Your "White Flight" Story

[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.

[masterblaster]

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?

[Farwell]

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.

[Hermod]

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.

[EASTSIDE CAT 67-83]

Farwell'
You Sir... hit the nail succinctly on the head 4 out of 5 [[I could not agree with your description of the African Americans as "new black immigrants" although you did revise your comments with an apology of a poor choice of words which I believe as a sincere explanation..but I digress)
My love affair with Detroit has never ended but my parents stayed too long and endured heart wrenching crimes ranging from physical assault to multiple break-ins of property loss and auto theft. The "straw" that got the moving truck in the driveway with a teary eyed family loading it up to move just a few blocks across the DMZ [[Alter road for them at the time '94) and move into a home and neighborhood that gave them the security of a warm blanket on cool night, was my mother who came home from work to a house that was turned upside-down not only did they steal but they had to make a mess while doing it, my Dad who was a hunter all his life had his entire collection of hunting rifles stolen [[wonder how many crimes were committed with those after the fact). The police never even came to the house, they simply said come down to the 5th [[St Jean and Jeff) and make a report. But above all the property loss, it was that feeling of being violated and having to leave the city you grew up in, raised a family in and loved. Real Detroiters feel the city in their bones, its a soulful part of their DNA. Mom and Dad came from the same neighborhood, mom-Belverdere, Dad Harding, they went to High School together [[Annunciation). Well I've ranted long enough but your Thread kinda hit home.

1. Property theft. [Crimes ranging from physical assault to multiple break-ins of property loss and auto theft]
2. Declining property values [They sold the home in '94 for just a few grand over what they paid for it back in '68]
3. Harassment and bullying by the black in the neighborhood targeted only toward white residents. [This started in the early mid 80s and progressively got worse year after year, the teenagers of the neighborhood didn't like to use sidewalks and made a game of how close they could get to my Dads car as he came home from work]
4. Decline of public schools. [We pulled out of DPS system when busing came along]
5. Loss of a sense of community. [It slowly slipped away]

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.

[Burnsie]

When my grandparents moved to Detroit in 1952 or '53, they looked at renting near the GM HQ where my grandfather worked, but the landlord told them he only rented to Jewish people. So, they moved into a duplex on Field St. at Vernor. In about 1954, the landlord told my grandmother that he decided he only wanted to rent to black people, so my grandparents and their three kids had to leave. That was their reward for paying the rent on time and being quiet tenants. Like in Dan Wesson's case, their white privilege had become a hindrance.

They then looked at houses on Grand Blvd near there. Indian Village appealed to them but it was too expensive. Ultimately they decided to move to Royal Oak.

[dtowncitylover]

Ultimately they decided to move to Royal Oak.

Where black Americans had to be out by sunset and couldn't get FHA loans to live.