OK, born and raised a Detroiter. Over 60, and here's my take on what happened.

[kwassa]

43. Born in Detroit, 1952, dad worked for GM ...

lived in Huntington Woods, still have many relatives there, and in the Northwest suburbs.

I visited the GM building as a child with my dad.

I worked there in the late '70s on industrial films for the auto industry, the city was scary back then. I did this job in Highland Park, where the old Ford plant had been abandoned nearby. It was pretty bad there.

My dad's friend was mugged in the doorway to the main GM building. At the end of my dad's career, he worked for Cadillac at the Clark Street location. They had armed guards accompany people to the parking lot.

During my childhood, though, we moved around the country working for different divisions of GM.

and the truth is, I was growing up in a segregated environment I didn't know was segregated. I have no recollection of ever meeting a black person, as a child, in the Detroit area. Later, as an adult, and back in the area, it was much different.