Originally Posted by
Detroitnerd
I think in particular of the mythology of suburban white metro Detroiters. In capsule form:
Detroit was a great city with lots of industry, good schools, a high standard of living, great job opportunities and high home values; then big, bad black people moved in and turned it into a hellhole of crime and arson, chasing out decent people.
This is the mythology, mind you, that a great many suburban white metro Detroiters live by. Only recently have such researchers as Thomas Sugrue begun to do the actual work of finding data that was hidden or -- since it didn't fit the mythology -- forgotten. This has been an especially illuminating decade given the work that Sugrue and others have put in collecting data that was long swept under the rug. The missing facts help us to much better get at the truth of what happened.
So, if you try to create public policy based on the mythology, you are mostly likely going to act unjustly.
And, similarly, if you take a good look at the research of Sugrue and others, you can create public policy that offers greater justice.