Last year, I waited until after the Superbowl to write my blog post, certain that the annually awaited football game would exhibit something worthy of mention, and doing the same this year ended in similar results. The only problem is, now I have too much that I want to talk about.
I will first start with the commercial that emphasized a city neither near nor dear to many people’s hearts in Michigan: Detroit. The Chrysler commercial featuring Eminem and our Motor City itself was a poignant message of solidarity and strength, as well as hope for the dying D. Eminem rides around Detroit in a Chrysler sedan and, after getting out to listen to a church choir belt out a hymn, stares directly at the camera, saying, “This is the Motor City. This is what we do”.
But, indeed, what do we do, Eminem? Just this past Friday, I took to the streets of Detroit to enjoy a little Mexican dinner and delight myself in the artistic festivities offered by the Detroit Institute of the Arts (DIA). I hadn’t been to Detroit in the past few years, and suffice it to say, had hardly ever driven around the city, save for the trips into and out of the DIA. Memories of those trips coupled with the worn and torn down images of what used to be the thriving city (as seen in its abandoned train station and crumbling facades) led me to develop an image of Detroit that rendered my heart more sad than afraid.
Imagine my surprise when I discovered a whole new side to Detroit after driving down Woodward Avenue to the city’s new center. Filled with new parks, new stadiums, new high rises, and new casinos, downtown Detroit was ablaze with fire and bustling with people even after ten at night. Here, the people walked freely in the streets, seemingly unafraid of street violence, shops were filled with customers, and laughter filled the air. Only minutes earlier had we passed by abandoned buildings covered with graffiti, shops with faded signs and few customers, and nary a person on the street that looked as carefree as those who walked in the security of the lights flashing from the nearby casinos, business buildings, and parking structures. This was the New Detroit, where only the rich and fabulous can buy tasty baked goods from the thriving bakery and play Blackjack inside a plush casino. Now, I know that every city has its segregation between the haves and have nots, but honestly, Detroit doesn’t seem to have any real “haves”; many people come from outside of Detroit and few actually live inside the city.
I understand that the commercial strives to present Detroit in a positive light: yes, Detroit is capable of so many things and can offer so many talents and abilities. And while Detroit may have been to hell and back, I’m not sure if we’re out of hell yet. There is still so much to be done in the city, so many people to partner with, so many businesses to help grow. But who is doing the helping?
Watching the advertisement, part of me wondered how or what Eminem or Chrysler had done for the D. Just how much of the commercial reflects the involved parties’ true attitudes and actions toward the Motor City? The Detroit represented in the 2-minute clip and the true Detroit that exists in reality seem to be from different worlds. The commercial captures all the industrialization, urbanization, glitz and glamor of the New Detroit. Viewed with pictures of the D in decline that portrays Detroit in its beauty and sadness, the ad pales in comparison.
I don’t mean to present the city as being helpless and certainly not hopeless; no, I firmly believe that it is changing and that further change is possible. I just want to raise the question of what exactly it is that “we do”. What do Eminem or Chrysler do for Detroit? What do I do for Detroit? What do you do for Detroit?
We spend so much time focusing on the orphans in Africa or the poor in Southeast Asia, but we have a city that needs us and is only forty minutes away. It is my sincere hope that neither the rapper nor the car company will fail to act in this part– that the commercial wasn’t just for show and that they are taking advantage of a city that needs much more than an ad featuring them. But I really do hope that this will motivate them to take a greater part in renewing the city– not by rebuilding it and making a New Detroit, fit for the high life, but by restructuring it so that those who have had a place in its history will also maintain a place in its future.
Leave a Reply
3 Comments on "Superbowl Madness, Pt. 1"