At the end of October, an article in The Detroit News reported that a small town in Oregon named after Michigan’s largest city had called for a ballot vote on a name change. Several denizens of the tiny, less-than-a-square-mile Detroit, Oregon were concerned that their nominal connection to our city would reflect badly on their lakeside tourism business.
It’s true that people are often ignorant, but it seems like all anyone wants to do when they hear “Detroit” is jump on the bandwagon full of moaners about how bad the city is. It’s a shame that this behavior persists even in people who actually live in Michigan. Recently, I was talking with someone from the west side of Michigan who was repeatedly knocking Detroit until I finally asked him if he’d ever actually been there. He had not. A lot of people form their opinions on shortcuts, thinking that because they watch the news occasionally that they know the score.
As a Metro Detroiter who has spent a good deal of time in the city — from childhood field trips to jam-packed years of high school theatre — I’d like to correct the tally a bit. I could use my column space to fume about education in Detroit, because it’s an outrage that so many schools are failing. I could talk about the crime, because it’s insane how the rates have earned Detroit the label “the murder capital of the world.” I could express anger about the corrupt public officials or the levels of poverty, because both situations feed into each other viciously. I could talk about what’s wrong with Detroit all day long, because it would be the truth.
But it’s not the only truth.
A friend of mine, Brittany Barclae, recently started an organization called Save Detroit. Just last month it acquired 501 (c) 3 status, meaning it is a federally recognized non-profit and donations are tax deductible. The beauty of its current infancy stage lies in its simplicity — SaveDetroit.net sells eco-friendly wristbands inscribed with the group’s name. All revenue from each purchase funds publicity and education to further fundraising, while donations go toward the final goal — buying an abandoned warehouse for the purpose of turning it into an urban farming center. There are actually no chain grocery stores within city limits. The idea is that people will not only have a source of fresh and affordable produce but that this project will eventually be sustainable year-round.
Brittany started the organization after she had been doing some Detroit-based photography that focused on the decaying, graphitized and unfortunately often historic buildings. She soon learned that her grandfather actually used to own one. She decided to take action on the grounds that she has a “personal responsibility” not only to her grandfather, but also to the entrepreneurs of Old Detroit to restore what they spent years building. Our generation is actually lucky to have Detroit because we have the opportunity to take it back and make it our own. As Brittany said to me, why try to fix something like the Mona Lisa when we have a blank canvas?
This canvas has potential — and some fine brushstrokes already. Detroit is home to the Detroit Institute of Art and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra; the Fox, Masonic, and Fischer theatres; the wonderful Science Center and Comerica Park and Joe Louis Arena. We have Greektown, Mexicantown and Hockeytown. And everyone knows that the best paczki on Mardi Gras comes from Hamtramck.
All this classic culture has survived, but there’s fresh circulation as well. There are new restaurants such as Slows. There are the character-filled music venues — the Fillmore, the Magic Stick and the Lager House — that have concerts ranging from classic rock to indie start-ups to electronic dance. Detroit has places like the Cadieux Café, with the best palm-frites in town, and the Russell Industrial, a mixed business community that fosters artists and architects. Like Ann Arbor, there are several characters around that you could get to know a little. There’s Mikey, who used to panhandle for years on the 7 Mile exit off the Lodge, and Little Foot, the homeless rapper who hangs out on Woodward, freestyling for anyone that will listen.
The history, the culture, the quirks — this is the rest of the truth that you don’t see on the eleven o’clock news. There are people who take pride and have hope — people like Brittany, students who go to Wayne State University and Detroit’s College for Creative Studies and our peers here who volunteer or spend a semester in the city.
As for Detroit, Oregon, let’s get serious: A small piece of our city’s best is better than whatever they have over there, and every bit of our worst has a story.
Vanessa Rychlinski can be reached at vanrych@umich.edu.