Detroit Deserves Better.

Anybody knows me knows that I am a proud Detroiter. Whenever I go out of town, I make it a point to rock the old English “D”. Roughly 80 percent of my music collection contains artists from Detroit. As a car afficionado, when ever I see a classic car, my heart beams with pride knowing that it’s not an automobile, but a piece of not only Detroit history, but a piece of my family history being that I came from 3 generations of autoworkers. I am the first one to defend my city from racist suburbanites and out-of-towners whose only experiences here were from watching the news and arrogant ex-pats who somehow think that they are better because they left the city. I still marvel at the historical buildings and homes. I still hold on to the ideal that Detroit can once again become the world class city it once was many years ago. However, there are many things that preclude Detroit’s return to greatness. We all know that just like every other major American city, the onset of the crack epidemic in the early 80s was part of Detroit’s downfall, coupled with the big 3 losing market share due to foreign cars, severely impacting our economy...however by now, this could have been overcome and Detroit could have been made it’s comeback but there is one thing that has stopped it and continues to be a hindrance to Detroit rising from the proverbial ashes. And that one thing is APATHY. Apathy is a small word with very large consequences. Apathy is why we have a corrupt city council that does nothing but bicker amongst themselves and call each other names...And they wonder why the auto show may be leaving, word is GM, may be leaving too. As far as I’m concerned, the Auto Show is a Detroit tradition, and even though right now they are as broke as I am, General Motors IS Detroit so it would be devastating to see them leave, but frankly I can’t say I blame them. Who would want to do business in the city with such unprofessional people in charge? But a lot has to do with you and me. We are the ones that let the crooked mayor who cost us MILLIONS get elected, as well as the arrogant congressman’s wife get in because we couldn’t get to the polls because of (insert excuse here), so therefore the man or woman best suited for the job lost out. When the media continues to drag our city’s name through the mud, we do nothing but yell and cuss at the TV instead of letting them know that we are not going to take this anymore. We are the ones that let the crackheads strip the city piece by piece for their next hit, and we are the ones that let the drug dealers take over our street corners and infest our apartment buildings instead of getting involved. It’s not about being a snitch, it’s about giving a fuck about your community. What ever happened to neighborhood watch and block clubs? I haven’t seen an active block club since when I was in my teens on Walden street on the East side. Neighbors looked out for each other. They didn’t wait for the city to come and clean up the block...We got off our collective asses and cleaned out our own block...and made a party out of it, and had lots of fun. And guess what, there were no drug dealers or crackheads, at least on our block. I truly believe that if we were to just get involved in just keeping our block in order, before we know it, the city can once again be the greatest city in the world again.