Black in the Midwest
Finding My Home in Motown’s Margins
Detroit may be changing but it is still full of Black culture and history
Last month we published a special series on what it’s like to be Black in the Midwest, and invited you to share your own experiences. Following is one of several submissions by Medium writers that we are excited to share with you.
I’ve always had this thing about real estate. I live in the South Bronx, where I will likely never be able to afford a home, and so I spend late night hours when I really should be sleeping scouring Trulia for homes in more affordable markets such as Baltimore and Detroit. Ironically, when I was growing up in Detroit the ’90s, I often scoured the real estate section of Sunday papers for homes outside of Detroit. For working- and middle-class Black Detroit back then, upward mobility entailed moving to Southfield, buying in Farmington Hills, or hosting after-church barbecues in West Bloomfield. It seemed that those of us who still lived in the city were left behind. I didn’t want to be in Detroit because I didn’t want to be poor, and in a deeper sense, because I didn’t yet want to be Black.
My parents were adamant about remaining in Detroit, however, and I overheard quite a few conversations tsk-tsking friends and neighbors who…
