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"Detroit has so many good things going for it: An international border. A water trade route to the Atlantic. More fresh water resources than any other state. Rail lines that are well connected to Chicago and the East Coast."

TIL Detroit would be an awesome capitol city in Civ V.

But...how much do those things matter in a modern world?

I think I agree with the basics of your assertion about racism playing a role in what's wrong with Detroit. But, I think you have rose-colored glasses about Silicon Valley. There is class warfare happening in the Bay area, just like in every major city, and poor people of color are coming out with the short end of the stick.

In SV, it's less about color, and more about education. Yes, that's IMO, not fact, OK? But, seriously, I've worked with 1,000+ people in Silicon Valley, and >50% of them are not white. So, Indian, Chinese, and other "colors" can be extremely prosperous here. The market doesn't care about "color", as much as their education, passion, and collaboration. To raise people out of poverty, it is more about attitude than physics. The attitudes in Detroit are far more toxic than the minor class warfare in SV.

> To raise people out of poverty, it is more about attitude than physics.

Actually, it's just about money.

So, what about hispanic and african americans?

There's a world of difference between the kids brought up to choose between pre-med and pre-law, and kids brought up to stay away from the cops.

Those two ideas aren't mutually exclusive. Education is the way out of poverty. America provides more opportunities than most other countries.

> The attitudes in Detroit are far more toxic than the minor class warfare in SV.

Currently live downriver from Detroit - I disagree that the attitudes are more toxic. We have yet to have protests in front of our busses (then again, we don't have very many buses, and the 'mugger mover' only goes in a circle). Unfortunately racial tensions still exist (especially when you leave the downtown area), but anecdotally I believe things are getting better.

  But...how much do those things matter in a modern world?

I think they're going to start mattering a lot more in the future. The drought in the west is likely to continue to get worse. Water isn't exactly abundant in many cities in the south and west, either. Other metro areas that are built on endless sprawl like Phoenix or Atlanta are in trouble when oil gets expensive again (and it will). They have no natural resources and no strategic reason to exist. Detroit does.

Detroit has the same sprawl with no public transit issue as Phoenix, and unlike LA, Dallas, Miami, etcetera, isn't doing anything to fix it. If it's about water and natural resources, along with an urban environment and car-free lifestyle, Chicago is really the only place to be.

- In Silicon Valley, all races collaborate, live & work together, and we thrive.

I'm a Detroit-area native here, living in the Bay Area for over a decade. I once had the same impression about the Bay Area - that it had figured out harmonious race relations. In fact, it was one of the things (in addition to the tech industry) that drew me out here from Michigan.

But I have come to the realization over the years that it was an illusion, and beneath the surface are actually highly economically/racially segregated zones (SV/E.PaloAlto & East SJ, Central SF/Bayview, Oakland Hills / Flats, etc). All these are juxtaposed by signifiant race and class divisions (I'm speaking in aggregate, we all know plenty of individuals who are exceptions).

I'm always surprised at how unwilling many folks in SV are to acknowledge the historical racial dimensions the of current inequality crisis in the Bay Area.

I attribute a lot of it to well intended idealism that is uninformed (as I was) about the tumultuous racial history of the Bay Area, which included many of the same factors as Detroit: white flight, inner-city disinvestment, corrupt governance, manufacturing decline, division/destruction of communities by freeways, and suburbanization.

Do you still live here as well? And to what version of MLK Jr do you refer -- some sanitized and vague liberal hallucination, or the radical Christian egalitarian he was?

A lot of things have hurt Detroit. Include corporate malfeasance, changing labor markets, political corruption, bad planning. But I beg you to clarify if you must insist it is minds.

> But IMO, for Detroit to get "fixed", we just need a change of MIND (which can be more difficult than getting sustainable energy, but seriously, could change in 1 day, for free, if we had MLK Jr. type people on the ground).

Yea, care to explain?

You were born in Detroit, or in the suburbs, like me?

(And I don't mean born at Sinai Hospital and then taken home to the suburbs).

> So, in short, it's people's minds that are killing Detroit.

Or it's people like you who grew up there and decided to abandon it.