We're all from Detroit.
My least favorite argument reared it's ugly head last night.
The good folks at Operation Kid Equip donated dictionaries and school supplies to a group of under privileged third graders. In an article covering the good deed, one reader was angered that the children lived on the wrong side of an invisible boundary.
"we're talking about the bad press "detroit" gets, and how much we love "detroit" and how we want to do great things for it and the donating these books to one of the wealithiest counties in the nation? seems like someone wants a big pat on the back without actually having to come up with the monumental task of reaching the kids that are so badly starved for books and learning equipment."
Obviously for the commenter, not all poor kids are created equal.
It's an age old debate that has been fueled by small minded people who never found time to read about the Star-Bellied Sneetches from Dr. Seuss. "Detroit is Detroit" some say, putting a line in the sand between the city of Detroit and the suburban neighborhoods outside the city limits. "I'm not part of Detroit, I live in Oakland County," others boast.
They are both wrong.
Pick up a world map or a globe. When you look at the mitt, you won't find Troy, Taylor or Trenton. There's no Birmingham, Brighton or Brownstown. To the outside world, there's only one city in the great state of Michigan. There is only Detroit. No one hears about the problems in Detroit and says "but things are peachy up in Ferndale."
We succeed together. We fail together.
No one outside the state sees any difference between Oakland County and Detroit. Just as no one outside of California sees any difference between Orange County and LA.
The "8 Mile to the river" crowd needs to get over themselves. The suburb snobs need to wake up.
We're all Detroit.
Children, poverty and positive action know no political boundaries. Until we erase the invisible boundaries between the boroughs of the Detroit area, the world will never bask in the light of our promise and our true potential.
Retropost: Say you're from Detroit
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Learn how you can support the Dictionary Project and Operation Kid Equip.
Read more from the good folks mentioned in the original Oakland Press story:
There's no better feeling than making a child smile. My exp. w/ our 1st dictionary distribution.
Our first batch of dictionaries are now in students' hands. What does that mean?
The Power of Words & the Potential of a Child.
My friend Matt Dibble coined a new term and Richard Zmijewski perfectly defined it:
"Pulling a Martha Reeves" - to have such a Detroit-city-centric attitude that you neglect to recognize the greater Southeast Michigan community at the (ironic) expense of the city you love.
Charlie, you should have been at Inforum last Friday to hear Ann Moore, CEO of Time Inc tell with a smile about why she "probably paid over market by about five times" when she bought the D House on Parker street in the West Village as the Detroit bureau. She has all of her many publications writing, as Emily used to say, nice things about Detroit.
This isn't a commercial, but I think I captured her excitement about Assignment: Detroit in an upcoming online article that will be on the Corp! website Thursday.
In the meantime you can read about Robert Bobb in Time, Dave Bing in Sports Illustrated and Kym Worthy in Essence -- and still online is a fascinating article in Fortune about one man's dream -- backed with real money (much of it his own) -- to create commercial-sized farms in the city limits.