What Killed Detroit (Warren, Royal Oak, Coleman: high school, live, stats)

[Paddington]

I would say unions, riotous blacks, witless Michitucky rednecks, and the Democratic party's talent for self destruction in general.

Forced busing: maybe, but the South has a lot of that and has prospered considerably post WWII.

[poohbear1961]

I was born in Detroit in 1961. My family emigrated to Australia in 1970. We had a house on Lakeview St opposite a Catholic Church. My dad was a factory electrician for Ford, shift work.
My parents never achieved another mortgage in Australia... they rented the rest of their lives.
What I remember about Detroit as a child is the black hate for working class white people. My mother having to pick us up from Hosmer with the dog because my 5 year old brother was getting kicked in the balls by older black girls... our christmas lights being stolen... the school principle complaining to my mother (in front of me) that she was powerless... my parents sheltered us from the riots and the curfews... but they were just in their twenties! I believe that a lot of black parents (and especially single parents) encouraged their kids to attack white kids... to hate them... even if they were the kids of factory workers. White working class moved out of Detroit and that's what probably killed it more than anything... the Polish/ Slovac senoirs who would keep the shutters painted and the lawns mowed. And By God you picked on them... In the 70's my granny had her ancient snauwzer dog taken from the back yard in mid winter... a step up from the summer roses being destroyed...
You people left in Detroit... You will never get the whole picture because you would have to acknowledge the HATE the was inflicted on the closest neighbouring whites... and I believe that it is the same kind of denial endemic in post WW11 Germany with regards to the Jews. In the end, no matter unemployment etc, what kind of parent breeds kids who burn down houses and have so little to contribute to an already stressed community? Hard times are when we prove what we are made of...
Just because you are poor is no excuse for trashing your home.
The people who trashed Detroit are still alive and you probably know them... why don't you ask them and OWN IT. Why can't you accept that whites moved out because of violence... not just "fear of violence". That the little corner shops and the bars kept being held up at gunpoint and the owners (if they weren't dead) abandoned the business.
Was that your kid? Was that your father?
And an absolutley beautiful city... which should have been able to survive bad times... was trashed because children were brought up to see no value in it.
What excuse is there for violence? It is uncivilised and that's why people go... anywhere they can...

[Frankawitz]

POORBEAR Very good, I would say you hit that nail firmly on the head, My Family being Polish on my Father's side my Aunt's and Uncle's stores and butcher shops got held up and then the roit in 1967 burned the places down, and they(9 Families) all said why should we rebuild They don't want us in Their neighborhoods then fine we'll move and they did to St Clair Shores and Warren, Frazer other's moved to Westland, Livonia,Wayne they figured why waste our money on Them let them have it. Then they started their businesses in those neighborhoods and had no problems. That's why Detroit is like it is, Like the post on Hubbard the Mayor of Dearborn, Whites and Blacks should live in their own neighborhoods if they can't get along with each other, that's what he wanted. The rest of us seem to have no problem with it, but hey that's why we are Human we aint perfect by any means, that's for sure. Now we are seeing Black Families moving out of Detroit so it's not good for the city. Maybe they could break the city up into neighborhoods that manage their own section and the funds would come from the city but the neighbors would vote on how to use the funds to improve the neighborhood as a whole. They could keep the Downtown area as Business and Tourist and Tax it heavy and give the money to the neighborhoods. Kwame talks about how Detroit is going to be the Center Hub cause of Metro, then take everything east of tillman south of west grand blvd to east grand blvd and down to the river and develop it for Business,Entertainment, Build Amusement Park, do like the Mayor wants build Cobo, they could build new Hotels they could turn everything around. Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda,
I like to say "If, if's and and's where pot's and pan's the whole World would be a Kitchen" So bake some cookie's Peace

[ckhthankgod]

Then explain these incidents as well:detnews.com | Michigan History

Detroit Race Riot (1943) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia / detnews.com | Michigan History

and a group like this: detnews.com | Michigan History

and this information in this story: Along Detroit's Eight Mile Road, a stark racial split | csmonitor.com

So, in terms of race, there seems to be very deep roots that go back further than 1967. People also forget that many Southern Whites moved to Detroit as well to work in the auto plants. So, there was possibly a clash of thought towards race within the city or the Southern whites were possibly disenfranchised as well.

Personally, I think the economy there has hurt the city as globalization has increased and the auto industry has taken a hit here in the US, in terms of it's domestic products. It's tough to lean on one industry and expect for that to last forever.

[ckhthankgod]

Here's an interesting article or piece about the 1967 riots:Cookie Absent

What I found to be interesting was the fact of who was involved and it wasn't what I expected, completely.

[everyone luvs da longball]

What killed Detroit? You guys loosing Pudge Rodriguez!! Now your city sucks and your baseball team does too!!!

[Frankawitz]

Hey Long Ball, If the Tigers would have held on to him they wouldn't get anything for him since next year he becomes a Free Agent, at least they got some pitching for him, I know that's why the Tigers are coming up on the White Sox Huh? I didn't see your team which one is your team The YankMEE's over paid baseball team,

[everyone luvs da longball]

Originally Posted by Frankawitz

Hey Long Ball, If the Tigers would have held on to him they wouldn't get anything for him since next year he becomes a Free Agent, at least they got some pitching for him, I know that's why the Tigers are coming up on the White Sox Huh? I didn't see your team which one is your team The YankMEE's over paid baseball team,

yankees suck. im a braves fan. farnswerth is not good and who knows what pudge is going to do for (good one) the YankMEES. HAHAHAHAHAAH

[Frankawitz]

Longball, Well we seen what farnswreth is like, he blew it last night, well so much for making a run at first. now under 500

[mrkool]

The truth? Well, forced busing and minority riots/crime forced whites to flee to the suburbs. The groups left behind apparently couldn't maintain the levels of law and order, infrastructure maintenance, decent schools, and civic administration that the previous groups did.
This is nothing unique to Detroit. Any city I've seen that experienced large-scale white flight turned into a dysfunctional place.