Thursday, February 21, 2008

The Ruins

Last night on my way home from work I drove past the factory building where the first Fords were made... the birthplace of the modern assembly line. It is in Highland Park, perhaps one of the most harshly depressing areas of Detroit... to me, anyway. Here is one of the most important landmarks in modern American history and it is completely dark, covered in graffitti, and the windows are smashed out. And it was not surpising at all.

How did Detroit get to this point? How does any big post-industrial city get to this point? Does America really look down on Detroit that much? Or does America just ignore us? Really, everyone knows Detroit for its cars... downtown was bogged with traffic for weeks around the auto show. But here, in Highland Park, the "ghetto," the world's first automibles were produced and a revolution began, and it is literally covered in trash and spray paint.

Driving down Vernor Highway or through Gratiot and 8 Mile or up Woodward through Highland Park, there is an overwhelming feeling of emptiness that does not exist where I work in Southwest Detroit. There are certainly people everywhere, but the neighborhoods feel empty and alone and isolated. Not at all unlike Washington Avenue in St. Louis. And I know that is to me, as an outsider, as someone who has had the opportunities to live in thriving communities full of businesses and schools and tax dollars. But I just can't help but wonder why this happened... or how? The people that live in these communities are not fundamentally different from people in Southwest or Royal Oak or even Birmingham. But society has treated them differently and has different expectations and values of their worth... and is it really so simple as the color of their skin?

And now are you ready for the fundamental question of the social worker?

Here it is:
Will building a playground really do anything at all? (aka Does what I do as a social worker even matter?)

Yes I will increase the quality of life, and redirect youth crime and boredom and encourage residents to invest in their homes. But really? Will we just continue to be a forgotten city, a washed-up former powerhouse?

Can Detroit really be saved?

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