by Donna Givens
Young people live in a Detroit where they are feared, avoided, regulated, and frequently oppressed by a proliferation of rules and codes that are unrelated to their growth and wellbeing. Despite the ubiquitous claim that we love young people, Detroit’s youth are treated like deficits, discussed in reference to real and perceived deficiencies without any understanding of their strengths.
Read Moreby Eli Day
It shouldn’t have come as a surprise. By inviting an old friend to a Midtown bar I opened myself to a collision of worlds, or rather the recognition that one was being displaced by another. Together we had survived Detroit’s most devastated communities, and awkwardly traversed its most affluent. His response to my invitation was piercing: “What the fuck is Midtown?” It made sense in the most straightforward way: the area was long known as Cass Corridor to those familiar with its brutalized, but resilient history. Yet his query was as penetrating as it was plain.
Read Moreby Kinsey Clarke
Is change only going to happen in [Detroit] when the [race] of the majority has changed? Will we only see improvements when we’re erased from the very city made famous for the tenacity of its long term residents? The emergence of the new booming downtown and midtown areas have started renovations and rebuilding that was seemingly sparked by suburban “discovery” of the jewels of the city, and is eerily reminiscent of the gentrification of Brooklyn. While I live in this changing Detroit, I can’t help but wonder if these changes are going to increase and encompass those of us who have been here, or if we too will be left behind...
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