The Tragedy of Detroit - By Frosty Wooldridge

[Johnnie Sue Bridges]

I am not familiar with this writer, but I found his article on why Detroit is failing very interesting.

THE TRAGEDY OF DETROIT
This is a powerful message about the failure of the Great Society.

How in the world do we get out of this mess? This is a perfect example of how good intentions without good foresight can produce an absolute nightmare. Never underestimate the downside of human nature. The author of the following piece is a U.S. journalist who writes for seventeen national and two international magazines.

THE TRAGEDY OF DETROIT: HOW IMMIGRATION AND MULTICULTURALISM DESTROYED IT
By Frosty Wooldridge

For 15 years, from the mid 1970s to 1990, I worked in Detroit , Michigan. I watched it descend into the abyss of crime, debauchery, gun play, drugs, school truancy, car-jacking, gangs and human depravity. I watched entire city blocks burned out. I watched graffiti explode on buildings, cars, trucks, buses and school yards. Trash was everywhere! Detroiters walked through it, tossed more into it and just ignored it.

Tens of thousands and then, hundreds of thousands today exist on federal welfare, free housing and food stamps! With Aid to
Dependent Children, minority women birthed eight to 10 and, in one case, one woman birthed 24 kids as reported by the Detroit Free Press-all on American taxpayer dollars. A new child meant a new car payment, new TV and whatever mom wanted. I saw Lyndon Baines Johnson's "Great Society" flourish in Detroit. If you give money for doing nothing, you will get more hands out to take money for doing nothing.

Mayor Coleman Young, perhaps the most corrupt mayor in America, outside of Richard Daley in Chicago, rode Detroit down to its knees. He set the benchmark for cronyism, incompetence and arrogance. As a black man, he said, "I am the MFIC." The IC meant 'in charge'. You can figure out the rest. Detroit became a majority black city with 67 percent
African-Americans.

As a United Van Lines truck driver for my summer job from teaching math and science, I loaded hundreds of American families into my van for a new life in another city or state. Detroit plummeted from 1.8 million citizens to 912,000 today. At the same time, legal and illegal immigrants converged on the city, so much so, that Muslims number over 300,000. Mexicans number 400,000 throughout Michigan, but most work in Detroit .

As the whites moved out, the Muslims moved in. As the crimes became more violent, the whites fled. Finally, unlawful Mexicans moved in at a torrid pace. Detroit suffers so much shoplifting that grocery stores no longer operate in many inner city locations.

You could cut the racial tension in the air with a knife! Detroit may be one our best [[extreme) examples of multiculturalism: pure dislike and total separation from America!
Today, you hear Muslim calls to worship over the city like a new American Baghdad with hundreds of Islamic mosques in Michigan, paid for by Saudi Arabia oil money. High school flunk out rates reached 76 percent last June according to NBC's Brian Williams. Classrooms resemble more foreign countries than America. English? Few speak it! The city features a 50 percent illiteracy rate and growing. Unemployment hit 28.9 percent in 2009 as the auto industry vacated the city.
In Time Magazine October 4, 2009, "The Tragedy of Detroit: How a great city fell and how it can rise again," I choked on the writer's description of what happened.

"If Detroit had been savaged by a hurricane and submerged by a ravenous flood, we'd know a lot more about it," said Daniel Okrent. "If drought and carelessness had spread brush fires across the city, we'd see it on the evening news every night. Earthquake, tornadoes, you name it - if natural disaster had devastated the city that was once the living proof of American prosperity, the rest of the country might take notice.

But Detroit, once our fourth largest city, now 11th and slipping rapidly, has had no such luck. Its disaster has long been a slow unwinding that seemed to remove it from the rest of the country. Even the death rattle that in the past year emanated from its signature industry brought more attention to the auto executives than to the people of the city, who had for so long been victimized by their dreadful decision-making."

As Coleman Young's corruption brought the city to its knees, no amount of federal dollars could save the incredible payoffs, kick backs and illegality permeating his administration. I witnessed the city's death from the seat of my 18-wheeler tractor trailer because I moved people out of every sector of decaying Detroit .

"By any quantifiable standard, the city is on life support. Detroit 's treasury is $300 million short of the funds needed to provide the barest municipal services," Okrent said. "The school system, which six years ago was compelled by the teachers' union to reject a philanthropist's offer of $200 million to build 15 small, independent charter high schools, is in receivership. The murder rate is soaring, and 7 out of 10 remain unsolved. Three years after Katrina devastated New Orleans, unemployment in that city hit a peak of 11%. In Detroit, the unemployment rate is 28.9% That's worth spelling out: twenty-eight point nine percent."

At the end of Okrent's report, and he will write a dozen more about Detroit, he said, "That's because the story of Detroit is not simply one of a great city's collapse. It's also about the erosion of the industries that helped build the country we know today. The ultimate fate of Detroit will reveal much about the character of America in the 21st century. If what was once the most prosperous manufacturing city in the nation has been brought to its knees, what does that say about our recent past? And if it can't find a way to get up, what does that say about our future?"

As you read in my book review of Chris Steiner's book, $20 Per Gallon, the auto industry won't come back [[to Detroit). Immigration will keep pouring more and more uneducated third world immigrants from the Middle East into Detroit -thus creating a beachhead for Islamic hegemony in America. If the 50 percent illiteracy continues, we will see more homegrown terrorists spawned out of the Muslim ghettos of Detroit. Illiteracy plus Islam equals walking human bombs. You have already seen it in Madrid, Spain; London, England and Paris, France with train bombings, subway bombings and riots. As their numbers grow, so will their power to enact their barbaric Sharia Law that negates republican forms of government, first amendment rights and subjugates women to the lowest rungs on the human ladder. We will see more honor killings by upset husbands, fathers and brothers that demand subjugation by their daughters, sisters and wives. Muslims prefer to use beheadings of women to scare the hell out of any other members of their sect from straying.

Multiculturalism: what a perfect method to kill our language, culture, country and way of life.

I PRAY EVERYONE THAT READS THIS REALIZES THAT IF WE DON'T ALL STAND UP AND SCREAM AT WASHINGTON AND OUR CITY LEADERS THIS IS WHAT AWAITS AMERICA . IF YOU FOLLOW THE NEWS AT ALL YOU KNOW THIS HAS HAPPENED IN ENGLAND AND FRANCE AND SPAIN .. IF YOU THINK THIS IS JUST A BUNCH OF HOOEY AND YOU FEEL NO DUTY TO FIGHT FOR THIS COUNTRY, THEN I'M SORRY, I DON'T KNOW WHAT IT WILL TAKE FOR YOU TO STAND AND FIGHT.

Frosty Wooldridge

[Retroit]

I agree with just about everything, but am a puzzled with the emphasis on the Muslims. Are they really causing that much trouble in Detroit?

[Funaho]

I agree with just about everything, but am a puzzled with the emphasis on the Muslims. Are they really causing that much trouble in Detroit?

It's because, despite making some good points, the whole thing is basically the same kind of "muslims/black/mexicans are destroying America" crap that I get from my crazy right-wing uncle all the time. I realized it as soon as he started making the usual generalizations about people on welfare.

[Wintersmommy]

I read up to this part and them promptly discredited every thing there after
With Aid to
Dependent Children, minority women birthed eight to 10 and, in one case, one woman birthed 24 kids as reported by the Detroit Free Press-all on American taxpayer dollars. A new child meant a new car payment, new TV and whatever mom wanted

[ghettopalmetto]

Multiculturalism only destroys America when intolerant pieces of shit like Frosty Wooldridge get involved.

[English]

Brilliant minds such as Sugrue and Jacobs have already provided reasons for "The Tragedy of Detroit." Why do these armchair experts feel as if they have anything to add? Nothing in that essay is productive. It just re-diagnoses a problem that's been diagnosed over and over again.

[ghettopalmetto]

Brilliant minds such as Sugrue and Jacobs have already provided reasons for "The Tragedy of Detroit." Why do these armchair experts feel as if they have anything to add? Nothing in that essay is productive. It just re-diagnoses a problem that's been diagnosed over and over again.

Because the genius of Frosty Wooldridge--and people like him--works like this:

1. Hmmm. Problems exist all around me.

2. I don't like ________________. [[In this case, immigrants).

3. Therefore, the problems MUST be caused by immigrants!


And have you looked at the bio on his website??? Mr. Wooldridge has only had about a zillion different careers. I'm sure he excelled at each and every one of them. I wonder if God speaks directly to Frosty Wooldridge too.

[English]

^ Good one!

Detroit has problems, the state has problems, and certainly the nation has problems. I just wish people wouldn't have this knee-jerk reaction about people who don't look like them.

Most of what's happening at the local, state, and national levels has nothing to do with race. It's all about socioeconomics and culture.

[Onthe405]

New York, San Francisco, Toronto, Los Angeles, and [[to certain extent), Chicago have been multicultural for decades, yet it still costs a king's ransom for a 1 bedroom apartment. Granted, the pace of arrivals is slowing because people increasingly prefer open space and, due to technology, jobs are no longer restricted to urban areas. However, new people are still arriving. How does this fit into Mr Wooldridge's theory?

[detroitsgwenivere]

This is just more racist teabagger crap. Mexicans running rampant? Muslims blarring their call to prayer everywhere?! Are you kidding me???!!!

[ferntruth]

Funny how he doesn't seem to be bothered by Church bells ringing, only the Muslim call to prayer.

And Coleman Young perhaps the most corrupt mayor in America, next to Richard Daley?!
Correct me if I am wrong, but Mayor Young was never indicted on any charges - where is the PROOF of corruption? I was not a fan of Mayor Young, but talk about an accusation with no facts to back it up...

[mikefmich]

I'd like to ask the OP, what they found interesting about this article?

[Gannon]

Good question, Mikef, BESIDES the author's curiously stupid pen-name. At least I hope it is a self-made nomiker, or his parents must've really hated him.

THAT would explain a lot, though.

[lincoln8740]

^

Most of what's happening at the local, state, and national levels has nothing to do with race. It's all about socioeconomics and culture.

Yep so right cause appalachian poor people are killing each other by the thousands as well

Sometimes political correctness is just so silly

By the way what CULTURE are you talking about?

[bailey]

Funny how he doesn't seem to be bothered by Church bells ringing, only the Muslim call to prayer.

And Coleman Young perhaps the most corrupt mayor in America, next to Richard Daley?!
Correct me if I am wrong, but Mayor Young was never indicted on any charges - where is the PROOF of corruption? I was not a fan of Mayor Young, but talk about an accusation with no facts to back it up...

You don't think that perhaps saying "at least he was never indicted" might undermine your point a little?

[kryptonite]

I couldn't go on much past the 'birthing 8-10 babies' crap. Sure, that might happen but it is not the standard family on public assistance. He has an agenda of course, an agenda to try to stop immigration of whatever groups he finds distasteful. Here, maybe Muslims are less popular because they are so numerous. Out on the west coast it's Mexicans and Vietnamese, in Canada Pakistanis are not terribly popular, this is nothing new. In the past the Irish, Polish, Italians, Chinese, and others have all gone through phases of unpopularity.

The great society is fading out more because of globalization and the shift from industrial to service-based industries in North America and Western Europe. Plus throw in a few sociological ills such as substance abuse, family disintegration, entitlements, class inequality, etc.

People like Wooldridge have a tendency to simplify solutions to complex problems by simplifying the problem. Nobody can convince me that putting an end to immigration would cure what ails the US.

[RickBeall]

I moved into the city because it was multi-cultural.

[bailey]

I moved into the city because it was multi-cultural.

I'm curious to know how a city that has a population that is 80% one ethnic group is more "multi cultural" than a neighboring city with 80% of its population made up of another ethnic group?

[Bearinabox]

I'm curious to know how a city that has a population that is 80% one ethnic group is more "multi cultural" than a neighboring city with 80% of its population made up of another ethnic group?

I'm curious to know who made that claim and where.

[EastsideAl]

This guy's a fool, and a racist fool at that. He also doesn't seem to have the slightest idea what he's talking about. Detroit needs MORE immigration, not less. America's most successful cities have all benefited immensely from the economic activity and energy generated by immigrants. Increased immigration has been a boon to American cities over the past couple of decades, much as it was 100 years ago, and has saved many of them from the desolation and declining population of the '70s and '80s.

The fact that Detroit has largely missed out on this trend is one of the things that has hurt us the most. Other cites, with more diverse and strong economies, changed, grew, redeveloped, and prospered, while we sat here fighting our petty decades-old racial battles and acting like big momma auto industry was going to come back home and save us from having to grow and diversify our economy. Even so, many of the areas that are doing best around here, especially in terms of small business and commercial strip survival are those that have seen an influx of immigrants.

Oh, and the 'Great Society' programs were 40+ years ago. Most of them were curtailed or choked off within a few years by the Nixon administration, and those that were not have almost entirely disappeared through subsequent administrations. Beating those, and the now long-gone Coleman Young, is beating horses that are not only dead, but decayed into ancient dust.

[bailey]

I'm curious to know who made that claim and where.

His statement was

I moved into the city because it was multi-cultural.

That would imply he moved from somewhere "less" multicultural...and on this board, the sterile, not multicultural enough "somewhere else" can only be the suburbs.

To be a little more clear...my question is; How does detroit meet any definition of multicultural any better than it's suburbs? Per 2000 census the racial makeup of the city was 81.6% Black, 12.3% White, 1.0% Asian, 0.3% Native American, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 2.5% other races, 2.3% two or more races, and 5.0 percent Hispanic [[mostly Puerto Rican and Mexican). The city's foreign-born population is at 4.8%

Now, lets look at Troy....82.30% White, 2.09% African American, 0.15% Native American, 13.25% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.36% from other races, and 1.82% from two or more races. 1.46% of the population is Hispanic or Latino of any race. Troy has the highest percentage of people of Asian descent of any city in Michigan.

I would think if one is looking for multi cultural, one would do just as well, or even better, in Troy.

[Bearinabox]

His statement wasThat would imply he moved from somewhere "less" multicultural.

Indeed it does. However, he didn't say that "somewhere" was "a neighboring city with 80% of its population made up of another ethnic group," nor did he say or imply that his current place of residence is the only multicultural place on the face of the planet. You're reading some kind of anti-suburban attack into his post that just isn't there. What is so objectionable about Rick liking the multiculturalism of his neighborhood?

[rb336]

Odd that good ol' Frosty would blame it on a program [[Great Society) that was largely gutted barely more than a year after it was enacted. Take it all with a grain of salt. The guy writes for David Duke, for cryinoutloud

[bailey]

Indeed it does. However, he didn't say that "somewhere" was "a neighboring city with 80% of its population made up of another ethnic group," nor did he say or imply that his current place of residence is the only multicultural place on the face of the planet. You're reading some kind of anti-suburban attack into his post that just isn't there. What is so objectionable about Rick liking the multiculturalism of his neighborhood?

I'm sure rick can speak for himself. however, I'm guessing he's referencing Detroit when he says "the city". I'm also inferring that he moved from the suburbs as he says he "moved into" the city. Maybe I read in too much, but generally when one says they "moved into the city" it's assumed they "moved out of" somewhere else. somewhere else, around here, generally means the suburbs.

He states he moved into the city for the specific reason that it was multicultural, my only question is how is Detroit [[city of), a city that is dominated by an 80% majority made up of one race any more "multi cultural" than the suburbs that surround it [[which are similarly dominated, just reversed)?

Or to really get simple, how is a city with 80% of the 900,000 or so people living in it one ethnic group ever considered to be a multicultural place?

[Bearinabox]

I'm sure rick can speak for himself. however, I'm guessing he's referencing Detroit when he says "the city". I'm also inferring that he moved from the suburbs as he says he "moved into" the city. Maybe I read in too much, but generally when one says they "moved into the city" it's assumed they "moved out of" somewhere else. somewhere else, around here, generally means the suburbs.

He states he moved into the city for the specific reason that it was multicultural, my only question is how is Detroit [[city of) any more "multi cultural" than the suburbs that surround it?

It doesn't make any more sense the more you repeat yourself, you know. I'm sorry you're butthurt that Rick didn't move to Troy, we all know Troy is the most multicultural place ever [[and has low taxes and good schools and all the rest). Don't worry, I'm sure someone else who knows a real multicultural community when he sees one will move in there and fill the void left by Rick's scathing rejection. Chin up, bailey.