Your "White Flight" Story

**MicrosoftFan** · June-16-17, 04:02 PM

I always think history is best when it is from someone who lived it.

So I'm wondering what peoples stories are of leaving Detroit. When did you leave, why did you leave, and is there one thing or event that pushed you out of the city?

And what does your old neighborhood look like now?

Thanks,
MicrosoftFan

**Farwell** · June-16-17, 06:53 PM

1. Property theft.
2. Declining property values
3. Harassment and bullying by the new black immigrants to the neighborhood targeted only toward white residents.
4. Decline of public schools.
5. Loss of a sense of community.

Sad. My home from 1950-1975. Don't wish any ill will to the city but just don't care. Moved on a long time ago.

**dtowncitylover** · June-16-17, 07:31 PM

Originally Posted by Farwell

...new black immigrants to the neighborhood targeted only toward white residents.

What the hell are "black immigrants"?

You say you've "moved on" but it's hard to believe you when you categorize your fellow CITIZENS who have a different pigment of skin into a group that's been historically maligned.

White neighborhoods weren't welcoming to any black families so I wonder if the feelings and harassment went both ways. Until the whites finally gave up and moved. No one tried to reconcile, we all just segregated ourselves.

**Hermod** · June-16-17, 07:32 PM

1940-1954. We moved because my father had a wish to live in the country. We moved to Rochester [[which was country then, the Future Farmers of America was the largest club in the high school). I lived in Detroit in 1961 till I left to go into the Army [[and never came back). Our old neighborhood by Nottingham and Grayton isn't the worst place in Detroit now, but where i lived in 1961 [[Schoenherr & 7 Mile) is pretty bad. The worst is the total collapse of most commercial activity there.

**Johnnny5** · June-16-17, 08:27 PM

I'm too young to have first hand knowledge of my family leaving Detroit, but I've heard the stories from others. My grandfather's family is Polish and lived in Southwest Detroit [[23rd and Buchanan area). They left around 1958 not because they wanted to, but because the new single family brick homes being built in Warren were better than what they had, and more affordable.

My great grandparents stayed behind in their Detroit homes, but the 67' riots changed that in hurry. There was heavy looting and arson damage very close to their homes and along with almost all of my great aunts and uncles they left Detroit immediately afterwards.

**EastsideAl** · June-16-17, 11:12 PM

Don't have one. My family never left. Dad lived all 91 of his years on the east side of Detroit.

**hybridy** · June-16-17, 11:32 PM

Lived in city proper from 03-08...left due to recession. Came back to metro in 2015. Leaving for good in August for better professional opportunities, better pay and better public schooling. There's this perception by employers that detroit is cheap...if I live in burbs and care about quality schooling that's simply not the case. Fleeing high car insurance, slow SMART buses, litter, crappy infrastructure, bottle deposits, $170/mo downtown parking, high daycare costs, and the overall CBD construction project. Every amenity detroit offers is matched by multiple Midwest metros with a legitimate upshot. I love this place, but I can't justify it anymore. The real estate market is at peak so time to cash out.

**313WX** · June-16-17, 11:42 PM

Originally Posted by hybridy

Lived in city proper from 03-08...left due to recession. Came back to metro in 2015. Leaving for good in August for better professional opportunities, better pay and better public schooling. There's this perception by employers that detroit is cheap...if I live in burbs and care about quality schooling that's simply not the case. Fleeing high car insurance, slow SMART buses, litter, crappy infrastructure, bottle deposits, $170/mo downtown parking, high daycare costs, and the overall CBD construction project. Every amenity detroit offers is matched by multiple Midwest metros with a legitimate upshot. I love this place, but I can't justify it anymore. The real estate market is at peak so time to cash out.

There's a good chance I'll be leaving soon for similar reasons. I see no future in Michigan for anyone who's ambitious and does not have an Engineering degree from U of M / MSU, especially with the beginning of the next downturn in the Auto Industry [[which is slowly dying any way).

I'm curious to know however, what do you mean by "There's this perception by employers that detroit is cheap?" Could you elaborate?

**masterblaster** · June-17-17, 02:41 AM

Originally Posted by hybridy

Lived in city proper from 03-08...left due to recession. Came back to metro in 2015. Leaving for good in August for better professional opportunities, better pay and better public schooling. There's this perception by employers that detroit is cheap...if I live in burbs and care about quality schooling that's simply not the case. Fleeing high car insurance, slow SMART buses, litter, crappy infrastructure, bottle deposits, $170/mo downtown parking, high daycare costs, and the overall CBD construction project. Every amenity detroit offers is matched by multiple Midwest metros with a legitimate upshot. I love this place, but I can't justify it anymore. The real estate market is at peak so time to cash out.

Grosse Pointes
Just 3 of many houses under $250,000
http://www.realestateone.com/homes/2...ointe-MI-48230
http://www.realestateone.com/homes/2...Farms-MI-48230
http://www.realestateone.com/homes/2...Farms-MI-48236

Zoned to Grosse Pointe South High, the 13th ranked high school in Michigan according to the 2017 U.S. News and World Report high school rankings.
http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/...h_schools.html

Troy
Just 2 of several houses under $250,000
http://www.realestateone.com/homes/2...-Troy-MI-48085
http://www.realestateone.com/homes/2...-Troy-MI-48083

Zoned to Troy School District, which has the 6th-ranked [[Troy High) and 11th-ranked [[Troy Athens High) high schools in the state
http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/...h_schools.html

Canton
Just 3 of many houses $250,000 or less
http://www.realestateone.com/homes/2...anton-MI-48187
http://www.realestateone.com/homes/2...anton-MI-48188
http://www.realestateone.com/homes/2...anton-MI-48187
Zoned to Plymouth-Canton School District, which has the 32nd [[Salem High), 33rd-ranked [[Canton High), and 34th-ranked [[Plymouth) high schools in the state
http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/...h_schools.html

All houses under $250,000, updated houses, great school districts, you are not paying high city of Detroit property taxes, auto insurance, and home-owner's insurance

Complaining about bottle deposits, daycare costs, and CBD construction? Consider not drinking pop, which is very unhealthy for you. Are metro Detroit area daycare costs really more expensive then Cleveland's or Indianapolis'? I assure you CBD construction is even greater in Minneapolis and Columbus, and thus a greater nuisance than here. Do you think buses are faster in Milwaukee and Chicago?

You can live in Canton for less than $250,000, great schools, drive a couple miles to the end of the SMART Bus, Ford Road Express Bus [[route 255), pay $2 each way to get to/from downtown, be there in 50 minutes, save wear and tear on your vehicle and eliminate parking costs.

You can live in Grosse Pointe for less than $250,000, great schools, take the SMART BUS, Kercheval-Harper [[route 610), pay $2 each way to get to/from downtown, be there in 25 minutes, save wear and tear on your vehicle and eliminate parking costs.

You can live in Troy for less than $250,000, great schools, take the SMART BUS, Woodward Troy Limited [[route 475), pay $2 each way to get to/from downtown, be there in 1 hour, save wear and tear on your vehicle and eliminate parking costs.

**SyGolden48236** · June-17-17, 05:57 AM

Nobody in my, or my wife's families have ever lived in the city of Detroit.

**Farwell** · June-17-17, 06:48 AM

Originally Posted by dtowncitylover

What the hell are "black immigrants"?

You say you've "moved on" but it's hard to believe you when you categorize your fellow CITIZENS who have a different pigment of skin into a group that's been historically maligned.

White neighborhoods weren't welcoming to any black families so I wonder if the feelings and harassment went both ways. Until the whites finally gave up and moved. No one tried to reconcile, we all just segregated ourselves.

Poor choice of words on my part. I apologize. Doesn't change the fact that razor blades hidden between fingers became a part of childhood scuffles, my brother got roughed up enough times that he was forced to change schools, we had to get a German shepherd to protect our property and the final straw, our house dropped in value to what my parents bought it for in 1950. You are right. We chose not to be martyrs to a cause and got the hell out. Best decision my folks ever made. Maybe your experience of growing up in Detroit at that time is different and you didn't experience any of what I did.

**Cincinnati_Kid** · June-17-17, 06:57 AM

Originally Posted by dtowncitylover

What the hell are "black immigrants"?

You say you've "moved on" but it's hard to believe you when you categorize your fellow CITIZENS who have a different pigment of skin into a group that's been historically maligned.

White neighborhoods weren't welcoming to any black families so I wonder if the feelings and harassment went both ways. Until the whites finally gave up and moved. No one tried to reconcile, we all just segregated ourselves.

Excellent points !!

**Cincinnati_Kid** · June-17-17, 06:59 AM

Originally Posted by SyGolden48236

Nobody in my, or my wife's families have ever lived in the city of Detroit.

So is that like a 'Badge of Honor' ? Just asking, not trying to be sarcastic.

**masterblaster** · June-17-17, 07:38 AM

Originally Posted by Farwell

1. Property theft.
2. Declining property values
3. Harassment and bullying by the new black immigrants to the neighborhood targeted only toward white residents.
4. Decline of public schools.
5. Loss of a sense of community.

Sad. My home from 1950-1975. Don't wish any ill will to the city but just don't care. Moved on a long time ago.

If you really don't care about Detroit, and you have moved on, why are on a Detroit-focused website?

**Dumpling** · June-17-17, 07:43 AM

Eastside Al, sorry to hear your father passed. He was so lucky
to have you to look after him. Enjoyed all the stories about how
many elections he had voted in.

My Dad is still with us though sometimes his mental processes
are definitely different from those of younger persons. [[For that
matter so's my Mom - her mental processes are fine but she has
a bit of heart failure that makes living harder to do.)
According to the most recent family email Dad was recruited to do the lawn mowing at the Eagle Harbor Lighthouse [[way way Up North)
as part of a community effort to remove spotted knapweed and other invasives. [[Eagle Harbor is partly a lovely retiree community.)

Still living in Detroit and on the block on Brace with the fatal drive-by
triple shooting earlier this week. Not planning to go anywhere. Offered
my condolences to the deceased's neighbor who stopped by to visit me yesterday.

**Farwell** · June-17-17, 07:48 AM

Originally Posted by masterblaster

If you really don't care about Detroit, and you have moved on, why are on a Detroit-focused website?

Nostalgia and the historical aspects.

**Bong-Man** · June-17-17, 08:00 AM

Moved from the Warren/Cadieux area in 1964. We had a two bedroom home when we needed three....a single garage instead of a double....and the six of us could no longer fit around the kitchen table. You'll find that most people moved from Detroit for that reason as opposed to 'rascilism'.

**313WX** · June-17-17, 08:16 AM

First. there was "black immigrants," now there's "rascilism."

Only in ~~Detroit~~ SE Michigan...

**Hermod** · June-17-17, 08:38 AM

Originally Posted by masterblaster

If you really don't care about Detroit, and you have moved on, why are on a Detroit-focused website?

If you go out to any blue collar bar in the suburbs, you will meet first generation [[and second generation) suburbanites that will express their love for the Detroit that was and their sorrow for the Detroit that is. They consider themselves as exiles from a massive ethnic cleansing that took place in the 60s and 70s.

**jcole** · June-17-17, 08:49 AM

Parents lived in Detroit from 1937 to 1973; I was born in '56. Dad was a Detroit cop all of those years. Lived upper East; side 7 & Kelly. Dad retired just before the 1973 mayoral election when he got a job offer as police chief in Almont.

**thomprod** · June-17-17, 10:43 AM

Originally Posted by dtowncitylover

What the hell are "black immigrants"?

You say you've "moved on" but it's hard to believe you when you categorize your fellow CITIZENS who have a different pigment of skin into a group that's been historically maligned.

White neighborhoods weren't welcoming to any black families so I wonder if the feelings and harassment went both ways. Until the whites finally gave up and moved. No one tried to reconcile, we all just segregated ourselves.

I agree with your points, dtowncitylover.

**canuck** · June-17-17, 01:00 PM

White Flight. Wouldn't that make a great title for a White Stripes album?

**hybridy** · June-17-17, 02:03 PM

Originally Posted by 313WX

There's a good chance I'll be leaving soon for similar reasons. I see no future in Michigan for anyone who's ambitious and does not have an Engineering degree from U of M / MSU, especially with the beginning of the next downturn in the Auto Industry [[which is slowly dying any way).

I'm curious to know however, what do you mean by "There's this perception by employers that detroit is cheap?" Could you elaborate?

my company has several branch offices around the country. I've encountered several local colleagues whose wages are very low for equivalent work to those in other Midwest offices. I myself received multiple job offers with 20% better salary for what I do now. Maybe it's suppl/demand, but my current employer balked at salary ranges I received.

**dtowncitylover** · June-17-17, 02:07 PM

Originally Posted by Hermod

...massive ethnic cleansing that took place in the 60s and 70s.

Self imposed ethnic cleansing. Maybe if white people hadn't elected such racist administrations like Miriani and Cobo and didn't try to stop integration, destroy black neighborhoods with freeways and place them into failed projects, and invested in public transit [[which helps connects people with people), Detroit would be a very different city.

White flight was wholly unavoidable. People migrate yes, but the term "white flight" didn't have to come into being if we met our troubles head on.

**313WX** · June-17-17, 02:15 PM

Originally Posted by dtowncitylover

Self imposed ethnic cleansing. Maybe if white people hadn't elected such racist administrations like Miriani and Cobo and didn't try to stop integration, destroy black neighborhoods with freeways and place them into failed projects, and invested in public transit [[which helps connects people with people), Detroit would be a very different city.

White flight was wholly unavoidable. People migrate yes, but the term "white flight" didn't have to come into being if we met our troubles head on.

Well said.

No one forced white people in Detroit to leave the city in droves. White people certainly didn't do so nearly to the extent in cities that were on par with Detroit [[Chicago, NYC, Philadelphia, etc.).