This is an op-ed from a guest columnist in the Detroit News today. Read the comment section to see one detailed rebuttal. Please don't throw any of the standard "The comment section is filled with fools, etc" barbs this way this time. I think these two guys give interesting, variant perspectives on Detroit's future based on where they're sitting.
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/opinion/2015/01/07/frost-detroit-growth-inclusive/21355319/
This article looks like another fluff piece that states Detroit's rebound must be inclusive. No kidding. Everybody agrees on that. The issue is how to get there.
So all we have to do to help the city move forward is solve complex issues of race and class that have dogged American society and every major American city since the end of Jim Crow? Whew! I thought he was going to suggest something HARD! Thanks for outlining the obvious problem instead of the solutions, bro!Quote:
Any holistic review of Detroit’s revitalization efforts in 2015 and beyond that somehow seeks to improve the city without bridging Detroit’s alarming race and equity chasm is a colossal waste of our precious time.Only time will tell, but let’s embrace this challenge wholesale. Let’s shift from Detroit’s divisive bunker mentality and pivot towards a collective mobilization for the city’s inclusive growth story.
For his next Op-Ed, Bradford Frost will tell us that the major obstacle standing in the way of peace in the Middle East is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and all we need to do to bring about revitalization and progress is simply find a way to address the lingering centuries-old issues between Jews, Muslims and Christians.
I think maybe Bradford Frost is just overcompensating a little because he has literally the whitest-sounding name on planet Earth.
I'd think if his last name was White that would be the whitest sounding name. :pQuote:
Originally Posted by aj3647
Anyway, I thought it was interesting because Mark Durfree totally slams him in the comment section with an extended comment that rivals anything you'd find here.
Mark Durfree always "totally slams" everything in the comment sections with extended commentaries, so I'm not sure how interesting that really makes something...Quote:
Originally Posted by jackie5275
Quote:
Originally Posted by jackie5275
You mean like Reggie and Barry? :cool:
Hopefully soon, you'll learn to not see people based on the color of their skin, but on the content of their character.
We need to focus on skill gaps and leave skin color based racism where it reared it's ugly head prior to the 1900's...
This piece DRIVES the divide of racial inequality instead of attempting to BRIDGE IT. There is little more than whining, not many facts about the efforts being done to TRAIN a functionally illiterate and unemployable population, and shows a fundamental lack of understanding of how businesses make investment[[risk versus reward) decisions.
Detroit is a DISASTER and has been written off by most investors due to the years of corruption and the fanning of racial fires by its leadership. In one short year, the mayor and city council have begun the LONG JOURNEY BACK and are attempting to JUMP START the city. They are working to provide essential services and law enforcement to stem the state of chaos they inherited. In the end, it comes down to people understanding they are responsible for their own skills and the hard work needed to be successful. No government or company can GIVE THEM the desire and motivation to be successful. Well educated, highly skilled people compete in a pool of the same or better skilled people on a worldwide basis for jobs. Many of these people in the US are minorities. To suggest that blacks are being excluded is a slap in the face to those individuals who put forward the effort needed to be competitive.
In Detroit, there is a constant, nagging drumbeat that racial issues should somehow override what is going on in the rest of the world economy and there should be a special accomodation for it. In today's world, that will never happen. No matter how many Op Ed pieces, protest marches and other activities, in the end, each and every individual is responsible for improving the quality of their own life. Businesses have the ability to take their investment dollars elsewhere, so be grateful they are willing to take the risk of being in Detroit instead of throwing rocks at them for it. Without them, the city, region and state will continue its downward spiral.
I found Durfree's comments to be tedious and sanctimonious. His suggestion that Frost needs to move into a bombed out 99.9% black neighborhood is utter nonsense. Typical claptrap of "my way of working to better the city is the only way." As well as the tiresome attitude that if one has not lived their entire life in Detroit they can't possibly know enough about it to make it better.Quote:
Originally Posted by jackie5275