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The beach idea along the Detroit River is a great idea IMO. I think they have plenty of real estate they could work with just south of Joe Louis Arena and Cobo.
Parks are a huge draw in most other large cities I've been to. Detroit definitely needs more usable and maintained parks.
There are some very popular beaches that area man made (South Beach is not really a natural beach for example). But Retroit does bring up some interesting points about the currents and what not.
Its hard to say.....a representative sampling would have the black group with 3 times the rate of poverty of the white group, twice the rate of unemployment and 15 times less wealth. One culture may not be better than the other....the real issue being the different socioeconomic conditions.
And it seems to me that those factors you just mentioned are what generate the problems in a certain segment of the black population, not the proposed conditioning that they received from whites in the past. If you took all the money and jobs away from white people, would their culture also not deteriorate? It has nothing to do with how they were taught to behave in times past, does it?
And it seems to me that those factors you just mentioned are what generate the problems in a certain segment of the black population, not the proposed conditioning that they received from whites in the past. If you took all the money and jobs away from white people, would their culture also not deteriorate? It has nothing to do with how they were taught to behave in times past, does it?
The factors that I mentioned were the result of the oppression. 300 years of oppression created economic, cultural, psychological and geographical ramification upon the oppressed. While denying economic opportunities for centuries, simultaneous with that was the LEARNING process, from this abuse, that shaped the culture. They are not separate or mutually exclusive concepts. The skewed socioeconomic conditions, as well as the "culture", are the legacy of abuse.
Again....to illustrate the impact of this conditioning this video does it best:
Okay, IS, I get your point that blacks developed a negative self-image from all their years of slavery and segregation, but obviously these little kids are 2 or 3 generations removed from that. Seems to me it must be perpetuated within the home by the parents/relatives of these kids, by the ministers and leaders of their community, and by the national leaders of a certain persuasion who claim to be for equality but who blow any multi-racial incident out of proportion. Why is this so? What is holding people back from moving beyond these self-inflicted stereotypes? And what can be done to change it?
And don't say you don't know because I know you are smarter than that.
Ann Arbor is pretty nice but it is small. After a year, it will get old. Maybe Detroit is the right place for you? I'm just saying everything that Detroit metro area has to offer is offered at just about every top 20 metro area. There is nothing special about Detroit metro.
Also, coming from Tokyo, I am actually pretty surprised that you think Detroit is nice. I don't think Detroit can be mentioned in the same breath as Toyko. I've been to both cities and Tokyo is 100x nicer and more lively than Detroit.
Just curious, what luxury hotels are you talking about, there aren't THAT m any luxury hotels in Detroit. Yes there is foot traffic during the wings, lions, tigers games but what about the other days?
BTW search for a restaurant named Ajishin. One of the best Japanese restaurants in the metro Detroit area.
Hey there.
Thanks for the heads up on some good Japanese food. I heard Novi in general is pretty good for all things Japanese, since a significant portion of it's population is of Japanese nationality. Yotsuba is Ann Arbor was pretty good. Surprising how expensive sushi is here compared to Tokyo!
I suppose in terms of modernism and infrastructure, Tokyo is nicer. One must be a huge fan of an urban atmosphere to really enjoy it (those who like NY and Chicago would probably), as you have to leave the whole city before you reach any kind of suburbs and, frankly, free space.
In terms of living there, while of course it's safe and has all the amenities, it's quite difficult for a foreigner (gaijin they call it) to build any sort of strong career. The business hierarchy model is all based on age, not achievement, so there are plenty of executives in their 50's to 60's who have no business being in the position they are, and are only there based on their automatic "level ups" with their company. It's also not very foreign friendly in terms of settling down and living there. Don't get me wrong, the Japanese are very polite and friendly and when you visit, you'll leave thinking, "wow, aren't they just the nicest people?". That all changes once you actually reside there. 50% of apartments don't even rent out to "gaijin" and when you go to an agent, they pull out a special "gaijin-friendly apartment book" that are pre-determined to allow foreigners and are usually pretty bad. Going beyond that, working in staff augmentation previously, I saw first hand how about 75% of the companies we worked with, most major international fortune 500 companies, would tell us flat out "we will only consider Japanese natives". That's just how it is out there, unfortunately. I had this prospective opportunity thrown my way and thought "now or never" and jumped on it. So far, so good. Also the fact I grew up a Red Wings fan and now have season tickets helped my decision .
Probably more of an answer than you were looking for, but I tend to trail off a bit. In regards to your question about luxury hotels, I believe it was the Westin Cadillac I passed that had cars lined up all the way around it and tons of people outside.
If I could nail down any gripes I have here, one would be that there definitely seems to be an abundance of overweight (putting it nicely) people. Perhaps it's just USA in general as I haven't lived here in 4 years, but it does feel like more than half the people I see are overweight.
Also, what's up with the car insurance? 27, clean record, and the cheapest I could find is $150 a month? What gives?
Okay, IS, I get your point that blacks developed a negative self-image from all their years of slavery and segregation, but obviously these little kids are 2 or 3 generations removed from that. Seems to me it must be perpetuated within the home by the parents/relatives of these kids, by the ministers and leaders of their community, and by the national leaders of a certain persuasion who claim to be for equality but who blow any multi-racial incident out of proportion. Why is this so? What is holding people back from moving beyond these self-inflicted stereotypes? And what can be done to change it?
And don't say you don't know because I know you are smarter than that.
Has not racism been passed down through the generations the the same way? Does anyone even remember why people first started not liking black people in America? What did we do originally to create such animus? Whatever our original sin, subsequent generations learned hate from their parents, generations removed from the original hate. In other words, looking down upon blacks became part of "white culture". They learn from their parents then find current justification to continue their hate. Generally that involves taking the reactions that resulted to blacks, from past oppression, then using the black reaction to oppression as justification for current hatred and or animus.
Why you seem surprised or why you think it abnormal for parents to pass belief to children.....I don't understand. Culture is passed down from parents to children....and mutates along the way.
If it seems like I have an answer for everything.......its because there is a REASON FOR EVERYTHING.
Last edited by Indentured Servant; 02-03-2014 at 09:56 AM..
Speaking as someone who just relocated to Michigan from Japan for work (originally from Los Angeles), I gotta say I'm really enjoying myself....
Great post cphil19. Good for you intelligently focusing on the positive. This trend of people mass herding from one city to the next ("the next big thing") is getting pretty old/annoying... leaving great places to rot. Giving up on a place if it requires the slightest amount of work. It seems like the Internet is kind of exacerbating this, like it does many things. It would be nice if people would just grow a pair and stop mass exodus-ing because a few problems pop up... "Oh my god, someone saw a beggar in the Target parking lot the other day! Time to pack the bags!" "Oh no, this magazine says our schools are only in the top 30!" Stop being wusses, and actually roll up their sleeves and actually try to fix something. Have pride in their city and try to fix what's wrong instead of moving to whatever the mags say is the new "#1 top place to live!!!". No wonder we are so disconnected. We've become a country of nomads with no roots, no community.
Also hats off the the OP for loving his/her city and wanting to put in the work to make it shine again.
Has not racism been passed down through the generations the the same way? Does anyone even remember why people first started not liking black people in America? What did we do originally to create such animus? Whatever our original sin, subsequent generations learned hate from their parents, generations removed from the original hate. In other words, looking down upon blacks became part of "white culture". They learn from their parents then find current justification to continue their hate. Generally that involves taking the reactions that resulted to blacks, from past oppression, then using the black reaction to oppression as justification for current hatred and or animus.
Why you seem surprised or why you think it abnormal for parents to pass belief to children.....I don't understand. Culture is passed down from parents to children....and mutates along the way.
If it seems like I have an answer for everything.......its because there is a REASON FOR EVERYTHING.
Because all the Native Americans had been murdered or rounded up onto reservations.
Has not racism been passed down through the generations the the same way? Does anyone even remember why people first started not liking black people in America? What did we do originally to create such animus? Whatever our original sin, subsequent generations learned hate from their parents, generations removed from the original hate. In other words, looking down upon blacks became part of "white culture". They learn from their parents then find current justification to continue their hate. Generally that involves taking the reactions that resulted to blacks, from past oppression, then using the black reaction to oppression as justification for current hatred and or animus.
Why you seem surprised or why you think it abnormal for parents to pass belief to children.....I don't understand. Culture is passed down from parents to children....and mutates along the way.
If it seems like I have an answer for everything.......its because there is a REASON FOR EVERYTHING.
Don't think anybody here "remembers" why, but the same conservative mentality that believes it is okay to own slaves would certainly also harbor disdain for the enslaved whom they could conveniently consider "inferior". Remember, consummate regressive Rush Limbaugh contends that whatever happens to the lower classes is their own fault for "allowing it to happen", therefore their inferiority. In other words, black Africans were rounded up and exploited by their "more worthy (even Godly) superiors" - pointing out the similar right-wing Ayn Rand objectivist view which is deemed the "Natural Order".
When slaves were legislatively, but not culturally, "freed" it certainly ticked off the profit-driven overlords, so as a result we had Jim Crow up until the 1960s. There have been only a couple of generations since then. The white RW power structure had no further use for the blacks they could no longer exploit in the "preferred" manner so blacks became a "nuisance" to be marginalized if at all possible.
More recently, blacks were told to "quit whining and just get over it" with some like Pat Buchanan saying that white people are "owed".
Sorry for the drift here, but the polarization in Detroit is largely a result of that. Notice the posters who continue to blame the "ungrateful" black Detroiters for everything bad in the area. Like Buchanan, this mentality actually believes it is "owed". There is plenty to like about an evolving metro Detroit but some who are culturally deficient would just rather shut out the good it has to offer. Some with this mindset, after their huffing and puffing, just won't stay away either.
Has not racism been passed down through the generations the the same way? Does anyone even remember why people first started not liking black people in America? What did we do originally to create such animus? Whatever our original sin, subsequent generations learned hate from their parents, generations removed from the original hate. In other words, looking down upon blacks became part of "white culture". They learn from their parents then find current justification to continue their hate. Generally that involves taking the reactions that resulted to blacks, from past oppression, then using the black reaction to oppression as justification for current hatred and or animus.
Why you seem surprised or why you think it abnormal for parents to pass belief to children.....I don't understand. Culture is passed down from parents to children....and mutates along the way.
If it seems like I have an answer for everything.......its because there is a REASON FOR EVERYTHING.
And how does this explain a neighborhood beating a man nearly to death for accidentally hitting a 10 year old boy with his truck and stopping to help? The kids were running across the street regardless of oncoming traffic so there was no way for the driver to avoid hitting him. Not only was he beaten within an inch of his life, he was also robbed. Even though there were an estimated 30 people at the scene, no one knows who was beating the driver. There have been poor blacks who went on to successful lives, some of the started out as slaves. The difference is in how parents raised their kids and the changing culture. Those who lived through slavery and institutionalized racism fought against their oppressors by getting an education, getting a career, and living a life by what is right instead of how whites expected they'd act. There are some black communities and families who live like that. But there is a growing population of black families and communities who've gone the opposite way. They're living their lives the way anti-segregation and pro-slavery men of the past expected blacks to behave once free from their master's shackles. In some ways, that neighborhood behaved like a primitive African tribe.
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Wonderful post
