The Michigan Citizen, owned by the wife of the guy Kwame Kilpatrick once called Bernard's "favorite white brother," is very upset about this Marche du Nain Rouge happening in the Cass Corridor Sunday.
See, if you take the Nain Rogue legend literally, that is, if you actually believe an actual red dwarf actually cursed Detroit and that curse is the actual cause of Detroit's problems, then you are ignoring real issues like race and poverty and corruption. This is true. Of course, if you believed all that then you also would be a moron. Like in the clinical, subnormal-IQ sense.
Thankfully, unlike prosperity theology or faith healing, no one around here actually believes the Nain Rouge is real. Just like no one over the age of seven or eight believes in Santa Claus. It's just too bad the Citizen, or at least Citizen writer Phreddy Wischusen, doesn't grasp the fundamental distinction between history and mythology.
When discussing Detroit’s current and past woes, some people blame the dwarf’s curse (not the years of corruption, endemic regional racism, or a national economic model dependent on worldwide capital colonialism).The Marche du Nain Rouge, founded in 2010, is a parade where residents are invited to “banish the red dwarf” in effigy and end the “curse” on the city. The marchers are predominately young middle class childless Caucasians, recent transplants to the city. Though well-meaning, the theme of the parade supports the very philosophy that has plagued the city since its inception. In the legend, Cadillac’s first encounter with the “native” dwarf is aggressive and violent. He never considers openness, interest or diplomacy. He never questions his “right” to be there. The Nain Rouge’s curse was thought to be at work when Chief Pontiac killed 60 people of European descent at Bloody Run. But after years of Europeans stealing land from native tribes, killing and raping the people, and manipulating the environment, can one not expect a fight? The United States has been at war with two nations for over a decade for a small group of people bombing three buildings. And is it more likely that dwarf-ignited riots in 1967 rather than police brutality, segregation and enforced poverty?
