Putting broken Detroit together will take time
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Caribbean Life, December 20-26, 2019 49
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
Humpty Dumpty sat on a
wall.
And you know how that went
for him. The Royal Soldiers and
a bunch of ponies couldn’t help
him and you can only imagine
what happened next: as in
the new book “Broke: Hardship
and Resilience in a City
of Broken Promises” by Jodie
Adams Kirshner, everything
got scrambled.
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
“Broke” author Jodie Adams Kirshner. Nora Canfi eld
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 collegeeducated
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, darnedif
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 takeaways
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 awhile before things are
all put together again.
“Broke: Hardship and
Resilience in a City of Broken
Promises” by Jodie
Adams Kirshner, foreword
by Michael Eric Dyson
c.2019,
St. Martin’s Press
$28.99 / $38.50 Canada
342 pages
Book cover of “Broke” by Jodie Adams Kirshner
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