What Killed Detroit (Atlanta: jobs, sick, home)

[Maxine3]

Please, don't hold your breath.
There are a lot more to be gotten rid of.

[GreenPastures]

Busing and black-on-white crime.

Whites move out...detroit goes down the toilet

Detroit started going bad WAY BEFORE the auto industry did. Ford and GM did their BEST in the 80's and 90's.

[EJayCorvette]

Originally Posted by poohbear1961

Just a week or so ago in Australia Google made available its "Street View" option on Maps. I don't know if you get it in the States... but nearly every house here is now on the internet. So I thought I would "cruise" down my old street Lakeview... but even the Google van wouldn't go there or the surrounding streets... just raced up Warren Ave E and pissed off. Maybe they thought they needed an armoured vehicle... or tank? You can see the houses left on the satellite view... my childhood house is still there... it is freaky to see all the vacant lots... still incomprehensible to me as housing is very very expensive in Australia.
Cheers!

I'm new to this forum, but have been reading a lot of the letters going back and forth since the beginning. Poohbear, you hit the nail on the head with your last post. I'm African-American and lived in the Mack-Conner-Warren-Alter neighborhood(s) From 1970 - 1977. I too went to Hosmer Elementary 1970 - 1973, and outside of one fight outside of school, I never witnessed what you may call the "bad stuff". My heart really went out to you and your family when you described your brother being kicked in the balls by older black girls. I do recall though, that we moved a few times, buying homes from whites who seemed nice enough, but were moving further and further away, I couldn't understand it. We were always "one of the first" blacks on our block, but my parents insisted we were raised in multicultural neighborhoods, that way we all have a good understanding of how different cultures work and live. I look at the Google Maps as well, and cannot believe how badly the neighborhood looks now, like a body that's decomposing. You can literally stand on one block and see through several blocks of the neighborhood at a time, perhaps a mile or so. I visited Europe (Germany, Italy, and England) and was amazed at how they care for their older homes, in some cases centuries old. But in Detroit, that's not the case.

From what I've been researched and have lived, I believe the reason for the comatose state of Detroit really points in one direction - and that's racism. I've experienced it first hand, over and over again. I came from a black middle class family, my parents worked very hard to give their children a better life than they had. We were raised very strict, did our homework, went to church, cleaned around our home, and alleyways, kept a beautiful garden, and I remember neighbors (mostly white) complimenting my mom on her "wonderful" children. But when we ventured off the block, running into whites who didn't know us, we were treated horribly. My dad spoke his mind and would not take crap from those bigots, but what really stuck in my mind is that - not all whites - but those whites - couldn't believe that someone who was black, could afford to live in their neighborhoods, drive a new car, have well behaved - well mannered childeren, and nice (not designer) clothes - girls having ribbons in their hair - boys with pressed pants, or jeans, and not running wild in the street. To them it didn't matter, all they saw was color, and without hesistation - made us fully aware of who they thought we were, and where we should go.

Additionally, Detroit's "renaissance" will never materialize until the following issues are resolved:

1). A Clampdown on Crime, 2). Quality of Education 3). Legislative Body that can get things done - honestly 4). Influx of new residents (which won't occur until 1, 2, and 3 are done).

[and the]

Where are the predominantly African-American neighborhoods that are stable, with mostly two-parent households where the kids go to school, the parents back the teachers up, most kids go to college after high school and there is not a signifcant problem with crime and where the average household income is around $75,000.00 or less? And by "stable" I mean an area that is not on the decline with regard to housing, crime, public education, etc.

[BRU67]

Originally Posted by EJayCorvette

Additionally, Detroit's "renaissance" will never materialize until the following issues are resolved:

1). A Clampdown on Crime, 2). Quality of Education 3). Legislative Body that can get things done - honestly 4). Influx of new residents (which won't occur until 1, 2, and 3 are done).

and 5) People are honest about the real causes of the urban blight and stop blaming racism

[Maxine3]

Originally Posted by BRU67

and 5) People are honest about the real causes of the urban blight and stop blaming racism

Which are?

[Jeff Jarrett]

What killed Detroit ? The city kept getting blacker and blacker that's what killed it. There is not a single majority black city in the United States that does not have a significantly higher than the national average rate of murder, crime, and poverty.

[pirate_lafitte]

Originally Posted by Jeff Jarrett

What killed Detroit ? The city kept getting blacker and blacker that's what killed it. There is not a single majority black city in the United States that does not have a significantly higher than the national average rate of murder, crime, and poverty.

If that is what you really think, then here are some more questions for you to answer: Why are there higher poverty rates and murder rates for blacks?
Why don't you consider the economic causes such as an ailing automobile industry and the fact that Detroit was built mainly on the auto industry?
Why did the automobile plants leave?

[STLCardsBlues1989]

Because GM and Firestone bought out all the streetcars.

[malamute]

Originally Posted by Jeff Jarrett

What killed Detroit ? The city kept getting blacker and blacker that's what killed it. There is not a single majority black city in the United States that does not have a significantly higher than the national average rate of murder, crime, and poverty.

Maybe not city but there are parts of Dallas where you are driving from the slum and suddenly you see McDonalds, and boats in nicely maintained yards and you assume you're in a white neighborhood but you're not.

Atlanta has good middle class black areas of town also.

Tony Brown wrote a book and there's a part that discusses what integration did to black neighborhoods. As the middle class leaves, it creates a vacuum. The good examples are no longer there and so as good as integration might be, it did harm to the underclass which is left on it's own.