Why Not Move To Detroit? The Hype Isn't True. (Burt: camping, place to live)

[ckhthankgod]

Originally Posted by 4mula91

Ok, well, Detroit finished last in the % of High School Seniors graduating in the Nation this year, 25%. This is pathetic. The Metro region is not going to recover in our lifetime if we do not COSOLIDATE. There are over 140 municipalities self-governing themselves, and 139 of them all laughing and pointing fingers at their core, DETROIT. Metro Detroit cannot be strong without a strong Detroit. Detroit faces an even worse future than we have seen in our lives, due to the proportion of disadvantaged, marginialized, and institutionally discriminated citizens, who are the direct product of RACISM.

Wake up suburbanites, all of your jokes about Kentucky, South Carolina, and the South in general ,as being RACIST and INTEROLANT, take a look in the ****ING mirror! The blacks of Detroit were blacks of the South. They migrated to Detroit in the 20's, 30's, and 50's for a better life. They uprooted their families and past home in search of greener pastures. And look what they ****in got. It is unbelievable. Blacks are no longer migrating to Detroit, instead they are returning to the South. (Yes, look at the last 2 censuses, the City of Detroit has lost alot of black residents too.)

They were denied good paying jobs at Auto Factories, were forced to live in Slums, and had their successful Black commerical district, Black Bottom (2nd wealthiest black retail sector next to Harlem), completed destroyed in the 1950's for I-75 between the Lodge and 375. ****in shame. You say that your white relatives worked hard? They were handed a brand new house in suburbs, on a federal subsidized loan. Blacks could not GET THESE LOANS. They were not allowed to move to Garden City, or Grosse Pointe, or Dearborn, racial housing convenants made it illegal! Blacks could not even get loans to improve there aging turn of the century housing, because of redlining. Poor Whites were practically given housing in Garden City, Westland, Redford, Oak Park, Hazel Park, Southern Southfield, Taylor, Allen Park, Ecorse...if you dont believe me, remember I majored in Sociology with a focus on Racial Housing Policies. I have read the literature.

My grandfather on my mom's side, who was poor as ****, had one lung, and rented a ****hole off of Livernois Rd., among living in the Herman Gardens Projects on Joy, was able to qualify for a no down payment loan on a house in Garden City off Cherry Hill in 1954. Why, because he was white (Polish at that, not even an Anglo-Saxon). Not bad for a family on welfare.

The Real Estate market did not yet have Equal Housing guidelines or laws. The blacks missed out on what could have been the countries greatest equalizer, the Suburbanization of America after WWII. From the 1950's to 1960's we saw White people flock to the Detroit suburbs on these low interest loans into the tract houses which make up our now inner-ring suburbs. Do you know what the Blacks got in Detroit, and across Urban Centers throught the nation? HOUSING PROJECTS. HOUSING TOWERS. TONS OF POOR PEOPLE CONCENTRATED IN ONE AREA...out of sight, and out of mind.

Totally disconnected from the outer "prosperous" world, where the American Dream become an illusion. These housing towers created another problem for blacks of Detroit. NO EQUITY. The poor whites were now building wealth for the first time since their families migrated to Detroit from Europe. They OWNED their houses. The house is the single largest piece of equity within a family, and is heritable - can be transferred through the generations. The equity can also be borrowed upon for repairs, doctors bill, private school payments, and college education. The equity can be used as leverage for an extension of credit, which gives whites the oppurtunity to start businesses and make investments. BLACKS DID NOT HAVE THIS OPPURTUNITY. They were given ****ing housing projects, which they RENTED from the CITY and DID NOT OWN. No equity, no wealth = generational poverty. Any finally, after living in these projects for 10-30 years, these families lost their HOMES AGAIN! The tall Housing Projects have become a thing of the past, being tore down through URBAN DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS. Now that blacks have to live in the aging houses of inner city Detroit that would have been maintained and in BETTER condition had the cyclone of RACISM never happened. Alot of the dilapadated **** you see in Detroit is owned by white slumlords who do not maintain their property. I can't tell you how many times I have heard white people from Canton say "they let their city go to ****" or "they can't even take care of their homes or pick up the trash". When was the last time you, as a renter, felt it was your responsibility to repair your house, or paint it, or pick up all of the trash from the fringes of the property? You would expect your landlord to do it. CONTRADICTION.

Now this whole rant has little and everything to do with why Detroit has a 25% High School graduation rate. The 11th largest city in the US, formely the 4th, but still the 5th largest Metro Area. Detroit is no longer falling alone. Oakland County, which in 1990 was the 2nd Richest County in the COUNTRY, is now 6th. Detroit and at least the Wayne County Suburbs must combine, and become one locality, one government. The City will annex all of Wayne County. Lots of Money can be saved when there is not 50 different school districts, mayors, every known civic position....etc. The population would encompass a strong tax base and a strong tax liablity to balance it. Louisville has done it. Athens, GA has done it. Louisville was not too proud to ditch all of their suburbs in favor of becoming one unified city. Remember, Detroit is 306 years old. The City of Livonia, which is an inner-ring suburb, is only 55. The City of Westland is a mere 40. Invisible political boundaries need to disappear. They are all fake divisions. Wake up everyone, you live in Detroit.

Very good and brutally honest post.

[ckhthankgod]

Originally Posted by SchnauzerMom

I lived in Huntington, WV for a year and ran for my life! I was born in Detroit in 1953 and stayed there until I got married in 91...then we bought a farm in Ohio. I would still be there, but hubby had a heart attack and we wanted a nice sized town with a lot to do...and we decided on Huntington. In less than a year I knew it was a little Detroit in the making. We ran! I'm now outside of Ashland where I go walking in the middle of the night and never have a problem. It's rural, up on a hill and everyone watches out for each other. Thank God some places like this still exist!

Same here in Upstate NY.

[rdotproductions]

well im white and am planning on buying a house on barlow st, and opening a recording studio smack dab on Gratiot and 7 Mile. Throw ideas an opinions my way please. I think itll help build up the community again if more people open buisnesses in detroit. Realestate is DIRT CHEAP in these areas, yea i know their considered BAD areas but if everyone brings positive things with them maybe itll change and over the years become prosperous again.

[Coldjensens]

Originally Posted by ckhthankgod

Very good and brutally honest post.

While that lengthy post is very thought provoking, it also unveils a problem with Detroit. The question was "Why not move to Detroit, the hype is not true." And the response devolves to "Blacks were repressed by our ancestors, so they are not well off today." While this may well be true it does not solve anything.

Unfortunately the discussions always seems to devolve to "Blacks were repressed by your ancestors" When the focus needs to be "lets put the horrible past behind us, work together, and fix things." That was the thrust of the original post. Is it simply not possible to focus on what can be done now instead of why things were bad in the past?

[ckhthankgod]

Originally Posted by Coldjensens

While that lengthy post is very thought provoking, it also unveils a problem with Detroit. The question was "Why not move to Detroit, the hype is not true." And the response devolves to "Blacks were repressed by our ancestors, so they are not well off today." While this may well be true it does not solve anything.

Unfortunately the discussions always seems to devolve to "Blacks were repressed by your ancestors" When the focus needs to be "lets put the horrible past behind us, work together, and fix things." That was the thrust of the original post. Is it simply not possible to focus on what can be done now instead of why things were bad in the past?

I actually agree with what you are saying, but we also need to be honest and bring closure to why it got like this in the first place. Then, we can attack those things that created the current situation.

[and the]

However if Detroit is so bad why are some of you are returning back to the inner-city? Like I said Detroit is safer the most white suburbs. Sure we have our share of crime, but nobody is burning crosses on Black families lawns like they are in West Bloomfield Hills,Waterford,Clawson, and Howell is the new home of the now generation of Klans.

The difference is, when something like that happens in the suburbs, the local police and even the Feds prosecute the perpetrators.

Remember when the white folks from suburbia were beat down at the Freedom Festival? Remember how it was captured on tape? Remember when Coleman Young paid for the Rutherford's lawyer? How do you think THAT would have played out in West Bloomfield or Livonia?

Have you ever heard of the FBI's Uniform Crime Report? Here's a link if you haven't. Please convince me that Detroit is safer for anyone, black or white, than Livonia. Are you really going to try to tell us that because some dummy burned a cross on someone's lawn in Livonia that Detroit is safer?

Federal Bureau of Investigation - Uniform Crime Reports

Many of you know it like I know it.. that during the Fireworks,a Tiger/Lions game,the Thankskilling parade you flock down here to the inner-city. So Detroit must be a safe town,due to the fact that it wasn't none of you would come into Detroit

I believe there was a recent shooting at the fireworks where 9 people were shot? Unsolved? Safe? We shoot people into space on giant rockets. Is that safe? Using your reasoning, we wouldn't do it if it wasn't. If people who can afford to live and send their kids to school elsewhere thought Detroit was "safe", they'd live there. For the most part, they don't, because it isn't.

"Safe" means more than not being killed at a Tigers game or St. Patrick's Day parade in front of the Gaelic League when there are thousands of other suburbanites around you. Nevertheless, that IS a target rich environment. I wonder how much effort the city expends to keep the crime stats around the entertainment district on the down low?

[Shrewsbury Road]

You couldn't be righter

[ocean2026]

Brother William - I know it makes you feel good to imply those who don't like Detroit are somehow racists. Sure you can ignore that by almost every statistical measure YOUR city is the tops in crime. Of course its those racist white people that cause your brothers to commit all those crimes. Even your mayor - Kwame - did it cause WASPs made him.

As a Black person you should be ashamed that your 90% Black majority city is considered the worst in the country. Take some responsibility.

I am refer to WASP's as they because I am not one. I have prosecuted criminals for many years and they always look to blame someone else for what they have done. Keep blaming everyone else Brother for the cesspool in which you live - if you yell loud enough and accuse strongly enough maybe someone will believe you- but I won't be among them!

[Tiger Beer]

Actually the solution for Detroit is for the locals to build up the community. Start grocery stores, etc. and things that make money for themselves.

I heard there are no large supermarkets within the city of Detroit...that alone represents an opportunity for a local to start one.

[Vicman]

Originally Posted by BurtsBees

Its partly happening already. "Open enrollment" has caused some schools to take a nose dive. They bring in Detroit students, who for the most part end up just causing fights, rucus and other riff-raff on their way to the Smart bus stop. Im glad a few wised up and got rid of that right away.

Not quite.

"Open enrollment" can work if done correctly. I.E. if kids start fights, they get kicked out. If they don't maintain their grades, they get kicked out.

It's not that difficult of a problem to solve.

Originally Posted by Tiger Beer

Actually the solution for Detroit is for the locals to build up the community. Start grocery stores, etc. and things that make money for themselves.

I heard there are no large supermarkets within the city of Detroit...that alone represents an opportunity for a local to start one.

There is Tom Boy Supermarket in Detroit. http://www.detroitblog.org/?p=604 - Complete with vagrants camping outside

The owner wants to sell it, though.