It’s no secret that over the past six decades the populace here in Detroit has been receding. Like a force of nature the lingering climate of despair has altered the landscape of the city forever. People, history, culture and even our architecture are being eroded like sandstone. In 1950 the city was a brimming 2 million people and expanding rapidly. The compounding racial, economic, and social political issues here have caused residential numbers in Detroit to dwindle to a merger 891,000 people…a number lower than that circa 1920. At this rate of decline, Detroit will soon have less people living within its boarders than before the invention of electricity. After the post WWII industrial boom, the middle class collectively picked up and left the countries large urban centers, including Detroit. Headed to the wide-open townships that bordered urban areas, people in large numbers established pocket communities and suburbs.

Whether it be in the city or the suburbs, if you grew up here then you have been hearing about white flight for likely your entire life. The saying took hold of this area like an urban legend. People still to this day talk about it on a daily basis in this city whenever politics are on the table Generally, those who use the term, are referring to the long-term aftermath of the 1967 riots. Most outsiders saw this as simply another race riot in Detroit; A city with a long history of racial unrest and civil disobedience. This First riot occurred in 1863 and claimed the lives of two innocent people. Thirty-five buildings burned and blacks were beaten pitilessly on the street. The second of the three riots took place in the summer of 1943 when a hot, muggy day at Belle Isle (the cities large island park) turned violent after groups of teenage boys began fighting.

At the heart of these riots were the deplorable conditions blacks faced living in the city. Over the first few decades of the 20th century white families built up large prosperous neighborhoods, while blacks in Detroit were forced into a massive ghetto on the eastside of the city; “Paradise Valley” as it was called, an ironically named section of the city spanned approximately 60 square blocks from New Center to downtown just east of Woodward. It was known better as “Black Bottom”. The sub-human conditions in which blacks were forced to live in became the underlying factor in the 1943 riots. The freeways eventually broke up this stretch of neighborhoods along the east side in the late 1950’s. In the name of urban renewal white politicians bulldozed Black Bottom and built Interstate 75. The majority of families were forced into public housing projects like Brewster-Douglas and the Jeffries. Today the conditions in the city are reaching that of the “Black Bottom” once again.

The confrontation in 1967, which most simply refer to as “The Riots” started as a rebellion to police efforts to shut down and arrest some 80 people attending an illegal party know as a “Blind Pig”. In the early Sunday morning hours of July 23 the police vice squad raided a welcome home party for two war Veterans. After breaking up the party, police waited for back up. The neighborhood onlookers began to protest in anger. A nearby store window was smashed thus triggering a series of devastating small events that soon escalated into the most serious riot in the history of Detroit. That day, along 12th street… all hell broke loose as fires and looting gripped the city.

Perception today, is the rebellion in 1967 was the last straw in Detroit race relations. This myth has been for years manipulated by the uniformed and repeated by the under educated so much that it sometimes passes as historic fact. Truth is, Detroit’s decline was some twenty-four years in the making at that point. Urban to suburban migration had already begun in the mid 50s. The exodus of the rich, white, and wealthy families set the stage for the tensions that spurred the civil unrest in the late 1960’s. This retreat of Detroit’s’ tax base in such a short amount of time caused neighborhoods to decay rapidly, both physically and socially. Abandoned property became prime targets for the rioters in 1967. Once a downward spiral such as this is started, it’s hard to regain control. People from all over started moving out after the1943 riots, 1967 just accelerated the process and hyped growing fears. Local Business owners moved out, or at the very least moved their families to “safer areas” during these times. Detroit was left to suffer the public backlash of two perceived “race riots”, leaving it wide open to decades of humiliation at the hands of the politicians and the media. Even though cities like Baltimore, DC, Los Angeles, Mobile and Chicago had riots occur during the same time period, Detroit’s reputation was hurt far worse than its sibling cities.

This apathy for the job just made headlines in Detroit when the cities notorious Vice Squad (an elite group of narcotics officers) was suspended for misconduct. Allegations of such crimes as falsifying police reports, bribes, brutality and cover-ups surfaced when it was uncovered that the vice squad officers were forging arrest records. Detroit’s history of public relation nightmares goes back to the early eighties when “Devils Night” headlines caught the nations attention and people talked about Murder City and how bad Detroit was. Recently the story of Johnny Redding brought Metro Detroit much unwanted attention, and shame. The sometimes-street drifter and drug addict was found at the bottom of an elevator shaft in an abandoned Detroit Public School warehouse. His homeless comrades pushed him from three floors up to the bottom of a flooded elevator shaft after he overdosed on cocaine one evening. His frozen body was found encased in a thick block of ice. Only part of a leg was sticking out. A group trespassing happened upon him while playing urban ice hockey in the flooded warehouse basement.

In the 1920’s General Motors was the first industry to use finance as opposed to the layaway option when purchasing large expensive goods, thus inventing the credit system. Opps…maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned that one. Despite the two and a half decades of extremely negative press and this latest political bashing from the media, it is nothing in comparison with the beating Detroit takes back home on a day-to-day basis.

The people of the Detroit and the surrounding area can be some of the most hardened detractors of the city as well. While most of the residents of the area are quick to boast Detroit (313) pride, when asked what they actually think of their city, the tone is much different. A range of opinions can be heard but the overall sense is… Detroiters dislike Detroit, and it’s quite apparent. Their answers speak volumes about the discontent. A considerable amount of distain can be heard in most people’s voices when they speak of the city. It’s hard not too. I even hear it in my own voice when speaking on certain issues I’m passionate about. This level of dislike for Detroit by its own residents is yet even stranger because of the intense love people here have for the city. It truly is a love / hate relationship. Being here you notice the old English D is on everything. It’s a logo that doesn’t just represent the Tigers Baseball team, but the entire area as a whole. Its said best that…. the “Detroit D” is a one-letter history book that can be worn upon the sleeve. There is an enormous amount of pride in this city but it has been tarnished so severely over the years that respect and shame often intersect on Detroit's lonely streets.

In this day and age with great cities like Boston, Chicago, Toronto, New York, and Los Angeles a city like Detroit can be contrasted as their “anti-city”. Hell, in 1980 we even gave the “key to the city” to Saddam Hussein...yes, that Saddam Hussein. If that doesn’t say it all, I don’t know what does. Its no wonder the rest of the country has a beef with us. For almost three decades now the area has had two black eyes when it comes to conquering our racial and economic divides. Those two black eyes were put there by Mayor Coleman A. Young III. Unlike Kwame, Mayor Young did not have to be convicted of any crime to bring us down back in those days. He did so merely by being ignorant and stubborn. For political gain he often created black and white issues where none previously existed. His 20-year tenure to the office of Mayor produced such racially divisive statements such as…”The only way to handle discrimination…is to reverse it”. Instituting affirmative action in the cities police and fire departments, and inside the city offices created a breeding ground for nepotism and favoritism. By repeatedly leveraging the city against all the other “white” suburbs Young was seen by many blacks as a strong leader; only to end up looking like a fear mongering racist to the rest of the surrounding area. His statements served only to further solidify the idea that white people “are not welcome in Detroit”.

Our city council president, Monica Conyers has been the subject of repeated criticism for her unwillingness to “play nice” with other leaders. Recently she has taken opposition with new Cobo-Hall expansion plan, in which Detroit would receive a badly needed $15-20 million and share renovation and maintenance responsibilities with its neighboring counties. Conyers criticism; Detroit, who would have a one fifth say in the deal, would be “giving into” the suburbs and not getting enough in return. The short-sightedness of her impeding a deal 5-years in the making with a twelfth hour veto simply reeks of Coleman Young politics. That issue aside, she has repeatedly gotten into altercations while representing the city. Not once, but twice, Council President Conyers has verbally abused other members of the city council. Publicly calling them names while viciously attacking their reputations with incoherent childish rants. Even going as far as to call the Mayor Shrek!!! In one instance she was even accused of actual physical assault on a member of her own staff and attacked a random woman at a bar. These incidences’ plus her involvement in a federal corruption probe have made her the epitome of the cities image problem.

Its not like everyone in the entire area is leaving, not all of them can afford to. Those of us who continue to push on, refusing to be victims of the economy or circumstance are the ones who will reclaim Detroit. Using this opportunity as the precipice to a new future, those left behind in the great Detroit exodus will have to make tough decisions. It’s apparent that business as usual has failed, our prophets of prosper have become idols of false wealth, no longer worth worshipping. Our love with the automobile and our desire to put two in every garage will have to be tamed. The future is mass transit. As the suburbs become more destitute and depleted, people will seek urban living. We need to make sure we can serve their needs as a city. The future is our leaders, who need to always, at every minute be aware they are representing this city. Our willingness to become complacent must stop. Our future is civil rights. Detroit voters must realize that who they vote for, or don’t, can make a difference in this city. The future is that abandoned house, the one that stares back at you everyday. Will you make that decision not to let it slip into the abyss? One day the people will find there way back, it will not always be this way. Right?!?