Isn't Detroit a majority black city?

[ikojo]

As you all know, the St Louis Cardinals are playing the Detroit Tigers in the World Series, which begins on Saturday, Oct 21.

Channel 4 News from St Louis had a report from Detroit wherein they interviewed people on the street about the upcoming games. Most of the folks they interviewed were white, IN DETROIT! Of course those interviewed echoed what the chamber of commerce would like people to say...the new Tigers stadium (probably funded with tax dollars like the new St Louis Cardinals stadium) will revitalize Detroit and bring it back.

On a similar note...channel 4 interviewed people on the street in St Louis and this one woman, who was covered head to toe in Cardinals gear, said that the win last night suddenly made people so nice that she was not cut off in traffic. BULL!

While this Cubs fan in exile in St Louis, hopes the CARDINALS win I don't think a BASEBALL game has the power to make surly drivers nice.

[razors edge]

1. 73% white, 21% black

http://www.cityrating.com/citystats.asp?city=Detroit&state=MI

[ikojo]

2. OK, thanks for the information. I was going to shoot

off an e mail to channel 4 and now I will not.

[razors edge]

3. No problem. n/t

[Carni]

4. The burbs are mostly white but

Detroit proper isn't.

I don't know where those stats came from (not trying to be a jerk here but I used to work there)

[razors edge]

6. I live in Toledo

and what you say is correct, but like the OP stated the people big interviewed were friendly to chamber of commerce interests. I would bet that a news crew on the ground would do several interviews and edit out the ones the producer tells them to.

Any objection to the reporting based on race would most likely get a very nice f**k you email with a link to the site I posted.

Edit: please disregard.

[Rockholm]

5. Shouldn't that be reversed?

I thought the city of Detroit was 80% black.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

7. yes

http://detroit.areaconnect.com/statistics.htm

[razors edge]

9. Interesting

I posted the first link from google for detroit demographics, the next Link shows almost the exact opposite.

http://detroit.areaconnect.com/statistics.htm

[enid602]

12. Detroit

The website above shows Detroit's population @ 5 1/2 million, which must include the entire urban area. Detroit itself could not have much more than one million people. Nonetheless, I would think that the second-largest group in Detroit proper is not white, but rather Arabs. Throw out the gays and Jews among whites, and you probably have only 15 or 20 whites which would likely be Republicans.

[razors edge]

14. lies, damned lies and statistics?

:shrug:

[Carni]

21. There is a large population of Arabic people in Dearborn

Which is in Wayne County (Detroit is in Wayne County) but Dearborn isn't Detroit.

There are no Jewish people residing in Detroit in large numbers--Detroit to my knowledge no longer houses a single synagogue.

[Bucky]

10. That's the SMSA that's 73% white. W/in the city limits it's 82% black

From the website you listed:

City Population: 5,456,428*
*Population corresponds to Metropolitan Statistical Area or Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Detroit the city has only 950,000 residents, not 5.5 million. It's 82.6% African American

[lcordero2]

8. info to shed light

http://www.nolandgrab.org/archives/2006/03/index.html

"Sports economists agree that cities--and taxpayers--get close to nothing from spending public money on sports teams. What they haven't figured out is why we're still doing it."

We are having our own issues in New York. I'm no longer a sports fan.

These people come in and use OUR TAX DOLLARS to build a stadium, displace a lot of people, get tax cuts, and are a burden on public resources. They are parasites on the local community.

[noamnety]

11. White folks like to believe that.

A new stadium is the solution to our problems.
A new casino is the solution to our problems.
Fixing the old Cadillac hotel is the solution to our problems.
Hosting the superbowl is the solution to our problems.

Funny thing, when you talk to the people who live in the shadow of the Cadillac hotel, and ask them what they think about the renovation, what impact will that have on the city, they look at you like you're an effin idiot. It's a good way to line the pockets of yet another CEO, but it's not going to affect the neighborhood they live in. We need to invest in neighborhoods.

[1620rock]

15. Black, white......what does it matter?

[noamnety]

17. It shouldn't

and it's not something I would have brought into the discussion, except for the OP mentioning a buncha white folks talking about how the stadium is gonna revitalize the inner city. Around here, they aren't the ones generally living by the stadium. I agree with their implied hunch - that the folks being interviewed likely aren't the ones who live in the neighborhoods they're so optimistic about revitalizing.

I had a long talk with a guy at one of the bus stations over the summer. He was just sitting there, killing time. A former student and I were talking to random people for the day, video taping them when they were comfortable with it, but just talking otherwise. This one guy in particular stood out. He was making sure to talk positively about the city, at first, wanting to present it in its best light. After a while, though, it came out that he'd been badly underemployed or unemployed pretty much all his life. Then we found out he was a veteran, then that he used the GI Bill to get a master's degree in accounting. He started going on about how he comes up as highly qualified on government job openings, scores great when he takes their tests, but never seems to get called for the interviews. He talked for awhile about how maybe he needed to find someone in the burbs who would let him use their address and phone number. You know, having that 313 area code on your resume is like a giant "I'M BLACK" stamp across the middle of the page. You aren't gonna get the same callbacks from that resume as an identical one with a different area code; that's just how it is.

One of the things he said, as a black educated unemployed Navy veteran, was "I bought into the system, but it didn't buy into me."

[alcibiades_mystery]

18. Spoken like a white person

We're all colorblind now, yes?

Except on the freeway when the lights are flashing...

[joeygirl]

20. Not all white folks believe that you can make everything

better with just an influx of cash. I knew that the cleaned up highways weren't going to stay clean after the Super Bowl left town, and I was right. They are just as dirty as they ever were. But, you have to admit, we put on a good show for people who live outside the region.

[Carni]

22. Iwfern I worked in the neighborhoods last year

"Katrina" hit Detroit's neighborhoods....a LONG time ago and they didn't even get a whimper of press coverage or sympathy.

[noamnety]

23. That was one of the things that struck me

when I was down south. It was very unsettling to be walking with people who would see a particular building and audibly gasp - and I'd be thinking, well, that looks like something I'd see at home.

[Carni]

24. I know

I was disgusted with myself when I saw how bad the city REALLY is when you get out into the neighborhoods.

How the hell is this allowed in the so called richest country in the world????

[noamnety]

25. In one of my classes

We're putting together a graphics thing to go along with a Dave Rovics song - "More Gardens Song." http://www.soundclick.com/pro/view/01/default.cfm?bandid=111310&content=lyrics&songid=2281490

Even though I wanted to see enthusiasm in my kids for this, it was depressing once I did see it, because it took this form: "I can take some photos this weekend - there's an abandoned house right next to us - and another right down the street, and another around the corner."

What kind of work were you doing inthe city?

[sandnsea]

13. Always heard Cards fans were nice

Even the Boston fans have told me that. Makes perfect sense to me that everybody would be in a good mood. Sorry you consider St. Louis exile, but I've actually never had a problem with the drivers when I was there anyway.

Soooop! Soooop! Soooop!

[ikojo]

19. I love St Louis...with the exception of this baseball

team...it's REALLY hard to be a CUBS fan down this way. I am supporting the Cardinals only because they are the National League team. That's the ONLY reason.

[Sherman A1]

16. St. Louis drivers were their usual selves today

no better or no worse. Some were in a coma it appeared after staying up late to watch the game, but nothing beyond normal....As to the racial stats for Detroit - don't know.

[BlooInBloo]

26. No. It just looks that way to white people.... 1 drop you know...

[Rosemary2205]

27. I've seen this phenomenon in other cities too.

The city proper is majority black but it's a majority of white faces at the ball games. I've seen this in at least 4 different cities.