What's with all the bigotry?
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6/18/2007
I'm no bleeding heart liberal. Trust me. My views are quite conservative (some who know me would probably say arch conservative), but all these posts about how Detroit has gone downhill because "the negros [sic] moved in," etc. are really kind of sickening. Having the views that I do, I can get impatient with black people who see white people as categorically racist, and blame all of their difficulties in life on racism, but let's face reality: Black people have had a lot stacked against them for a long time. Instead of portraying black people as the cause of inner-city decline, why not try the novel idea that maybe blacks are the people left in neighborhoods that have gone downhill because, unlike many white people, they cannot afford to move out to the 'burbs. Rather than seeing the return of whites to central cities as the cause of "gentrification" and revival, try the idea that white people with bucks move into these areas AFTER the improvement gets underway, at which time these neighborhoods become more desirable and it takes more money to afford to live there. It's interesting to see the contrasting opinions about Detroit, but it would be nice to see the discussion kept civil. After all, we were living in the 21st century, last time I checked.
BT | Weston, MA