<p>The essay below was the most popular piece this week in UofM's student newspaper, the Michigan Daily. It's written by African-American senior Dan Green, and discusses his perceived issues on and around campus. I was wondering what you guys thought of it.</p>
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[quote]
Viewpoint: Being a black Detroiter in Ann Arbor</p>
<p>BY DAN GREEN</p>
<p>Published October 1, 2013</p>
<p>Ann Arbor — a college town with leafy suburban campus, beautiful skies, an old tradition and a dollop of grace — for all intents and purposes, is a haven of safety. </p>
<p>I feel less safe in Ann Arbor than I do in Detroit.</p>
<p>DISCLAIMER: Im currently not a student at the university, I elected to fulfill prereqs at a community college and will hopefully transfer next fall. </p>
<p>This article didnt offend as much as it hurt me. Ill try to keep it short but a complex article deserves a complex response.</p>
<p>He mentions being the only black man within his program and how Ann Arbor is only 40 minutes away from Detroit, where at least 80% of the population is black. He goes on to say that the universitys black population comprises only 4% of the group and it has fallen in recent years. My response to this is the citation of the high admission standards of the university. We are well aware of the recent trouble public education in Detroit has had in recent years; with the MAJORITY of students being far below standards in almost every grade level. Although some of these students might make it to the college level, many of them will not. I recognize that not all African Americans would come from Detroit but many of them would because of population density. Unfortunately the high standards coupled with a crippled public school system make it hard for Detroit kids to get not only in to the University of Michigan but schools like it.</p>
<p>The second point that caught my eye was when he mentioned the presence of the university and the service of its students. I again bring up the universitys high standards and what follows with it. I take it to a personal note and say that Ive worked very very hard on my pre-compsci tract just so that I can transfer to UofM next year. Once I arrive there I plan to continue my hard work all the way to graduation but for what? Definitely not to live and work in Detroit with a Computer Science degree from one of the leading Universities in the nation. That may sound greedy and self-centered to some but for many thats reality.</p>
<p>well, Michigan’s standards have increased over the past few years while Detroit’s public education has remained in the low depths. Michigan will not wait on Detroit to get it together and Detroit should not hold Michigan back</p>
<p>“It’s embarrassing that the University doesn’t have a bigger presence in the city of Detroit.”</p>
<p>No. It’s embarrassing that the City of Detroit has allowed itself to be so poorly managed for the last half century that it is where it is today.</p>
<p>If he wanted to spend his time around other Blacks, UMich wasn’t the best place to go. I can’t imagine he didn’t know that before starting school, but certainly he had to realize it after the first week. I believe only about 6% of people with bachelors degrees in the US are Black, so 4% is not so far off from representative. </p>
<p>I don’t understand what he wants or believes is the right response from the university. Are they supposed to just admit a bunch more Black students to make him more comfortable? Maybe reject more non-Black students? What?</p>
<p>Ugh, I have so many feelings. As a Detroiter and a well-educated high school student, I am very opinionated on the subject. </p>
<p>Initially, I was shocked when I discovered that UMich’s black enrollment was <5 percent, but although it shocked me, discovering the data did not anger or sadden me because I already knew the statistics on students in Detroit. I suppose with UMich being a public university, we expect ethnic and racial diversity to be much more prevalent, but with UMich being a top-tier institution, I understand why things are the way they are. I agree with his views on UMich being “a campus that claims to be diverse, viewing the picture through a white lens”, but I don’t agree with adding diversity by accepting more academically unprepared students. Every black Detroiter I know who has been accepted to UMich, including myself, has fallen under the 50 percentile in standardized testing.</p>
<p>I think everyone is quite ignorant in our own regards. Yes, people will ask questions. “How dangerous is your school/neighborhood?" is a question I’ve been asked for the past two years. I’m a senior in high school and I cannot believe that this “unsettling reality” has only just hit him as a senior in college! While people’s questions and statements may seem offensive, they simply stem from ignorance. It saddens me as well when I hear statements such as “Nothing is in Detroit; what good can you really say about it?”. It offends me too, although I don’t take it as a personal attack. I know of all the greatness Detroit holds. I may be wrong, but if Dan has ever encountered people from different geographical regions before going to college, all of this would be much less of a shock. </p>
<p>Frankly, Dan just seems a little hurt that there aren’t more black Detroiters at UMich and he’s new to the ignorance of his peers. The statement “I feel less safe in Ann Arbor than I do in Detroit” seems as if he means he feels less of a person in Ann Arbor than in Detroit.</p>
<p>I agree wholeheartedly with ForeverAlone. While Michigan is technically a state university (implying that it should be more representative of the demographics of the state), Michigan is in the top 20 universities WORLDWIDE. The truth is that Michigan takes only the best of the best. I worked myself to the bone at a highly respected university in the south to get here and what saddens me is that rather than being thrilled to be in one of the front running universities on the world stage, this student is bummed that it isn’t “black” enough. Michigan is SO much more diverse than my old school. In my classes alone, I have met students from India, China, Canada, Australia, Nigeria, a ton of different states, and yes, the city of Detroit. Michigan can’t lower the bar to accommodate the failed education system in Detroit. The students who are prepared will get here. The students who are rejected can go to another college and prove they have what it takes to transfer. Yes, it’s sad to think of where Detroit is today, but what would be more sad is to see Michigan, a place where people come to learn with the best minds in not only the state or the country, but the entire world, were to be reduced in any way. The problem here isn’t with the university; it’s with the school systems in Detroit. Fix those and more Detroit students will get in.</p>
<p>@alopez14. I almost entirely agree.
But with VII, what do you mean by “Detroit IS that bad"? Surely, some people do ask very uneducated questions regarding experiences as a Detroiter and although the statistics and stereotypes are true, personally, I’ve never been a victim of any crime. </p>
<p>Ultimately, his article is was unnecessary.</p>
<p>(i) An editor probably should have told him 2 out 3 of African-Americans in the state of Michigan drop out of high school.</p>
<p>(ii) Single-parent household rate in Detroit, Flint & Saginaw: 60% (putting all three top 10 worst in nation). African-American unwed mother rate 80% (nationally)</p>
<p>(iii) As detpeace explained, most of the African-Americans they do accept fall at the bottom of the range.</p>
<p>(iv) Related to (iii), perhaps he doesn’t feel accepted because it’s highly likely he’s not in the same intellectual league as the majority of his classmates.</p>
<p>(v) The graduation gap between white and black students was around 20% a couple of years ago, now it’s around 15%–no doubt slashing African-American enrollment contributed to that smaller gap. You can’t put kids who spent 13 years in crappy schools with kids who spent 13 years in hyper-competitive schools–they can’t compete, get forced into easy areas of study or drop out before a degree.</p>
<p>(vii) His glamorization or spin on Detroit is completely delusional. It’s not racism or “ignorance” Detroit IS that bad.</p>
<p>(viii) As a minority who has been on campus more than 100 times, I honestly think his “people cross the street to avoid me” is completely fabricated.</p>
<p>The entire thing is an arrogant, disrespectful and laughably childish rant by someone who doesn’t realize just how good he has it.</p>
<p>Detpeace, I’m not putting words in their mouth or anything, but from my experience “Detroit IS that bad” refers to the fact that it has a huge crime rate, an abysmal police response time, a poor education system, and the city is crawling with homeless people. From what I’ve seen in visiting, you couldn’t pay me to live there until it was in a very different state than it is now.</p>
<p>My daughter’s English comp class had twelve students in it. The diversity of that class represented multiple ethnicities, states and countries. No two students were alike.</p>
<p>detpeace, by almost every measurable metric, Detroit is the worst city in the nation. It’s decline is possibly the most disastrous in modern world history. In other words, it really is as bad as everyone thinks.</p>
<p>Bingo. He’s a terminal malcontent. From the worst city in the nation to a senior at one of the greatest universities in the world; this essay should be a success story, instead it’s a hit piece against his classmates and UofM.</p>
<p>People choose to fit in or feel out of place for many reasons. When I attended a school on west coast, I felt like I did not fit in, socio-economically. It became something of a self fullfilling prophecy - the more I thought about how well off some students were, I noticed it more. I got resentful of the kids who could afford the study abroads and drove nicer cars and such. </p>
<p>It was a culture shock. It took me a while to understand that I was making a bigger deal out of it than I needed to. There were plenty of students just like me. I just had to open my eyes and look around.</p>
<p>Lastly, there is no school that will cater to 100% of a student’s needs. If he wanted to go somewhere with a higher black population, then there are over a hundred historically black colleges in the US. If he didn’t want to go out-of-state, he could’ve gone to Eastern Michigan or University of Michigan-Flint. This dude wants his cake and to eat it. </p>
<p>I mean I wish Michigan’s football team was as good as Alabama and had the ability to pummel OSU every year, but that just doesn’t happen.</p>
<p>@avita01 Thank you for that input. @alopez14 “This all means it really is as bad as everyone thinks.”
Yes, Detroit is currently the worst city in the nation, but it’s not as bad as some people think. When Dan says that those questions upset him, I agree. Not everyone has been shot at, not every school is infested with drugs and gangs, not every kid comes from a broken home, and not every citizen is up to no good. I get offended when I get asked if I’ve been robbed, if I know my father or if I know someone who has been murdered. It’s not THAT bad!</p>
<p>I’m sure Detroit has many upstanding citizens. I don’t think that everyone has been robbed or shot at, but my point is the fact that it DOES happen and it happens at alarming rates. I’d go so far as to say that a majority of people living in Detroit don’t fit the 8-mile stereotype that a lot of people have, but I would hate to live there because the thought would always be there, the threat, the apprehension. I feel that about a lot of places, cities mostly, but especially downtown Detroit. I used to visit an ex boyfriend who went to college for creative studies and the area around there was just sad and terrifying to (at the time) a 17 year old girl from an affluent suburb in Georgia. I could never live in a place like that.</p>
<p>I’d also like to say that my feelings are based on my own experiences and not a preconceived notion. It may be biased as I haven’t spent years of my life there, but the snapshot I got wasn’t pretty.</p>
<p>I just read the article and the only issue I have with it is that every time an African American student writes what is essentially an honest reflection of his experience he is verbally attached for expressing his thoughts. Mr. Green’s story is a reflection of a problem that has existed at Michigan for a long time and the post in this thread bear witness as to how his story is view from a white lens. There are too few African American students at Michigan. The Detroit Public Schools do not offer African American students the best opportunity to thrive at Michigan. It is an added challenge leaving an all black environment for a campus where few student share your experience. The social structure at Michigan often is unwelcoming for African American students. I wish I could say that I have done something to contribute to the solution to this situation but I have done little and profess to have no grand ideas. I do think it is worthwhile to empathize with an individual’s story because if we don’t we have no hope of bettering the situation when your children are students at U-M. Unfortunately we spend more of our time looking for a football coach who can beat Alabama. Mr. Green did not appear to be bitter in his remarks but on the contrary says its experience will send him back to his roots with a greater sense of pride.</p>
<p>The comments section of the article is just ridiculous. The amount of ignorance, hate, and bitterness from people on opposite sides of the issue is unbelievable, to include contributions by Mr. Green himself.</p>
<p>Oh God, THE COMMENTS! I am in shock. The comments are a little gut-wrenching for me as I am likely attending UMich next year. I’ve been told of how prejudice the student body is, but I’ve never seen it in action before. In the comments the black students and alums are discussing white privileged and how “good they have it" while the whites are discussing affirmative action and constantly saying that blacks don’t deserve to be there. I hate it. I honestly thought that students in a postsecondary institution would be more aware, mature, and accepting of all of this. :(</p>