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Make of this what you will. It's a bunch of local people posting thoughtfully about a provocative subject at a Detroit forum on Reddit.
It's schmoozing, not sociology; observations, not research; conversation, not polling.
Still, it's a selective snapshot of Detroit in the first quarter of 2018 -- an informal State of the City thread with 150 comments in under a day.
A young Dexter Avenue resident who lives near Midtown kicks off the discussion with a five-sentence post under a stark title: "Lots of white people moving in."
Here's how "KingofCool123" tees it up:
I’ve lived here my whole life (19 years) and this past year I've seen multiple white people just walking around. I find it pretty funny because I've always seen just black people and the occasional white drug addict.
It's cool I've talked to a few and they seem pretty chill. I'm glad more people of different races are moving in around town. I'd like to see Detroit being more diverse in the future.
In two replies, he adds:
These past few years have been great. They've been tearing down a lot of these abandoned houses and fixing roads, etc. People are getting grants and fixing up old houses and a lot is going on.
I'm happy with the direction the city is going in. . . . Once I finish school, I plan to buy up a few homes and fix them up as well.
Reactions are largely positive and uplifting, with just a few snipes about gentrification and displacement. Eavesdrop on what some of our neighbors say today:
♦ Last week I saw a white father pushing his two kids on the swings at Scripps Park. Me and my friends looked at each and were like "wtf is happening in this neighborhood?" [The park is at Grand River and Trumbull, on the edge of Woodbridge.]
♦ Guilty. I bought a home from the land bank and have been hard at work fixing it up over the past couple years. I've learned a ton in the process, both about home repairs and about Detroit itself.
Photo illustration from DepositPhotos
♦ I remember the first time I ever went to Batch [Brewing Co.] I was sitting there and watched a white family of four ride bikes down the street. My initial reaction was "get out of here," but then I remembered it wasn't 1995 anymore.
♦ It makes me really happy. Detroit can lead the way in being a true multiracial, multi-generational city and I'm down with that.
♦ Dexter area has seen a lot of young white couples moving in. They are hardly gentrifiers because they moved to the Dexter area for the quality homes at a good price, and they are moving into and fixing up abandoned homes that nobody is being displaced from. . . . Guarantee you they mainly moved to that neighborhood because Boston Edison, North End, Corktown and other areas were much higher-priced.
♦ Good. It's sad how many white people I know that are absolutely terrified of Detroit.
♦ I still have out-of-town friends who think I'm joking when I extol the virtues of Detroit. It's a seriously cool city.
♦ It’s certainly an interesting dynamic that takes some getting used to. What you wrote echoes what my students have told me about their experiences in Detroit: "What's up with all of the white people walking their dogs in Clark Park?" [and] "I'm not used to seeing white people in my neighborhood unless they’re crackheads." . . . It all fascinates me! I'm all for the reduction of tension and barriers in the region. We've got to mix and mingle. It's how we can understand ourselves and each other.
♦ I'll be moving to Detroit in about a month for a job, so I'm a guilty party.
♦ You're not guilty of anything. We all belong everywhere.
♦ White person here. Moved to Detroit two0 years ago. I worry about gentrifying the city all the time -- what can I do to make sure I’m not?
♦ Patronize black-owned businesses.
♦ We make an effort in that department but could definitely do better.
♦ Detroit should be prosperous and diverse.
♦ I would love to have a home in University District or Sherwood Forest, but I'll have to settle for Green Acres or Bagley today.
♦ Our offer on a house in Bagley was accepted two days ago and we can't be more excited.
♦ As a black person, I'm all for it if that means taxes get paid, schools get better and more diversity in the city. I understand the issue with gentrification, but I'm not going to blame a white family trying to move in there. If there were political agendas to starve black people from opportunity and push them to leave, then I would be pissed.
But downtown Detroit is great if you can afford to live in a decent part. The food, the entertainment, the museums, Eastern Market, the culture. If the schools were better, I would move my family down there in a heartbeat.
