It's Detroit.
Black privilege replaced Tim Wise's much (lucratively) bemoaned white privilege in Detroit: what's left behind is the uniquely black contribution to American History |
You know Detroit, the 83 percent black city in Michigan.
Recently declared the largest municipal bankruptcy in American history.
White privilege replaced with the quiet, reassuring stability of blackness.
Ha.
This is Detroit we're talking about, America's 24/7/365 living, breathing proof of the undeniable racial differences existing that no one will admit must be addressed. The rusting remnants of a once thriving (and entirely white) civilization in Detroit transmit an almost unspeakable truth in their awesome ruin: remove white privilege, remove the civilization they created.
The only lasting contribution of blacks to Detroit can be found in the police blotters and in the terrifying 9-1-1 recordings of individuals reporting a criminal act to the unresponsive police; the decaying remains of white civilization in Detroit reflect this fact, a city paralyzed by the proliferation of black privilege where whiteness once ruled.
Well, the chaos of 83 percent black Detroit is illustrated in the news of self-defense shootings rising in the city. [Fatal self-defense shootings on rise in Detroit, Detroit News, 3-25-2014]:
Criminals prowling for victims in Detroit are instead finding armed citizens willing to open fire.
A northwest Detroit homeowner on Tuesday fatally shot two men he said were trying to break into his west-side house.
If those shootings are ruled self-defense, they will bring to 10 the number of fatal self-defense shootings in the city since Jan. 1.
Detroit has traditionally had a large percentage of the nation’s justifiable homicides by citizens. In 2012, the last year for which national figures are available, there were 25 justifiable homicides in Detroit, which made up 8 percent of the 310 seen nationwide. Last year, there were 15 justifiable homicides in the city.
“It’s horrific what’s going on in the city, where people have to defend their homes with guns,” said the Rev. Barak Holmes of Diverse Deliverance, who lives near the house where Tuesday’s shootings occurred and heard four shots.
“We have to pray for our city.”Well Rev. Barak Holmes of Diverse Deliverance, you should pray, or in your words, "pray for our city."
Key word in your sentence being "our."
Detroit's situation in 2014 is a uniquely black one, replicated in such places as Camden, Memphis, East St. Louis, and Gary (Indiana). Though it is not an anomaly, the misery of Detroit knows no bounds. With fans of the Detroit Tigers, the Major League Baseball (MLB) team, primarily white people living the suburbs, news that many of them would bring guns with them as they participated in an American safari into the Motor City shouldn't be shocking[Detroit Police ask Tigers fans not to leave guns in their car, Detroit News, 3-24-14]:
With Detroit Tigers officials announcing Monday that fans will be required go through metal detectors before entering Comerica Park, concealed weapons permit-holders will have to leave their guns behind — but, police hope, not in their vehicles.
Detroit Police officials expressed concern during a November meeting that guns were being stolen from vehicles downtown, in part due to Detroit Lions fans leaving them behind because of the NFL’s ban on firearms in stadiums.
Now that Major League Baseball has mandated tighter security measures that prevent citizens from bringing firearms to ballparks, Detroit Police Sgt. Michael Woody warned Tiger fans: “Do not leave that gun in your car.”
“I’m preparing a memo for our officers, explaining what Comerica Park is expecting of them,” Woody said.
Rick Ector, a gun safety instructor and owner of Rick’s Firearms Academy of Detroit, said baseball fans will likely want to take their firearms downtown, but offered tips to reduce the likelihood of their guns being stolen.
“First of all, I’d ask people to take off all their gun-themed bumper stickers, and signs that say ‘I love the 2nd Amendment,’ ” Ector said.
“Secondly, I’d strongly advise them to buy an inexpensive car safe. It would allow them to bolt their gun to the car floor, or run a thick cable through the car seat frame. It’s not 100 percent foolproof, but it would require a lot more effort to steal a gun from a car, rather than just breaking a window and grabbing it.”
Rick Ector would spend every waking hour denying it, but every nightmare he has is centered around black people and the black crime in Detroit that drove away civilization.
This is why he instinctively knows (white) baseball fans will want to take firearms to downtown Detroit, but he would never, ever admit it's because of the legitimate fear of black crime.
While black-on-black crime (correctly deemed black-in-origin crime, so as to deemphasize the offending racial group) is the primary concern in 83 percent black Detroit, one shouldn't expect the new initiative by the Detroit City Council to address this fact. [Detroit council initiative to tackle issues facing black men, Detroit News. 3-31-14]:
City Council members James Tate and Andre Spivey have launched a new task force aimed at addressing the most troubled segment of Detroit: black men.
The two second-term councilmen are spearheading the Black Male Engagement Task Force, which aims to address high unemployment rates, drug use, lack of education and poor quality of life faced by African-American men. The council authorized the panel in February.
The goal is to provide mentoring and life coaching opportunities for young men to improve Detroit, Tate said.
“When you look around the country, African-American males typically find themselves in the more challenged parts of the spectrum as it relates to education, employment (and) youth and crime rate,” Tate said. “We, as a community, have to identify ways to improve our family structure. Improving our family structure will be the building blocks to improving our city.”
Ken Coleman, a mentor at Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metropolitan Detroit and a longtime political operative, said Detroit’s city government hasn’t tackled the issues facing black men in almost 25 years. The last time he recalls is when then-City Council member Barbara-Rose Collins raised it in 1990 with her “Save the Black Male” campaign following the 1989 conviction of her son for armed robbery.
The council initiative is in line with President Barack Obama’s My Brother’s Keeper Task Force. Launched last July, the president’s effort seeks to determine what private and public efforts are working and provide resources to support the endeavors throughout the country. It also wants to better connect state and local officials, the private sector and philanthropists.
“We do have African-American males who are doing the right thing, who are giving up their time, services and resources to support the community,” Spivey said.But problems remain, he said.
“With crime (in Detroit), a lot of the faces are African-American males.... Black men die at an early age,” Spivey said. “We can bring spotlight on those issues.”Every metric measuring quality of life in Detroit is on empty, precisely because the city is 83 percent black, the culmination/aggregate of the individual contributions of black people. The Black Male Engagement Task Force, aims to address high unemployment rates, drug use, lack of education and poor quality of life faced by African-American men.
Funny: the high unemployment rates, drug use, lack of education and poor quality of life is created by African-American men.
Like Narcissus who found himself immobilized by his own beauteous reflection, black people - once in political power - feel uncompelled to move. Instead, they sit enamored in the reflection of power their new position allots them.
Never mind Coleman Young was elected the first black mayor of Detroit in 1974.
Never mind Detroit has, for all intents and purposes, been politically run for the benefit of black people for more than 40 years.
Never mind billions of federal dollars have flown from hardworking tax payers to enrich black charities, black churches, and connected black political officials (black government contractors) since the mid-1970s.
Never mind the designation as an urban enterprise zone, empowerment zone, or whatever tax-exempt program some racially-blind, limp-wristed white politician can come up with in Washington D.C.
A world professional white exterminationist Tim Wise could only fantasize about has come true in Detroit: white privilege is gone, replaced with black power. Ironically, the privilege of a civilization run by blacks, of blacks, and for blacks did not translate into the nirvana long prophesied by men of Wise's infinite knowledge.
This one fact will always remain intact: the lowliest white person, regardless of their class, net worth or station in life can look upon the moon and know white feet are all that have stood upon it; the black individual with the fattest bank account and grandest estate can look upon 2014 Detroit and see only a city where the black foot print/contribution to America is on fullest display.