I think the system was on it's way down when African Americans had took over key positions in city government. The factories were pulling out of Detroit taken their tax bases with them. That left the homeowner property tax left soley to pay for police ems and schools. In the 1970's white flight had escaladed in many detroit neighborhoods. Along with white flight were the flight quality grocery stores and retail districts. That left Detroit with a majority black population. The grocery stores had became substandard as well as the black owned retail business such as clothing. Ineffective leadership did not send out inspectors to these businesses to make sure the goods being sold were of high quality. The residents which were and still are black didnt hold mass rallies to protest against substandard education, crime hike, high insurance rates, and drugs houses for the reason of being lull to sleep by the black mayor and other leaders who had and are running the city. The last time residents of Detroit had held a mass rally protesting the living conditions in Detroit was in 1963 during the Cavanaugh [[who was white) administration and Martin Luther King had led that rally with local black leaders. When the leaders became black, the mass rallies had ceased, the living conditions in the city deteriorated, and the modern day black leaders such as Jackson and Sharpton were nowhere to be found