Excerpt
SUMMARY: In Detroit, where the population has dropped by 2 million, abandoned and neglected buildings are a normal sight. But look more closely, and beautiful murals and graffiti appear everywhere. Correspondent Spencer Michels reports on how artists, flocking to the city, are helping to spark the ailing economy.
SPENCER MICHELS (Newshour): When they lit off fireworks in Detroit, a preview of the Fourth of July, Detroiters flocked to the city's downtown riverfront. It was a reason to rejoice in a city that hasn't had much good news of late.
Police were on the alert for possible gang violence, and the crowd knew this might be the last celebration because of the city's huge budget problems. The crowd reflected the demographics of the city, a city that today is 82 percent African-American, about 8 percent white and 7 percent Hispanic.
It's a place where first whites, and then blacks, fled to the suburbs, where the population has dropped nearly two million people since 1950, to just 700,000. Like the Detroit River, where ships used to ferry tons of materials to the Ford plants, the city of Detroit has undergone major changes.
After a decline in livability, residents say the town is now coming back, and along with it the arts are flourishing. The easiest place to find it is on the side of abandoned buildings. There is so much that when these artist-decorated houses burned recently, hardly anyone paid attention, just another fire in a city very used to things going up in smoke.
Still, graffiti is everywhere in Detroit and some of it is spectacular.
No comments:
Post a Comment