Racism is prejudice plus power. It was prejudice on the part of White Metro Detroiters that caused them to insist that everything be segregated. This caused their leaders to implement racist discriminatory measures that have become institutionalized. Its this institutional racism that is the central problem, not segregation, which is simply one of racism's many manifestations.

Lets be frank. The last thing your average White homeowner wants is people of color moving into his neighborhood in any siginificant numbers.

Ths last thing your average White parent wants is his or her child in a classroom--let alone a school--where non-White children are present in more than token numbers.

In some suburbs, certain stores or restaurants are often avoided because they attract what at least some White patrons consider to be an excessive number of Black customers.

When their constituents express prejudice, civic and political leaders try to keep their votes by implementing racist solutions. Thus in Macomb County, new subdivisions go up twenty miles beyond the Detroit city limits and are restricted to houses costing over a certain amount. A Wayne County suburb tries to build a wall along the boundary line between itself and the inner city. The Oakland County Executive fights a very feasible rapid transit proposal because county residents worry about "undesirables" from Detroit proper getting jobs in "their" workplaces, shopping in "their" stores, and, yes, living in "their" neignborhoods and attending "their" schools.

Segregation can only be eliminated by fighting prejudice and racism; and that's that. However, as long as the forces of kleptocratic Republicanism prevail--nationally, in Michigan, and in Metro Detroit--this region will remain the hypersegregated mini-Dixie it is today. That's because the GOP needs the votes of resentful white suburbanites to stay in business. People tend to vote their prejudices, and those votes are worth a lot of money to America's corporate elite. Never mind the fact that those votes have turned Congress into a rogues' gallery and elevated a mildly retarded movie actor, a parasitic Texas oilman-turned-politico, and the latter's dull, corrupt son to the Presidency.

If you're not a part of a solution, you're part of the problem. And the problem is prejudice and racism, not the segregation they bring about. And it's a problem that's only going to get worse until decent people get together and run the GOP out of of the picture for good,

Sincerely, PL

What a load of bs, the overwhelming majority of people who start small businesses have to get a bank loan. You will need collateral, a decent personal history, and a sound business plan. What I find lacking from so many of these posts, is any recognition of the importance of individual choices. People who choose to have children out of wedlock, sell crack cocaine and engage in other anti-social and destructive behaviors are making choices. It can be blamed on others, but that is letting the people engaged in such activities off too easy.

I was raised and brought up on the west side of Detroit. The question is that do Detroiters want to improve their communities. I live near six mile and Wyoming area and there and there are a lot of vacant store front property that is not kepted up. People do not want to sell it or rent it out. Personally, if a black own business opened up in the area and made me feel welcomed , I would encourage others to go their. I just notice that most businesses that are in operation in the Detroit area, their prices are higher and they lack that "how are you glad to see and can I help you attitude". Even at the fast food restuarants this attitude is lacking. We all need to insist that we been treated in the manner mentioned above and it also goes back to how that facility is managed.

i was there briefly in 1971 when my grandmother died and i noticed that the city seemed to be so run down. it was hard for me to understand why the burnt out buildings weren't torn down after the riots but were left to be an eyesore. when i returned in 1976 i cried about the condition of the city where i was born.

last night i had a dream about detroit and the conditions. i don't know why, maybe it's because i will be coming back this spring. i know my heart aches for the city and the entire metropolitian community.

i have lived in an ethnically diverse community for 29 years. an area where houses are sold by blacks to whites and asians to mexicans. where we have raised our kids together and now our grandkids play together when they visit. it's also an area where young black and white families move in and adult children want to move back but they can't afford the prices.

My family and friends always ask why don't I ever consider moving back home. Ha! There isn't enough money on Earth to get me to move back to Detroit, or its suburbs. The only thing that this place has done for me is it has given me negative thoughts on race. The last thing that I would ever want to do is to raise my children (if and when I ever have any) in the same environment that I came from.

Without question there is a problem with the black underclass. Poverty does not prevent anyone from picking up litter, mowing their lawn or maintaining their home. If you have loud disruptive activities, if crime rises when blacks become the majority in a neighborhood, how can anyone expect that people of any color wish to live that way?

I worked with some very fine black ladies who told me what they paid for car insurance in the City of Detroit. How they had to keep their cars in the garage to keep them from being stolen at night. How they had to worry about the burglar bars on their windows trapping them in a fire. There are many things, like lack of economic power that may be out of the control of the black majority in the City of Detroit. But the problems of anti-social attitudes and behaviors are surely something that CAN and SHOULD be a self help project.

Within 20 years the place had become a hellhole of crime, filth and neglect. When homes became vacant they were torched. My widowed mother was forced to move out in 1975, she could not live there alone. She got $4,000 for our old family home. That is a bitter lesson that will never be repeated if I have anything to say about it.