Welcome to our first book discussion diary! Since this is a new adventure for us, I'll use this diary to lay out the format I intend to use each week. Additionally, I'll get us started with my personal introduction and a few observations about the two prefaces and introduction from the book that are our starting points this week. And a reminder: this is a MCK-
hosted group; if you are not a Motor City Kossack, you are still welcome to jump in and join us!
Each week, I hope to start with a few opening questions and possibly include quotes that I find particularly compelling. This will not be meant to limit the discussion in any way, but rather to jump start the discussion. I hope we have a free-wheeling exchange of ideas and thoughts, and I am just a participant like everyone else. At the end of each diary, I will include the suggested reading for the following week.
For starters, a bit about me and my history/experience with Detroit (I hope everyone will include some of this information in their comments, to the extent one is comfortable). I am NOT a native Michigander. I was born and raised outside of Cleveland, moved to a suburb of Chicago when I was 15, and first experienced Michigan (but not Detroit) when I attended Adrian College in the late '70s. Since then, I have lived overseas, in Rhode Island and Pennsylvania, and moved to northern Macomb County just over 20 years ago. I never shopped at Hudson's; for me, any mention of the uprising of the '60s brings memories of the Hough rebellion in Cleveland; and I know people who work for Ford rather than at Ford's. Despite living here for so long, I've never spent much time in the city; the most time ever was during Netroots Nation this past summer. That time, though, opened my eyes to how much I have been missing, and I have spent many hours since then exploring Detroit, in person and online. It is my hope that this book will go a long way in filling in the gaps in my experience and education.
This week's observations/questions: What, if anything, in the preface to the Princeton Classics Edition (the 2013 preface), did you find to be new or surprising information?
In light of the hostility between city and suburbs that Sugrue details in the 2013 preface, do you have any opinions about the creation of the Great Lakes Water Authority?
Bonus for data geeks: In the notes (#2) to the 2013 preface, Sugrue mentions Data Driven Detroit, a non-profit that
believes that direct and practical use of data by grassroots leaders and public officials promotes thoughtful community building and effective policymaking. As a “one-stop-shop” for data about the city of Detroit and the metro area, D3 provides unprecedented opportunity for collaboration and capacity building in Southeast Michigan.
Be sure to check out this site (
http://datadrivendetroit.org/ ); lots of interesting and interactive information.
In the preface to the 2005 edition, Sugrue states, "...the history of resistance to oppression must begin with a clear-eyed understanding of power---who wields it, and its impact on ordinary people." What does this mean to you?
In the 2005 preface discussion of gentrification, Sugrue observes that new businesses contribute revenue, through taxes, to the city, and maybe, over time, investment in central cities will result. Does this seem plausible or realistic to you?
In the introduction, Sugrue uses the phrase, "reservations for the poor" to describe Detroit and other major Northern cities (p. 4 of my edition). How do you react to this choice of words?
"In the postwar city, blackness and whiteness assumed a spatial definition." (p 9) How does this relate to the concept of "reservations for the poor"?
OK, that should be more than enough to get the ball rolling!
Next week: Chapters 1 and 2/Arsenal of Democracy and Detroit's Time Bomb