Urban Vignettes Week 6: Hope

A City of Hope

Detroit is a city that was built on hope, and continues to survive on hope. People move(d) here to find jobs in the auto industry, raise their families, and buy a home. They want(ed) better lives and to live "The American Dream". Despite setbacks, despite budgetary failure, despite economic collapse, hope has driven Detroiters to continue fighting and working to make their city into a better place. 

Mural featuring Joe Louis.

One of the symbols of the city is a large black fist, located at the head of Woodward, across from Hart Plaza. This fist represents Joe Louis, and his significance for the city and the African American community. Joe Louis grew up in Detroit, and was known as the most honest fighter in a time when corruption in the sport was rampant. He also fought for racial integration in golf, and was a symbol of equality for many. 

Bagley Pedestrian Bridge Sculpture

 The Bagley Pedestrian Bridge is a symbol on a much more local level, and represents the struggle of a city to unite. Bagley Street is a core street to the Southwest community near Mexican Town, and it was ripped in half by the construction of Interstate 75 in the 1970s. In 2010, the construction of a pedestrian bridge that connects the two sides of Bagley was completed. The piece was a symbolic win for the people of the neighborhood that felt their community was finally reunited in a physical way, with art pieces that spoke of the human struggle and the power of the area.

Detroit Renaissance Center & Skyline

The Renaissance Center crowns the Detroit skyline, and I always view it as a symbol of hope. The "RenCen" has been the tallest building in Michigan since 1977. I remember visiting it when I was a child, and marveling at the view over the river front, and it's circular floor plans. It means more to other people, and General Motors is not always the best symbol of hope, but their building is remarkable. It means that someone was willing to invest in Detroit and create a lasting monument to industry and the city's global impact.

Elementary School Children Playing Violins

Detroit has a new direction and hope: that creative industries will lead us into the future. Not only are creative industrial giants moving in, including Twitter, but we are teaching our youth art and creative thinking. This picture is of a small concert I attended where youth played their violins for an audience of primarily refugees. This struck me as the balance of many hopes: of hopeful refugees and asylees waiting to receive their legal status to begin new lives free of violence and oppression, of children's hope to be creative and successful in life, and the hope of parents that learning music will aid their children in the future, and the hope of a city that everyone can have an opportunity to pursue their dreams.

I hope that Detroit (i.e. Detroiters) never loses its hope and the ambition and courage to pursue its dreams.

Sincerely,

Kaity Nicastri,

Detroit Lover

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