve the problems knowing full well that no one wants to listen to the whining of people without the bootstraps with which to pull themselves up with?
The answer is: probably neither. This ship has sailed in Detroit for most (older) residents of the metro area. What pisses me off to the point of aneurysms is why we've decided - as a community, much less humans - that it's OK to watch several generations of children go without good, solid education; without proper healthcare; without proper guidance. When did we switch off the button that says "this is ALL of our problem"?
In my estimation, until we decide it's NOT ACCEPTABLE that any of our (as a family, community, city - hell, human race) innocent children are being left behind, much less pushed down and kept there, then we will continue to repeat this over and over. Of course, this will take some real, honest sacrifice - something that isn't accepted in any form by this country's ruling party. If they REALLY want change in the cities, it can be affected - and everyone knows it.
It's an uphill battle to change politics, laws, minsets and attitudes. Can it be done? If this country wants to change it - REALLY change it - it could happen. I just don't see it happening in my lifetime. The real tragedy is that we honestly have the power as a collective to make things better for hundreds of thousands of children, and eventually for all of us, and yet we go about our lives choosing to allow our own American brethren be cast aside like litter on our personal highways.
My family is from Oakland County Michigan. (At least 4 generations, probably more like 8.) I've never once stepped foot in Detroit. (My grandparents, though, felt a stronger allegiance to Pontiac, though, where they grew up, and that has also struggled, but not like Detroit.) Even when relatives lived around the area in the mid-1960s, as recent college grads, the closest we ever got is Royal Oak. That's weird to me. That a whole city, the reason for the region, has just been abandoned. That, as the previous commenter mentioned, can only be racism.
As for the other cities, I hadn't realized any of them were in that bad of shape. I have set foot in all of them. I have or have had friends that lived in Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Cleveland. All three have thriving artistic and design communities, great museums, and wonderful neighborhoods. All three are on "places we've considered moving" as my partner and I look to get out of DC. DC has basically lost what creative class was here 8 years ago. The design and music scenes are anemic and DC doesn't fall on anyone's radar in the international world of art and design. Two criteria for where we want to live and work. (That and a sizable Asian community -- that has been forced to the suburbs by power plays and the lack of quality higher education.)
Detroit has a growing and influential creative community (once again) it's not really Detroit per se, but again, the creative class isn't -- generally -- living any closer than Royal Oak. Something is really, really wrong in that scenario.
Somer kind of server problem was happening last time I tried this, comments were busted - but now I'm back...
Bobby's comments are thought-provoking enough that I wanted to ask what's happening on a neighbourhood level, so now I am.
I would presume that there are neighbourhood groups, and that there are visions for a future of some sort, but that the goings on are not reported in the mainstream media. From this distance there's no way of knowing what stories have any substance, so Detroit becomes a mythical kind of place, and potentially all the more compelling for it. But not necessarily so...
So it would be good to have some down-to-earth accounts of what happens on a neighbourhood basis.
Commenting by HaloScan
