Detroit’s bankruptcy: not a death, a re-imagining
ESSAY - As for Detroit, my hometown will be fine. This is a rough chapter for sure, but Detroiters have a lot of heart...
I love Detroit and I will never live there again. I will never live there again not so much because it’s Detroit, but because it’s my hometown and I spent my first 18 years of life completely immersed in all of its beauty and its pockmarks.
Still, while I might only be a yearly visitor these days, Detroit is always home.
My daddy taught me how to swim at a Metro Detroit (man-made) beach when I was three. By the time I was 10-years-old, I couldn’t go to the local park anymore because of the empty crack vials and stripped cars that surrounded the rusting swing sets and slides.
My fond Detroit memories
I had amazing teachers in high school who changed my life, but by the time I graduated, I had attended far too many funerals for young black men–including a classmate, friends and a family member. As you might imagine, my relationship to Detroit is rather complicated.
I am now a Harlem resident, but the news that my beloved city filed for bankruptcy last month put me right back on the crumbling steps of the house where I was raised on Detroit’s west side. I thought about how my cousins and I would smuggle candy into the Norwest Movie Theater, the countless summers spent chasing down ice cream trucks and the long bike rides to nowhere in particular.
Of course, I understand that the bankruptcy filing won’t make the city magically disappear. After all, city services have been in decline for years. It’s been a long time since a Detroit resident could count on a prompt response from police, paramedics or fire trucks. The bankruptcy filing won’t further impact much of the day-to-day services right now.
Down on Detroit
But the cold, stark numbers that have filled the “Detroit is Dead” news articles published recently made me nostalgic for those innocent days when Detroit seemed more like a giant playground than some tough, scary city with no tourists outside of “Detroit ruin porn” enthusiasts.
I expected the media to do what it normally does with Detroit, which is treat it like a drip of acid on the Rust Belt of America. I was not disappointed. Article after article has been filed brimming with grim predictions, with the only context being even worse crime and sad political anecdotes, and the obligatory nod to the “good ol’ days” of Motown, when bustling auto plants always seemed to be hiring.
For the most part, the statistics are accurate, but like every other city, Detroit is much more than a series of depressing statistics. It’s a living, breathing place filled with some of the most creative, hard-working, community-minded people I know — which is why I was disheartened by headlines like “Motown to Notown.”
A city with spirit
The brain power used to come up with snarky headlines would have been better utilized taking a long, hard look at how Detroit got to the place it is in today. Every city is different, but this intersection of political corruption and ineptitude, racism, financial fumbling and short-sighted urban planning is hardly unique to Detroit. Other cities would do well to take a good look at Detroit’s missteps and do what they can to avoid a similar situation.
As for Detroit, my hometown will be fine. This is a rough chapter for sure, but Detroiters have a lot of heart.
This is an opportunity to truly turn the city around and finally realize the full potential of the great city of Detroit.
Yes, Detroit is still great.
Follow Demetria Irwin on Twitter at @Love_Is_Dope and connect with her on Facebook.
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