Detroit, crumbling and forgotten

VIDEO: Detroit, crumbling and forgotten

I was robbed in Detroit this past weekend. As you can imagine I felt incredibly violated, but it also helped crystalize some thoughts I was having about the desperate state that the city of Detroit is in.

The fact of the matter is someone saw lettuce sticking out of a plastic bag in my car and smashed out the window to get it. Unfortunately, at the bottom of the bag were my phone and camera were at the bottom of the bag.

While my first emotion was anger, it quickly turned into sadness as I looked up and down the street and saw the desperation it took to commit a crime like this in broad daylight, reflected in the crumbling infrastructure.

I was on Gratiot and McDougall surrounded by abandoned factories with broken glass and charred houses. From that spot, the only operating businesses I could see were KFC, a liquor store, a church, two gas stations a Coney Island and a pawn shop. It was pouring rain, and I was soaking in the apocalyptic scene that has overwhelmed large parts of Detroit.

I know other U.S cities suffer poverty and decay as well and if I lived there I’d be reporting that, too. But I live in Detroit and it’s not just one section of the city that’s rotting. It’s all over, except for a few pockets of wealth in communities like Sherwood Forest, Indian Village and Downtown.

One of the major dilemmas I face as a journalist is whether to publish stories and images that show the guts of Detroit, the ugly side that no one wants to look at. I truly understand that there’s a fine line between expose and exploitation, and I hope to always stay on the right side of that line.

At a time when the mainstream news is saturated in political rhetoric, I felt it timely to bring out these photos as a reminder for politicians to stay on track. I don’t want to hear my future presidents bickering over rhetoric. I want to know what they’re going to do about the future of this great county that I am a citizen of. While the media obsess over who said what, a major U.S. city is crumbling into the earth, abandoned in the wake of a crashing auto industry. I see these images driving to and from home every day. I live in it, though; I am fortunate enough to have a roof on my house.

The worst part is seeing kids living in utter poverty. All I can do when I see a kid playing on the corner by the liquor store is that I hope they make it to adulthood.

It’s almost taboo to show these images from Detroit or bring up this economic disparity. It is easy to avoid; Sen. John McCain has yet to visit Detroit on any of his campaign stumps in Michigan. But Detroit is the biggest city in the state; didn’t he say he wanted to win Michigan? If he really wants to put country first, I’d like to remind him that Detroit is part of our beautiful country.

By the same token, if Sen. Barack Obama really wants to change the game in Washington, he has to prove it in his campaign. I don’t want to know who to vote against; I want to know who to vote for.

Last week Obama said this:

“These are serious times and they call for a serious debate about where we need to take the nation. [...] We keep on spending $10 billion a month in Iraq at a time when our own infrastructure here at home is crumbling. Spare me the phony outrage.”

Even if it’s election year rhetoric, it shows that he at least will acknowledge the problems we’re facing.

After living in an impoverished neighborhood in Detroit for a year, this has never been clearer: When every other house, block after block, is burnt to charcoal, abandoned, or has all the siding and shingles stripped off, there’s a grave problem. When crime becomes part of the culture of a city, there’s a grave problem.

Now I am confident that the robbery I experienced this weekend is just a symptom of a larger problem that is so painful to address that many, including me, try to ignore it. But when you are directly affected by the raw, harsh reality of poverty and you’re looking at the broken glass of hunger and abandonment, it’s a little harder to turn your head.

The situation is so bad in some of these neglected neighborhoods it seems almost surreal that a 15 minute drive north will take me to one of the most wealthy suburbs in the United States. I wish I were exaggerating.

These images not pretty to look at, but they’re here. I didn’t have to look hard to get these photographs. It took less than half an hour. I hope that the politicians in Lansing and in Washington who are supposed to be representing us see these scenes. Maybe then it’ll be a little harder to turn to ignore.

Despite the hardships I see and the crime I was a victim of, I want this to be clear: I’m love Detroit. I’m staying in Detroit because I love my neighbors, and my little community. I’m here to help. Almost everyone who gets a college degree takes the first ride out of here and it shows. Over time I will get another camera and continue to use it to rub these images in the face of a government that doesn’t seem as outraged at what is happening to their own country as I am. When I publish these pictures it’s out of love for this city, not disdain; it’s out of a genuine desire to make things better.

Sen. Barack Obama also said in his acceptance speech at the DNC:

“In Washington, they call this the Ownership Society, but what it really means is – you’re on your own. Out of work? Tough luck. No health care? The market will fix it. Born into poverty? Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps – even if you don’t have boots. You’re on your own.”

I would like John McCain to visit Detroit and look residents in their eyes and tell them they’re not on their own. I’d like him to prove Obama wrong.

So far he hasn’t.