Poverty, Crime & Education: Detroit’s Real Big 3 Bailout

The city of Detroit A.K.A. Motor City or Motown is famous for its auto industry which has been the headline in the news lately. The big topic of political conversation is concerning the economy and the auto industry is now the major concern. The big 3 automakers, Ford, General Motors and Chrysler all call Detroit their home and many Americans want to see the auto industry saved from bankruptcy and failure.

It may not be so much for the industry itself and its history within America as much as it is probably for the workers, the economy and the city of Detroit itself. Many American’s have differing opinions on the auto bailout, but regardless of the company and CEO’s, the workers will be the ones that suffer the most.

The city of Detroit itself is already suffering and evidently that portion of the bailout is being completely overlooked. The city of Detroit has the same social ills of any major city in America. Crime, poverty, drugs, low education levels all plague our major cities. Since the city of Detroit is in the headlines seeking a bailout for the big 3 automakers, let’s take a look at 3 of Detroit’s major social problems that really need a bailout.

Detroit’s population is just under one million and with its declining middle class of both Blacks and Whites, the city is 85% black. Blacks began to migrate to Detroit and other northern cities from the South from 1910 to 1940. Blacks migrated to the North in large numbers seeking jobs and a better standard of living than in the South. After race riots in 1943 and again in 1967, Detroit’s middle class population began to move to the suburbs along with its jobs and tax base.

With the crack epidemic of the 1980’s, a continuing declining tax base and poor leadership, all have left the city of Detroit on the path of despair.

• Detroit has a murder rate of 21.7% with 400 murders in 2007
• a poverty rate of 1 in every 3 people living below the federal poverty level of $19,157 making it the poorest large city in America with 47.8% of its children living in poverty
• the nation’s second highest unemployment rate of 8.8%
• a dropout rate of 68% the country’s highest along with Indianapolis and Cleveland
• the state of Michigan has the highest incarceration rate than any other state
• a social service system that is stretched beyond its resources
• in 2007 Detroit was named by the FBI as the country’s most dangerous city

The social ills of Detroit can and will continue as long as Americans continue to ignore its poor and downtrodden. The big issues for many are the automakers of Detroit who abandoned Detroit and its citizens decades ago moving to the suburbs and taking its tax base with it. The true bailout of Detroit should be it citizens. Call the bailout something else without Detroit in the name. It is apparent that the big 3 automakers could care less about the city of Detroit. And to be exploited even more, community leaders pray and speak of a bailout like it will really make a difference to the citizens of the demoralized city.