A Weakening Pulse

I'm a Metro Detroit native who now lives on the east coast. Detroit's national image is much worse than most people in the Detroit area can understand. And most people don't separate their perceptions of Detroit from their perception of Detroit's suburbs. It is by far the worst image of any major metropolitan area in the country.

Fantastic (and fascinating) information. I agree that Detroit/Michigan definitely has a communication problem, especially when it comes to communicating at a national level. I like the idea of ONE message. It may sound frivolous, but this city is in serious need of a national marketing campaign. Detroit needs to attract new business in order to survive and the only way that's going to happen is if the national perception of Detroit changes.

When post-industrial New York hit rock bottom in the late 60s, the city went broke and couldn't afford to put any more money into public services. In order to get the money they needed to survive they put what funds they had into the "Big Apple" and "I <3 NY" campaigns. They changed the perception of the city, cleaned up crime, and the money started coming in. Of course, there were a number of other "steps" in between, but it all started with the biggest hurdle which at the time was the city's HORRENDOUS reputation.

I think the revitalization efforts should focus on 1) increasing jobs 2) funding schools more 3) funding police more

I'd say the look of downtown is fine.

It is up to us who are residents of Detroit to make the changes we desire. We can't wait for local, state and city politicians to rescue us. We are responsible for making the change to build our future.

It will take hard work and many grass roots relationships to make it happen. But we can do it.

"Six in 10 people outside Michigan rate the Detroit region as a poor place to live."

It should not have taken a study to point this out. Anyone who reads newspapers or magazines or watches TV has to be aware that the assassination of Detroit has been ongoing for decades. The latest, Hanson's NBC report, is just one more hatchet job in a long series of national media attacks meant to drive the last nail into Detroit's coffin. Characterizations such as the racoon thing, which is very similar to Michael Moore's portrayal of Flint eating rabbits in "Roger and Me", are intentional. They are meant to portray Michigan as a pocket of ignorant barbarians in extreme poverty hunting wild game in the deserted streets of a filthy city just to ward off starvation. How could you reach any other conclusion? Luther Keith (Free Press April 22, 2010) accompanied Chris Hanson and his camera crew through Detroit and showed him the best sections of the city but none of it was used. The national audience was only shown the poverty and decay - and the racoon thing. I would call that intentional.

A Must Read: The editorial comment in the Sunday Free Press (April 25, 2010) News & Views section - "Detroit must stand up to slanted reporting".

"Red alert, Metro Detroit: Whatever we're doing isn't working. We need some sort of major, significant, all-points bulletin to get ONE strong message out there. One message that every newspaper, every television station, every radio broadcast sends out at the same time."

Thanks Karen, for a moment of candor - and you're right. The BIG question - what IS that "ONE strong message" and what does it look like. Let me try.

"To be fully human is to seek communion with others," Dr. Robert Jensen said, "not separation from them." ("Heart of Whiteness"). Detroit is the most segregated city in America (Michigan Apartheid - Keith Schneider) and it is this profound, deeply rooted separation that destroys our humanity and blocks virtually any kind of sustainable solution.

As a white, Irish American (on our radio show - Radio in Black and White), I often hear the familiar "playing the race card" accusation - in that context please consider this. "Race is not an addendum, an adjunct or side issue. It lies at the heart of of the formation of nearly all our institutions and our collective way of life." (La Ron Williams)

How do I know that? "Slavery is indeed gone," Frederick Douglas said, "but it's shadow still lingers over the country and poisons the moral atmosphere of all sections of the republic." Moral poison in Detroit is imbedded in a real life litany of disparities - jobs, housing, health care, education, wealth, and criminal justice. The overwhelming evidence points to silent, perverted, legal and “ethical” codes that sustain “conditions in which unjust power brings unearned privilege.” (Robert Jensen - Heart of Whiteness).

Devastation in Detroit within this context is obvious. Argue about taxes, the size of government, affirmative action, immigration, law and order – offer great ideas about urban farming and rail systems all day but here's the bottom line - segregation is working against ALL of us, we pay a high price for this social cancer, this pathological assassin, this elephant in the room filled with debilitating denial. That's why "what we're doing isn't working."

One message? Here it is. "Segregation shaped me," Maya Angelou said, "Education liberated me." Until we become conversationally "fluent in race-related matters, we will never be able to take responsibility for undoing the damages that racism has caused." (LaRon Williams) We'll never be able to be fully human which means to reject any "system that conditions our pleasure on someone else's pain." (Robert Jensen - Heart of Whiteness)

Without multi-racial, trans generational, multi-ethnic, sustainable collaboration that crosses racial, geographic and socio-economic lines, Detroit will be like the "Emperor who had no clothes" - something obviously missing that everyone can see.

A must read.

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