Recently Michigan Governor Snyder appointed an Emergency Manager for Detroit. Now, one would think that people would be pleased because he appointed an African-American to be Emergency Manager instead of a white person but no. There are big protests scheduled by none other than the Reverends JJ and AS who never seem to be short of travel funds.
Well, here's the unpleasant fact about Detroit and it doesn't matter if its residents are majority purple. Detroit is on life-support and has been for a long time. If the people who live there don't want this person to be EM, then who or what do they want? I hate to say it because Detroit has been around a long time but perhaps it is time to let the patient go, to let nature take its course. Cities have died before.
In the movie "Do The Right Thing" Spike Lee never does say what the right thing is. And I have to say that had a white person produced and directed that movie, there would have been hell to pay. Because in my opinion, the African-American characters in that movie display every stereotype that us suburban whites have of them. They don't come across very well at all.
"Do the Right Thing" is about a neighborhood that is basically an employment desert. There are only two businesses shown. One is a pizza parlor run by an Italian and the other is a small grocery store run by Koreans. When the white pizza parlor owner refuses to put up pictures of African-American heroes next to his Italian heroes, the people of the neighborhood riot and the pizza parlor is burned down. Great. Now let's show the sequel, a year later. There is no pizza parlor anymore so nobody can have pizza and the Koreans, seeing the writing on the wall, have fled. So no grocery store, either. Now what?
Is racism really to blame here? Should a business person be compelled to remain in a neighborhood that clearly does not want him or her? Because the issue in "Do the Right Thing" isn't the picture. It's the climate of intimidation and resentment towards the white business owner (and the Koreans) culminating in the destruction of his business. For what? What do the people of the neighborhood gain? Nothing that I can see. And after that, do you think anyone else with money will invest in that neighborhood? The Koreans are fools if they stay.
Detroit is "Do the Right Thing" writ large. What obligations do the rest of us have towards Detroit? What can be done? What should be done? What does Detroit want from the rest of us? They don't like the EM? Fine. What are the alternatives? Fans of Ayn Rand and "Atlas Shrugged" would say it isn't our obligation to help Detroit, that we should just let it stew. I have to say on the west side of the state there's a whole lot of agreement with that philosophy even among those who've never heard of Rand. "Sell it to Canada (as if Canada wants it)." "Wall it off."
Come on, Spike Lee, tell us. What is the right thing?
Well, here's the unpleasant fact about Detroit and it doesn't matter if its residents are majority purple. Detroit is on life-support and has been for a long time. If the people who live there don't want this person to be EM, then who or what do they want? I hate to say it because Detroit has been around a long time but perhaps it is time to let the patient go, to let nature take its course. Cities have died before.
In the movie "Do The Right Thing" Spike Lee never does say what the right thing is. And I have to say that had a white person produced and directed that movie, there would have been hell to pay. Because in my opinion, the African-American characters in that movie display every stereotype that us suburban whites have of them. They don't come across very well at all.
"Do the Right Thing" is about a neighborhood that is basically an employment desert. There are only two businesses shown. One is a pizza parlor run by an Italian and the other is a small grocery store run by Koreans. When the white pizza parlor owner refuses to put up pictures of African-American heroes next to his Italian heroes, the people of the neighborhood riot and the pizza parlor is burned down. Great. Now let's show the sequel, a year later. There is no pizza parlor anymore so nobody can have pizza and the Koreans, seeing the writing on the wall, have fled. So no grocery store, either. Now what?
Is racism really to blame here? Should a business person be compelled to remain in a neighborhood that clearly does not want him or her? Because the issue in "Do the Right Thing" isn't the picture. It's the climate of intimidation and resentment towards the white business owner (and the Koreans) culminating in the destruction of his business. For what? What do the people of the neighborhood gain? Nothing that I can see. And after that, do you think anyone else with money will invest in that neighborhood? The Koreans are fools if they stay.
Detroit is "Do the Right Thing" writ large. What obligations do the rest of us have towards Detroit? What can be done? What should be done? What does Detroit want from the rest of us? They don't like the EM? Fine. What are the alternatives? Fans of Ayn Rand and "Atlas Shrugged" would say it isn't our obligation to help Detroit, that we should just let it stew. I have to say on the west side of the state there's a whole lot of agreement with that philosophy even among those who've never heard of Rand. "Sell it to Canada (as if Canada wants it)." "Wall it off."
Come on, Spike Lee, tell us. What is the right thing?
