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

[deancr]

54. Yup, racism

Great post by Faygo, but stone racism was the prime mover in white flight. I too was born in Detroit city. Our family joined the white flight in 1962, from Schoolcraft and the then new Southfield fwy to Livonia. My father was in real estate, school busing was on the table, and he saw the patterns of evaporating white neighborhoods. We forget the commonality of racism at that time. The n-word was used without qualms. Racism just was.
Later, federal law prevented discrimination in housing which further accelerated white flight. With whites went the tax base, with the tax base went any hope for Detroit's viability.
Now we have Snyder the plutocrat selling off what is left of value in the city. Sadly, latent racism in our demographic is such that his actions re Detroit seem to be considered a positive. Smart little pip squeak he is though a sociopath by any other name.