A Hideous And Troubled Place

As the war drums beat around the world, those who live in ugly western cities like Melbourne must be left to ponder what the hell exactly we are meant to defend.

If you asked most people whether they would fight and die to save this monstrosity the answer would be no.

Its cold, grim and ugly. And that reflects back onto the people.

Increasingly, the spell will be broken along with the economy and people will leave.

The services and political cohesion are broken but still have some patchwork veneer of functionality.

This can continue for a long time if the historical accounts and recollection of people who lived through collapse in other places are any guide. But the allure is gone. Spite has taken over. I’d rather not spend my money than give it to someone I have a grudge against. That feels like the mentality.

How long does it take a place to come to it’s senses?

As stated before, I’m a fan of Detroit-watching. As when I went there I was struck by how post-apocalyptic it felt.

They are having an election and the news-site Deadline Detroit gave a 1 hour-ish interview, followed by an endorsement to a Black Republican candidate named John James in what was until 2016 a Blue State Nationally, dominated by Black Democrats, one of whom was none other than a fellow named Kwame Kilpatrick. (“Hizzoner” Kwame Kilpatrick, as they like to call urban US mayors in the press sometimes). When I visited Detroit, Kwame was in the last days of his reign (he was already charged with criminal offences and had broken bail) and was being raked over the coals for some exceptionally unusual behaviour, even by corrupt politician standards. We’re talking nepotism, extra-marital affairs, assaulting police officers, and basically indulging in all the black gangsta cliches that he could whilst being in a position of responsibility and civic leadership, as this article from NewsOne in 2008 details:

I realize that you are innocent until proven guilty in this country. However, I’m not a judge I’m a journalist, and given my extensive research, he looks guilty as hell. Not only did he carry on his affair on a city-issued cell phone, he lied about it and attempted to cover it up, which cost the city million.

In Detroit, where the high school dropout rate is 80%, and where the murder rate is the highest in the country, 8 million dollars could pay for the salaries of 200 policemen or teachers for a year.

As the self-named Hip Hop mayor, Kilpatrick acted more like a ‘gangsta’ rapper than a mayor. At the Manooigan Mansion, Kilpatrick was alleged to have ‘ho parties’ which turned into ‘wild orgies.’ At one of these ‘ho parties,’ Kilpatrick’s wife beat up a stripper with a bat or club, sending her to the hospital. This resulted in Kilpatrick firing his wife’s security escort for letting her interrupt his ‘ho party’

The next year the stripper, Tamara Greene, was shot dead in a drive-by shooting. The officer who was initially in charge of the investigation, Alvin Bowman had a lawsuit charging that he was transferred out of the Homicide Division for investigating her murder. A lawyer for Greene’s son requested the text messages from Kilpatrick and his inner circle, suggesting a cover-up. In Detroit radio personalities and gossipers have alleged that Kilpatrick was involved in her killing. Greene’s son would wind up suing the city for 150 million.

Kwame Kilpatrick seemed to take the ‘Hip Hop’ Mayor label to heart, using the city to pay for his large entourage, and pay for his red Navigator. He was known in Detroit for balling out at the clubs and strip joints. Kilpatrick also dressed like a hip hop star or young black athlete donning a large diamond studded earring, and suits an NBA player would wear.

Kwame for his part, stood down “for the good of Black America” (this was at the time Obama was first running to be President), served 7 years in jail with the remaining 20 years of his sentence and fines having been commuted by Donald Trump with less than 12 hours to go of DJTs first term on Jan 20 2021 (and who Kwame later endorsed for his 2024 election). Commuting is not the same as a pardon if you didn’t know. The Trump admin was convinced Kwame had turned over a new leaf behind bars as demonstrated by leading prison Bible study groups and public-speaking classes. Kwame is now a minister and motivational coach among other things.

There was no riot when I went to Detroit, but there was a different kind of rock-bottom. The riots had happened decades earlier. Then there was the emptying out and the slow disintegration. Robocop, 8-Mile, some mostly-unlistenable techno, and then Kwame and the bailing out of the auto companies. But they did have the Red Wings.

The city felt utterly empty and desolate, except for a meekly populated centre where people walked with a lot of space between one another. You definitely wouldn’t call it hustle and bustle. Outside the main cbd there were alot of homeless. There were empty abandoned buildings everywhere. Skyscrapers, houses, you name it. There was steam coming out of the swere manholes, just like in the opening-sequence of the old Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon from the 1980s.

I’m gonna upload the pics in a later post I think.

But we are now 18 years later AGAIN and they are finally coming out of the abyss maybe??? who’s to say.

But my point is that Detroit has been so busted for so long that no one living there, or who used to live there, or who lives in the wider State of Michigan or the US, remembers it being a normal functioning city unless they are probably 70 years or older perhaps. (Maybe Iggy Pop remembers, you can read a good transcript of an interview here where he talked about his time growing up in the city).

That long-term memory of failure I think gives a sense of sobriety and reality.

Melbourne is not in that headspace. Melbourne is still completely fucking delusional and still has a long long way to fall. People will be angry again but in different directions and I think the bleak humility of “starting again from scratch and working together” is just not quite there yet even if the desire to chuck out the current regime is.