{"title":"\"像我们一样看待底特律\":白人救世主资本主义与黑人过时的神话","authors":"David Helps, Christine Hwang","doi":"10.1353/aq.2024.a921582","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract: This essay investigates the phenomenon of wealthy white men who use financial means and power to \"revive\" Detroit after a perceived \"death\" through what we call white savior capitalism. This \"death,\" popularized by media portrayals of decline, relies on projecting an image of Detroit, a Black-majority city on stolen Native land, as a vacant, postindustrial \"frontier\" despite the continued existence and resistance of Black and Indigenous residents. We trace the prehistory of white savior capitalism to the area's eighteenth-century conquest by French settlers, the exclusionary redevelopment policies of Mayor Coleman Young's administration (1974–94), and Detroit's use of federal antipoverty funds and eminent domain to establish a General Motors Plant in the Poletown neighborhood. Finally, we demonstrate how the recent and ongoing \"rediscovery\" of Detroit by businesspeople such as Dan Gilbert gave rise to white savior capitalism. Parallel to these developments, activist movements in the Black Left have presented alternative solutions and imagined futures that include Black and Native Detroit.","PeriodicalId":51543,"journal":{"name":"AMERICAN QUARTERLY","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.5000,"publicationDate":"2024-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"\\\"See Detroit Like We Do\\\": White Savior Capitalism and the Myth of Black Obsolescence\",\"authors\":\"David Helps, Christine Hwang\",\"doi\":\"10.1353/aq.2024.a921582\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"Abstract: This essay investigates the phenomenon of wealthy white men who use financial means and power to \\\"revive\\\" Detroit after a perceived \\\"death\\\" through what we call white savior capitalism. This \\\"death,\\\" popularized by media portrayals of decline, relies on projecting an image of Detroit, a Black-majority city on stolen Native land, as a vacant, postindustrial \\\"frontier\\\" despite the continued existence and resistance of Black and Indigenous residents. We trace the prehistory of white savior capitalism to the area's eighteenth-century conquest by French settlers, the exclusionary redevelopment policies of Mayor Coleman Young's administration (1974–94), and Detroit's use of federal antipoverty funds and eminent domain to establish a General Motors Plant in the Poletown neighborhood. Finally, we demonstrate how the recent and ongoing \\\"rediscovery\\\" of Detroit by businesspeople such as Dan Gilbert gave rise to white savior capitalism. Parallel to these developments, activist movements in the Black Left have presented alternative solutions and imagined futures that include Black and Native Detroit.\",\"PeriodicalId\":51543,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"AMERICAN QUARTERLY\",\"volume\":null,\"pages\":null},\"PeriodicalIF\":0.5000,\"publicationDate\":\"2024-03-01\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"\",\"citationCount\":\"0\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"AMERICAN QUARTERLY\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"1085\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://doi.org/10.1353/aq.2024.a921582\",\"RegionNum\":4,\"RegionCategory\":\"社会学\",\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"\",\"PubModel\":\"\",\"JCR\":\"0\",\"JCRName\":\"HUMANITIES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"AMERICAN QUARTERLY","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1353/aq.2024.a921582","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"HUMANITIES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
"See Detroit Like We Do": White Savior Capitalism and the Myth of Black Obsolescence
Abstract: This essay investigates the phenomenon of wealthy white men who use financial means and power to "revive" Detroit after a perceived "death" through what we call white savior capitalism. This "death," popularized by media portrayals of decline, relies on projecting an image of Detroit, a Black-majority city on stolen Native land, as a vacant, postindustrial "frontier" despite the continued existence and resistance of Black and Indigenous residents. We trace the prehistory of white savior capitalism to the area's eighteenth-century conquest by French settlers, the exclusionary redevelopment policies of Mayor Coleman Young's administration (1974–94), and Detroit's use of federal antipoverty funds and eminent domain to establish a General Motors Plant in the Poletown neighborhood. Finally, we demonstrate how the recent and ongoing "rediscovery" of Detroit by businesspeople such as Dan Gilbert gave rise to white savior capitalism. Parallel to these developments, activist movements in the Black Left have presented alternative solutions and imagined futures that include Black and Native Detroit.
期刊介绍:
American Quarterly represents innovative interdisciplinary scholarship that engages with key issues in American Studies. The journal publishes essays that examine American societies and cultures, past and present, in global and local contexts. This includes work that contributes to our understanding of the United States in its diversity, its relations with its hemispheric neighbors, and its impact on world politics and culture. Through the publication of reviews of books, exhibitions, and diverse media, the journal seeks to make available the broad range of emergent approaches to American Studies.