It was built in the '40s by developers who wanted to secure government mortgages for middle class whites. They built it to show that blacks and whites would not be living together, and somehow, that convinced the government.
Today, it's just a reminder of different times. The whole neighborhood is predominantly black now.
Just down the road from Eminem's famous "8 Mile," the wall's getting a new look and giving people a whole new attitude about life and history.
Despite the wall's ugly history, tearing it down was not the answer, as neighbors told Blight Busters President John George. People need reminders of how things were -- and are. Unfortunately, even without the legal segregation that ruled the land before the 1950s, metro Detroit today remains deeply divided by race and class.
Reclaiming the Birwood Wall will have a healing effect. It has turned into a community effort and event, including a park cleanup, uniting young and old, black and white, city dweller and suburbanite. Together, they are helping artist Chazz Miller paint a mural of memories and hopes. Appropriately, the work's centerpiece is a rising portrait of neighborhood activist Alphonso Wells lifting a joyful figure above the barrier.
Metro Detroit's painful and damaging history of racism and division still hinders the region in many ways, keeping people apart, slowing economic development and making real progress on important regional issues like transportation all but impossible. Southeast Michigan won't move forward until it eases the racial tensions and segregated housing patterns that have developed over the last 60 years.
In doing so, Detroit should not forget its history. But a barrier turned into a symbol of hope and community shows that it need not be trapped by it, either.
Tags: [Detroit], [Birwood Wall], [Birwood Wall gets a new look], [painting the Birwood Wall], [Motor City Blight Busters], [Chazz Miller]
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