Black men and women are a shining example of thriftiness, hard work, and innovation worldwide. Truly something to be emulated.
Black men and women are known for their thriftiness, hard work and perseverance in the face of adversity. They will be the ones to rebuild Detroit better than it was before, notwithstanding resistance from bigots that constantly try to downplay their contributions.
Finally, a positive word about Detroit in the NYT--though indirectly rendered. Thanks to Boyd for capturing what remains so dear to those of us born and reared in Detroit pre-crack epidemic and the State of Michigan's fiscal war against the city. Detroit was and will again be a bastion for free-black thought and empowerment. Most of us appreciate that for decades Detroit was not an outward tourist treasure. Still. during those bleaker financial times and social upheavals, our spirit as persons were ingratiating and uplifting. It is the friendliest place. Soon the facade (and economics) that the NYT likes to gripe about will match that spirit again and all will be right in the city that once was the engine of American technology, American culture and black intellectual thought.
2
And what about the black men and women who served as mayors and administrators for decades in Detroit city government? Do they not also deserve recognition for failing to address the city's problems, serial mismanagement and the ultimate bankruptcy of the municipality they ostensibly built?
I don't think I'm being churlish about this, just completing the picture honestly. If you're going to take credit for something, you also bear the responsibility for the results of your actions.
I don't think I'm being churlish about this, just completing the picture honestly. If you're going to take credit for something, you also bear the responsibility for the results of your actions.
2
I was born in Detroit (Henry Ford Hospital) and lived there until 1962. The city was segregated and Whites feared Blacks. My mother espoused tolerance, but called the police when she saw a Black teenager walking down our street.
Some family members still live in the area and I was back in Detroit visiting friends in the summer of 1967. Riot was an understatement. It was a war zone. Looting, arson, anarchy, and murder was the norm. Cops and firefighters refused to go into Black neighborhoods justifiably fearing for their lives.
So let's be honest. After the 1967 riots Whites sold their homes for 20 cents on the dollar because sellers glutted the market and because their homes were torched during and after the riots.
Years later the auto industry collapsed due to high gas prices (all the cars were gas guzzlers) and shoddy workmanship. But the unions (e.g. UAW, Teamsters) worked hard to exclude Blacks, so it had an indirect, but severe, effect on them.
More consequential was the loss of tax revenue and city hall corruption. Detroit always had corruption, but Mayor Young took it to new heights.
Mr. Boyle's book is admirable but incomplete. The social breakdown in Black communities (single mothers, generational welfare, high crime rates) added more to Detroit's woes than simply segregation. But to raise these issues means you're racist.
Some family members still live in the area and I was back in Detroit visiting friends in the summer of 1967. Riot was an understatement. It was a war zone. Looting, arson, anarchy, and murder was the norm. Cops and firefighters refused to go into Black neighborhoods justifiably fearing for their lives.
So let's be honest. After the 1967 riots Whites sold their homes for 20 cents on the dollar because sellers glutted the market and because their homes were torched during and after the riots.
Years later the auto industry collapsed due to high gas prices (all the cars were gas guzzlers) and shoddy workmanship. But the unions (e.g. UAW, Teamsters) worked hard to exclude Blacks, so it had an indirect, but severe, effect on them.
More consequential was the loss of tax revenue and city hall corruption. Detroit always had corruption, but Mayor Young took it to new heights.
Mr. Boyle's book is admirable but incomplete. The social breakdown in Black communities (single mothers, generational welfare, high crime rates) added more to Detroit's woes than simply segregation. But to raise these issues means you're racist.
2
Hmmm. This headline is way off. In 1950, when Detroit's population peaked, the city was 16% African-American. I'm a life-long Detroiter and will definitely read this book, but blacks became a majority in Detroit because whites left.
3
Looking at America today, I can't imagine what anyone could possibly be celebrating. Long live Detroit.
1
The review reads as if Dr. Boyd considers Detroit history as ending in the '70s, possibly with the election of Mayor-for-Life, Coleman Young. Progressively this may be true but only with the death of DRUM counsel, Ken Cockrel, Sr., Young's only intellectual rival. But KVC died in the early '80s. Moreover there is no mention of the ramp-up to Coleman Young in the '70s, a time of reactionary unrest very similar to the present. The '67 Civil Disorder local coverage illuminated some of this police strongman show but the post-Riot power struggle for control of the police and the armed struggle against law enforcement's Nixon heroin (and later Reagan crack) trafficking has only recently come to media attention. Kwame Kilpatrick didn't do Detroit 'post-history' much good either. Herb has been heard as an excellent lecturer and careful researcher and we urge him to continue to carry forward the history of the Struggle.
1
Herb Boyd was my black studies professor at CCNY in Harlem. I have since run into him at an event and you would have thought I ran into Michael Jackson. I was so excited to see him. He was a great professor, teaching the cohort of college students the history of Harlem and it's black culture. When I ran into him about a year ago he mentioned that he was working on this book. I cannot wait to read it. I remember getting home from college everyday and just inundating my friends with everything I had learned that day. He introduced me to the Schomburg Center, the AME church, Childs Memorial Temple Church of God in Christ, and so much more. He truly opened my mind. He is an inspiration to many in and out of the black community.
The academic insistence upon seeing America in Black and White is a cause as much as a result of our failure to truly integrate.
14
And your post is a failure to see black accomplishment in a predominately white America is a cause as much as a result of our continued resistance to ending institutionalized/culture racism.
When black lives are chronicled they way white lives are in America, there won't be a need for separate books about black history. Until then, many of us eagerly read books like this and "The Warmth of Other Suns" to learn all the important history we were never told about.
3
Should there also be a tribute to the slaves of America, whose free labour for almost 300 years built America?. Perhaps a statue, placed in the most prominent of places should be erected, and all laws, prejudiced based, be removed.
However, thank you for this article.
However, thank you for this article.
2
Whatever gains occurred from slave labor were wiped out by the death & destruction of the Civil War and it's decades-long aftermath, to include the impoverishment of the South. "Net-net" America would almost certainly be doing much better if slavery had never existed here. One-or-more states could've chosen to secede over some other issue, like the North using it's lock on Congress to force the South to buy more expensive manufactured goods from northern factories, most likely we wouldn't have had a civil war.
2
I will ask my library to put this one on their shelf.
5
Looking at Detroit today, I can't imagine what anyone could possibly be celebrating.
26
I was born in Detroit, saw it go through very rough times, and have been amazed at the renaissance I saw on my last visit. Detroit has a long, long way to go, but there are a lot of things to celebrate about the city. The extraordinary accomplishments of its African-American heroes (well known and not at all known) are right at the top of that list, and I'm eager to read this book.
1
I was thinking the same thing. Frankly, what exactly did they build and why do they need federal assistance to tear it down and start over?
1
Then you haven't looked at Detroit today. What an astonishingly uninformed and yes, ignorant comment to make.
1
It broke my heart to see what happened to Detroit and I'm happy to hear that the city is on the way back. But if Black people aren't a part of the revitalization of Detroit, it won't be Motown.