In Defence of Detroit

The motor city has received a bum rap for being dangerous in recent times. You have a lot of jokes about it being immensely poor and crime being its largest industry (Although with Kwame Kilpatrick as mayor...), and the list goes on. It was compared to the city across the river, Windsor, Ontario, in the film Bowling for Columbine by Michael Moore. More recently, it was named as the most dangerous city to live in.

So, when I got the call from BleacherReport.com and Red Bull to go there and cover the Red Bull Air Race, the first thing that ran through my parents' mind was "will he come out of there alive?"

Deep down, I knew that what was said in the media was exaggerated in order to garner both advertising money and viewers, which brings in more advertising and more money - a positive feedback loop per se! But, I was a little afraid myself to be going there considering the fact that this was a city I had never been to and I usually am one to stand out, even though I try to blend.

Well, anyways, upon arrival to the Marriott at the Renaissance Center and GM World Headquarters, my perceptions of the city were starting to change by the minute. Firstly, the bellhop who brought our luggage up with us gave us a brief talk of the city, where you can get entertained, etc. and upon entering our room, told us everything that was available and even went to get ice for the ice bucket. These were small gestures, but no doubt that they showed Detroiters as nice and laid back people.

That evening, I got my media briefing from the various sponsor representatives and went back to my room. After a little talk, a knock came on the door, and it was the same bellhop saying that my media package had just arrived.

After going through all the goodies in there, my mom, whom I took because she was the only one that was able to come after a certain somebody bailed out on me at the last second, was hungry, so we went downstairs in the vast corridors of the RenCen to find food. We couldn't. So, we ended up running into a security doing their night shift telling us where to get food. We had to go to Greektown and take the Detroit People Mover - Public transportation! This got my mom a little agitated, and I was a little on edge as well, but the security guard assured us of its safety, and we went on anyways.

When we got to our stop, we went looking for something to eat, and we even asked for directions from guys that looked like gangsters. These gangsters were very nice, asked us if we're foreigners, which we were, told us where to eat, and even told us to enjoy our stay in Detroit! That was very nice of them! Overall, the people were nice, from the police officer to the gangsters to ordinary locals and security guards. Just a nice, misunderstood and laid back city.

If there's anything that this trip taught me, it's that the media just doesn't give you the same perception of things that you, the ordinary person, would see. If they say somewhere is dangerous, it probably has to do more with statistics, which don't show the entire story. You have to get on the ground to see whether one place is dangerous or not. I'll be going back to Detroit if there's another Red Bull Air Race!