In the years following the
Great Recession of 2007, while everyone in America seemed to
be shakily putting their financial futures in line again,
the city of Detroit continued to struggle. In certain areas
of the city, in which a majority of the population was
African American, houses were foreclosed upon in large
numbers, then abandoned by residents who were forced out.
Thieves removed plumbing, copper wire, and anything else of
value from uninhabited homes, and after they were gutted
this way, houses were often inhabited by squatters and other
displaced people, or a house fell apart, or was torched.
Swimming upstream, Detroit
declared bankruptcy in 2013.
There were myriad reasons
for it, says Kirshner, but in March of that year, a
controversially-appointed emergency manager was tasked with
clearing up the situation. Things got worse: population
declined; lack of jobs exacerbated the problem; tax issues
caused headaches for officials and potential homeowners; and
blight set in – sometimes, entire neighborhoods of it.
In well-to-do areas, she
says, taxes were lower and growth resumed.
In the middle of all this,
Kirshner followed seven people, to see how they fared.
Miles, a 40-something
black man, wanted nothing more than to live quietly and
repair houses, but a sketchy past wouldn’t go away. Charles,
a 50-plus-year-old black man, steadfastly refused to give up
his house, even when it was little more than a shell. Robin,
a 40-something white developer, saw big opportunity to buy
up real estate.
Reggie, a mid-40s black
man, wanted a home to raise his two adopted children. Cindy,
a white woman in her early sixties, tried to help her
neighborhood, but failed; 50-something Joe came from New
Jersey and made a difference; and college-educated single
mother Lola wanted a better life for her daughter...
Broke is not a pleasant read
for your holidays – but it’s a necessary one.
It’s disheartening to
watch author Jodie Adams Kirshner’s subjects struggle
upright, only to be shoved back down again. Readers will
cringe at the darned-if-you-do, darned-if-you-don’t
scenarios each of them face; just seeing their lives put
into words might make you feel exhausted, imagining the
overwhelmingness of it all.
Furthermore, bureaucracy
sometimes leaves no exits and that’s maddening – especially
when Kirshner relates what happened in better-off
neighborhoods and enclaves, schools and businesses, at the
same time.
And yet, this story is not
sensationalized. Kirshner makes no overt villains here; the
facts are laid out in plain terms that let you pick your own
bad guys. There are also advice-like take-aways at the end,
and usable ideas, though Detroit may be on the upswing.
Still, according to this
author and this book, it’s going to take a while before
things are all put together again.
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