Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Detroit's new race war? Will downtown Detroit be a white enclave?

Finley: Will downtown Detroit be a white enclave? | The Detroit News
The divide around here once was between Detroit and the suburbs.
Now, in the words of race warrior Shirley Stancato, it’s becoming between “downtown and those other people.”
The other people the New Detroit head is talking about live in Detroit’s rapidly disintegrating neighborhoods.
They’re largely African-American, and a high percentage are poor.
Downtown, meanwhile, is a magnet for creative and upwardly mobile young people of both races, but the tilt is heavily toward whites.
“It’s an issue,” says Stancato, whose organization is dedicated to closing the racial divide.
“It’s a symptom of concerns that are just underneath the surface.”
The resentment broke through during the recent Detroit mayoral campaign.
The downtown vs. neighborhoods conflict became a sub-theme that both candidates had to address on the campaign trail.
How could it not?
Downtown seems immune to Detroit’s broken finances.
It’s booming thanks to private investments and its sudden emergence as a cool city for young people to live and work in.
Private dollars take care of everything from street clean-up to security within the downtown and Midtown zones.

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