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ultimately played itself out in the
he story of Atlanta, which
courts and the impact on black/white
focuses on the 1970s and
relations. "The damage had been done
'80s, also is predominately a
to race relations in the Detrdit area,"
story
' of its mayors:
she writes, "and it would not quickly
Maynard Jackson and Andrew Young.
be undone."
But unlike Detroit, Atlanta has
More divisiveness was on the way.
remained a centralized city and
The year 1974 ushered in the
remains in some ways more fortunate.
Coleman Young era, and "most peo-
"Economics, good intentions, guilt,
ple, black and white, recognized that a
shame and the city's unusually appeal-
torch was being passed and that
ing quality of life; together the combi-
Detroit was now officially a black
nation proved stronger than the grow-
town," writes Jacoby.
ing racial antagonism, and public
Beginning with a biographical
Atlanta held together in a way Detroit
sketch of Young, Jacoby helps clarify
never did," writes Jacoby.
some of the forces that shaped the
Yet, "precisely because unlike
controversial mayor. "Could a man
Detroit, they could not leave, Atlanta's
who lived his whole life as an angry
white businesses were much more
outsider suddenly become an in$ider?"
threatened by an ideologically hostile
Jacoby asks. "Could
he shed his contempt
for whites and blacks
who tried to fit in?"
Jacoby unfolds a
mayoral history with
numerous examples
of how Young rein-
forced racial polariza-
tion. As George
Cantor, the Detroit
News columnist fre-
quently quoted in the
book, says, "[Young]
got most people in
the city to believe
that any criticism [of
Detroit] was part of a
In the wake of the Detroit riots, civic leaders like Max
white conspiracy."
Fisher struggled to find ways to help blacks and whites
Jacoby also pro-
come together.
vides a brief history of
the Renaissance
Center, a project launched by Max
mayor [Maynard Jackson] they could
Fisher and Henry Ford II and herald-
not control."
ed by Mayor Young and the national
Affirmative action programs and
press corps.
business set-asides became part of all
The Renaissance Center, writes
public contracts under Jackson, and
Jacoby, was a "bullish, last-ditch effort
were perpetrated and expanded under
to bridge the widening gulf between
the more sophisticated and less con-
black city and white suburb." But in
tentious Andrew Young. However,
the final analysis, she asserts, rather
there wasn't a lot of good news for
than sparking growth, the RecCen
Atlanta's black residents.
sucked firms and services out of other
Jacoby focuses on public construc-
downtown office buildings.
tion projects and Atlanta's construc-
"[Detroit] needed not just capital
tion boom during the '70s and '80s to
but cooperation — sustained, whole-
illustrate that very few blacks benefit-
hearted cooperation between those
ed. The expected trickle-down effect
who were part of the system and
to poor and uneducated blacks did
those stranded outside it," writes
not occur.
Jacoby.
"... In the end, what really killed
espite its length (550
the city was its failure to hold and pull
pages), and a great deal of
together as one community. If integra-
meticulously researched
tion ever mattered, it mattered in
detail, Someone Else's House
Detroit — and when it failed, the city
is very readable. The book is well
went under."
organized, with each chapter telling a
story in itself. And Jacoby's point of

7

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84 Detroit Jewish News

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