 
Jt1
Member
Username: Jt1
Post Number: 9719
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Monday, August 06, 2007 - 3:19 pm: |    |
Michigan - Thatis a good post but have you also considered the flip side of the argument. You mention that CAY missed opportunities to woo money for new business but how much of the local money refused to consider Detroit because the city had a black mayor.
I have to think how so many whites that had left the city hear "get out whitey" in his hit 8 mile speech but there was no racial undertones or mention in the entire speech. Ask many in the suburbs and to this day they will swear that he was telling whites to get out of the city.
Perception is a two way street. He probably alienated some potential investors but just as many, if not more investors alienated the city. |
Michigan
Member
Username: Michigan
Post Number: 906
Registered: 04-2007
| | Posted on Monday, August 06, 2007 - 3:26 pm: | |
JT1- that is a perfect example of what I mean. A Mayor, like the President or anyone with great responsibility in the public eye has to measure every word. The mayor has to make every statement move his city forward, even if it means eating crow. The fact that he made that speech, and I do believe he understood the implicit racial undertones, was bad for the city. He never should have done it.
Not only did it alienate locals, but it brought the simmering and deep seeded racial divides in the city into the national spotlight. Thus alienating even more firms before they even got to the D.
I am glad that you understand that perception flows both ways. However, in the short run the C of D needs the suburbs cash big time. So the city is the one who needs to swallow its pride and work at welcoming outsiders. Outsiders who come to spend wads of cash that is !!!!!! |
Jt1
Member
Username: Jt1
Post Number: 9722
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Monday, August 06, 2007 - 3:32 pm: | |
Michigan - What racial undertones where in that speech? The speech was very concise and he was very clear that he wanted the criminals to leave,regardless of color. I can post the part of the speech if you would like because I do not see one thing that has any anti-white or racial undertones to it.
quote:I am glad that you understand that perception flows both ways. However, in the short run the C of D needs the suburbs cash big time. So the city is the one who needs to swallow its pride and work at welcoming outsiders. Outsiders who come to spend wads of cash that is!!!!!!
Yes and no. The city needs money regardless where it comes from but the State of Michigan and specifically SE Michigan need a thriving core city to improve and move for the region and the state to move forward.
As opposed to people in the suburbs pounding their chest and claiming how the city needs the suburbs they need to realize that the suburbs are hurting now and the State needs a strong core city to attract outside business and retain talent. As usual it is a two way street but both the city and suburbs are being stubborn. The difference is that most in the city know the city is in trouble and many (probably not most at this point) in the suburbs seem to think everything is
just peachy were they live. |
Jt1
Member
Username: Jt1
Post Number: 9723
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Monday, August 06, 2007 - 3:34 pm: | |
Is this the part that has racial undertones? I don't see them:
I issue a warning to all those pushers, to all rip-off artists, to all muggers: It’s time to leave Detroit; hit Eight Mile Road! And I don’t give a damn if they are black or white, or if they wear Superfly suits or blue uniforms with silver badges. Hit the road. |
Kaptansolo
Member
Username: Kaptansolo
Post Number: 52
Registered: 07-2007
| | Posted on Monday, August 06, 2007 - 3:40 pm: | |
Quote from the powerful--slightly modified
"give me control of southeatern michigan's money and I care not who the mayor of Detroit is or what laws he makes"
Those of you who are familiar with this similar quote from some 225 years ago should be able to apply this to Detroit as I have.
It's the money people...look at us...hollering at each other (I'm guilty too) about racism. It's the money...period.
Detroit's problem is lack of industry.
If I take the car out...they will kill each other with blame. They will blame themselves, each other, leadership, kids, boys, girls, old people, dead people, dogs and cats, Rouge River, Edgewater Park...and anything else they think they can comprehend.
It is lack of industry...you stave enough people and not only are the starving going to get pissed off and depressed but so are those who are nearby and have to see the blight.
A lady here in New York once said as she walked past a homeless man asking for change...she said I got so mad at him and the truth is I just want the problem to go away. I do not want to help unless there is one magical thing I can do and suddenly it is over. Eventually all people get tired of problems that are not their problems because they victim can't fix it...the truth is...as she put it...she would not know what to if she were in that situation because she said...I have resources and I would just exhaust one of them.
this is the real truth about Detroit....
Paging the auto industry...please return. Plenty of land throughout the city to build factories once again and employ those that we all see hanging around waiting on handouts and collecting welfare. Employ those who are not waiting on handouts but are invisibly homeless..living with parents once again due to downsizing.
Breathe life back into traditional blue cross and blue shield so that Americans will have adequate health care once again.
Return to allow those machinist who have degrees in business open local machine shop to supply the big 3 and actually pay them decently so they can in turn pay their workers salaries that give birth to pride and dignity.
Return U.S. Rubber to the shores of the Detroit River. Return Packard..Your factory is still there and with some renovation would be a hell of a facility.
Return to Livernois and Warren Lincoln...make your luxury vehicles there and use wheels and brakes made on Conner and Mack (right) at the Budd wheel plant and the Kelsey hayes factory on Livernois and I-94
UAW..can you hear me??? Let the rank and file know that there is true competition in the world and quality is number one.
ZUG Island and Great Lakes steel. Can you hear me Ford family...please return to Rough. Let's once again put raw materials in one end and bring forth automobiles at the other....
Return to your post Detroit Pistons...what the hell are doing calling yourself the Detroit Pistons playing in Auburn Hills????
Return theater district and the people will come to see movies there once again because they will have money to enjoy some of these wonderful structures.
Return Chrysler...why did you leave Oakland Ave? There is plenty of space for you to expand in the city...you could have a research and development facility there and more things in other parts of the city.
get my drift...people.
if nothing else....we may have racism still...but everybody will have enough money to live productive lives both in and out of the city and there will be nothing wrong to "blame" racism...even though it will still exist |
Michigan
Member
Username: Michigan
Post Number: 907
Registered: 04-2007
| | Posted on Monday, August 06, 2007 - 3:41 pm: | |
JT, we are repeating the same things. I agree, that's why I wrote that a sinking Detroit weighs down the suburbs as well. However, right now the suburbs have cash that Detroit desperately needs. Unfortunately there is nothing in the short run that Detroit has that the suburbs desperately need. If you want those suburbanites to start realizing that they need the C of D as well, then it falls on the city to start making itself attractive to them in "superficial" ways. Fair or not, it is up to the C of D and its residents to make the first moves towards reconciliation. Everyone will benefit in the end, and Detroit will be far stronger and more vibrant for it.
Just because the people around you are blind that doesn't mean you have to close your eyes! |
Jt1
Member
Username: Jt1
Post Number: 9724
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Monday, August 06, 2007 - 3:42 pm: | |
Michigan, I agree with everything in that post.
(Message edited by jt1 on August 06, 2007) |
Kaptansolo
Member
Username: Kaptansolo
Post Number: 53
Registered: 07-2007
| | Posted on Monday, August 06, 2007 - 3:54 pm: | |
I understand your points a little better Michigan.
I just really do not think that the suburban white wants to live with that many black people...whether they have money or not.
As I said...if you "Can't go to Belle Isle" now...what could anyone really do to make you want to live next to those you cannot attend a city park with?
I still cannot get over that one..."I can't even go to Belle Isle" |
Kaptansolo
Member
Username: Kaptansolo
Post Number: 54
Registered: 07-2007
| | Posted on Monday, August 06, 2007 - 3:59 pm: | |
Even if they moved back...the residents there now would still need employment to pull their weight...How long would suburbanites stay if they thought they would have to foot the entire bill alone?
Not very long |
Michigan
Member
Username: Michigan
Post Number: 908
Registered: 04-2007
| | Posted on Monday, August 06, 2007 - 4:27 pm: | |
Understood KS. You and I live in New York. It is far from a utopia, but I think that racial tension is not as severe as it is in Detroit. There are Howard Beach neighborhoods here and there. But for the most part the segregation is not accepted and expected. I watched "Do The Right Thing" a few weeks ago, and my wife and I were recalling how tense NYC was during that period. THere really were severe racial confrontations and animosities. Now, twenty years later our younger friends don't believe it was ever that bad.
I want Detroit to do the same thing. Now, there will always be racist people. But they can become the exception and not the rule. Hey, Chicago is an incredibly racist city, but they make it work and it is getting better.
And success breeds success. Look at Brooklyn. Carroll Gardens? Red Hook? Ten years ago no one wanted to go near those places. Today no one can afford to live there! Why not Rivertown? |
Detroitrunaway
Member
Username: Detroitrunaway
Post Number: 81
Registered: 06-2007
| | Posted on Monday, August 06, 2007 - 5:05 pm: | |
I think you both (MI, KAP & JT) have good points. Some people prefer to live around their own kind...no matter how much money. It's the case of being comfortable in your surrounding.
Me on the other hand....I enjoy a mixture. I'm always looking for something different to get into. As I stated before...I now live in Baltimore...on the NE part of the city...so I was quite pleased to see a few white and asian neighbors. Not that I wasn't pleased to have my fellow black neighbors....I kind of view similar to nature. Who wants to see all Japanese Maples and nothing else...or Weeping Willows and nothing else....etc....My neighborhood is like my garden...a variety of God's creations.
P.S. Me and my elderly neighbor both have corner lots...and we seem to be in competition. She has a head start on me...but it's fun catching up to her...oh...and by the way...she's white...I wouldn't trade her in for anyone else. She's fine the way she is. Very pleasant.
You got to love it. |
Kaptansolo
Member
Username: Kaptansolo
Post Number: 56
Registered: 07-2007
| | Posted on Monday, August 06, 2007 - 6:43 pm: | |
Ok, I will concede that New York is different in many, many, ways. One thing I notice here that is different is white New Yorkers left the city too during the 50's and 60's but not all of them. Plus as they left...others, not just blacks, moved in. New York has white people who can still appreciate city life. Another thing I notice is because there are many more diverse levels of income here among all races and that includes white people. The whites who are moving to Harlem now (I'm sorry Northern Manhattan-lol) are not the same as the one downtown who has a loft down there as a vacation spot and has a home upstate somewhere as well. As I stated in a thread and maybe it was this one...white people here in the city buy just as many pesticides as Black, Dominican, Puerto Rican and Asian people do. Metro Detroit is different. A lot of white children in Metro Detroit have never seen a roach in their home.
I knew people from Stockbridge, MI (pig farms out there)who had honestly never seen black people except on television until they were 18 years old and getting their first job in Ann Arbor or Lansing. Why?...because black people don't live in Stockbridge.(at least they did not back then 1980's)
I can also admit that you have to be open to diversity in races as a person period to live New York City even if you are prejudice. You may live in an all black, asian or white neighborhood but you as soon as you get on the train you will encounter someone of another nationality.
Not so in Detroit...
There were a handful of white people living near Grand River and Greenfield when we moved there in the mid-70's. I went to an all black school, Edison elementary had maybe 20 whites in the entire school and they were leaving.
In the suburbs, Taylor 1976, my 5th grade class had only one black kid there.
Even hispanics, you can go nowhere in New York without being able to "hablar en español". In Detroit, if you don't go over to the southwest side, you almost did not hear spanish spoken unless you were watching Univision.
I like it here in New York (I speak spanish pretty well too) but how many people from Michigan are that opened minded...white or black?
Gentrification here is a little different...because you have neighborhoods being redeveloped and I hear black people all the time saying they are not putting all of this infrastructure in for black people. Black people feel as they are being ran out of Harlem and are fleeing to the Bronx. I have spoken to many older residents from Harlem who are just selling what little bit of property they have instead of hanging on to it and passing it to the next generation. Now that the value is up...they are again not staying in their community.(which I just do not get). White people are taking it over and when I asked about the street hustlers that I have heard about from the 70's who had a lot of illegal money and could have bought Harlem...they basically all seem to say the same thing..., "I was too busy having a good time chasing women and going to Florida and the Carribean to think about buying property that would have taken my valuable "enjoyment" time and plus that would have been too much like work"
It's all about the mighty dollar here in New York and how well you play the game with that dollar. it's not place to come and just work for a living...this is a place to get rich or wealthy in whatever field or craft you possess. Whatever your color. |
Buyamerican
Member
Username: Buyamerican
Post Number: 115
Registered: 02-2007
| | Posted on Monday, August 06, 2007 - 6:54 pm: | |
What are the letters on the top of the building in the RenCen? What large plant operates at Conner and Jefferson? Two large auto companies in the heart of Detroit. They build them, Americans don't buy them for whatever stupid reasons they have.
This Belle Isle thing is really getting out of hand. Yes folks, I can go to Belle Isle anytime I choose to go. No one is physically keeping me from crossing the bridge. It is my decision NOT to go for safety sake, pure and simple. Black, white, hispanic, chaldene, germans, indians, whatever. I left Detroit because the neighborhood I lived in became a battle zone. If no one hears the gunshots now, we certainly heard them in the 80's and 90's. The firefighters in Detroit get rocks thrown at them, they get shot at...by the very people whose homes are in the neighborhoods. There is no respect for anyone or anything and that's what makes me angry. I'm not going to get into some shouting match with anyone on this forum. I am entitled to voice my opinions here like the next guy, sorry if it isn't what you want to read. It's obvious to me that some here have tunnel vision and blinders on. Good luck! |
Michigan
Member
Username: Michigan
Post Number: 909
Registered: 04-2007
| | Posted on Monday, August 06, 2007 - 6:56 pm: | |
Amen to that. |
Buyamerican
Member
Username: Buyamerican
Post Number: 116
Registered: 02-2007
| | Posted on Monday, August 06, 2007 - 7:06 pm: | |
The answer to the original question that started this forum "Should Detroit residents take the blame for some of the inner city decay"
is a resounding yes, without a doubt. |
Detroitrunaway
Member
Username: Detroitrunaway
Post Number: 82
Registered: 06-2007
| | Posted on Monday, August 06, 2007 - 7:24 pm: | |
That's right BuyAm. Once a thread is started we tend to steer away from the original question. The thread never asked the question....take All the blame...only some.
And I have to agree totally. Any other answer is flat out BS. |
Gmich99
Member
Username: Gmich99
Post Number: 219
Registered: 11-2005
| | Posted on Monday, August 06, 2007 - 7:27 pm: | |
The "greatest generation" deserves a fair lump of the blame. After returning home from WW2 they divided cities with massive highway construction, created urban sprawl and left the cities. They ditched the big cities and created massive problems that we are coping with. They never looked back and are now largely dead. Not until the "greatest generation" was retired and out of the political arena did Detroit see any signs of a true rebirth. |
Kaptansolo
Member
Username: Kaptansolo
Post Number: 57
Registered: 07-2007
| | Posted on Monday, August 06, 2007 - 7:31 pm: | |
Alright- I did not have to blow the Belle Isle thing out of proportion.
I can admit that.
What I was just hollering about pertaining to the auto industry coming back...well I guess it is a dream.
Buyamerican, I do agree, most will not buy them..I would...but I doubt they would start producing in Detroit like they used to because you and I will buy two vehicles.
I was mentioning the things that were in Detroit and what they were doing when it was beautiful and booming. If they were still there and able to sell...Detroit, at the very least would have a chance.
I did not know they were throwing rocks at the fire department or shooting at them.
Yes, some of the blame. Buy rakes and grass seed with those spinning rims...I did say that. Put refuse in proper receptacles...yes.
Get a home improvement loan to fix your roof and re-do your driveway...you need a good job at GM.
(Message edited by Kaptansolo on August 06, 2007) |
Buyamerican
Member
Username: Buyamerican
Post Number: 117
Registered: 02-2007
| | Posted on Monday, August 06, 2007 - 8:02 pm: | |
"The "greatest generation" deserves a fair lump of the blame. After returning home from WW2 they divided cities with massive highway construction, created urban sprawl and left the cities. They ditched the big cities and created massive problems that we are coping with. They never looked back and are now largely dead. Not until the "greatest generation" was retired and out of the political arena did Detroit see any signs of a true rebirth."
Give me a friggin' break! The City was a boomtown for many years after the war. A new freeway didn't cause people to leave Detroit. I can do a Google search too and find reasons why people leave large cities, it happens in every State in the U.S. If you didn't live it, then you can't know it. I did. Born, raised, educated, married, worked, raised kids, had a mortgage for 30 years, finally paid it off only to be forced to leave because of apathy from neighbors, decay, neglect, filth, danger, lack of services and high taxes.
Kaptansolo, ask any Detroit firefighter to tell you what goes on during these hot summer nights. |
East_detroit
Member
Username: East_detroit
Post Number: 1157
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Monday, August 06, 2007 - 8:11 pm: | |
Ahh, let's alleviate the guilt, shall we?
Funny how so many white middle-aged people are willing to rent to Blacks (as long as they live in another city) but arent so willing to hire them.
Blame the residents? Sure. And blame institutional racism and all the psychological effects thereof. |
Karl
Member
Username: Karl
Post Number: 9185
Registered: 09-2005
| | Posted on Monday, August 06, 2007 - 8:16 pm: | |
With regard to auto companies leaving Detroit, I would second what Buyamerican said, and take it a step further.
Ford moved most of its operations out of Detroit ('20's?) to Dearborn. However, they've always maintained a presence in Detroit though not to the extent of the huge Dearborn operation. Think original Ren Cen.
However, Ford thrived in Dearborn, and Dearborn hasn't undergone the profound changes that Detroit has endured. While riding the ups/downs of the auto industry and in particular the problems du jour, Ford/Dearborn have escaped 2 significant events/situations:
Blacks & riots.
When looking at Detroit and wondering why, one must look and Dearborn and wonder "why not"
It appears that Dearborn has maintained strict zoning regulations, and has city services second to none. As a result, Dearborn has had steadily increasing real estate prices, nice maintained neighborhoods, and an auto headquarters that shows no sign of leaving.
So did Ford keep Dearborn, or did Dearborn keep Ford? Or was it a joint effort?
And why didn't it work in Detroit? |
Kaptansolo
Member
Username: Kaptansolo
Post Number: 62
Registered: 07-2007
| | Posted on Monday, August 06, 2007 - 10:02 pm: | |
I was defeated by Dearborn.
As much as I want to...I cannot argue that one about Dearborn.
We moved away in 1976 to Taylor but I continued to go to school in Detroit. Everyday we road to Detroit with my mother to go to school from my grandmother's house (mom was still working in Detroit).
Mostly white neighborhood in Taylor and mostly black schools in Detroit.
I cannot argue about the baby thing. I often over the years wondered why the girls were having babies with these guys who had not found their automotive jobs yet. Not only were they having them but not just one...two, three, four and on and on.
I used to say how much of a burden they were placing on the guy they wind up with later in life...of course...nobody could hear me and they thought I was foolish for thinking that way.
whocares08-you got me on that one.
Karl-as much as I want to disagree, I would have to do a lot of research to make a case and I just don't know anymore (sitting here disgusted)???
Are you suggesting that the high paying jobs that some of you have worked (and forgive me for assuming that...I don't know if anyone here is a former auto worker or not). I just want to know...do you feel if those jobs had been available to the inner city youths, that these kids would not have taken them and went to work, took care of their kids and cut the grass like they were suppose to????
It is your opinion that they would not have taken care of the city if they had legitimate money to work with???
(Message edited by Kaptansolo on August 06, 2007) |
Buyamerican
Member
Username: Buyamerican
Post Number: 118
Registered: 02-2007
| | Posted on Monday, August 06, 2007 - 10:56 pm: | |
Available jobs wouldn't have made any difference at all...and, by the way, there are jobs in Detroit. The young people in Detroit think they deserve better though. They want now what it took most of us years to make. These thugs aren't looking for jobs. They are looking for easy money, money that they don't have to work for. Easy money comes from drugs, stealing, mugging, breaking in, random killings and so on and so on and so on. Gang mentality is what they count on, not Ford, GM or Chrysler. They prey on whites, blacks, children, the elderly, anyone. |
Jt1
Member
Username: Jt1
Post Number: 9734
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Monday, August 06, 2007 - 11:08 pm: | |
quote:Available jobs wouldn't have made any difference at all...and, by the way, there are jobs in Detroit. The young people in Detroit think they deserve better though
Obvisously you miss the articles about thousands of people showing up for 100 or so positions. Find me one fast food place with a help wanted sign in the city. They simply don't exist. Your assumption is incorrect and ignorant and dare I say racist because I am guessing that you equate young people of Detroit to being black.
The city has a lot of great kids and a lot of them working every type of job. You are being a dismissive jerk, plain and simple. |
Buyamerican
Member
Username: Buyamerican
Post Number: 120
Registered: 02-2007
| | Posted on Monday, August 06, 2007 - 11:32 pm: | |
Jt1, I think you are the racist on this forum. Racist means hatred or intolerance of another race or races. Some blacks are forever calling white people racist, especially when there is no one else to blame, but dare I say that it goes both ways. When there are no answers to the problems in Detroit, the race card pops up. Instead of parents getting the blame for their sons being out on the streets until all hours of the night, getting into trouble, well, let's see... I guess it's the white person's fault. When young girls have baby after baby, of course it's the white person's fault. Does anybody in Detroit ever, and I mean ever, take responsibility for their own actions without blaming someone else? My assumption regarding some of the youth in Detroit is correct and I "respectfully" disagree with you. That being said, I refuse to get into some sort of juvenile shoving match with someone who obviously wants to insite an argument about just who is the jerk here, plain and simple. |
Michigan
Member
Username: Michigan
Post Number: 910
Registered: 04-2007
| | Posted on Monday, August 06, 2007 - 11:38 pm: | |
Karl- Thank you. Dearborn is the perfect example of what I am saying Detroit should have done; and what it needs to start doing if it is to have any hope of attracting new business. Dearborn kept Ford. They made it a place worth staying in. I am sure there were tax incentives and all sorts of political favors granted over the years that helped as well. But it worked. |
Jt1
Member
Username: Jt1
Post Number: 9738
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Monday, August 06, 2007 - 11:45 pm: | |
Buyamerican - I agree that people need to take personal responsibility. When it comes to absent fathers, irresponsible parents, etc the fault lies with that person.
I have an issue with you generalizing by stating what you did in post 119. That goes beyond personal responsibility and is a huge generalization of the people and the youth of the city of Detroit.
That is just from your last 7-8 posts. Feel free to call me a jerk as you are completely innocent of stereotyping and making ridiculous statements.
But again you continue to generalize by stating
quote:Does anybody in Detroit ever, and I mean ever, take responsibility for their own actions without blaming someone else?
Again ignorant assumptions on your part. The city has many great families, hard working people, kids that are serious about academics, etc. You choose to ignore the majority of the people that fit into this category. Why do you choose to stereotype the residents of the city to the lowest common denominator? That says a lot about your thought process and your character.
quote:My assumption regarding some of the youth in Detroit is correct and I "respectfully" disagree with you
At least you have limited it to 'some' of the youth. That is a start. Maybe one day you will even realize that many, if not most of the youth in Detroit are good kids hoping for a good future achieved through hard work.
quote:That being said, I refuse to get into some sort of juvenile shoving match with someone who obviously wants to insite an argument about just who is the jerk here, plain and simple.
My apologies is calling out your ignorant stereotypes makes me a jerk.
But if we are to point fingers let’s look at a quick summary of your most recent body of work:
1. One must wear a flack jacket to go anywhere in the city.
2. I can’t even go to Belle Isle
3. The young people in Detroit think they deserve better though. They want now what it took most of us years to make. These thugs aren't looking for jobs (Stereotyping all the youths in Detroit – class act on your part) |
Jt1
Member
Username: Jt1
Post Number: 9739
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Monday, August 06, 2007 - 11:47 pm: | |
Michigan - I think pretty much every community in SE Michigan could learn something from Dearborn. It is one of the only communitites that is seeing growth in SE Michigan.
Detroit is working to improve the areas bordering on GP and Warren. I hope (because I don't know) that they are trying to work the same synergies with Dearborn. |
Jt1
Member
Username: Jt1
Post Number: 9741
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Monday, August 06, 2007 - 11:55 pm: | |
A few more of Buyamerican's gems:
1. The people who reside in ANY home in Detroit know what clean means. They take pride in their expensive cars with the expensive rims and expensive speakers, so why not take pride in their homes.
2. No one cares and has pride in Detroit. No one cares about the historic icons in Detroit
3. My statement regarding "no one in Detroit cares" is a generalized one. Let's put it this way. the majority of people in Detroit don't care,
But I am the jerk because I call him out on it. |
Kaptansolo
Member
Username: Kaptansolo
Post Number: 65
Registered: 07-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 07, 2007 - 12:28 am: | |
Well, listening to Buyamerican, I would become a racist if all he says is true. If I was not a racist I would think that inner city kids are nobody I would want to have my family around...ever!
Damn I have issues with this "there are jobs in Detroit" business.
Maybe there are...I don't know. It's not what I hear.
I know a stripper (I used to be into things like that) and she dances in Texas now. She flies to Houston and dances at a club there for a week or two and then returns to Michigan. She lives in the suburbs.
According to her...she dances in Texas because there is "oil" money there and those guys don't mind spending it. She said the money she once made in Metro Detroit(the suburbs) just is not there anymore.
Now I hope nobody attacks me for her profession (white girl by the way) or listening to her about the conditions of Metro Detroit. She says the same thing...Auto industry money is gone.
My mother says there is no work there...what few auto jobs are in existence are being passed out to those who are willing to work for $14 an hour with no benefits and parody is no longer what it was and it does not look like it is going back.
I mean yes...you can work at a fast food restaurant...but who is going to be purchasing a home with that?
I am not one to say well I got mine and "f" everybody else...I was a damned lucky individual. I was able to go to school and I stayed the course, but Detroit looked pretty bad (financially) when I left in 1998 and the job market was shitty even if you had a degree.
My father worked 32 years at Mound Road Engine and he never paid attention to plant closing threats...he retired in 1995 and died in 2001. He died thinking that they would never close Mound Road. If I am not mistaken...that engine plant is closed now?
So many people I hear act as though as all you need is diligence and you will succeed. Like my dad's overconfidence in the what used to be...I think everything has changed and those jobs and that way of life is over.
Maybe not...it just seems that way to me.
Who here is living comfortable or even has any hope of living comfortable based on those jobs you(buyamerican) speak of in Detroit?
Please name these jobs you speak of and their rates of pay, benefits package and if they do not have a benefits package upon your hire date...tell me when it kicks in?
As I stated, I agree with the things about too many babies.
I will also concede that maybe a lot of these sons have destroyed their lives with criminal backgrounds and drug addictions...
But there is not much to choose from for the ones who are trying to stand fast and be patient? The ones who keep their noses clean and just maybe did not have the opportunity to go to college.
You are saying that all of these children, even if they cleaned their act up...they would not want to be honest, productive citizens if the opportunity arose...and you are saying the opportunity is there now in spite of all of the plant closings? ...and they all happen to be black? |
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