The writer is a Michigan State sociology professor from Detroit. This is adapted with permission from a Facebook post.
By Carl S. Taylor
As 2014 comes to a close, many of us are saying good riddance. The truth is that the same issues continue year to year. Reality knows that our challenges transcend human years.
In another century, the iconic sociologist W.E.B. Du Bois warned the world that race was the challenge of the 20th Century. Now, we know that race is still the challenge.
This year is ending with poor folks in our urban communities across the nation looking worse. Detroit is the poorest big city in the union still.
Yes, many black folks have done well. Many contribute daily as professionals and as working-class citizens. We must admit that our public education that I had, along with many others, did work. Like many of you, I have been blessed by the opportunity that our forefathers and foremothers fought and died for. Our civil rights movement made a big difference to produce dentist, business executives, doctors, accountants, legal scholars, judges, litigators. Public education is the cornerstone of our quest to learn, to improve ourselves.
Carl S. Taylor: "We cannot keep doing what we have done in ignoring our basic needs. The ghost-filled ruins of our old neighborhoods are not simply my nostalgia."
Yet the number of castaways has grown. There are countless acts of depravity from the untouchables, the wretched population.
The Detroit bankruptcy was a must, it is said. It’s now history and how the city moves forward is yet to be seen. This I know: We cannot keep doing what we have done in ignoring our basic needs.
The ghost-filled ruins of our old neighborhoods are not simply my nostalgia. My brother, Virgil, and countless others of us enjoyed much more than great music. We lived as much more valued individuals, despite the rhetoric of ghetto people reported by media and academia.
Detroit granted opportunity to many immigrants -- migrants from abroad and the Jim Crow South. Now you want to bring immigrants to Detroit and at the same time forget about the population already living here?
Social education for those from broken homes must be taken seriously. Formal education is a must if these folks are to work in a world that has left them isolated -- not all that “pull themselves up by their bootstraps” rhetoric. During a powerful speech years ago, Ronald Robinson Lockett answered such nonsense with one question: "How can they pull their boots up when they have no boots?"
Detroit is not hopeless. We must connect with those who have been historically ignored. Our children must learn better. Males cannot suffer this self-hating confusion that allows us to destroy each other.
This past year has brought many severe happenings, from extreme weather to extreme inhumane behavior. This is an American experience, not simply a black one. We need strong and fair policing. We need strong social workers. We need solid, smart teachers and more faith-based leaders. And we must repair the family structure.
For me, 2014 has been the year of revelations. I hope that we can see better, act better and do better in 2015.
