Originally posted by Bryan DeBose in the 10/8/04 Washington TimesThe Detroit City Council, in defiance of Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, likely will move forward with plans to create an "African Town" in the tradition of Chinatowns and Little Italys nationwide, even though the issue has turned into a racially divisive economic-development proposal.
In July, the council resolved to build up a section of the city devoted to African and black American literature, cuisine and art, which Mr. Kilpatrick endorsed. He vetoed the resolution, however, when it became clear that the council's plan would allow only black businessmen and investors to use the $38 million earmarked for the project.
Mr. Kilpatrick argued that the resolution is both racist and unconstitutional.
"It's not the African Town proposal. We like the idea," said Howard Hughey, spokesman for Mr. Kilpatrick. "But what they are proposing is to create a publicly funded private entity and give one man $40 million to use and distribute to investors, and it is unconstitutional to do that based on race and [the resolution] says very clearly that it would be."
The nine-member council -- which has two white members -- voted 7-2 to override Mr. Kilpatrick's veto and passed the resolution. In addition, they resolved that Detroit is a "majority-minority" city that is underserved.
Council member Kay Everett, who is black, said the first resolution was "ridiculous" and opposed the African Town resolution for being illegal and divisive.
"It is reverse racism, and you can't right a wrong with another wrong. It's reparations with public money," she said.
The resolution isn't legally binding, and Mrs. Everett, council member Sheila M. Cockrel, who is white, and the Asian, Hispanic and Arab chambers of commerce are working to have the resolution rescinded during a third and final vote on Oct. 11. The three chambers said they will file a class-action lawsuit against the city if the council chooses to move forward beyond the resolutions.
The city's African-American Chamber of Commerce also opposes the bill, calling it unconstitutional, but has said it wouldn't file a lawsuit.
Typically, Chinatowns, Little Italys and other locales, such as Spanish Harlem in New York, were created by immigrants in a time when they were not accepted in other areas of the city and forced to build their own businesses and communities centered on their respective cultures.
Recently, several cities, including the District, mayors and developers have used the ethnic tag to promote economic development, but never to this extent and never in favor of one ethnic group over another.
The number of people offended by this proposal is impressive all in itself.
I truly hope you didn't mean to respond like that to someone who didn't insult you or yell at you, simply asked nicely for you not to make jokes like that.
It was an offensive joke, and I hope you could make jokes that aren't offensive to people.
Originally posted by messenoirI truly hope you didn't mean to respond like that to someone who didn't insult you or yell at you, simply asked nicely for you not to make jokes like that.
It was an offensive joke, and I hope you could make jokes that aren't offensive to people.
I'm in an Urban Studies course in university and this basically reeks of the cities trying to reverse the gendrification process that's been taking place within cities throughout North America. Unfortunately, building areas like this only stigmatizes the areas and keeps things almost exactly the same.
Such a terrible idea.
EDITED: Because I didn't wanna sound like I was modding.
"If you want me to watch the shows, buy tickets when you come to town, buy t-shirts, and pay for a PPV every three days, you bet your ass I'm going to hard to impress. And when you give me stuff that blows and then tell me I don't get a vote on sharing that opinion, I'm going to tell you to go catch an STD." - Hogan's My Dad
"My brother saw the Undertaker walking through an airport." - Rex "Was he no-selling?" - Me
Originally posted by asteroidboyWhat's silly about this is that they're trying to re-create something that has sprung up naturally in other communities.
Right. I've been to Little Italy and Chinatown dozens of times, and the thing about them is that they feel historical. We took a field trip in high school to Little Odessa (a relatively new neighborhood) and it was amazing. An artifically constructed area funded by public money seems stupid and pointless to me.
Originally posted by asteroidboyWhat's silly about this is that they're trying to re-create something that has sprung up naturally in other communities.
Right. I've been to Little Italy and Chinatown dozens of times, and the thing about them is that they feel historical. We took a field trip in high school to Little Odessa (a relatively new neighborhood) and it was amazing. An artifically constructed area funded by public money seems stupid and pointless to me.
Any resident of any maor city anywhere can, unfortunately, tell you how this neighbourhood engineering projects fail miserably. 99% of the time they end up creating dead-zones with no character and nothing to offer.
Typically, North American cities were founded as largely Anglo-Saxon communities. Immigrants tended to cluster together and live near work. Chinatowns & Little Italy districts clustered near the city centers are indicitive of this. The problem is that nobody crowded these groups together, they just clustered due to want of familiarity. Heck, most of these communities have institutional completeness to some degree, as there are Chinese schools & churches, Chinese shops and tons of other little touches in Chinatown that make it a distinct historical area. Calgary has no Little Italy, but I imagine it's fairly similar. Forcing groups to live in a certain area is illegal (or should be), but encouraging them to live in areas is good politics...if that group is in the minority. Urban sprawl has been a byproduct of fear. Fear of crime, and fear of groups different from the status quo (typically visible minorities), so everyone flees to the suburbs. So cities try to clean up the inner cities using programs like this one...and they don't work.