week nine – Detroit Community-Engaged Research Program

week nine

Reading The Origins of the Urban Crisis by Dr. Thomas Sugrue is in two words, frustrating and promising. While these two terms are antonyms, they both apply to the reading. In the past, I have learned about redlining and other discriminatory policies in housing and employment. But Origins lays out the large degree to which these discriminatory tactics were put in place in Detroit, and the devastating effects that they have had to Blacks. Reading it as a white person is frustrating in many ways, mainly because it all boils down to white people just being racist and not wanting to house or hire Blacks. But beyond just simple racism, the policies put in place by officials and the unofficial policies carried out on the workplace floor, like not letting Blacks work long enough to gain seniority, and therefore being able to fire them at any point, cut off every opportunity that could be offered to them. Cyclical in motion, the deep systemic racism went from not giving Blacks loans to buy better homes with, therefore putting them in the worst neighborhoods, which therefore gave realtors an excuse to say that they did not want to move Blacks to White neighborhoods because they would make them more “dangerous,” yet this whole time not allowing them to work or if they could work, not giving them raises or skilled jobs, therefore not letting them make enough money to move into better housing… etc. etc. People reading this who are either from Detroit or not may be thinking, well duh. If your family or people you knew lived through this, reading this book probably was not as poignant. You may also be thinking, how the heck is this book promising? All it does is show how blatantly racial discrimination led to the downfall of Detroit.

I am interested in policy work, which nowadays, can seem extremely disheartening. Seeing what goes on (or more realistically, what does not go on) in the Senate and House can make working in politics seem dismal and sometimes, useless. Why bother if everyone is just going to vote on Party lines no matter what the issue is and no matter how their constituents actually feel? Last night, when three Republican Senators voted down the skinny repeal of Obamacare that would have taken away healthcare from 15 million Americans by next year, was the first time in a while (or least it seems that way), that people actually voted with their consciences. But anyways, this book reminds us how important policy is. To be able to help influence policy in a positive way is goals and I hope that I can work in that field in the future. Relating to my job, I think that learning about places and problems within them from being there is the best, and really only way to truly understand them. So while Origins is on one hand really just sad and angering to read, it is also hopeful, because we can use policy in the future to improve cities and work to undo the racist policies of the past.

1 thought on “week nine”

  1. Hey Sophia, I really loved this post. I thought it was really powerful that you said people are finally voting with their conscience. I agree with you, about having to try to positively influence policy. It’s extremely daunting, and can be so draining and difficult. Like kicking a wall and expecting it to fall. But someone has to do that work, and if more people have that mentality, then I really think we can turn our past negatives into change,

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