In the midst of all the celebration and optimism surrounding the $300 million dollar infusion of federal dollars into the city of Detroit, there is still a great deal of apprehension and uneasiness amongst longtime residents about the direction in which the city is headed – and I, as a Detroit native and Howard University graduate fully understand what this anxiety is about. I was smacked in the face with it two Fridays ago as I stood at my little PARK(ing) Day display with a few other fellows on Livernois and Outer Drive as part of the Detroit Design Festival activities. Our space was dedicated to promoting healthy eating and healthy food options, and as we stood there handing out recipes and veggie samples, we were approached by an African-American woman dressed in African garb. She looked pleasant enough, so one of the other fellows greeted her, and began to tell her about our offerings, but before she could finish, I saw her expression change, and immediately heard the woman say excitedly, “So you’re here for the white takeover!” We were all shocked, and equally puzzled, as three of the four fellows standing there were African-American, and two of us were born and raised in the city of Detroit, but before we had a chance to explain this to the woman, or ask what she meant, she quickly walked off, disgusted.

Although I hadn’t seen the woman’s outburst coming, I must say that I wasn’t nearly as surprised by what she had said as some of the others standing there to hear her seemed to be. I was more disappointed that she hadn’t given me a chance to converse with her, to explain that no, I wasn’t here for the “white takeover”, although I was aware of what she was referring to and hated that anyone would question where I stood on the issue. I wanted to explain to some of the other fellows, who either didn’t, or just pretended not to understand what the woman was talking about, that her concern was valid and actually quite common among those who have lived in the city before it was the popular or cool thing to do. I wondered if those who stood there looking confused understood the concept of “Two Detroits”, the one that Dan Gilbert and all the big time investors pour money into – the downtowns, techtowns, and various other “towns” around here, and the rest of the city – where the majority of Detroit’s residents actually live. You know, the rest of the city, where people don’t have time to worry about how many new bars have opened up, or who’s leading in the Tiger’s series, or about how to make the city more walkable, because they’re too busy trying to find and/or keep a job, and figure out how to best educate their kids while protecting them from drugs and violence, and other concerns related to basic survival.

The people who live in THAT Detroit, the Detroit far away from the excitement and innovation of Downtown, are like the woman who confronted us, skeptical about the motives of those who have come in from outside, claiming in efforts to help the city, but who often times pay little to no attention to the glaring problems that plague the majority and instead seem to be preoccupied with the excessiveness that is a privilege of the more well-to-do minority. And I totally understand where they are coming from, as I AM them. Sure, I was fortunate enough to have been raised in what many would consider a “good” part of Detroit, but not all of my family and friends were as fortunate, and although I was privileged to have gone to college and graduate school, I am not disillusioned enough to believe that every child who grows up in the city of Detroit is so lucky. So that is why I am torn, because I have been blessed with the education and credentials to allow me to move within crowds of people born into money, who have never had to grow up listening to gunshots as they went to bed at night, or bring their own toilet paper to school because the city was too poor to provide it, and yet my experience of growing up in Detroit, of having lived in different neighborhoods and knowing people from our city from all walks of life, levels of income and intelligence make me keenly aware of the concerns of the woman from that day, as well as many other Detroiters. I think that most of us welcome whomever would like to join us in this beautiful city by the river, but we just ask that you respect the legacy and culture that we have established to this point, give us credit for what has held the city together in the absence of those who left, and don’t come in trying to “takeover”, as the women said, but instead partner with us in what we’re already doing right, make a space for yourselves but not by steamrolling over the city’s natives or banishing us to some obscure part of the city as you turn downtown into some sort of suburban paradise. We can all live here together cohesively, as long as we are willing to respect one another and value the contributions being made on both sides. That is all.

Tiandra