There was a recent study published on 247wallst.com that named Detroit the worst city in the United States, quite frankly I find this study to be B.S. I hate studies like this because they take in mind 4 data points and base it on the entire city which I don’t think is fair because there are so many great things that have come and still continues to come out of the Motor City.
Hate to break it to the rest of the United States but without Detroit, they would have been whippin’ around their horse and buggy much longer because thanks to a man named Henry Ford, who originated from the Metro Detroit area, the first affordable automobile in America was produced in 1908. Before Ford and his assembly line, there were automobiles but they were more luxury items and not produced at the best quality, Ford changed this and the rest was history. There are 3 major car companies that have headquarters in Detroit Ford, General Motors, and Fait Chrysler. These companies produced 17.5 million dollars in 2015 alone (Kelley Blue Book), and the auto industry is responsible for 3% of the nation’s economy (USA Today). 3% may not seem like that big of a number but considering it’s the nation’s economy and the GDP in 2016 was estimated to be 18.46 trillion dollars, it’s a pretty big number.
Not only is Detroit responsible for your cute little car but the music you bump in your car might be a Detroit made artist. Motown originated in Detroit (hence the name) at Motown Record, a recording company founded by Berry Gordy Jr., and Motown artist includes The Jackson 5 (Michael Jackson), Stevie Wonder and Diana Ross among many other artists. If Motown isn’t your thing that’s okay because some big-name rappers came from Detroit like Eminem and Big Sean. Other Detroit artists are Kid Rock, Uncle Kracker and Ted Nugent. People don’t think of Detroit as a big music city but some great music comes from Detroit.
The people in Detroit are honest hard-working people and are arguably the hardest working people in the country. Yeah there are some bad seeds but there are people like that everywhere, it really sucks when a few people give a whole city a bad reputation. Back in 2013 when Detroit declared bankruptcy Detroiters didn’t pack up and move on somewhere else, they stuck it out and worked even harder. There’s a painting in the Detroit Institute of Arts called the “Battle of Detroit” by Diego Rivera that I believe truly captures Detroit’s hard-working nature. It’s empowering that the city is on the comeback because it shows that you can hit rock bottom and as long as you work hard you can raise from the ashes.
I’m not going to lie, I’ve bad mouthed Detroit in the past but I don’t think it’s the “Worst City in America”. Just because it doesn’t statically look like the best city to live doesn’t mean that it’s absolutely terrible. I think before people label Detroit they really need to experience what it all has to offer.
