With respect to Detroit, I am very much inclined to believe that the rebellion of 1967 had the impact of crystalizing an economic blockade that had been developing for 15 years on the city , a blockade by the bourgeoisie, something like that on Cuba.
There was the bullet and then the ballot, a la Malcolm X: The rebellion and then the election of Coleman Young as Black mayor extraordinaire. For this , and really for being 80% Black population, Detroit is still under economic blockade punishment by the powers that be. These were the culmination of a socioeconomic historical shift which was marked by segregating of residence based on race through white flight to the suburbs especially beginning in the 50's with open housing law ( see Sugrue, _The Origins of the Urban Crisis_: Coleman Young _Hardstuff_). It was also part of a relative scattering of some main points of industrial production from a concentration in the city of Detroit ( and Dearborn) to the surrounding suburbs. In a way, it seems to have been from the midwest to the South, from the US to other countries, in what gets termed postindustrialism, post-Fordism, restructuring. The concentrated proletarian powerhouse was busted up; and racially resegregated, on the typical American model, Black vs. white. The bourgeoisie cannot really undo what they have done. They are hoisted on their own petard. Detroit is a pariah society. White masses will not move back in, desegregate. The bourgeoisie will not invest in an African town, like this, with so few white people to benefit. They must blockade us like Cuba, or Haiti. I take that back. They will find ways to invest "in" Detroit, but so that most of the local population will not benefit. So, the NYT has to have a cover story that poverty in Detroit today is due to the rebellion of 1967, cause and effect, politicallyeconomically, QED. Actually, it is. The bourgeoisie are still punishing the rebellion, among other things. Perhaps, Postrel is making a confession. * On another issue, I know this is economically stupid, but I liked it when I bought a house in Detroit for $70,000, and people would visit me from the east coast and the west coast and say it would be worth 500,000 dollars there. I'm like "cool". Of course, I was raised on _Stone Age Economics_. De Isle de Detroit * From: "Devine, James" This may be interesting to Detroiters and others. (I'm not endorsing it.) The New York Times December 30, 2004 ECONOMIC SCENE The Consequences of the 1960's Race Riots Come Into View By VIRGINIA POSTREL
