The New Homes in Ann Arbor
I had a conversation with some co-workers recently about how some neighborhoods use intimidation and coercion to make some of their denizens comply to their standards or force them to move out. Some of the more egregious incidents were with Arabs in a white community or a Christian in a liberal community. Anyways, the reason I bring this up is because the housing that was so apposed by the wealthy community in NE Ann Arbor is finally near completion. To those who read my blog, I mentioned this case in September of 2003.
There was a 1999 TV movie I saw where a African American family in Detroit, MI was taken to court because a deed restriction was in place barring blacks from owning property in an exclusively white community in 1941. They were allowed to move in because the father's light complexion led them to beleive he wasn't African American. The Supreme Court in 1947 eventually ruled that states could not enforce racially restrictive covenants. However the closing notes in that movie stated that even to that day, there were locations in the United States where such restrictions still existed. What this boils down to say is that even though such things are impermissible in writing or creed, they still persist in actions. The supposed progressives of Ann Arbor are no exception.
So I was thinking: maybe in the spirit of the actions of my community members in 2003, I should go around door-to-door asking people to sign a Welcome petition ... oops I mean card or to join a Greeting commitee ... err party to welcome all the new people who will be soon be our neighbors.