Driving Through Detroit's Worst Hood - Any Leftists Want To Defend This Sad Truth?

[Ford]

Indeed. If you go to Appalachia you will find dysfunction there too. Except it is politically correct to talk about that but politically incorrect to talk about dysfunction in the inner cities, except of course to blame whitey, like ruby sparks' source is doing.

When dysfunction in the inner city is discussed, the inhabitants of the inner city and Democrats are always blamed . However when dysfunction in Appalachia is discussed (which is almost never), the inhabitants are not blamed nor is any political party. Perhaps even you can spot the difference here.

A long time ago, I went to this party in a notorious neighborhood. The four blocks around there had a reputation, if you catch my meaning. The night I was there, things got out of hand. Way out of hand. I was in an apartment building set back from the street, but watched from the window as the whole fiasco unfolded. It wasn't just people dancing in the middle of the street. No, it was hundreds of drunk and sometimes belligerent people partying. It was very loud, and very chaotic. Then around midnight, we heard an announcement over a loudspeaker. The police were about to move in. They'd showed up with riot gear, tear gas, and were saying (officially) "you need to clear out, or shit's going down."

When people didn't move, the cops started marching down the street. Swinging night sticks, shoving people with their shields, and arresting people. A friend of mine had gone out of the apartment and was standing in the courtyard...hands in his pockets, not threatening anyone, when a couple cops in riot gear tackled him and shoved his face into the pavement. Did they arrest him? Nope. They just beat the crap out of him for no apparent reason. The entire night went like that. Cops clearing the area like they were the Chinese security forces putting down the Hong Kong protests.

Was this the ghetto? Was it a bad neighborhood? No. It was the homecoming party on main street at my overwhelmingly white college in mid Michigan. Those four blocks of Main Street got out of hand on homecoming and the last day of the school year, and for whatever reason the cops decided that they were going to do absolutely anything to shut that neighborhood down. The city actually wrote an ordinance that stated that anyone who didn't live in one of those four blocks would be blocked from being there on certain days of the year. They even cordoned off the area with yellow police tape and stationed officers at every corner.

Just across the street from the north end of it, some students who lived there hung a banner from their window that read "Welcome to West Berlin."

The point is, these folks in the "ghetto" in Detroit are just out after dark having some fun. They're enjoying music and each other's company. Yeah, it might seem scary for Derec or Halfie who haven't spent a nanosecond in places like this, but it's not like these folks are rioting like the white middle class kids at my school. That night at the party was far more dangerous than this relatively normal night on the streets of Detroit.

 

[Half-Life]

Indeed. If you go to Appalachia you will find dysfunction there too. Except it is politically correct to talk about that but politically incorrect to talk about dysfunction in the inner cities, except of course to blame whitey, like ruby sparks' source is doing.

When dysfunction in the inner city is discussed, the inhabitants of the inner city and Democrats are always blamed . However when dysfunction in Appalachia is discussed (which is almost never), the inhabitants are not blamed nor is any political party. Perhaps even you can spot the difference here.

A long time ago, I went to this party in a notorious neighborhood. The four blocks around there had a reputation, if you catch my meaning. The night I was there, things got out of hand. Way out of hand. I was in an apartment building set back from the street, but watched from the window as the whole fiasco unfolded. It wasn't just people dancing in the middle of the street. No, it was hundreds of drunk and sometimes belligerent people partying. It was very loud, and very chaotic. Then around midnight, we heard an announcement over a loudspeaker. The police were about to move in. They'd showed up with riot gear, tear gas, and were saying (officially) "you need to clear out, or shit's going down."

When people didn't move, the cops started marching down the street. Swinging night sticks, shoving people with their shields, and arresting people. A friend of mine had gone out of the apartment and was standing in the courtyard...hands in his pockets, not threatening anyone, when a couple cops in riot gear tackled him and shoved his face into the pavement. Did they arrest him? Nope. They just beat the crap out of him for no apparent reason. The entire night went like that. Cops clearing the area like they were the Chinese security forces putting down the Hong Kong protests.

Was this the ghetto? Was it a bad neighborhood? No. It was the homecoming party on main street at my overwhelmingly white college in mid Michigan. Those four blocks of Main Street got out of hand on homecoming and the last day of the school year, and for whatever reason the cops decided that they were going to do absolutely anything to shut that neighborhood down. The city actually wrote an ordinance that stated that anyone who didn't live in one of those four blocks would be blocked from being there on certain days of the year. They even cordoned off the area with yellow police tape and stationed officers at every corner.

Just across the street from the north end of it, some students who lived there hung a banner from their window that read "Welcome to West Berlin."

The point is, these folks in the "ghetto" in Detroit are just out after dark having some fun. They're enjoying music and each other's company. Yeah, it might seem scary for Derec or Halfie who haven't spent a nanosecond in places like this, but it's not like these folks are rioting like the white middle class kids at my school. That night at the party was far more dangerous than this relatively normal night on the streets of Detroit.

Ah so you deal with revisionist history. Might I recommend you never look up the Watts riots, the 1992 L.A. riots, and never NEVER look up the beating of Reginald Denny that was captured live on the news.

 

[Jokodo]

A long time ago, I went to this party in a notorious neighborhood. The four blocks around there had a reputation, if you catch my meaning. The night I was there, things got out of hand. Way out of hand. I was in an apartment building set back from the street, but watched from the window as the whole fiasco unfolded. It wasn't just people dancing in the middle of the street. No, it was hundreds of drunk and sometimes belligerent people partying. It was very loud, and very chaotic. Then around midnight, we heard an announcement over a loudspeaker. The police were about to move in. They'd showed up with riot gear, tear gas, and were saying (officially) "you need to clear out, or shit's going down."

When people didn't move, the cops started marching down the street. Swinging night sticks, shoving people with their shields, and arresting people. A friend of mine had gone out of the apartment and was standing in the courtyard...hands in his pockets, not threatening anyone, when a couple cops in riot gear tackled him and shoved his face into the pavement. Did they arrest him? Nope. They just beat the crap out of him for no apparent reason. The entire night went like that. Cops clearing the area like they were the Chinese security forces putting down the Hong Kong protests.

Was this the ghetto? Was it a bad neighborhood? No. It was the homecoming party on main street at my overwhelmingly white college in mid Michigan. Those four blocks of Main Street got out of hand on homecoming and the last day of the school year, and for whatever reason the cops decided that they were going to do absolutely anything to shut that neighborhood down. The city actually wrote an ordinance that stated that anyone who didn't live in one of those four blocks would be blocked from being there on certain days of the year. They even cordoned off the area with yellow police tape and stationed officers at every corner.

Just across the street from the north end of it, some students who lived there hung a banner from their window that read "Welcome to West Berlin."

The point is, these folks in the "ghetto" in Detroit are just out after dark having some fun. They're enjoying music and each other's company. Yeah, it might seem scary for Derec or Halfie who haven't spent a nanosecond in places like this, but it's not like these folks are rioting like the white middle class kids at my school. That night at the party was far more dangerous than this relatively normal night on the streets of Detroit.

Ah so you deal with revisionist history. Might I recommend you never look up the Watts riots, the 1992 L.A. riots, and never NEVER look up the beating of Reginald Denny that was captured live on the news.

Did you mean to link a different video? The one you did link shows no riots, no crime, no nothing but a peaceful party on the street. Maybe some littering if we are being generous. It also gives no context - if it was taken in an average weekday night at two am, it's obviously a nuisance to residents who want to sleep (still no crime), but for all we know it was taken at 9pm on the 4th of July.

 

[Half-Life]

A long time ago, I went to this party in a notorious neighborhood. The four blocks around there had a reputation, if you catch my meaning. The night I was there, things got out of hand. Way out of hand. I was in an apartment building set back from the street, but watched from the window as the whole fiasco unfolded. It wasn't just people dancing in the middle of the street. No, it was hundreds of drunk and sometimes belligerent people partying. It was very loud, and very chaotic. Then around midnight, we heard an announcement over a loudspeaker. The police were about to move in. They'd showed up with riot gear, tear gas, and were saying (officially) "you need to clear out, or shit's going down."

When people didn't move, the cops started marching down the street. Swinging night sticks, shoving people with their shields, and arresting people. A friend of mine had gone out of the apartment and was standing in the courtyard...hands in his pockets, not threatening anyone, when a couple cops in riot gear tackled him and shoved his face into the pavement. Did they arrest him? Nope. They just beat the crap out of him for no apparent reason. The entire night went like that. Cops clearing the area like they were the Chinese security forces putting down the Hong Kong protests.

Was this the ghetto? Was it a bad neighborhood? No. It was the homecoming party on main street at my overwhelmingly white college in mid Michigan. Those four blocks of Main Street got out of hand on homecoming and the last day of the school year, and for whatever reason the cops decided that they were going to do absolutely anything to shut that neighborhood down. The city actually wrote an ordinance that stated that anyone who didn't live in one of those four blocks would be blocked from being there on certain days of the year. They even cordoned off the area with yellow police tape and stationed officers at every corner.

Just across the street from the north end of it, some students who lived there hung a banner from their window that read "Welcome to West Berlin."

The point is, these folks in the "ghetto" in Detroit are just out after dark having some fun. They're enjoying music and each other's company. Yeah, it might seem scary for Derec or Halfie who haven't spent a nanosecond in places like this, but it's not like these folks are rioting like the white middle class kids at my school. That night at the party was far more dangerous than this relatively normal night on the streets of Detroit.

Ah so you deal with revisionist history. Might I recommend you never look up the Watts riots, the 1992 L.A. riots, and never NEVER look up the beating of Reginald Denny that was captured live on the news.

Did you mean to link a different video? The one you did link shows no riots, no crime, no nothing but a peaceful party on the street. Maybe some littering if we are being generous. It also gives no context - if it was taken in an average weekday night at two am, it's obviously a nuisance to residents who want to sleep (still no crime), but for all we know it was taken at 9pm on the 4th of July.

I suppose it also could've been a party of them all celebrating becoming lawyers, doctors, and engineers.

 

[Jokodo]

Did you mean to link a different video? The one you did link shows no riots, no crime, no nothing but a peaceful party on the street. Maybe some littering if we are being generous. It also gives no context - if it was taken in an average weekday night at two am, it's obviously a nuisance to residents who want to sleep (still no crime), but for all we know it was taken at 9pm on the 4th of July.

I suppose it also could've been a party of them all celebrating becoming lawyers, doctors, and engineers.

In what universe does it matter why they are celebrating? You started a thread all outraged about an innocuous party. Don't try to change the topic while you still owe us an explanation what's so outrageous.

 

[Patooka]

Did you mean to link a different video? The one you did link shows no riots, no crime, no nothing but a peaceful party on the street. Maybe some littering if we are being generous. It also gives no context - if it was taken in an average weekday night at two am, it's obviously a nuisance to residents who want to sleep (still no crime), but for all we know it was taken at 9pm on the 4th of July.

I suppose it also could've been a party of them all celebrating becoming lawyers, doctors, and engineers.

You started this thread. Burden of proof = you. So grow some balls and prove it But who are we kidding. You are going to dodge, like you always do. Even though you dislike people doing the same thing.

I'm on holidays, I can wait for you to prove your bullshit claims. Because they are bullshit. Tik Tok .

 

[ruby sparks]

Indeed. If you go to Appalachia you will find dysfunction there too. Except it is politically correct to talk about that but politically incorrect to talk about dysfunction in the inner cities, except of course to blame whitey, like ruby sparks' source is doing.

First, I personally agree with many of the things you have said. Second, the sort of thing I posted (and as I said, both 'sources' may have over-egged the analysis) was and to some extent still is, as I also said, a part of it, and not a small part. I don't think that can be denied, there's too strong a case. And whatever measures are ever taken to try to deal with it, that fact can't and shouldn't be ignored, it should be factored in, especially to any analysis. Just as it should and could be for any similar phenomenon for any race or religion or human group and indeed 'ghetto culture' on the planet.

Obviously, there are also a lot of other parts to any analysis. Including, for starters, a shortage of personal and even group/social responsibility (on the part of African Americans, in this particular case).

Regarding what you said about Appalachia, I don't think the comparison works quite the way you suggest. Though there are interesting comparisons. As far as I can see, (poor, white) Appalachians feeling left behind, left out, and/ or much maligned is an understandable set of complaints. And, perhaps too much time, effort and attention has been focused on blacks, in general, and the plight of poor whites (not just in Appalachia) neglected, yes.

 

[ruby sparks]

Does anyone know, or has it been said and I've missed it, which neighbourhood (or even which streets) in Detroit is/are featured in the OP video?

Perhaps if we knew that, and more about when the footage was taken (was it a week night, what time was it) we could better comment on whether it was common, everyday behaviour or a special event of some sort. In other words we could set the footage in context.

The OP also suggested that the maker of the video had done a series.

 

[ruby sparks]

Indeed. If you go to Appalachia you will find dysfunction there too. Except it is politically correct to talk about that but politically incorrect to talk about dysfunction in the inner cities, except of course to blame whitey, like ruby sparks' source is doing.

I'll go further. Yes, imo, there is a narrative, one among several but not an uncommon one, maybe we could even call it popular, that whitey is/was to blame for blacks' problems, in the USA in particular. And it's often overstated, imo, and probably was, in the sentence I bolded in the link I posted yesterday ("Putting it simply, the American ghetto exists almost entirely as a result of intentional state action and extra-legal white supremacist violence").

That's my impression.

Imo, the complicated question of how much it is true and how much it isn't is the much more interesting one.

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

The argument would have to be made in terms of liberal vs conservative. Democrats used to burn fiery crosses and be members of the KKK and have other vile associations that are now almost exclusively the domain of racist republicans. The old Dixiecrats are a good example, people who left the democratic party when it embraced civil rights.

If by liberal vs conservative you mean those who promote promiscuity vs those who promote families, you may have a point.

I really can't relate to that comment. You seem obsessed with controlling other people's sex organs. My experience with that is to have observed that conservative moralists preaching against promiscuity have been the biggest offenders.

 

[Ford]

A long time ago, I went to this party in a notorious neighborhood. The four blocks around there had a reputation, if you catch my meaning. The night I was there, things got out of hand. Way out of hand. I was in an apartment building set back from the street, but watched from the window as the whole fiasco unfolded. It wasn't just people dancing in the middle of the street. No, it was hundreds of drunk and sometimes belligerent people partying. It was very loud, and very chaotic. Then around midnight, we heard an announcement over a loudspeaker. The police were about to move in. They'd showed up with riot gear, tear gas, and were saying (officially) "you need to clear out, or shit's going down."

When people didn't move, the cops started marching down the street. Swinging night sticks, shoving people with their shields, and arresting people. A friend of mine had gone out of the apartment and was standing in the courtyard...hands in his pockets, not threatening anyone, when a couple cops in riot gear tackled him and shoved his face into the pavement. Did they arrest him? Nope. They just beat the crap out of him for no apparent reason. The entire night went like that. Cops clearing the area like they were the Chinese security forces putting down the Hong Kong protests.

Was this the ghetto? Was it a bad neighborhood? No. It was the homecoming party on main street at my overwhelmingly white college in mid Michigan. Those four blocks of Main Street got out of hand on homecoming and the last day of the school year, and for whatever reason the cops decided that they were going to do absolutely anything to shut that neighborhood down. The city actually wrote an ordinance that stated that anyone who didn't live in one of those four blocks would be blocked from being there on certain days of the year. They even cordoned off the area with yellow police tape and stationed officers at every corner.

Just across the street from the north end of it, some students who lived there hung a banner from their window that read "Welcome to West Berlin."

The point is, these folks in the "ghetto" in Detroit are just out after dark having some fun. They're enjoying music and each other's company. Yeah, it might seem scary for Derec or Halfie who haven't spent a nanosecond in places like this, but it's not like these folks are rioting like the white middle class kids at my school. That night at the party was far more dangerous than this relatively normal night on the streets of Detroit.

Ah so you deal with revisionist history. Might I recommend you never look up the Watts riots, the 1992 L.A. riots, and never NEVER look up the beating of Reginald Denny that was captured live on the news.

Did you mean to link a different video? The one you did link shows no riots, no crime, no nothing but a peaceful party on the street. Maybe some littering if we are being generous. It also gives no context - if it was taken in an average weekday night at two am, it's obviously a nuisance to residents who want to sleep (still no crime), but for all we know it was taken at 9pm on the 4th of July.

Notice how he dodged the point he bolded. He referenced Watts and L.A., but didn't say anything about where HE was when they were happening. Halfie would probably wet himself if he ever wandered into a bad neighborhood.

 

[Horatio Parker]

Indeed. If you go to Appalachia you will find dysfunction there too. Except it is politically correct to talk about that but politically incorrect to talk about dysfunction in the inner cities, except of course to blame whitey, like ruby sparks' source is doing.

When dysfunction in the inner city is discussed, the inhabitants of the inner city and Democrats are always blamed . However when dysfunction in Appalachia is discussed (which is almost never), the inhabitants are not blamed nor is any political party. Perhaps even you can spot the difference here.

A long time ago, I went to this party in a notorious neighborhood. The four blocks around there had a reputation, if you catch my meaning. The night I was there, things got out of hand. Way out of hand. I was in an apartment building set back from the street, but watched from the window as the whole fiasco unfolded. It wasn't just people dancing in the middle of the street. No, it was hundreds of drunk and sometimes belligerent people partying. It was very loud, and very chaotic. Then around midnight, we heard an announcement over a loudspeaker. The police were about to move in. They'd showed up with riot gear, tear gas, and were saying (officially) "you need to clear out, or shit's going down."

When people didn't move, the cops started marching down the street. Swinging night sticks, shoving people with their shields, and arresting people. A friend of mine had gone out of the apartment and was standing in the courtyard...hands in his pockets, not threatening anyone, when a couple cops in riot gear tackled him and shoved his face into the pavement. Did they arrest him? Nope. They just beat the crap out of him for no apparent reason. The entire night went like that. Cops clearing the area like they were the Chinese security forces putting down the Hong Kong protests.

Was this the ghetto? Was it a bad neighborhood? No. It was the homecoming party on main street at my overwhelmingly white college in mid Michigan. Those four blocks of Main Street got out of hand on homecoming and the last day of the school year, and for whatever reason the cops decided that they were going to do absolutely anything to shut that neighborhood down. The city actually wrote an ordinance that stated that anyone who didn't live in one of those four blocks would be blocked from being there on certain days of the year. They even cordoned off the area with yellow police tape and stationed officers at every corner.

Just across the street from the north end of it, some students who lived there hung a banner from their window that read "Welcome to West Berlin."

The point is, these folks in the "ghetto" in Detroit are just out after dark having some fun. They're enjoying music and each other's company. Yeah, it might seem scary for Derec or Halfie who haven't spent a nanosecond in places like this, but it's not like these folks are rioting like the white middle class kids at my school. That night at the party was far more dangerous than this relatively normal night on the streets of Detroit.

Michigan State? I know they have a tradition of this stuff.

My alma mater, btw. Never noticed when I went there, but I wasn't the party animal type.

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

Did you mean to link a different video? The one you did link shows no riots, no crime, no nothing but a peaceful party on the street. Maybe some littering if we are being generous. It also gives no context - if it was taken in an average weekday night at two am, it's obviously a nuisance to residents who want to sleep (still no crime), but for all we know it was taken at 9pm on the 4th of July.

Notice how he dodged the point he bolded. He referenced Watts and L.A., but didn't say anything about where HE was when they were happening. Halfie would probably wet himself if he ever wandered into a bad neighborhood.

Halfie may need to bone up on his Social Comparison Theory. It may help him get a grip on some of the stupid things he does when he observes other people.

 

[Toni]

It's been a while but I used to live in the northern suburbs of Detroit (yeah: super white area. I was moving in from out of state and what did I know?) but for several years, I commuted to Detroit fairly regularly and we used to take the kids down to the art museum and the science museum on a regular basis. There were definitely areas where it was not safe to go or at least to go unaccompanied but honestly, I took a bus down and back on the regular and sometimes parked in a parking structure at night and never, ever had a problem. The only time I was ever concerned at all was when I missed my bus stop by about a mile and looked up to see I was in front of a porn theater with working girls and their pimps and some dealers out front. I needed to be somewhere and had no choice but to get out there and walk back to my actual destination. Which I did without any actual problem. Was I happy about it? Nope. Did anyone speak to me? Yep. Did anybody attempt to frighten me or to harm me? Nope.

The truth is that there are 'bad neighborhoods' all over the place.

Dancing in the street and block parties do not make a 'bad neighborhood.' Rather the opposite.

 

[Half-Life]

Does anyone know, or has it been said and I've missed it, which neighbourhood (or even which streets) in Detroit is/are featured in the OP video?

Perhaps if we knew that, and more about when the footage was taken (was it a week night, what time was it) we could better comment on whether it was common, everyday behaviour or a special event of some sort. In other words we could set the footage in context.

The OP also suggested that the maker of the video had done a series.

But, don't you see your double standard?

You are assuming the best about them but if these were poor white people, you guys would be saying how they are "addicted uneducated idiotic meth heads." You wouldn't be asking for clarification about what time the video was taken, the context of the video, saying things like, "Maybe they are all celebrating career advancements" etc.

Same thing with poor white Trump voters = idiotic inbred morons

Poor black Dem voters? = not a peep about their lack of education for voting Dem

Ever see CNN call out "idiotic uneducated blacks voting Democrat!!" Nope! But, you've seen CNN say "idiotic uneducated whites voting for Trump!!"

 

[ZiprHead]

You are assuming the best about them but if these were poor white people, you guys would be saying how they are "addicted uneducated idiotic meth heads." You wouldn't be asking for clarification about what time the video was taken, the context of the video, saying things like, "Maybe they are all celebrating career advancements" etc.

I'm sure you have some examples of this you can show?

Oh, who the fuck am I kidding?

 

[laughing dog]

You are assuming the best about them but if these were poor white people, you guys would be saying how they are "addicted uneducated idiotic meth heads." You wouldn't be asking for clarification about what time the video was taken, the context of the video, saying things like, "Maybe they are all celebrating career advancements" etc.

I'm sure you have some examples of this you can show?

Oh, who the fuck am I kidding?

Please stop feeding that troll.

 

[Rhea]

THis is the weirdest thread - best I can tell it’s some spurious complaint meant to put down black people. And it plays on this “city/urban” trope about how disruptive this party is, blah blah blah. And tries to make excuses that in appalachia, it’s all fine because we don’t live as close to each other. And so therefore we obviously have jobs. Or something.


In my neighborhood people interrupt your sleep from time to time, too. With gunfire, with chain saws, with quads racing up and down the street. With cars doing donuts in the sandy intersections. And people block the street all the time by stopping their pick-up trucks in the middle of the road to chat for half an hour. Bonfires with loud music and drinking and back yard gun sales.

But what you don’t see is white guys taking videos of it to demean the white people involved and getting them posted on the internet by other white guys trying to demean the white people involved.

Funny, isn’t it. What do you suppose is the difference?

 

[Toni]

THis is the weirdest thread - best I can tell it’s some spurious complaint meant to put down black people. And it plays on this “city/urban” trope about how disruptive this party is, blah blah blah. And tries to make excuses that in appalachia, it’s all fine because we don’t live as close to each other. And so therefore we obviously have jobs. Or something.


In my neighborhood people interrupt your sleep from time to time, too. With gunfire, with chain saws, with quads racing up and down the street. With cars doing donuts in the sandy intersections. And people block the street all the time by stopping their pick-up trucks in the middle of the road to chat for half an hour. Bonfires with loud music and drinking and back yard gun sales.

But what you don’t see is white guys taking videos of it to demean the white people involved and getting them posted on the internet by other white guys trying to demean the white people involved.

Funny, isn’t it. What do you suppose is the difference?

But do they dance, tho?

 

[barbos]

That particular video is not particularly bad, and I really doubt that it's not 4th of July or something like that in which case it's not bad at all.
The guy has much "worse" videos in his youtube channel, so I don't understand why it was chosen.