From The Ashes

With news services stuck in the seemingly endless loop of residual agonizing over the George Zimmerman trial, few other stories this week have been able to rise above the threshold of what is considered newsworthy enough to interrupt to the conversation of skittles, hoodies, and Trayvon Martin. One item that did pass muster was the news that Detroit, once the fifth largest city in the U.S., intends to file bankruptcy. Interestingly, the Zimmerman/Martin story and the Detroit situation can be related.

The failure of a city is complex, and cannot be attributed to just one factor. Blame has been directed at liberal leadership, the failure of the auto industry, the greed of capitalist corporations moving jobs to escape strong unions, strong unions chasing jobs away, the race riots of the 60’s, whites leaving the city to escape the racial violence, or whites and their money leaving just because of their own bigotry… take your pick; you’d be right; but unless you chose all of these and more, you’d only be partly right. Add to all these things a decline in morality, both on the streets and in City Hall; crime and corruption, laziness and incompetence, ever kicking the can down the road… as I’ve said before (here), if you want to see the predictable future of America, look at Detroit.

As with the Zimmerman case, Detroit has suffered from a sad situation resulting in racial divisions that only served to make the problem worse. Whites for the most part left the city for the suburbs and took their money with them. After the race riots of the sixties, Detroit became a less comfortable place for people with money, and most of them retreated with no desire to help sustain the city they fled. You can blame the exodus of the well-heeled, or sympathize with them… either way it’s reality, and finger pointing rarely facilitates problem solving. There seems to be little appetite in the rest of the state to sacrifice for the people of Detroit, whose perils the rest of Michigan attributes mostly to their own vices and incompetence. Little more hope for a bailout is coming from the White House, despite Obama’s promise on the re-election trail that he would not let Detroit go bankrupt (that was “Campaign Obama”, not “Governing Obama”). In hard times, charity is hard to come by. Few are clamoring to help a city that seems to have engineered its own demise. Again, as in the Zimmerman case, the strategy of “white guilt” seems less effective than it has been in the past. Guilt itself is a wrongly maligned emotion. It’s what leads us to repent of and repair wrongs committed; but it is only a short term bridge to bring us to a destination; once we arrive there, the bridge should be burned. If we insist on preserving the bridge of guilt for those who have wronged us, we risk guilt becoming resentment, by which we and the transgressor return to the place of separation. Black leaders who seem to have a vested interest in prolonging racial divisions do little to help their followers by artificially ratcheting up guilt by crying racism where there is none.

There was a time when systemic racism was a very real problem in America. That is no longer the case. Where whites once enslaved black men, they are now led by one. There are black millionaires, blacks in high office, black business leaders, black heroes. Is this the norm? Certainly not; but in investigating the reasons for why it isn’t, systemic racism can no longer be pointed to except as it relates to the legacy effects from a relic of the past. The further from that past we move, the less that guilt is an effective or reasonable motivator for how to fix the problem.

IMHO: Detroit is a watershed moment for the cities of America. The resolution of its predicament will affect the futures of numerous cities in similar situations. Bail it out, and countless more will expect the same treatment. Let it fail, and municipalities will increasingly find it difficult to obtain financing. Where is the balance between providing a safety net for the impoverished, ample pensions for public employees, decent wages for workers; and the hard cold facts of the realities of how to pay for it all, attract money to the cities, and keep businesses from moving to greener pastures?

Detroit provides us with an opportunity. Here is a city with a predominantly minority population. Basically, everything that could be done wrong, has been, and the consequences are grave. There is little sympathy for their plight, and little surplus to help even if there was the will to do so. Detroit is on its own. The opportunity lies in the possibility of doing something different. Set aside the guilt, the finger pointing, and the blame. You fix it, Detroit; you can! You are Americans! And if you try, other Americans will join you… not out of guilt, but brotherhood. Identify the problems, elect good men and women to lead you… save your city.

Detroit is lost. If they can find their way, then maybe there is hope for America.

On a personal note: I just wanted to say thank-you to those of you who have been sharing these writings via your social media. Readership has tripled in recent months, and I attribute that to all my friends who share. If you would like to have a link sent directly to your e-mail every time a new posting comes out, reply to me at kcail@earthlink.net. Remember that my opinion is a humble one! Nothing pleases me more than when readers add to the conversation with thoughtful comments. I know the system can be a little clunky for commenting, but please keep trying!