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.
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