Comments by "Sar Jim" (@sarjim4381) on "A VIOLENT DAY IN NORTHWEST DETROIT HOOD" video.

As our time machine transports us back 40 years ago. The old man just finished cutting the front lawn. The kids are playing cowboys and indians with the other neighbor kids in the back. Mom is inside getting snacks and drinks together because it's their night to host the bridge club. The most important news is how the Tigers are doing this season. Now the big social event for the week is standing around watching the cops as they clean up the remains of four fatal shootings. How many people want to get a ticket on that time machine?
501
No, I meant 40 years ago. Detroit still had 1.2 million people, down from its 1950 peak of 1.8 million, but about equidistant from the decline setting starting to set in and the total collapse we see now. Detroit is now at 672,000, almost exactly half of the 1980 population. Detroit (and many other Rust Belt cities) still had a lot of nice neighborhoods, and people could still live decent lives. A lot of people seem to think Detroit was a good place to live only in the far distant past. Like any large city in 1980, Detroit had its problems, but it wasn't bankrupt, wasn't half vacant, and wasn't leading the list of cities with the worst crime rates. Detroit really falling off the cliff started in 1980, not 60, 80, or 100 years ago.
18
Jay and Tom, there's no doubt blacks were discriminated against for jobs and housing in the past. However, 1964 and 1968 are now 50 years in the past. Two generations had been born and grown up during that period. These same people continue to elect corrupt, incompetent mayors because they happen to be of the same race as the vast majority of Detroit voters. Kwame Kilpatrick, quite possibly the worst mayor of any American city, was elected twice while he was stealing millions from a city spiraling into bankruptcy. He's now spending 28 years in prison for his crimes, but Detroit will never see the vast majority of that money back again. He was stealing tens of millions at a time when Detroit couldn't afford to repair their ambulances because of his theft. Still, he was reelected by appealing to the tired old saw that Detroit's condition was the fault of whites. Detroit seems to be moving beyond it's mantle of black racism by electing a white mayor. I hope he will be able to start Detroit on a better path, but allegations of bid rigging in demolishing some of Detroit's worst abandoned homes are already surfacing. He is attracting billions of new dollars into the city. Mostly white individuals, foundations, and companies are pouring billions into the city. It's going to take the approximately 85% of Detroit's black residents to finally get involved with how money in their city is spent and elect people who are honest and understand business, regardless of race. This is probably Detroit's best chance since 1960 to become a great city again. If it doesn't work, Detroit is doomed.
6
Jay, inner city schools have some of highest costs per student of any schools in the country. Detroit schools cost $15,459 per student, and only about 45% of students graduate high school. ACE Academy, a charter school in Detroit, spends $14,975 per student and 100% of their students graduate with higher GPA's than most MIchigan schools. Is the problem money or the Detroit teachers and their union, who fight tooth and nail to prevent more charter schools? Do you think we can already see an answer to the failed Detroit public school system or would you like to pour more money into it? If companies can't look at the inner cities as a good place to invest, ow will anything change? Do you think money will simply fall from heaven like manna on the plains? The "wounds of oppression" are over. Was there anyone alive in Detroit who was more hurt by whites or by Kwame Kilpatrick? Whatever role anyone played in Detroit arriving at the place it's in now is done. We either move forward and stop looking back for excuses or nothing will change. White guilt hasn't built a single home or provided a single job.
2
Jay, I'm 72 years old. I rode the Hounds down to Mississippi in 1964 as part of the Freedom Riders. I slept on dirt church floors, got the crap beat out of me, and was shot at twice while working on voter registration drives. Don't pontificate to me about the right wing. We're talking about the reality of black kids who are getting a worse education in Detroit in 2018 than the kids I saw in Mississippi in 1964. At least most of them could read and write. Charter schools have been a tremendous success in the inner cities. Kids who couldn't read or write when they entered them graduated high school. They don't need as many charter schools in the suburbs because parents have the money to send their kids to private schools if the public schools don't do their jobs. Parents in the suburbs are much more frequently from two parent households that go the PTA meetings and raise a stink if the schools is underperforming or there are bad teachers. Do you think a Detroit parent does this and, even if she does, who will listen to her or do anything about her complaint? In 2010, The Detroit School Board President was a functional illiterate who spent his time during meetings with female colleagues fondling himself under his desk. You think all this is some kind of right wing issue? Charter schools depend on children attending voluntarily. I don't need to to research public education to know that. The concept of accountability in public education terrifies inner city schools and teachers because they are failing so miserably. I'm sorry you're such a supporter of unionized public education, but it just doesn't work in Detroit.
1