Do People Hate Detroit?

[Shollin]

Shollin, seriously. What's your argument?

One the one hand, you would seem to be arguing that white people in metro Detroit are relatively immune to racism.

On the other hand, you're saying that black people in Detroit are racist and hate white people.

Is that your argument?

The post you quoted was me trying to sort out your anecdotal evidence that a lot of people in the suburbs are racist and hostile towards Detroit.

[Detroitnerd]

The post you quoted was me trying to sort out your anecdotal evidence that a lot of people in the suburbs are racist and hostile towards Detroit.

But are those your genuine feelings, Shollin? That white suburbanites are almost completely nonracist? And that black people in Detroit are largely racist and loathe whites? Just trying to get a handle on this.

[Shollin]

But are those your genuine feelings, Shollin? That white suburbanites are almost completely nonracist? And that black people in Detroit are largely racist and loathe whites? Just trying to get a handle on this.

My argument is that people hate Detroit because of the epic crime rate, the lack of basic services, and the ruined neighborhoods.

Conversely as a Detroiter, you are doing a bang up job confirming that Detroiters despise suburbanites and blame them for the decline of Detroit.

[Shollin]

Who said five times? Before I answer, how about you put a percentage on the white suburbanites who are racist since we are playing this game.

[Detroitnerd]

Who said five times? Before I answer, how about you put a percentage on the white suburbanites who are racist since we are playing this game.

Well, it stands to reason.

There are 700,000 residents in Detroit. At least 600,000 of them are black.

There are 4,280,000 residents of suburban Detroit. At least 4,000,000 of them are white.

So, if for every urban black racist there is a suburban racist counterpart, it would figure that black racism is at least five times more concentrated in the city and five times the total percentage of white racists in the suburbs.

OK, I believe I understand how you feel now.

[Shollin]

You didn't answer my question.

[Richard]

And this brief intermission was brought to you originally by Chester Powers and sung by the Youngbloods.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53XyCbIJGKY

[Detroitnerd]

And this brief intermission was brought to you originally by Chester Powers and sung by the Youngbloods.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53XyCbIJGKY

Awesome. Love it, Richard.

[Jimaz]

The problem with being accused of being in denial is that it's equally frustrating whether or not you actually are. "I fervently deny that I am in denial!"

The lady doth protest too much, methinks could be directed at anyone but I'm directing it at no one here. It just seems an appropriate principle to note in any passionate discussion.

[old guy]

I'm a bit confused about the title of this thread, Do people hate Detroit? Is this a question for people that live in Detroit, people that live in the surrounding area,or just people in general that live in other parts of the country or world? Reading the thread it sounds like it's questioning people in the surrounding area. Just curious, not sure I understand the premise of the question. Can you enlighten me?

[old guy]

It just seems like Strong dropped a vague question out there and then didn't follow up on it. I guess that if Detroiters think that people around the country hate them, I have a few views on that. But if it's a local thing, I guess I'm out.

[313WX]

I don't people hate Detroit, rather people hate what Detroit has become. The vast majority on this forum knew a Detroit that was always spoken in the same breath as cities such as New York and Chicago. To see what it has become now would fuel a lot of resentment. I mean, many Detroiters have to drive through miles of blight everyday where they once lived, walked around, shopped played and to see it all gone in such a short amount of town is devastating.


As far as how people across the country feel about the city, recently I think people feel so sorry for Detroit to the point where it's not evne worth joking about the city any more. People are also wondering what the heck is in Detroit and Michigan's water, given the condition Detroit [[the state's largest city) is in and the legislative actions that have taken place in Lansing.

[Jimaz]

...As far as how people across the country feel about the city, recently I think people feel so sorry for Detroit to the point where it's not even worth joking about the city any more....

I think there's a lot of truth to that bolded phrase. At some point we all identify with each other and so can no longer stand to watch the suffering of others.

No. People, who have not lost their humanity, do not hate Detroit.

[LeannaM]

As an outsider, I do not hate Detroit. I have not been there so I can't really hate it. I think a lot of people look at it with either pity or contempt, though. Pity that it's so rundown in a lot of places. Contempt that it seems to have such bad leadership over the years. Any city that has the bad publicity of a Kwame Kilpatrick scandal [[for example) is going to receive negative feedback.

I love St. Louis and visit it pretty often. It also has kind of a bad reputation and it is an awesome city. So I know that reputation is not all there is to a city. However, having read some news reports about Detroit, I can't help but wonder if some of its problems are due to its leadership. If a city doesn't have good leadership it's hard to escape a downward spiral.

Detroit has good and bad qualities, but the media mostly focuses on the bad qualities, and there's a lot there to focus on. So it's no wonder people have bad expectations of Detroit. When most of the publicity is bad, what do people expect?

I don't think the bad publicity for Detroit is anything new. It's probably been happening for decades. My Dad said he would get catalogs as a kid [[early 1970s) and the catalogs sold guns and weapons. Any weapon would have a note on it that said "not sold in Detroit or surrounding suburbs." So apparently Detroit's reputation is not new.

Suburbanites hating the city is probably not exclusive to Detroit. I have heard of the same thing in St. Louis, particularly among the Middle Aged and older. St. Louis is better than it used to be [[Escape From New York was filmed in St. Louis in 1981 and it looked pretty bombed out then. It's a lot better now). So the kids of the Boomers who left probably tend to have a more negative view of the city. Many of them just come for a sporting event and leave, not realizing the great places they are missing.

[Strong]

I think that everybody is right to a point.
Detroiters hate what Detroit has become. Some blame the black establishment because it was blacks in power when the decline happen so is warranted but some is because the auto industry took such a step backwards and people didn't gear up another industry to replace it.
Whites left Detroit after the riots and took many jobs and economic opportunity with them but I admit I understand that move when in some instance the mayor encouraged them to leave which was a huge mistake.
Now, in regards to the racist theory. Many blacks don't like whites and at the same ask them to handouts and Many whites don't like blacks for the asking of handouts and the crimes we commit.
On a national level the media hates Detroit and used us as the symbol of what's bad in urban America which created a national hate for the city.
Well that brings us to the present, Detroit ain't gone anywhere and the lights are still on. We have some ugly neighborhoods which is a result of less population and we have some great neighborhoods and pockets in bad neighborhoods. We have some people who are making a difference both black and white folk. And, some might say that Detroit is making a comeback.
So if my brothers could stop the violence and maybe a job with prayer could be the reason and people begin to take another perspective in their attitude then maybe....

[Hermod]

On a national level the media hates Detroit and used us as the symbol of what's bad in urban America which created a national hate for the city.

I don't want to comment on the racial aspect because there are enough flame wars on the forum about that.

I do want to comment on the media hating on Detroit, because they do. The eastern establishment [[which controls the media) hated Detroit once Detroit began to grow. They hated all of the nouveau rich making bundles of money off of the auto industry. They consider the decline of the domestic industry and the disaster of Detroit to be a good comeuppance. Note they don't hate on the other failed "black" cities like Newark, Camden, Gary, and East St Louis.

[Hermod]

I don't want to comment on the racial aspect because there are enough flame wars on the forum about that.

I do want to comment on the media hating on Detroit, because they do. The eastern establishment [[which controls the media) hated Detroit once Detroit began to grow. They hated all of the nouveau rich making bundles of money off of the auto industry. They consider the decline of the domestic industry and the disaster of Detroit to be a good comeuppance. Note they don't hate on the other failed "black" cities like Newark, Camden, Gary, and East St Louis.

I was using the other failed cities as a comparison that the media save their vitriol for Detroit. One of the reasons the coastal folks [[on both sides) went for foreign cars in a big way when they became available, just another way to stick it to "Detroit" .

[Richard]

I was using the other failed cities as a comparison that the media save their vitriol for Detroit. One of the reasons the coastal folks [[on both sides) went for foreign cars in a big way when they became available, just another way to stick it to "Detroit" .

I thought it was more about it was the seventies and gas shortages and imports came on the scene with cup holders and power windows and reliability that sipped gas,they filled the demand that Detroit could not at the time because they became to complacent,lots of foreign cars from the seventies are still on the road,what about Pinto's and Vegas etc. I am not sure other then the "Hungry? Eat your rice burner " bumper stickers it would seem there was a lot of support.Not a reason to dislike a city.

[Honky Tonk]

I was using the other failed cities as a comparison that the media save their vitriol for Detroit. One of the reasons the coastal folks [[on both sides) went for foreign cars in a big way when they became available, just another way to stick it to "Detroit" .

Hermod, your post isn't exactly correct. I don't think anyone intentionally "stuck it to Detroit". You have to look back @ the American automobile industry back then. The Unions had become very cocky. American designed products had serious reliability and longetivity issues. People were also becoming less enchanted with automobiles. They just wanted to get from point A to point B, EVERYTIME they turned the key. I remember shopping for a used car, finding an American product on the lot with 36K on the odometer, and thinking "my God, this thing is shot". People were running into the foreign car minority, driving automobiles with 70, 80, 90K miles on them, and with just routine maintenance. In essence, American automobile manufacturing had shot themselves in the foot. They thought their golden era would just go on forever.

[canuck]

You didnt want to comment on the racial aspect because...

But your allusion to failed black cities is strange, because...

I dont think other american cities wish ill on Detroit nor do they hate it. I think folks usually want it to get better not worse. New Yorkers dont love or hate on places like Camden and Gary because they are not on anybody's radar so to speak, which is sad. Detroit is a major city and thus, it is more of a spectacle of what can go wrong with american cities and towns, predominantly black or white in my opinion.

[Pickford-Bentler]

I live in the DC Metro area. Presently, by Silver Spring. Anyhow, the coast foreign car buyers also like to claim that those like myself who buy from Ford, GM or Chrysler are racist against the Japanese. As part of my job, I research patents and technical literature for engine and transmission control algorithms. I would say that maybe one name out of a thousand published by Toyota has a non-Japanese author. "Racist" Ford, on the other hand, reads like the UN. Hell, Ed Wellborn, the head of design for Cadillac and a big factor in my next purchase - an ATS, is an African American. I have to agree that their is a sort of pathological anti-Detroit mentality on the East Coast. It gets more absurd. My brother works for NAVSEA and, due to the cost of the wars, the USN has to find ways to keep ship building costs down. He told me that the engineers they get from Metro Detroit are saving the Navy. My uncle who owned an injection molding firm had a good saying "he who does the most with the least wins". In DC that becomes "he who gets the most something for doing nothing gets his name on a building".

[canuck]

I live in the DC Metro area. Presently, by Silver Spring. Anyhow, the coast foreign car buyers also like to claim that those like myself who buy from Ford, GM or Chrysler are racist against the Japanese. As part of my job, I research patents and technical literature for engine and transmission control algorithms. I would say that maybe one name out of a thousand published by Toyota has a non-Japanese author. "Racist" Ford, on the other hand, reads like the UN. Hell, Ed Wellborn, the head of design for Cadillac and a big factor in my next purchase - an ATS, is an African American. I have to agree that their is a sort of pathological anti-Detroit mentality on the East Coast. It gets more absurd. My brother works for NAVSEA and, due to the cost of the wars, the USN has to find ways to keep ship building costs down. He told me that the engineers they get from Metro Detroit are saving the Navy. My uncle who owned an injection molding firm had a good saying "he who does the most with the least wins". In DC that becomes "he who gets the most something for doing nothing gets his name on a building".

The head of design at Chrysler is also an african american of haitian origin; Ralph Gilles.

[MidTownMs]

The head of design at Chrysler is also an african american of haitian origin; Ralph Gilles.

And he is as FINE as the Chrysler 300 one of the many Chrysler products that he has designed since joining Chrysler in 1992. And he attended the College of Creative Studies in Detroit and has and MBA from MSU!!!

[Zacha341]

^^^ Great accomplishment!

[canuck]

And he is as FINE as the Chrysler 300 one of the many Chrysler products that designed has designed since joining Chrysler in 1992. And he attended the College of Creative Studies in Detroit and has and MBA from MSU!!!

Yep! And we can claim a bit of him too since he grew up in Montreal. He was born in New York and has dual citizenship.