Step Backwards Into The Future: Why Detroit's Large Scale Urban Farming Plans Should Make You Uncomfortable

Slavery. 

It's something that most don't wish to discuss, and even more would like to pretend never happened. From the civil rights movement to affirmative action and beyond, few things in American history have infected every aspect of social interaction quite like slavery and the legacy it left behind. One would think that in this modern time, with the exception of lunatic fringe groups, no one would believe that slavery in any form is a good idea. Certainly you wouldn't expect to see a revival of post-slavery control methods being trumpeted as a solution for Detroit's woes, right?  Neither would I, but that's exactly why the current plans of the urban farming faction should make you more than a little apprehensive.

It is important to point out that I'm not discussing small neighborhood farms or co-op's here. Those kinds of gardens have been traditionally important in this country and area, and self-sustainability is never a bad thing. The "farms" that I'm referencing are these proposed factory level operations such as Gary Wozniak's Recovery Park project. For those who don't know, Mr. Wozniak and his non-profit SHAR Foundation wish to create a 600 acre large-scale farming operation, split into small farms of around 30 acres each throughout a project area of 2,400 acres. It is an ambitious plan that would most likely face little opposition  except for two major issues. The first is that the area in which his foundation would like to implement this plan is directly in the midst of occupied neighborhoods. The second is that the residents of this area see this plan as sharecropping under the guise of social benefit.  In an article published in the Detroit News one resident went so far as to call it a "plantation." The question is, are they wrong? 

It's obvious that some might question the good faith involved in a cadre of wealthy white individuals purchasing large swaths of land throughout the city with the intention of having poor black citizens farm said land. Personally, I find the fact that someone would propose this idea in a public arena to be absolutely insane, especially in a city that has struggled with segregation and racial tensions as long as Detroit has. Combine a project like this with Mayor Dave Bing's "downsizing" of neighborhoods that don't appeal to rich suburbanites, and it's almost impossible to not wonder what the final goal of all of this is.

While it is a fact that Detroit needs employment for people unqualified to work at Compuware or any of the other corporations in the area, I feel that the solution is to rebuild our education system, not create jobs tailored to promoting a culture of manual labor performed by the economically underprivileged. The idea that we should work within the confines of a racist system to improve ourselves is terrifying to me. Wouldn't the people be better served by changing a false way of life that has, throughout the years, destroyed everything that we've built? How does any person with any sort of social conscious look at an idea like this and not see, or worse, ignore the racial implications of this as nonexistent? Regardless of how these ideas are phrased when talking to the citizens it's almost impossible to not have the specter of racial inequality hanging over the discussion. 

It's certain that some individuals will point to these concerns as an example of "this is why things don't get done in Detroit," but these are the same people who fail to understand that these issues have always been a factor in Detroit for good reason. This city is in need a full overhaul if it is to survive, that is for certain, but moving our city and its people back to the 1800's is far from the desired goal. We have to look at this area for what it really is, the concerns it actually faces, and then fix those issues from the top levels if we are to survive. We cannot paste a new face on an abhorrent concept and call it a plan for change. We cannot expect people who have been lied to over and over again to simply trust what is said. Old ideas are not what this city needs.

Especially when those ideas were abolished in 1865. 

A Drug Is A Drug: The U.S. Addiction To Reality Avoidance

The addict cannot tolerate reality and its vicissitudes. Neither internal reality nor external reality. They find reality repugnant, uncomfortable, overwhelming, and prefer, like the psychotic, withdrawal into fantasy, bliss or oblivion over reality. They seek constantly to alter subjective and objective reality to their own liking.

                      Avoidance, Sobriety and Reality: The Psychology of Addiction, 2010

We have all seen children playing "cops and robbers" or some similar game. When one child claims that they "got" another child, the most common reaction is an automatic denial of this followed by a convoluted reason as to why. This behavior normally causes no undue concern, simply because it is a child's way of dealing with an unpleasant experience. It is much less common to hear an adult resort to this behavior, as most stop using this mechanism as they grow more mature and realize that it isn't a realistic option. The one group of adults who do use such rationalizations on a regular basis are addicts and people who are generally unable to deal with reality. It is truly disturbing to see the American government resorting to such behaviors.

Following Standard and Poor's lowering of the United States credit rating from an AAA to an AA+, the White House's reaction was to state that S&P's "analysis was deeply flawed." The Treasury Department followed this by accusing S&P of making a "major mistake in it's calculations," with a spokesperson stating "a judgment flawed by a $2-trillion error speaks for itself." This response illuminates the comprehensive failure of our elected officials to understand the effects of the political system that we have operated under since the beginning of the Bush administration. This country shows the classic signs of addiction behavior, and the disconnection from reality those behaviors cause. The official backlash to the downgrade is reminiscent of an addict trying to get drugs without money, saying "come on man, I've always been good for it! Trust me." The problem is that the American way of life, the fallacy that we have become reliant on, is just that. We operate under an umbrella of credit at all economic levels. We want want we can't afford, what we can't sustain, and we become petulant children when we are denied. The economic depression that this country is in the midst of has far-reaching effects upon the global market, but that fact is lost upon the American people, for who other countries need to simply fall in line or get out of the way.

America has many addictions, and like a person addicted to anything, we fail to see how deeply we affect others or ourselves. The ideas and concepts that we have sewn into the fabric of our existence are dangerously approaching what can only be called a “rock-bottom.” We are, for example, dangerously addicted to wishful thinking. So severe is our addiction to always looking at the “bright side” that we will ignore anything that doesn’t fall into our limited national view of self. We seem unable to rationally see that our “way of life” is destroying our actual way of life. The news media refuses to report anything that has a bearing on the lives of actual people, preferring to invent illogical fears, interview celebrities, and broadcast so-called “human interest” stories masquerading as relevant news. Government actions that will affect the lives of huge numbers of people are swept under the rug to make sure that the fourth episode this week of America's Got Talent can be voted on by the masses.

The blame for this state of affairs does not fall solely on the shoulders of the media by any means, as the people demand this escapism. I personally feel that a large percentage of people are only angry with their officials over the debt ceiling because it forced them to actually engage in the real world, if only for a moment. These individuals cannot deal with the empire burning down around them, and so they retreat into a world of trivial unimportance, becoming enraged if anything should shake them from their reverie.

Another aspect that America shares with addicts of other stripes is the tendency to attack others who may be telling them the truth or attempting to place things in perspective. The rumblings from the Capitol have been mostly immature, centering around a misguided concept of “who the hell is Standard and Poor to tell us how to act?” These people are the same ones who were trumpeting our golden AAA status as a reason to fix the budget just weeks ago. This is remarkably similar to an alcoholic getting furious at someone close who suggests that they might have a drinking problem. In place of what should be a moment of self-reflection, we instead resort to anger because we know that the other party is correct in their judgment. It is simply ridiculous to claim that we never really cared about what the main credit rating agencies had to say now that we are no longer the favorite.

This is not to say that Standard & Poor, or any other rating agency, is infallible. The choices made by S&P during the sub-prime mortgage crisis will attest to that. The politicians responsible for the debt ceiling “solution” seem to think that everyone should believe everything is fine now. They are insulted that the rest of the world is pointing out that nothing was accomplished and our actions will take a toll on everyone involved in global trade. True to the form of addiction, none of that matters to us. We will do anything to continue what is killing us, regardless of consequences, regardless of how much we destroy.

If someone has a drug or alcohol problem, there are many avenues of help. They can enter rehabilitation, or join a twelve step program. Many people have gotten some much needed perspective in just this way, and most would say that they're better for it. There is not, however, a support group for post-industrial nations. There isn't a rehabilitation program for delusional nation-states addicted to an system of capitalism that in unsustainable. There is no methadone treatment for mainlining crude oil. This is a wake-up call for America. We have overdosed and woken up in the emergency room. The doctors and counselors are standing near asking us if this is enough, if we finally want to get sober. The options are treatment or death. America is going to have to take a long hard look in the mirror and really ask itself, “is this who I want to be?” Maybe with this scolding on the international level, America can have what is known as a “moment of clarity.” Maybe we will not end up the beggar on the street corner of international politics, claiming we need money for food while plotting to spend it on drugs. Maybe America has the strength to go cold turkey and clean itself up.

I wish I could believe it does.

Shop Til You Drop or: How I Learned Stop Worrying And Love The Mall

During a late night conversation about two Facebook pages that were created over the last few days, Whole Foods Isnt Worth 4.2 Million in Incentives and I am Happy Whole Foods is coming to Detroit because I am not insane, I said something that happened to stick with me. What was this realization?

People don't want to live in a city, they want to live in a shopping mall.

"Where Detroit needs to go" has been framed by the question of what corporately-owned companies should be opening branches inside city limits, as if the main problem that the city faces is where the brave suburban pioneers will shop for goods. You see, people aren't interested in whether there's schools, firefighters, or police. They don't want to think about the social and racial ramifications of the choices that are being made. What they do want is what has become the "American Dream," easy access to shiny baubles of status. If you look at modern city planning, whether in a suburban or urban area, the goal of designing around a public use space like a park or town square has been forsaken to focus the area on a major shopping center or strip mall. When you ask people about the area they live in, more often than not, the first facts they will give you are what stores are nearby, not a rundown of the neighborhood itself.  The problem with this kind of mindset is that it divorces the human aspect from our area of residence. We go about believing that if there are stores, there will be jobs for everyone, and the general standard of living will gradually become higher. In the past this was true, but this country is a very different place now. Corporately-owned businesses, having no stake in the community they operate in, don't provide anything but sub-standard wages and the destruction of the locally-owned businesses.

When we look at how Detroit got into the situation it now faces, our reliance on the continued good fortune of three major corporations plays a large part in our fall. Yet, knowing what we know about the fallibility of our corporate sponsors, the choices we are making revolve around what multi-national we shall pledge loyalty  to instead. At its deepest level, the future of Detroit revolves around the people who live here and have lived here. The assumption that bringing elitist retail locations to the Midtown area is the beginning of a revival ignores the fact that without a complete overhaul of the services that people rely on, we are just continuing full speed down the same path we have been on for years. The discussion on Whole Foods, City Lofts, and what else should move here reminds me of the hype that surrounded the building of the Compuware building years ago. The same things were said then are being said now, but it doesn't seem like people remember that a Hard Rock Cafe and Ben And Jerry's Ice Cream were the saviors of the moment then. Obviously, people aren't looking deep enough into this problem to really find a fix. Throwing stores that people can't afford to shop in at this city clearly sends the message, "You had your chance, now it's our turn." It reeks of neo-colonial racism, as if an area without high-end retail is somehow uncivilized and unlivable for the masses, as well as the racist sentiment, "obviously they can't handle responsibility or it wouldn't be like that, so they need us."

What bothers me is the large number of people who are willing to stand behind that.