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Another Racism Thread

burk48237

burk48237

Supporting Member
Nov 22, 2004
9,850
3,567
68
Oak Park, MI
#1
And no I'm not Dr. Burk:D

I find this really interesting since it's so close to home. I live in a suburb of Detroit right next to this suburb and have several African American friends who live there including the deputy chief of police. One thing I know for sure, if white people were expressing the sentiments that these suburbanites are expressing a vast majority would probably consider them racist without hesitation.

In all sincerity it's an issue that I can kind of see both sides of. People who are long time residents, moved there for the advantages of suburban living, better kept up residences because the are mostly owned not rented, and less issues with crime, better schools and services. But knowing the situation in Detroit I can certainly appreciate the new residents anxiousness and desperation to live in a better situation.

For example, "They still think it's OK to play basketball at 3 o'clock in the morning; it's OK to play football in the streets when there's a car coming; it's OK to walk down the streets three abreast. That's unacceptable in this city."

Thomas has seen the desperation of the new arrivals. His officers, handling complaints, have found two or more families living in a single house, pooling their money for rent. They have "no food in the refrigerator and no furniture," Thomas says. "They can't afford the food. They can't afford the furniture." But they were eager to flee the gunfire of their old neighborhoods in Detroit
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The neighbors say there's more to it than that. People like John Clanton, a retired auto worker, say the new arrivals have brought behavior more common in the inner city -- increased trash, adults and children on the streets at all times of the night, a disregard for others' property
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"I've got people of color who don't want people of color to move into the city," says Southfield Police Chief Joseph Thomas, who is himself black. "It's not a black-white thing. This is a black-black thing. My six-figure blacks are very concerned about multiple-family, economically depressed people moving into rental homes and apartments, bringing in their bad behaviors.
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#4
The issues posted here have more to do with class and common consideration than race. It's really about being good neighbors regardless of ethnic background. I have owned homes in great neighborhoods and not been happy with my neighbors. It is all about live and let live. Your home should be your refuge, your place of peace.
 
#6
sandmangeck said:
People not obeying crosswalks
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Stay out of Boston then. :p

I can't remember the last time I obeyed a cross walk sign or crosswalks for that matter. I had a friend who bet another friend to get a j-walking ticket. He did it several times in front of a cop and then finally asked the cop for a j-walking ticket. The cop refused and said all his cop friends would laugh at him if he did.
 
#8
burk48237 said:
I actually believe that much of what society views as racist is actually classism. Many whites react the same way with so called "white trash". Trailer parks get the same reaction in many neighborhoods as low income housing.
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This.

Most things like this get labeled racist simply because of the extra attention it attracts in hopes of a solution being reached.

When I was growing up my family moved twice to get away from similar things happening in our neighborhoods. Those neighborhoods are trash now. The people trying to get away from all the bad stuff attracted and allowed it to happen in the new location as well. So I can see why it's a big concern, not just because they're playing ball in the streets (I always played street hockey with all the dudes in my neighborhood). But because of what they will inevitably attract to the area.
 
#10
Actium said:
This.

Most things like this get labeled racist simply because of the extra attention it attracts in hopes of a solution being reached.

When I was growing up my family moved twice to get away from similar things happening in our neighborhoods. Those neighborhoods are trash now. The people trying to get away from all the bad stuff attracted and allowed it to happen in the new location as well. So I can see why it's a big concern, not just because they're playing ball in the streets (I always played street hockey with all the dudes in my neighborhood). But because of what they will inevitably attract to the area.
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:eyebrow:
 
#12
MJ5150 said:
I've been to Southfield.

-Mike
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The pattern of suburban settlement in Detroit has always interested me. The Jews went North and West and African Americans for the most part followed. While Southfield was the hot upper middle class Jewish Suburb in the 70's and early 80's it became progressively more African American in the 90's and at the turn of the decade. It is now majority African American. The North Eastern Suburbs for the most part stayed fairly white and non-Jewish. Grosse Point still doesn't have a significant AA population. With the exception of the NW border suburbs, Detroit's suburbs have stayed remarkably segregated by race and ethnicity.

Jews tended to stay segregated because well into the 80's many upper crust society clubs, etc. wouldn't allow them into membership. So they tended to live in the same neighborhoods and they started their own clubs, and social organizations.
 
#14
Just so everybody gets it right this time:

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#15
burk48237 said:
It is now majority African American.
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Yep, it felt really black as I was rolling through the hood. I kind of got lost on my way from the airport to Rochester Hills. I stopped at the Chicken Shack on Northwestern Highway, and upon entering I had never felt so white in my life. It's all good though. I get along just fine with black folk, and they seem to like me too.

But hey, when I'm somewheres about to get my eat on, I don't give a crap what color you are. We all gonna get along just fine. Especially when we're talking fried chicken. :D

-Mike
 
#17
There's classism, racism, weightism, age-ism, butt-uglyism, big-arse-ism etc etc.... that we all can potentially suffer from. Just goes to show you how alike we really all are despite our human trait for seeing things as "us vs them".
Take a classroom and segregate the males from the females, and you're bound to see an us vs them thing emerge. Now take the genders, mix them up but segregate by race..suddenly it's ."us vs them", now take all the younger people regardless of race and gender and segregate them from the older students and it's "us vs them" again - just a basic human trait. Realizing that we're prone to that is half the battle
 
#19
There are rules and acceptable behaviors in ANY area. Two individuals in the article a griping because they had to pay fines - for improper storage of a trailer, interior doors outside, and unsightly weeds. Wah. Sniff. Those are the rules - you want to live in that area, abide by the rules. If you can't, don't live there.

Being poor does not necessarily mean someone has to live with trash strewn all over the place, allow their children to run all over the neighborhood at all hours, have poor performance in school, and be rude to their neighbors, acting violently, etc. All of these things are free. 100%, absolutely free. Sure, it takes hard work and discipline to get it done, but it doesn't cost anything.

I predict this area will be equivalent to the inner city within several years.
 
#20
Definitely not a race thing. It seems that many inner city folks (whatever race) who have the chance to rent or buy in a nice neighborhood, think it's ok to continue to exhibit the same inner city behaviors! The home next door to mine was rented out to a family who I thought was just 2 or 3 people. I see a ton of people coming and going. They've had several late night parties that ended up in kaos! Police have been called several times. Gunshots were actually fired once! I ended up contacting the homeowner and letting her know what was going on. It has since settled down but there is still the revolving door of humans entering and leaving the premises. I'm suspecting they are selling drugs! Their lease is up this summer and I'm hoping they don't stay. The homeowner says at least they pay their rent on time!
 

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