From Derek Hunter in Townhall, Detroit: My City Was Gone

Excerpt:

Mayor Young, first elected in 1974, was the first black mayor of Detroit. He entered office with all the promise that could bring to a city nearly 50 percent black. The city was hurting, but it was salvageable. Rather than focus on attracting businesses, Young set about taxing those that remained, driving them and those who worked for them, to the suburbs. Coleman Young was noted for a few things, none more than his mouth. He loved blaming the “Racist Mother F*@kers north of 8 Mile” for his city’s decline.

As he drove out businesses, Mayor Young also drove out people. People follow jobs. You hear the term “white flight” associated with Detroit, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. Yes, white flight happened, but it was soon followed by black flight, Hispanic flight and every other type possible. This rainbow flight was a direct result of Young’s divisive rhetoric and policies, with an ever-growing city tax burden and, like the Kilpatrick administration that came later, corruption, there was simply no reason to stay. Detroit is now a city whose population consists almost exclusively of people who can’t afford to leave. It’s 700,000 people under un-sentenced house arrest.

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