A Dickens of a Situation

by Stephen A. Jones
January 1, 2010

As Detroiters consider the city’s prospects for 2010, they might do well to contemplate a passage from Charles Dickens, that great chronicler of gritty urban reality in 19th century England. One of Dickens’ most famous and oft-quoted lines comes at the opening of A Tale of Two Cities:

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness; it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us; we were all going directly to Heaven, we were all going the other way — in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”

Dickens packs a lot into that short passage. But while some might argue that it only half applies to Detroit — the “worst of times” half — a more reflective analysis is both necessary and useful.

It is easy to see the negatives when it comes to Detroit. In late November and December, the Sunday paper was running great thick sections that totaled 126 pages, six columns per page, in small type, of property tax defaults in Wayne County. At least 100 of those pages were devoted just to the city of Detroit. Breathtaking and appalling are words that come to mind.

The city is facing a budget deficit in excess of $300 million and an unemployment rate of about 28 percent. In early December, Mayor Dave Bing was seeking federal assistance to expand employment by hiring people to tear down Detroit’s 70,000 abandoned buildings. Not a bad idea, though the reality that sparks it is discouraging and depressing.

Meanwhile, circumstances in the Detroit Public Schools have gotten so bad that the district’s CEO, Robert Bobb, put out an urgent plea for volunteers to serve as reading tutors for the students.

And, of course, there appears to be no escape from the endless fallout of corruption in former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s administration. Former deputy mayor and Kilpatrick childhood friend Kandia Milton pleaded guilty in December to bribery conspiracy charges related to the city’s sale of Camp Brighton in 2007. Former City Council member Monica Conyers faces sentencing in March for her conspiracy to commit bribery conviction. And investigations of Kilpatrick’s administration are continuing.

So where are the “best of times” positives?

Admittedly, they are less obvious and more speculative, but they are hinted at by the public response to Bobb’s appeal for tutors. In the three days following Bobb’s call for help, nearly 900 people responded with offers of help. More important, the potential volunteers were not confined to the city limits of Detroit but came from communities across southeastern Michigan.

Therein lies the ray of hope that lights the way. If everybody in southeastern Michigan — no, in the whole state and across the nation — can finally see that we all have a stake in finding solutions to what is the economic, educational, social and political disaster of Detroit, we have a chance to actually make things better for everyone, inside and outside the city.

All those abandoned houses and businesses that blight the city weren’t abandoned solely by people who still reside within the city, and they don’t affect only city residents. This isn’t about blame. It is, however, about responsibility. We all created this problem together; we have a responsibility to work together to solve it.

And the risks and benefits are not limited to the city alone, either. Consider the potential economic abyss whose brink is represented by those 100 pages of tax defaults and those 70,000 abandoned buildings. Suburban communities that are already struggling with the recession need to think long and hard about the implications of that abyss before they write off such issues as Detroit’s problem.

The good news, as the response to Bobb’s plea shows, is that there are a lot of people outside the city who want to help and who are willing if they can see a useful and practical way.

That is the challenge — and the opportunity — of the current crisis: to find useful and practical ways to overcome the divisions and resentments of the past so we can build together a healthy, prosperous and thriving community that transcends boundaries of race, class, gender and politics.

Last summer, Jerry Heron, dean of the honors college at Wayne State University, told me he believes Detroit can be the place “where we will invent the future.” That is an exciting prospect.

One of the central themes of Dickens’ novel is resurrection and rebirth. It is a theme with a long history in Detroit. A huge fire in 1805 virtually destroyed the city and inspired the city’s motto: “We Hope For Better Things; It Shall Rise From the Ashes.”

More recently, the devastating civil disorder of 1967 prompted a renewal effort that inspired the New Detroit coalition and creation of Renaissance Center and Renaissance High School. That the renewal was incomplete must not deter us.

Rebirth is an endless process that requires unceasing effort. We cannot ignore the “worst of times” reality. But if we would rise from the ashes, we must recognize and seize the “best of times” opportunity.

Where better to solve problems than where problems abound?

When better than now?

Stephen A. Jones is a Detroit resident and assistant professor of History at Central Michigan University. He is co-editor with Eric Freedman of African Americans in Congress: A Documentary History (Congressional Quarterly Press).