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| © tom stoye |
The abandoned Packard Motor Car Company plant on East Grand Blvd, along with the Michigan Central Depot on Michigan Avenue, are two iconic Detroit buildings whose legacy will forever be linked to the downfall of Detroit as a once prosperous city. Sad as this might be, what's more depressing, is the celebration of so-called "ruins" as a tourist trade.
Driving past the Packard plant a couple weeks ago, I came upon a tour bus loaded with people who were taking a tour of the ruins of Detroit. The one lady I talked to informed me that they were from the Toledo Art Museum, and they were hear to study urban spaces and the re-purposing of that space in the present. Sound familiar? It should, it's the mantra of the white-savior industrial complex, which is steadily becoming one of the more popular sports of the "haves," at the expense of those who make up the "have-nots." The response I would loved to have heard was, "Holy crap, the ruins in Toledo pale by comparison. I can't wait to go home and show these pictures to the rest of the family." That response would've fallen into the category of what my son refers to as "real-talk."
One of the ironies of the moment, was what appeared to be a group of homeless men who were hanging out across the street on the north side of Grand Boulevard, watching in confused amazement, as well-dressed tourists exited the bus in single file. Imagine for a moment, if this were you. You're hanging out on the corner, gripped by poverty and hunger, you're out of work, with little or no prospects, when out of nowhere, a tour bus pulls up to your neighborhood.
If this isn't an Orwellian moment, what is?
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