Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Detroit shrinks big-time
Apparently, the census does not follow Super Bowl ads:
The population of Detroit has fallen back 100 years.
The flight of middle-class African-Americans to the suburbs fueled an exodus that cut Detroit's population 25% in the past decade to 713,777, according to Census Bureau data released Tuesday. That's the city's lowest population level since the 1910 census, when automobile mass production was making Detroit Detroit.
60 years ago, Detroit was America's 6th largest city. Of more parochial interest, perhaps, the Diocese of Detroit is older than the state of Michigan; it is home to approximately 300 parishes and missions, and 100 Catholic schools. But, again, it seems, as an urban community, to be imploding (or "dying"), in a way that (it strikes me) is unique in the United States today.
Why is this happening? Could it have been prevented? Can it be stopped, slowed, or reversed? Should we (i.e., people who are interested in what Catholic social theory and teaching has to say about the law's project of ordering human communities) care?
UPDATE: Here is an interesting post on the "sad Detroit census numbers" by a graduate of Notre Dame's Architecture school, who is currently studying urban policy and design.
https://mirrorofjustice.blogs.com/mirrorofjustice/2011/03/detroit-shrinks-big-time.html
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I don't think Catholic Social Thought has anything to say about the demise of Detroit as such. There is an understandable urge to think that societal phenomena that we, very reasonably, do not like are therefore the result of violations of Catholic thought. In other words, it is comforting to think that Catholic thought, if followed faithfully, would ensure that nothing bad ever happens. Unfortunately, that is not what Catholic thought is about, and that is neither its premise nor its implication.
The demise of Detroit can be likened to a disease, or even to a plague. It is a natural phenomenon comparable to the growth, maturity, and demise of all forms of human institutions. It is sobering to remember that most of the known world was once ruled from Babylon, which is now a nearly forgotten village. These things happen, as they say.
That does not however exempt us, individually and in some senses collectively, from the guilt of our sins, including those sins that sometimes kill cities. The Bible seems to imply that Babylon was destroyed as retribution for the persecution of Israel. I cannot say for sure whether that was the case or not, but it is a useful reminder that our sins have consequences.
Would Detroit be healthier, sociologically and financially speaking, if the people had been holier? Again, perhaps. It is a worthy topic for study because we need to know what sorts of consequences our sins have. But we need to remember that the flu season comes and the flu season goes without in any way implicating Catholic Social Teaching.