I'm not going to get into the middle of the whole, whether or not it's technically legal to walk in the street or not, but here is my view. Feel free to brand me as you'd like.

In my years, I've always seen walking in the street as "street". It seems to be just another aspect of glorified thug life. I grew up in Redford and while I've moved, I'm still in the area almost daily. The majority of younger folks walking in the street all exhibit "street" attitude [[black or white), completely oblivious to any cars that are trying to drive there. Right behind them however, you'll see a group not taken up in that thug attitude [[again, black or white), walking on the sidewalk. I should get a photo next time I see it because the contrast is pretty apparent.

At the moment, my primary residence is in a decent Northville neighborhood.
Sidewalks on every street and everyone uses them. White, black, purple, pick a skin color. Except.... Except for the only two black kids in the area who look like extras in any random gangsta rap video, walking right down the middle of the street. They'll move out of the way for a car only very begrudgingly and on the whole, they couldn't possibly look more out of place.

Again, hang a tag on me if you must, but I'm only calling 'em as I see 'em.