Thursday, September 9, 1971
THE MICHIGAN DAIL'Y
Page Eleven
Thursday, September 9, 1971 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Eleven
otor
City:
Bea ting
rhythm
of
cars
and
soul
Ann Arbor has a reputation
of being the Athens of the Mid-
west and while its cultural
achievements may not match
those of the Age of Perciles,
4 there is an aura of self-centered-
ness around the University com-
munity Which rivals that of the
ancient Greeks.
Priding itself as a research in-
stitution, the University endea-
vors to solve the world's prob-
lems. There are literally hun-
dreds of projects under Univer-
sity auspices exploring the phy-
sical nature of this planet, delv-
ing into the mysteries of the
human mind, analyzing the dy-
namics of social organizations
and above all, training students
for professional occupations.
But when it comes to dealing
with the problems of a city like
Detroit, the University's re-
searchers and problem solvers
are no where to be found.
Students, for their part will
occasionally merge pnto those
sordid forty miles of express-
way and travel eastward to visit
the Motor City, see a concert or
just look around. But more of-
ten than not, Detroit remains
less than a curiosity for those
of us who don't have parents
there.
For aside, from the small
number of blacks now enrolled
ii the University, we remain an
institution populated by the
children of white suburbia.
Needless to say, having just left
what they consider to be a dy-
ing city, few "Detroiters" ac-
tually care to go there.
Thus, for most of the Univer-
sity community, Detroit evokes
images which can be described
with words starting in the same
letter, namely: dead, dull,
dreary, dirty, and so on.
And while some people at the
University may be intellectually
curious about Detroit and its
- problems, the emotions which
fall under the word "empathy"
are rarely apparent among us.
Which is unfortunate, for when
we ignore the emotional quality
of things happening beyond the
shadow of academia, we really
do deserve our reputation of be-
ing ensconced in an ivory tower.
'Detroiters, as to be expected,
return our high-handedness in
kind. A relatively hip guidebook
to the Motor City (written by
Detroiters) offers this introduc-
tion to its chapter on Ann Ar-
"Ann Arbor, forty miles or
so to the west of Detroit, is
known as "The Research Cen-
ter of the Midwest" and "The
All-American City." Accord-
ing to University of Michigan
students, it is a small island
of intellect bravely subsisting
amid the cornfields of the
Midwest. The city houses over
100,000 people, most attach-
ed to Academe in one way or
another.
"Detroit, big and hairy-
armed, looks boorish by com-
parison. Detroit is working-
class and sometimes speaks
with a foreign accent. It sends
its sons and daughters to Ann
Arbor to get educated, to get
the class that it doesn't have.
Ann Arbor is petit and learn-
ed..."
As the sheriff in an old Paul
T.V. RENTALS
$10.50/mo.
NEJAC T.V.
662-567
Newman movie once said:
"What we have here is a fail-
ure to communicate."
Bridging this communications
gap won't be easy but it is the
necessary first step for coming
to terms with Detroit. And more
importantly, it would raise the
'curtain from one of the most
moving, albeit depressing, hu-
man dramas of our nation.
Fortunately, a great impetus
toward making our academic ex-
perience more relevant to De-
troit will come as a result of
the University's commitment to
increase black enrollment.
For the next few years black
students will probably demand
that the University offer courses
and programs which explore ur-
ban problems, particularly those
of Detroit. And hopefully, inter-
est in Detroit will spread
throughout the University com-
munity until assuming its pro-
per importance.
But both in the short and
long run, the key to really ap-
preciating the richness of De-
troit lies in becoming familiar
with it on a personal level. This
DETROIT:
A special feature
by STUART GANNES ,
Editorial Director 1970-71
stand them. A chapter in the
guidebook quoted earlier on
how to meet people begins:
"As America's ugliest city
Detroit runs East St. Louis a
close second. As America's un-
friendliest city, Detroit has no
peer. One reason for this is ,
that no one in Detroit is out-
side for any length of time.
They are always inside: inside
a home, an office, a car. If
you don't know people to start
with and are not willing to
put out the extra effort it
takes to make friends in De-
troit, chances are you still
won't know people when you
finally decide this is not the
town for you."
Detroit is not a cosmopolitan
city, it is not on display. In
some ways there is a lot of small
town sentiment in the Motor
City and to really feel Detroit,
you're going to have to be more
sincere (and less of a tourist)
than in other cities. For life in
the Motor City can be luxurious
and all the typical haunts of the
beautiful people, exist some-
'where but more often it is
harsh and people don't easily
open up.
Most of the people who have
city's suburbs, leaving Detroit
to the blacks and working class
whites. Detroit, of course, is a
major cultural and political
center for black people in this
country. Fifty or sixty years af-
ter Henry Ford lured them from
the oSuth with the promise of a
$5 day, blacks now comprise the
largest single group of people
in the city. And in the interim,
Detroit's blacks have developed
their own culture, a culture
growing out of the ugliness of
the ghetto but one whose music,
among other things, has spread
throughout America.
Turn on Detroit Soul, and get
into the funkiness of the black
man's music. WJLB (1400 AM)
features Martha Jean, the
Queen - one of the most im-
portant people in the city. A
source of endless cracker barrel
wisdom, she spins more reli-
gious-moral philosophy than re-
cords. Friend to the blue collar
--
worker and mother to the black
community, she preaches love,
self-respect, and racial pride.
Detroit is the home of Mo-
town records, it was also the
scene in 1967 of the most devas-
tating indictment of this coun-
try's racist treatment of its
blacks. Ride down Twelfth
street and see black rage in the
making. Look at the untouched
ruins of the '67 riots and ask
yourself where this country is
going. Drive up St. Auben or
John R. on the east side of town
and see the utter decay blacks
are forced to live in and then
look at the Wall of Respect on
Grace Episcopal Church and try
to imagine where blacks are
heading.
As for other ethnic groups,
Detroit has always been a city
of immigrants. Coming with a
vision of the promised pot of
gold, wave after wave of immi-
grants flocked to Detroit to
work in its factories. And they
brought cultures with them
which still survive in the neigh-
borhoods of Detroit.
But there are experiences
Afterwards liLten to Detroit
radio in your car and begin to
understand Motor City Music.
Listen to the blasting, driving
charging, proletarian Detroit
rock, filled with the kind of
energy needed to wrench your
mind free of the reality around
you.
It seems that all Detroiters
eventually have something to do
with automobiles, even if it on-
ly involves owning one to drive.
Having a car in Detroit is es-
sential. They are the only effi-
cient means of transportation
around the city, but they are
also a fundamental component
of Motor City culture. You sim-
ply need a "machine"' to tool
up Woodward Ave. (Detroit's
main street). For "Woodward-
ing" is the ultimate trip for
any proud young Detroiter off
from work or out of school.
If Detroit has transformed
the nation with its cars, it has
also transformed itself into a
caricature of all that the car
represents to America. Out by
the city's northern limits stands
a garish strip of buildings dedi-
cated to letting young Detroit
escape into the ultimate fan-
tasies of horsepower and over-
drive.
Too intense? Then take things
a little easier. Visit Belle Isle,
Detroit's huge island park in the
Detroit river, which can be
peaceful and nature-filled at
times, but which also incarcer-
ated 4,000 angry black rioters in
1967 and which also is the site
of Detroit's annual hydroplane
races-where more than 250,000
Detroiters spend an afternoon
watching thousands of horse-
power unleashed on the river as
reckless drivers push their
screaming boats to the limit. At
least one boat cracks-up each
year.
Can they keep it up forever?
Of course not. Just walk through
Cass Park the next time you see
a concert at the Masonic Tem-
ple and watch thie derelicts, the
broken Detroiters as they stand
ignored by the city they built,
drowning their memories in
cheap wine.
If this isn't human drama
then what is?
which all Detroiters share, the
most important of which is man-
ufacturing automobiles. An au-
tomobile assembly-line has to
be experienced to be believed.
Take a tour of the mammoth
Ford River Rouge Plant, the
largest automotive complex in
the world. A completely self-
sufficient city with its own tele-
phones, hospitals and police,
the power from its 345,000-kilo-
watt generator could light up
Dallas.
Working on an assembly line
or in an auto-related factory
can be hell. While you watch,
imagine the intense heat for for-
ty hours a week, imagine work-
ing among machines sliding in,
stamping, welding together au-
tomobiles and you can get a
feeling for the heaviness, the
rhythm and bluf s of Detroiters.
We Want You to Hear More Music
means getting =into the kinds of
situations Detroiters experience
every day as well as becoming
acquainted with the few beau-
tiful things which are unique
to Detroit.
For in addition to its simi-
larities with other large (and
especially Midwestern) Ameri-
can cities there is a Motor City
Culture, a thriving culture
which isn't always beautiful but
one which nevertheless demands
more than a cursory glance.
Again, this won't be easy. Ev-
en Detroiters realize how diffi-
cult it is for outsiders to under-
33 a
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