"The White City" - implications for Detroit

[markseth]

and don't forget that Jimi Hendrix and Quincy Jones are from Seattle

[Danny]

Seattle has a black community. But least it not a ghetto like Detroit.

[Retroit]

Around here, the only answer that anyone will accept is; "L. Brooks Patterson"

Bingo. People progress when they see no limit to the options open to them. Many [[note: not "all") blacks fail to progress because they are so darn obsessed with the imaginary oppression of the white man. If the black people of Detroit accepted more personal, family, and social responsibility, they would progress, but as it is, they are waiting for white man to "allow them" to progress. And unfortunately, the very people who should be dispelling this disempowering myth [[Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Kwame Kilpatrick, Monica Conyers, Barbara Rose Collins, etc.) are the very ones who are keeping blacks from progressing by feeding them this artificial racism, intentionally manufactured to keep them in power as "black leaders".

[iheartthed]

Bingo. People progress when they see no limit to the options open to them. Many [[note: not "all") blacks fail to progress because they are so darn obsessed with the imaginary oppression of the white man. If the black people of Detroit accepted more personal, family, and social responsibility, they would progress, but as it is, they are waiting for white man to "allow them" to progress. And unfortunately, the very people who should be dispelling this disempowering myth [[Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Kwame Kilpatrick, Monica Conyers, Barbara Rose Collins, etc.) are the very ones who are keeping blacks from progressing by feeding them this artificial racism, intentionally manufactured to keep them in power as "black leaders".

I love how you conflate Detroit's ills with the black community.

[Ocean2026]

mwilbert is correct about Austin it is heavily minority if one includes Hispanics.

Are cities with low Black populations actually nicer? If so why? Mathis Tex doesn't have many Blacks and its certainly not nice.

Its a touchy subject and one that begs the question about the cart coming before the horse. If cities with larger Black populations are not nice -who is to blame?

I won't even begin to suggest an answer .. and don't anyone attribute one to me lol

[EastsideAl]

I love how you conflate Detroit's ills with the black community.

...and talk as if there's no history prior to, what, about 1990?

[iheartthed]

...and talk as if there's no history prior to, what, about 1990?

I give him credit to at least remembering back to 1973. Because apparently Detroit was a utopia until the day that Coleman A. Young was elected.

[Retroit]

I love how you conflate Detroit's ills with the black community.

Blaming Detroit's ills on blacks is not my intention. I'm concerned that Detroit will never progress until black Detroiters overcome their social ills. You can look back in time and do all the finger pointing you want, but who will point to the future and say "that is where we need to go"?

[trstar]

Blaming Detroit's ills on blacks is not my intention. I'm concerned that Detroit will never progress until black Detroiters overcome their social ills. You can look back in time and do all the finger pointing you want, but who will point to the future and say "that is where we need to go"?

doublespeak! You just affirmed what you are denying.

[English]

In order to understand why white cities are more progressive than black cities, the following question should be answered: What prevents black people from progressing?

Well, I'm black, and from all accounts, pretty progressive. And there are plenty of great cities with significant black populations.

You're another respondent who didn't read the article. But of course, you wouldn't. You've got your own agenda, which is obvious on every thread you've posted on since you've joined DetroitYES.

[DetroitPlanner]

When I first saw the title I thought of the World's fair in Chicago a billion years ago.

That being said you can find successful cities that are mostly or largely black. Don't get lost in one person's opinion. Detroit's biggest issue is not one of race, but of having a couple of generations of workers who have faced a shrinking manufacturing base. Their parents knew how to make money in this trade but could not pass it onto their children.

Some children got stuck. Parents had no idea how to get into a college or university, and had a fear of the unknown. This led to the many social and economic problems that we see today. Therefore in many ways we got lazy and gave up.

[iheartthed]

Blaming Detroit's ills on blacks is not my intention. I'm concerned that Detroit will never progress until black Detroiters overcome their social ills. You can look back in time and do all the finger pointing you want, but who will point to the future and say "that is where we need to go"?

Uh, you and anyone else who still thinks that Detroit's viability is tied to the state of the black community are seriously deluded.

[bailey]

Uh, you and anyone else who still thinks that Detroit's viability is tied to the state of the black community are seriously deluded.

At this point what is Detroit's viability dependent upon if not the viability of the community of 85% of it's inhabitants?

[Retroit]

Uh, you and anyone else who still thinks that Detroit's viability is tied to the state of the black community are seriously deluded.

Oh, that's right, you're iheartthed, so Detroit's viability is dependent upon mass transit and how well we emulate New York.

[Retroit]

You're another respondent who didn't read the article. But of course, you wouldn't. You've got your own agenda, which is obvious on every thread you've posted on since you've joined DetroitYES.

I read the article very carefully, and I noticed how the author and virtually everyone else on this thread carefully avoided asking and answering the question that I did. We can sit around and study the statistics all we want. That doesn't address the problem of why blacks are less apt to have a progressive city.

[iheartthed]

At this point what is Detroit's viability dependent upon if not the viability of the community of 85% of it's inhabitants?

An economy?

[iheartthed]

Oh, that's right, you're iheartthed, so Detroit's viability is dependent upon mass transit and how well we emulate New York.

Well... yes.

It worked for Chicago.

[Retroit]

If Detroit only built a light rail line, black Detroiters would stop killing each other.

[iheartthed]

If Detroit only built a light rail line, black Detroiters would stop killing each other.

Here you go again conflating Detroit as a city with the black community. What does black Detroiters killing each other have to do with the viability of the city of Detroit? Is Chicago not functioning because of black Chicagoans killing each other? How about Atlanta's viability because of black Atlantans killing each other?

[bailey]

Well... yes.

It worked for Chicago.

Of course begs the question; how does a city that has had a black power structure in place for going on 30 years NOT have it already?

[bailey]

Here you go again conflating Detroit as a city with the black community. What does black Detroiters killing each other have to do with the viability of the city of Detroit? Is Chicago not functioning because of black Chicagoans killing each other? How about Atlanta's viability because of black Atlantans killing each other?

Because that wasn't the point of English's lament or the article. Both lament the fact that progressive and functioning cities tend to be very "white" cities...whereas their mirror opposite homogeneous "black" cities like Detroit tend to be undesirable.

[iheartthed]

Of course begs the question; how does a city that has had a black power structure in place for going on 30 years NOT have it already?

Have what? An economy?

[bailey]

Have what? An economy?

I was responding to your statement about light rail. But I suppose that question works for your "economy" statement. Where is the "black" economy in detroit? Why does it take an act of city council to create "paradise valley"/ Africa town [[if you are BRC who refuses to refer to it as anything else)?

[iheartthed]

I was responding to your statement about light rail.

Actually, I didn't mention light rail. Retroit did. But Detroit does need to invest heavily in its discarded transit system. No major city can sustain itself without one.

Why Detroit has gone so long without one is irrelevant, but it's not entirely, or even majority the fault of the people who live in Detroit now. Detroiters didn't go to Lansing and Washington and say "hey, don't build a transit system for us because we don't need it". I'm not gonna start pointing fingers at who did say that, but I'll just say that of any mainstream politician in the Detroit area for the past 50 years, Coleman Young was probably the biggest supporter of a transit system for Detroit.

[bailey]

]Actually, I didn't mention light rail. Retroit did. But Detroit does need to invest heavily in its discarded transit system. No major city can sustain itself without one.

I don't know. Dallas, LA, Houston, Phoenix...etc. all did pretty well without one until the mid 90s. Heck there are more people in LA county than the entire state of Michigan, and they went 60 years without any rail.