Detropia (2012) - full transcript
The woes of Detroit are emblematic of the collapse of the U.S. manufacturing base. Is the Midwestern icon actually a canary in the American coal mine? DETROPIA is a cinematic tapestry of a city and its people who refuse to leave the building, even as the flames are rising.
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(ORCHESTRA PLAYING)
MAN: It's gonna challenge us to do the right thing
for the right people.
People just don't want to do right no more.
We can do anything. Let's do it.
Anything, we can do it.
That's why it's critical.
We are in critical times.
That's the message tonight.
God is saying it's critical.
We need to pray for our leaders.
Because they get weak.
And we have to come up.
It's our time.
It's our time.
God has delivered us and saved us for this time.
Perfectly good chairs, perfectly good.
Look, it's a spinner, I'm coming back to get this.
Hello!
(FAINT OPERA MUSIC PLAYING)
(MUSIC GETS LOUDER)
(EQUIPMENT WHIRRING)
This is the downsizing of Detroit.
You're watching it live.
One of the 10,000 homes that they're trying to
get done
in the next four years
over the course of the four years
of Mayor Bing's term.
These are houses that are never coming back.
Bill Koresky with Able Demo.
Uh, these houses are not coming back.
There's no people living in them.
No, not right now, no.
There's one family every 20 minutes moving out.
Moving out of Detroit.
It's going back to the prairie
and these houses are just disappearing
from the landscape.
Yeah, they say there's 90,000 right now,
ready to go.
Wow.
Every day, non-stop. Every day.
Get them done, get another list.
Get them done, get another list.
Man...
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, I think we got... I don't know how many
we've got over here. Like...
I know we got, like, 11 on this street.
July 4th, 2010,
Independence Day.
I'm going real revolutionary.
I'm in a beautiful building.
CRYSTAL : History is just one of my things.
Even since grade school.
(GASPS) Are you shitting me?
That's a passion.
What was there, who was there?
These hallways though, I mean, I'm trying...
I'm picturing this place
clean and there being, you know,
people walking around and shit happening.
Bring that shit on up here, girl.
(CHUCKLES)
Wow, it's amazing where you see where they just
ripped out the wall.
'Cause there's copper piping right there.
Hmm.
Can you imagine, like, having breakfast right here?
Do you know what I mean?
Like, look at your view.
Look at your view in the morning.
Like, yeah, I'm going to go out
and conquer the world,
because I can damn near see it from right here.
Motown, right up the street.
(SIGHS)
Can't leave, man. Can't fucking leave.
I feel like I was maybe here
a little while back.
Or I'm older than I really am,
but I just have, like, this young...
This young body and spirit and mind,
but I have the memory of this place
when it was banging.
That's how I feel.
(SOUL MUSIC PLAYING)
MAN: We're about to take off on the highway
of tomorrow.
Stand by...
(INAUDIBLE)
♪ Tomorrow
♪ Tomorrow
♪ Our dreams will come true ♪
GEORGE McGREGOR: Get out of the way.
Hey!
You better move.
Ah, you can't wrestle with that bumper.
I want to take you out where I got hired in 1968.
The Cadillac Assembly Plant...
From there all the way down.
And on this side over here too.
It's one big plant.
Right there. It used to be
the Cadillac Assembly Plant.
Now, it's the place where they park dumpsters.
Now, this plant was huge.
All of this was the plant.
It was the first job I ever had.
You know, the first job I ever had.
I got hired on a Thursday.
I worked Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
And my paycheck that I got from there
made the one that I got in Tennessee
look like I don't know what.
And guess what, this was one of the hotels we
used to hang out at at night.
Right here, the Shorecrest.
(LAUGHS) Shit.
It was... It was fun.
It was big fun.
Shorecrest!
We're going down tonight, y'all.
Yeah.
Big time.
See, after the plant left,
shit, the neighborhood left.
It just eventually just went...
Kaput.
Now, I'm going to show you something.
This is the great American Axle.
See how large it is?
Just to build axles, man.
All this is empty. Yeah.
They built a new plant in Mexico and took
all the work to Mexico.
(LAUGHS) That's where it's at.
I've been pulling my hair out and puzzling with this,
and going back and forth with the company on this,
and I've been in a lot of negotiations over my time,
but I've never dealt with a management like this.
And I've tried everything.
But they're calling this as their last proposal.
You're going to get mad, though, I can tell you that.
For guys, senior quality
mechanical technicians,
meaning the guys that's at 18.50 an hour
right now,
they will be going down to $18
for 50 cents' decrease in pay.
All the guys in plant seven
that are making $17,
they want to move them down to 14.50,
which is a loss of two dollars and 50 cents
an hour on their wage.
For factory support, which is the guys
that are making 14.35,
their new proposal is $11 an hour,
which means they will lose $3.35 an hour on their wage.
(PEOPLE TALKING INDISTINCTLY)
Come on. This is ridiculous. We don't even need to
entertain this.
MAN: George, I'd like to make a motion
that we don't even vote on this.
That you return to the company and tell them we refuse
to vote on this.
This is hogwash. GEORGE: Getting a second?
MEN: Second.
GEORGE: All in favor of you say, "Aye."
ALL: Aye.
I got 100%... Everybody put your hands up
that go with that.
I don't even want to go wasting my time
voting on this.
Talking about it... I can't agree more.
GEORGE: I ask him, I say, "How do I sit down
with one of my members
"who's already scuffling and making 14.35,
"sit at the table with their family
and got to tell them
"that my union, and I agree,
"they take a $3.35 pay cut."
I asked her that.
I said, "I told you guys if we negotiate any
kind of agreement,
"it's going to be a livable wage."
What did she tell us about a livable wage, Nicole?
NICOLE: "I don't care about your guys having
a livable wage."
GEORGE: Point blank.
MAN 1: I mean, why? To beat us down or what?
I mean, this is ridiculous. Why?
GEORGE: To humiliate us. What, why?
And what... What good is that?
What do you think you're gonna feel
every day going in to work?
They don't care. That's the biggest problem.
The check we make don't even pay our gas bill
already, you know...
And thank God the winter over with.
It's crazy.
They said, "This is what we need
to keep Detroit..." What?
Viable. Viable.
MAN 2: You all should have told them right then
to go ahead and close it.
Right there. GEORGE: No, no, no.
Uh-uh, uh-uh.
They're trying to get us to say that, brother.
We won't say it.
We're going to keep negotiating till we're
right off the end.
I don't know how everybody else feels, but I'm willing
to take it to the hilt.
Take it all... Take it all the way out.
If we got...
If they're not there come February,
I'm willing to stand out there.
I'm willing to take it all the way.
'Cause I ain't got... Hey. Far as I feel now,
I ain't got nothing to lose.
MAN 3: That's right, brother.
I ain't got nothing to lose.
GEORGE: It is what it is.
It ain't no pretty sight.
It doesn't sound too good to the ears.
MAN: Yeah.
(LIVE MUSIC PLAYING)
♪ Ain't no stoppin' us now
♪ Ain't no stoppin'
♪ Stoppin' us
♪ Ain't no stoppin'
♪ Ain't no stoppin' us now
♪ Ain't no stoppin'
♪ Oh, stop ♪
(MILD APPLAUSE)
MAN 1: Yeah!
♪ Tell it like it is ♪
MAN 2: Shit.
All right, all right. Who made that originally?
Who made that originally? Come on, now.
You know your music now.
Donny! Don't ask Donny.
No, you're supposed to know.
I don't know.
TOMMY STEPHENS: Yeah, I'll get your apron,
now, look.
You got a wing basket and three wings.
Okay.
You know, I never could understand
how those Mexicans roll this thing.
This is a hell of a roll that they do.
When they put this lettuce in here,
it's a heck of a roll.
I like the way they do it.
I'd be damned if you could ever
undo it, you know.
You always have to cut it.
SINGER: Right, all right.
That's better than the sailors knot.
I used to have a cook back in the days
when we were making it quite a bit.
And times got so bad that I had to
use my knowledge.
Of course, I love cooking.
I do it all the time as a hobby.
(BLUES MUSIC PLAYING)
We used to be open quite frequently in here
until the recession or the really...
It was a depression that hit us. Truthfully.
When you really study that piece,
we are where we were in 1929.
They're just not saying it 'cause it would scare
the American people.
I used to have the guys from the factory,
they would come down and they would order
50 wings.
You know, there would be five of them
sitting around the table,
they'd order 50 wings, you know.
And all of that's kind of gone.
Completely gone.
Give me another five minutes, baby.
Then it'll be ready. Yeah, it'll be ready.
But it'll come back, I do believe.
(HOLLYWOOD SWINGING PLAYING)
♪ Hey, hey, hey
♪ What ya got to say?
♪ Say hey, hey, hey
♪ What ya got to say?
♪ Hollywood
♪ Hollywood swinging
♪ Hollywood ♪
MASON: It's the Mason radio show,
good morning, Detroit.
We doing a little Hollywood Swinging.
Memories and sing-alongs, what you going to do?
Caller, good morning, welcome to the show.
What are your thoughts here?
MAN: Well, basically, everybody is just, you know,
tired and fed up.
And basically, it's gonna all
blow up and explode.
The crime in the city has just gone wild.
I'd like to see more city services,
and that they're gonna cut.
They're gonna cut it.
MAN: Mason, we're losing it, man.
In the '60s you had civil unrest
because people couldn't take it anymore.
And we're getting to a tipping point
in this country.
We've moved to a have and have not society.
He who controls the gold runs the show.
(SIRENS WAILING)
(WOMAN SINGING OPERA)
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDS)
Thank you.
I always felt that it's the arts that can help
revitalize a city.
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDS) Yeah.
Now, we have many challenges ahead,
but we are determined that we will overcome them
and that this opera house will continue to be a home,
a mecca for great opera and dance,
for the next 40 years.
I won't be here, but I know you will be.
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDS)
DAVID DICHIERA: Everything in Detroit
is at stake.
This is a city which is undergoing
probably one of the greatest challenges
of the last century.
The rise of industry
and the demise of industry as we know it...
I think a lot of other cities
will follow suit.
MAN: One, two,
three, four, five.
(TALKING INDISTINCTLY)
What we're seeing is that virtually the entire city
is illustrating
some level of population decline.
Over the last 50 years, we've lost about
50% of our population.
If we were at about 1.86 million in 1955,
we're arguably somewhere between
800,000 and 900,000 today,
within a city of the same size.
You know, as the population plummets,
the number of jobs is actually decreasing
even more.
I think you're probably up into the 50%
real unemployment in the city.
BING: Even though you may have some Detroiters
that get a job in Detroit,
once they get to a certain level of income,
they get the hell out of town too.
So, you know, that seems to be
a direction that a lot of folks are taking.
MAN: We have a lot of vacant land.
You may have a situation where you have one home
on an entire block,
or one home on two blocks.
Out of a city that is about
139 square miles,
we're looking at 40 square miles
of potentially vacant land.
One way to put this into perspective is
you can see where they've laid in
the city of San Francisco,
Boston and Manhattan in their geographies
and how they can actually fit within the overall city
of Detroit.
With a lot of space left over for that matter.
Maybe we need to rethink actually how we
develop our land use and our land use policy
moving forward.
But the reality of thinking that we're going
to re-populize this area
in significant numbers anytime in the near term,
uh, I don't see that as my reality.
When do we think we'll be able to identify
those neighborhoods we deem to be stable,
where you really want to make new investments?
We have to start doing something.
That's got to happen.
Otherwise you're gonna... We'll lose the people.
Right, right.
Can I get a small coffee with one cream?
All right, how have you been?
You doing okay?
Yeah.
(WOMAN ON TV SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)
Other public meetings are scheduled for Thursday
and Saturday.
There will also be more later this month.
In light of today's first set of public meetings
with the Mayor's
Detroit Works Project,
we want to ask you, would you move your home
to right-size and save the city you live in?
(CLAMORING)
MAN: We did not come here... We did not come here
to talk among ourselves.
We came here to talk to the Mayor.
We could've stayed at home and talked to ourselves.
Straight mayhem and chaos at a town hall meeting.
Is this honestly how you all plan to do this?
WOMAN 1: Mmm-hmm.
You got people scattered... And look, doesn't it look like
the city of Detroit to you?
People are looking for answers.
I don't know where I wanna go.
I don't know...
This is, like, completely not even...
I can't believe intelligent minds
put this together.
Like, I'm angry...
It's not gonna do us any good.
I'm trying to understand, with the neighborhood,
why do we have to move?
Why can't you build around us
and do what you need to do
instead of trying to, one, burn us out,
and two, trying to take us out?
And then thirdly, I wanna know
what is gonna be done to that land once you
move us out?
Because it seems like your downsizing
is just another form of segregation.
And at my 40 years of age,
I thought my mama and them already been through that.
And I don't want to have to go through
it again.
And if we don't understand
that we who live in the city of Detroit
have to stick together or they're gonna take
this city away from us.
WOMAN 2: Twenty years from now,
I won't know what the city will look like
unless the good Lord let me live.
I'm 83 years old,
but this is our city.
We don't have to stay in it.
We can go somewhere else,
but if the good Lord let me live,
I'll die in Detroit because this is my city.
(ALL APPLAUDING)
MAN: Could you come a little closer please?
FEMALE REPORTER: And basically, this is about
downsizing the city and what we can do
with the land?
No, I think we need to forget the word
about downsizing.
We're not downsizing this city.
This city will be 139 square miles whenever
we finish with this process.
So we've got to repurpose the land.
MALE REPORTER: Are you saying that no one will be uprooted
or forced to leave their home?
I'm not saying that.
Are you gonna offer a tax incentive or some kind
of financial benefit?
It's gonna be difficult. The city is broke.
I don't know how many times I have to say that.
I mean, we've got a financial crisis we're
dealing with
and I don't want people to sit back
and think
there's a bucket of money somewhere
and all they have to do is sit and wait until
we offer them that.
That's... That's not our case.
MAN 1: Look, the dog pulling him, he ain't got
no control over the dog, man.
What are you doing? Pants about to fall
down and shit.
His pants at knee level. (CHUCKLES)
(ALL LAUGHING)
You is silly, man.
MAN 1: If I can have Detroit back
like it was when I was younger,
before all the craziness,
you know what I'm saying,
I would consolidate this city in a hot second.
It'd be half a city.
Period.
Man, fuck the consolidation shit.
Man, I don't agree with it. I really don't.
I mean, I know what they're trying to do,
but it can never work.
I don't think this gonna never get done.
Like most stuff don't get done.
You know what I'm saying.
But I think it'll be a good idea, you know
what I'm saying.
MAN 2: Mmm-hmm.
MAN 1: What the...
What the fuck is all these damn gardens...
They're gonna put...
What are you talking about, "We gonna make gardens
all around the city."
We gonna build gardens every motherfucking where
in the city, man.
That's some bullshit, you know what I'm saying?
What? Are you gonna turn Detroit into a farm now?
You know what I'm saying? You're gonna turn Detroit
into a farm.
Motherfucker's gonna be fighting like...
They gonna be like, "This my garden."
They gonna come out with the burner and they go,
"Put my tomato down."
MAN 3: This is crazy. You know what I'm saying?
"Drop the fucking tomato right now
"or I'm going to shoot."
(ALL LAUGHING)
MAN 1: This used to be like the cream of the crop.
Everybody came here from down south
for jobs, you know what I'm saying.
Everybody had a job over at Chrysler.
Look at this shit. Man, it just looks
like somebody
just dropped a bomb on here.
You say, "What happened up here, man?"
Doggone spiders and everything had a home
up in here.
Wasps.
But it's time for them to go.
They have to find another home.
Sorry about that.
So we gonna be finished with that today?
I just need to go over. I just started helping...
Okay, well, one of you guys probably need to be
working on the windows.
This house over here was vacant.
Somebody lost it for taxes.
And it belonged to the city.
So they just let it sit there.
And these pyro-maniacs come by and burn it up.
And this is repeated all over this city.
You got these guys who love fires.
You know, they set the fires and they go
somewhere and masturbate.
You know, they're sick.
You know, they get thrills out of that
for some reason unknown.
Just sick.
Got some sick people in America, but they
have a right to be sick.
I defend their right to be sick.
Just need some help.
But anyway, we then... We own this house here.
And this house was getting ready to be lost
for taxation purposes.
So, for $6,000 I got the property.
TOMMY: All right, you ladies take care of yourselves.
WOMAN: All right, you do the same.
TOMMY: All right.
Mr. Brooks? Yes, sir?
You're leaving tonight, sir?
Yeah, it's time to go.
All right, my brother.
You have a good night now.
Okay.
Sharp dressing. MAN: I'm telling you, man.
Brooks's sugar shy.
What size are you giving them shoes, man?
(ALL LAUGHING)
Brooks's sugar shy.
He'll tell you he worked a number of years in
the plant for them.
Right, Brooks?
(LAUGHING)
He worked a lot of years in the plant...
MAN: A lot of years.
TOMMY: ...to be able to get that.
MAN: He got the car, imagine that!
TOMMY: Eighteen hours a day that man
worked in that plant.
MAN: Yeah, he deserves it.
(TOMMY SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)
Yeah.
TOMMY: 7:30 tomorrow.
Yeah.
TOMMY: You know, at one time they had
to turn this sign off.
They had it completely off
when General Motors went bankrupt.
It's a huge plant.
And we were just five blocks from them.
Only a short distance
is the Raven Lounge.
Detroit house of blues.
Now they're making the new Volt.
Their new electric car, the battery car.
And I'm waiting on them to come back
'cause my business will come back.
(PHONE RINGING)
MAN: Local 22.
WOMAN: Hi, do we have a vision?
Do you have vision?
No, eye care. To get glasses.
No, we don't have it.
You know, we lost that in the...
In order to get the money from the government
we had to give back the vision and dental
for the retirees.
Where did you work at?
I worked the Cadillac plant. All right, you know
who you talking to, don't you?
You sound familiar, I just can't think.
This is George.
Yeah, okay.
Okay, what are you doing now?
I'm president.
Yeah, well, you've been president for a while,
that's a good thing.
Yeah, I know who you are. (CHUCKLES)
Yeah. I know who you are.
Well, have things changed?
Have they changed very much?
Oh, yeah, they've changed a lot, sweetheart.
They've changed a lot.
Have they? Yes, they have.
Oh, Lord.
But we gonna be fine.
Well, is it getting better or is it
getting worse?
Well, this can't get no worse so it's got to get better.
Okay, well, I'm praying for everybody,
I tell you.
All right, so make sure you call on Thursday, okay?
I will. Okay, sweetheart,
I'll talk at you.
Okay. Goodbye. All right, bye-bye.
All day long.
They want to know about the healthcare though.
During World War II,
America was like... Bam.
We built... We built war machines for...
For the world. Right?
Right on here where I used to...
(INDISTINCT)
They turned that from an automobile factory
to building airplanes. Right there on 4th Street.
We built everything and put them on a ship.
And shipped them to England and everywhere.
Y'all know what we did. Keep up with that history.
Now we can't buy American made
washing machines.
Or an iron.
Hmm?
So where did all our manufacturing base go?
Where did it all go?
'Cause we built everything.
We built everything.
Everything.
America did it.
We have a standard of living in America
that the working guy provided.
A standard of living.
Which is eroding now, but it's a standard of living
that the working guy... And it started
right here in Detroit.
Right here in Detroit.
A middle class started right here.
Everybody knew it. We just gotta
face up to it.
So we were able to send our kids to school.
We're able to set up a little bit of money.
Some of our guys were able enough to get a
place up north or whatever.
Middle class. Got a boat.
You understand what I'm saying?
Middle class.
Middle class.
Leave it to Beaver. Little white house,
the picket fence.
Leave it to Beaver.
Wasn't that the middle class?
Come on, now. We're looking at it
on TV, right?
Weren't we?
Then we see it come into our lives.
There it is, the middle class.
(CLATTERING)
MAN 1: That's gonna fall. That's gonna hit the ground.
That's gonna hit the ground.
(INDISTINCT)
That's gonna hit the ground.
MAN: Tell him to pull it that way!
(MAN SHOUTING)
MAN 2: It's held on by that top beam right there.
MAN 3: Got a big ass flame. MAN 4: Timber!
(CLATTERING)
(ENGINE REVVING)
MAN: Whoa! Hey, hey, hey. (INDISTINCT)
(TIRES SCREECH)
(ENGINE REVS)
Pass it by.
Got to get lifted up.
Yeah, there you go.
Down and push.
(GRUNTS) Heaviest fucking piece
we got all day right here.
Look here, drop it on my hands one more time.
We're living in this block.
This whole neighborhood is probably 100 houses
from fucking 20 blocks that way, 20 blocks that way.
Full of hookers and bums.
Drugs and money.
No one will mess with you
around here.
Police came earlier. Just to make sure we
weren't stealing nothing.
And we was careful.
They said if they had any complaints,
they'd have to run us off.
But it was all right for now.
Easy money.
Easy money!
And the economy is shit!
Can't get a job.
For this steel we're getting
11 cents a pound.
But if you're taking copper, you get, like, $2.50 a pound.
It goes somewhere and gets melted.
It goes all over. Wherever, it goes wherever.
China.
MAN: Why is it going to China?
So they can make shit and send it back here
and sell it for more.
(CHUCKLES)
MAN 1: We got into this problem by
doing the most dangerous thing a country can do.
We misread our environment at the end of the Cold War.
We thought we could actually put our feet up.
In fact, we unleashed the world
with two billion more people just like us.
Competitors.
MAN 2: America has been an exceptional country,
but exceptionalism is not a distinction
bestowed on a country once that it gets to keep for life
like an honorary degree.
Exceptionalism has to be earned every day.
MAN 3: I actually think that we need to start looking
at other countries.
And looking at what makes them successful.
MAN 4: A country that manufactures things
has power.
A service country don't have no power.
Why did we let that happen?
Greed?
Sure, greed.
We all can take a little blame, can't we?
MAN 5: Look at the country today, what's going on.
We're having a financial crisis.
And our politicians are having an election.
(JAZZ MUSIC PLAYING)
♪ Shake it to the left
♪ Shake it to the right
♪ Shake it in the middle
♪ Shake it all night
(YELLS)
(SINGING INDISTINCTLY)
♪ But you know what?
♪ It won't be nothing
♪ Won't be nothing
♪ Won't be nothing
(VOCALIZING)
♪ Oh, my God
♪ No
(INDISTINCT)
♪ No
(INDISTINCT)
♪ It's a man
♪ It's a man
(INDISTINCT) (VOCALIZING)
♪ Without the woman I love ♪
(VOCALIZING)
(AUDIENCE CHEERING)
Tell your daddy I said hi.
All right, I will.
All right. Hey, you tell your daddy
I said also to don't forget my roof.
All right, I'll tell him.
All right, man.
You have a good night now.
Happy birthday, Tommy. Drink some water, boy.
WOMAN: A job is a right, we're gonna...
CROWD: Fight, fight, fight.
WOMAN: A job is a right, we're gonna...
CROWD: Fight, fight, fight.
WOMAN: The people have spoken.
CROWD: Keep the plants open.
MAN: We begin where everything begins.
With nature.
Wind.
Water.
Air.
Surround yourself with pure luxury.
An experience of sheer joy is
at your fingertips.
Release that power.
WOMAN: The Volt is symbolic to Chevrolet's
job commitment to the future.
The main benefits include
reduced petroleum consumption...
TOMMY: I like it.
How far will that go?
What's that? On a charge?
Uh, on a charge it will travel
25 to 50 miles
completely electric.
When do you think that the engineers are gonna
get it
up to, let's say, 500 miles to 1,000 miles?
How long is that gonna be?
I don't have any official word on that yet.
This car was built down the street
from my business.
The Raven Lounge. In Hamtramck.
In Hamtramck. I own a blues bar
on Chene down there.
That's interesting.
Solar power, energy storage.
Holy cow.
They gonna drive it from the sun?
(INDISTINCT)
ANNOUNCER: Just in one night, steamers spread
over the world.
During the 250 years
after the Industrial Revolution,
mankind created a wealth more than that
of the past 2.5 million years.
Crazy enjoyment at one side
while slow suicide at the other.
Could the bloody black gold really
dominate the world?
Mankind has to swallow his fruit of evil
from crazy conquest.
Where is Noah's Ark
to save human beings?
An enterprise that can make cars as well
as batteries
is storing its power to change the world.
TOMMY: Hi, how are you doing?
This BYD...
WOMAN: BYD, build your dreams.
Is that the name of the company?
Yes, BYD is the name of the company.
And build your dreams is our slogan.
Where is the company based?
Is it in Japan, China? What?
Uh, China, it's in China. Oh, in China?
Near Hong Kong.
Hmm.
So this is the Chinese version
competing with the American Volt.
Yeah, yes.
Yes, and our price is very competitive.
Hmm. That's interesting.
Yeah. (LAUGHS)
So this is comparable.
Yeah, after... Hey, it's a better deal.
I'm saying, "my God!"
I mean, the Volt,
even though I want it to succeed,
has some genuine problems at 40-some-thousand.
And you are talking about 20?
Yes, 28.
Then you will have to...
How can the Chinese do that?
The Chinese...
Chinese can do... Yeah, Chinese can do.
Oh, I know you can do. I believe you can do.
Man!
Hey, you know what?
The Volt got problems.
WOMAN: He said Warren Buffett
is a major investor.
Yeah, so they're gonna be around, but I'm saying
what does that do to the Volt?
Excuse me, can I just ask you a question?
Do you have any literature on this?
I do not have any here at the show,
What are we gonna do about that BYD over there
that I just saw?
The Chinese car?
Electric car. Have you all seen this?
No. No.
Sir... You gonna do about it?
Go over there... You see BYD?
Yeah. Yeah.
Go over there and take a look.
Chinese electric car
can run more than this
and it cost 20 grand!
Yeah. I'm going like,
"How can China do this?"
This is 41. Yeah.
It's amazing!
You know, I'm gonna be telling you.
This global economy stinks.
This has probably got $20,000 worth of options
compared to that over there though.
Yeah, I'd say you're a little apples to oranges
on your car though.
I don't think it's gonna... It's not...
But why am I apples to oranges?
It's not the same car. It's like saying
the Cruze is $20,000 and the Corvette is 80.
You're not driving a Vette if you're driving a Cruze.
I mean, it's a nicer car.
I know... And I agree with you.
I agree with you. Totally.
Can I take you back in the '60s
and talk about Honda for a moment?
Sure.
Don't you remember when nobody would
buy a Honda?
Uh-huh. And they said
the identical things that you just told us here.
That you're talking about apples and oranges.
Honda is a piece of junk, they said.
And finally Honda took us over.
My question is... Honda didn't.
Yes, Honda did.
They stole our technology.
I want this car to succeed.
It's built down the street from my business.
SALESMAN: Thank you, sir. Good luck with your club.
MAN: It's awesome.
You see, that guy don't want to talk
about reality.
He doesn't want to talk about...
We got our heads in the sand again.
Oh, leave it alone.
No, I'm gonna leave it alone.
But we're not dealing with reality.
Right.
We're not... Oh!
This is heart-breaking for me.
'Cause I know the average American...
Now, I probably wouldn't.
Because I probably would buy this.
But the average American will go buy that
junk over there.
If you call it junk. Whatever you call it.
Or, the apples, as he called it.
(ORCHESTRA PLAYING)
(SINGING OPERA SONG)
(APPLAUSE)
If I should ever be called upon to act
(HISSES)
professionally,
I am happy to think there will be no difficulty
in finding plenty of people
whose loss will be a distinct gain
to society at large.
(ORCHESTRA PLAYING)
♪ As someday it may happen
♪ That a victim must be found
♪ I've got a little list
♪ I've got a little list
♪ Of society offenders
♪ Who might well be underground
♪ And never would be missed
♪ Who never would be missed
♪ Here's Hyundai, BMW
♪ And Honda too ♪ I've got them on the list
♪ They never would be missed
♪ Civil servants who write letters for internal revenue
♪ Just to tell you what you've missed
♪ I've got them on the list
♪ Our government officials
♪ Who shaft the middle class
♪ They don't care about what's happening
♪ And all can kiss my...
Ax!
♪ But it really doesn't matter
♪ Who you put upon the list
♪ They'll none of them be missed
♪ They'll none of them be missed
♪ You may put them on the list
♪ You may put them on the list
♪ And they'll none of them be missed
♪ They'll none of them be missed
WOMAN ON TV: ...40% this year.
At a time when America really needs
jobs and innovation,
General Motors, which got bailed out by tax
payers, don't forget,
says it's moving its electric car
business to China.
MAN ON TV: In the future, its global platforms
for electric vehicles,
most of that research and development,
is gonna be taking place in Shanghai.
The Shanghai automotive and the government of China
is requesting and pressuring
General Motors, in order for them
to sell in their markets,
to share their intellectual property.
And that means the unique technology
that's assigned to the Volt
is gonna potentially be made in China.
You seem afraid
about the idea that we would share our
intellectual property
with the Chinese.
Do you trust them?
WOMAN: The Chinese government
and the Premier of China
has said that he wakes up every morning
wondering how he can create
25 million jobs a year for his people.
Unless we, as a nation,
wake up every morning and say, "How are
we gonna create
"millions of jobs for our citizens
and take action?"
we're gonna continue to lose jobs.
I'm getting a little nervous.
What are we doing?
We're selling our souls.
It's not good at all.
We don't value our jobs here.
I think they're playin' us.
Uh, they're playin' us like a $2 pimp.
And eventually, uh,
they're having us selling our souls
for little or nothing.
I tell you, it's, uh...
Uh, China is rocking the world.
They're more advanced than we are.
And they're more economical than we are.
And their standard of living is lower
than ours.
Yes, they are.
So, shall we lower our standard of living?
We're gonna have to,
in order to compete.
I don't think the American people
are going to like that.
WOMAN: It's coming from my savings.
Is there a chance...
They don't have any money.
It's coming from my savings.
AUTOMATED VOICE: Please hang up, now.
Please hang up, now.
This is a recording. Please hang up and dial again.
If you need assistance, call your operator.
What's up, Detroit?
(INDISTINCT)
Listen, like, I don't know if y'all understand,
but they're shutting down schools,
they're shutting down
futures, basically.
And that's not cool. Like, it's just not cool.
You know, it almost makes me feel like
we might be, uh, regressing.
And I feel like, uh,
if you're concerned about
the six abandoned houses on your block,
if you're concerned about
the people next door to you not eating dinner,
if you're concerned about the laws that don't exist,
if you're concerned about these things,
I'm urging you...
I'm not even urging you, I'm daring you
to come out.
We got enough problems, y'all.
Now, let's just come up with some way
to solve these problems.
'Cause I think we're destined for
the heavens, Detroit.
WOMAN: Okay, can we have quiet, please?
My name is Stephanie Weir.
I work.
I make minimum wage.
I keep pushing and pushing
to improve myself.
I have a new job, I start this Monday.
I get up early in the morning,
faithfully.
I may not have to be to work until 10:00,
but I am out there at 8:00 and 7:30,
waiting to catch my bus,
'cause I don't be late for anyone.
What am I to do
when all I have is the bus?
Please, please,
don't take our transportation away.
That's all we have.
Thank you.
MAN: We cannot take any more cutbacks.
Period.
Not only in relation to the buses,
but services, period.
We're not going to accept any more downsizing.
We wanna hear about upsizing,
big sizing, supersizing Detroit.
And... And I'm gonna tell you something.
God's gonna judge each and every one of us
by the things that we do to one another.
And I'm gonna tell you, he's gonna hold
you accountable,
and believe me, he's not gonna
have as much mercy
as the citizens of Detroit have
had on you.
(INDISTINCT YELLING)
Burn, baby, burn!
MALE REPORTER: We said it couldn't happen, but it did.
On July 23, 1967, Detroit was hit by a riot,
which left 43 dead, thousands injured,
and a city in flames.
As governor of the state of Michigan,
I do hereby officially request
the immediate deployment of federal
troops into Michigan
to assist state and local authorities
in re-establishing law and order
in the city of Detroit.
(GUN FIRES)
(PA SYSTEM DINGS)
ANNOUNCER: The next station
is Cobo Center.
(MAN SINGING OPERA SONG)
(COFFEE MACHINE WHIRRS)
Are you guys gonna have it here or you
wanna bag this up?
Do you want me to put this in a bag?
Take it to go? Okay, sure.
MAN: I'd like a coffee. Uh-huh.
Do you have ceramic cups?
Yeah, like dine-in cups?
You know, not cardboard.
(CHUCKLES SOFTLY)
Got the Coney Island style, baby, what do
you know about it, huh?
All righty. So, I'd like, you know,
like, just, uh,
black coffee with milk.
Well, then, it's not black anymore
if there's milk.
Well, yeah. You're integrating.
Digging the Harry Potter glasses.
Hey, hey, hey. Kind of fancy.
Well, I mean, I didn't...
You know, that could potentially be offensive.
How could it be offensive?
Everybody loves Harry Potter, okay.
I don't like Harry Potter.
Oh, you don't like Harry Potter?
No.
Okay, I won't say it again, I'm sorry.
It's...
It's modeled after 1950s Italian architects.
That's what these glasses should represent.
Oh.
Oh, okay. Well, I learned something new.
I see. Where're you guys from? Where're you from?
Switzerland.
Switzerland.
That's kind of fancy. What're you doing here?
Sightseeing.
Just checking everything out? Yeah?
Yeah.
What's your... What's the object
of your affection?
(CASH REGISTER WHIRRS)
Well, kind of, in Switzerland, everything
is always neat and proper and new.
And we kind of feel like Detroit seems
somewhat interesting
with all of its, you know, decay.
Decay? That could be slightly offensive.
Yeah. (LAUGHS)
Cafe got busy today, thank God for the opera...
The Opera House.
(CROWD APPLAUDING)
(CARNIVAL MUSIC PLAYING)
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
(MACHINE WHIRRING)
MAN: Jordan and I met in Hawaii.
We knew we weren't gonna stay in Hawaii.
So, we were just tossing around places,
we wanted to be somewhere urban, of course.
We had a project that we wanted to do,
like, street art, public installation.
And so, we just started evaluating,
you know, we looked at Baltimore.
We were looking into New York City.
And Detroit came up.
And I knew that's one thing Detroit had,
an abundance of space, and old warehouses.
I feel like we've assimilated into
that community of artists
that are moving here and coming here.
(CAMERA CLICKS)
(CAMERA CLICKS)
That's pretty sweet.
(WHISTLING)
Never had appliances this nice,
so I feel like I should be
taking care of them.
Yeah, well about... Just a couple weeks ago.
And we're able to
keep our studio because everything's
so affordable.
Yeah, I just...
Detroit is constantly amazing me.
I feel like this is...
Like it's redefining what the value
of things are.
You know, 20... 20,000...
You know, $25,000 for an amazing loft.
I don't know, that just makes it accessible
to people like me.
I would never be able to afford
a home as an artist.
And here I am, with a studio,
and an apartment.
In... In a major city, you know, functioning
for, like, $700 or less a month.
We can experiment here.
Because if we fail, we haven't really fallen
anywhere. (CHUCKLES)
WOMAN: It's about time we got some good news.
MAN: It is. You can't beat that.
2,500 people coming back, that's...
That's beautiful, man.
That's awesome. This is where it started.
This is where it should always be.
I agree.
Eminem said, "Imported from Detroit."
WOMAN: Yeah.
(LAUGHS) Imported from Detroit.
WOMAN: Imported from the D.
Yep.
(LAUGHTER) Yep.
See the fish I caught? (CHUCKLES)
Huh? You wanna see my fish I caught?
(CHUCKLES)
Huh?
Wanna see my fish I caught?
Get your head down in there.
I just have to go and relax.
It's all about celebrating and relaxation.
(BREATHES HEAVILY)
Hey. You all right?
Wow.
That's the shit I'm celebrating. (LAUGHS) Shit!
I think my hands got real high when
they said the third shift.
That's what really excited me.
I was giving thanks.
That's what I was doing. I was giving thanks
to the Lord.
It's good news for us.
I just like this place.
I just love it. I just love it.
I love it.
WOMAN ON TV: The auto industry
is experiencing a resurgence
and that's good.
The bailout has saved a million jobs.
But that doesn't mean that manufacturing
is back to what it was
20, 30, 40 years ago.
MAN 1: Change is difficult. Change is hard work.
You have to keep up.
You have to innovate. Otherwise, you're gonna
be out of a job.
MAN 2: There's much more competition,
and the burden ultimately rests on our education system.
We need more education and we need better education
if we wanna prepare people for the 21st century.
Yee-haw!
(CAR ENGINE STARTS)
MAN: Can America work collectively?
Yes. I mean, we have in the past.
I'm an infinite believer in American pluck.
WOMAN: Where there is crisis,
there is opportunity.
So, we don't want people to say
this is the end of Detroit. It certainly is not.
But we do want people to learn from our experience,
which has not been pretty. We also want it
to serve as a wakeup call to the country.
MAN: It was fucking massive.
WOMAN: This was one of the most
elite train stations
in the country. Yeah.
(TRAIN HORN BLOWING)
I just love how this glass hangs on.
It's like, "I'm not falling. I will not...
"I refuse to fall off this fucking frame.
"Ever."
Sometimes, I sit down here,
meditate,
pray,
strategize,
uh, about the business.
And just kind of, uh, rest for a while.
Let me see, what are they doing
with, uh...
With the budget today?
Detroit was the highest foreclosure rate.
My brother called me from Florida.
And he said, "Man!
"You guys are gonna be out of the world,
"in a minute everybody's gonna lose their homes.
"What the hell are you all doing
up there?
"You can't pay your mortgage loans or something?"
And I said to him, "Look,
"this is tip of the iceberg."
I called my brother last month and I said,
"I just read that Florida, now, is number one."
That Florida, he goes,
"Yeah, man, everybody here is losing their jobs.
"We thought Disney World was gonna hire everybody,
"Disney World ain't what it used to be."
See what I'm saying?
You know, capitalism is a great
system. I love it.
But it exploits the weak.
It always does.
It always does. Unfortunately.
You know,
Kagan, one of the sociologists that I used to read
back in the '60s,
uh, said that...
The upper class
needed the middle class to buffer the poor.
That if you take the middle class away,
the upper class will spawn
and will have problems from the lower class.
We got to think about it now.
Only 2% of Americans
exceed $300,000 a year.
Only 2%.
So, if you wipe out the middle class there,
then, are you gonna have 98%
of poor folks in this city?
I mean, this country?
98% of us will be poor?
Making under $30,000 a year?
And we're gonna see these guys sitting up
there, sitting on his laurels,
making billions, off of us?
The country wouldn't stand for it.
Human beings are not standing for it.
There's no buffer between the rich
and the poor,
only thing left is revolution.
When you see your neighbor
going down,
you have to think about yourself.
And if you don't go over there
and put that fire out,
help your neighbor put that fire out,
that fire is coming to you.
No matter what the problems are.
What happened in Detroit
is now spreading throughout.
This is coming to you. Yeah. It's coming to you.
That's just my opinion.
Holy cow.
(VOCALIZING)
Hmm.
(TRAIN HORN BLOWING)
---
(ORCHESTRA PLAYING)
MAN: It's gonna challenge us to do the right thing
for the right people.
People just don't want to do right no more.
We can do anything. Let's do it.
Anything, we can do it.
That's why it's critical.
We are in critical times.
That's the message tonight.
God is saying it's critical.
We need to pray for our leaders.
Because they get weak.
And we have to come up.
It's our time.
It's our time.
God has delivered us and saved us for this time.
Perfectly good chairs, perfectly good.
Look, it's a spinner, I'm coming back to get this.
Hello!
(FAINT OPERA MUSIC PLAYING)
(MUSIC GETS LOUDER)
(EQUIPMENT WHIRRING)
This is the downsizing of Detroit.
You're watching it live.
One of the 10,000 homes that they're trying to
get done
in the next four years
over the course of the four years
of Mayor Bing's term.
These are houses that are never coming back.
Bill Koresky with Able Demo.
Uh, these houses are not coming back.
There's no people living in them.
No, not right now, no.
There's one family every 20 minutes moving out.
Moving out of Detroit.
It's going back to the prairie
and these houses are just disappearing
from the landscape.
Yeah, they say there's 90,000 right now,
ready to go.
Wow.
Every day, non-stop. Every day.
Get them done, get another list.
Get them done, get another list.
Man...
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, I think we got... I don't know how many
we've got over here. Like...
I know we got, like, 11 on this street.
July 4th, 2010,
Independence Day.
I'm going real revolutionary.
I'm in a beautiful building.
CRYSTAL : History is just one of my things.
Even since grade school.
(GASPS) Are you shitting me?
That's a passion.
What was there, who was there?
These hallways though, I mean, I'm trying...
I'm picturing this place
clean and there being, you know,
people walking around and shit happening.
Bring that shit on up here, girl.
(CHUCKLES)
Wow, it's amazing where you see where they just
ripped out the wall.
'Cause there's copper piping right there.
Hmm.
Can you imagine, like, having breakfast right here?
Do you know what I mean?
Like, look at your view.
Look at your view in the morning.
Like, yeah, I'm going to go out
and conquer the world,
because I can damn near see it from right here.
Motown, right up the street.
(SIGHS)
Can't leave, man. Can't fucking leave.
I feel like I was maybe here
a little while back.
Or I'm older than I really am,
but I just have, like, this young...
This young body and spirit and mind,
but I have the memory of this place
when it was banging.
That's how I feel.
(SOUL MUSIC PLAYING)
MAN: We're about to take off on the highway
of tomorrow.
Stand by...
(INAUDIBLE)
♪ Tomorrow
♪ Tomorrow
♪ Our dreams will come true ♪
GEORGE McGREGOR: Get out of the way.
Hey!
You better move.
Ah, you can't wrestle with that bumper.
I want to take you out where I got hired in 1968.
The Cadillac Assembly Plant...
From there all the way down.
And on this side over here too.
It's one big plant.
Right there. It used to be
the Cadillac Assembly Plant.
Now, it's the place where they park dumpsters.
Now, this plant was huge.
All of this was the plant.
It was the first job I ever had.
You know, the first job I ever had.
I got hired on a Thursday.
I worked Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
And my paycheck that I got from there
made the one that I got in Tennessee
look like I don't know what.
And guess what, this was one of the hotels we
used to hang out at at night.
Right here, the Shorecrest.
(LAUGHS) Shit.
It was... It was fun.
It was big fun.
Shorecrest!
We're going down tonight, y'all.
Yeah.
Big time.
See, after the plant left,
shit, the neighborhood left.
It just eventually just went...
Kaput.
Now, I'm going to show you something.
This is the great American Axle.
See how large it is?
Just to build axles, man.
All this is empty. Yeah.
They built a new plant in Mexico and took
all the work to Mexico.
(LAUGHS) That's where it's at.
I've been pulling my hair out and puzzling with this,
and going back and forth with the company on this,
and I've been in a lot of negotiations over my time,
but I've never dealt with a management like this.
And I've tried everything.
But they're calling this as their last proposal.
You're going to get mad, though, I can tell you that.
For guys, senior quality
mechanical technicians,
meaning the guys that's at 18.50 an hour
right now,
they will be going down to $18
for 50 cents' decrease in pay.
All the guys in plant seven
that are making $17,
they want to move them down to 14.50,
which is a loss of two dollars and 50 cents
an hour on their wage.
For factory support, which is the guys
that are making 14.35,
their new proposal is $11 an hour,
which means they will lose $3.35 an hour on their wage.
(PEOPLE TALKING INDISTINCTLY)
Come on. This is ridiculous. We don't even need to
entertain this.
MAN: George, I'd like to make a motion
that we don't even vote on this.
That you return to the company and tell them we refuse
to vote on this.
This is hogwash. GEORGE: Getting a second?
MEN: Second.
GEORGE: All in favor of you say, "Aye."
ALL: Aye.
I got 100%... Everybody put your hands up
that go with that.
I don't even want to go wasting my time
voting on this.
Talking about it... I can't agree more.
GEORGE: I ask him, I say, "How do I sit down
with one of my members
"who's already scuffling and making 14.35,
"sit at the table with their family
and got to tell them
"that my union, and I agree,
"they take a $3.35 pay cut."
I asked her that.
I said, "I told you guys if we negotiate any
kind of agreement,
"it's going to be a livable wage."
What did she tell us about a livable wage, Nicole?
NICOLE: "I don't care about your guys having
a livable wage."
GEORGE: Point blank.
MAN 1: I mean, why? To beat us down or what?
I mean, this is ridiculous. Why?
GEORGE: To humiliate us. What, why?
And what... What good is that?
What do you think you're gonna feel
every day going in to work?
They don't care. That's the biggest problem.
The check we make don't even pay our gas bill
already, you know...
And thank God the winter over with.
It's crazy.
They said, "This is what we need
to keep Detroit..." What?
Viable. Viable.
MAN 2: You all should have told them right then
to go ahead and close it.
Right there. GEORGE: No, no, no.
Uh-uh, uh-uh.
They're trying to get us to say that, brother.
We won't say it.
We're going to keep negotiating till we're
right off the end.
I don't know how everybody else feels, but I'm willing
to take it to the hilt.
Take it all... Take it all the way out.
If we got...
If they're not there come February,
I'm willing to stand out there.
I'm willing to take it all the way.
'Cause I ain't got... Hey. Far as I feel now,
I ain't got nothing to lose.
MAN 3: That's right, brother.
I ain't got nothing to lose.
GEORGE: It is what it is.
It ain't no pretty sight.
It doesn't sound too good to the ears.
MAN: Yeah.
(LIVE MUSIC PLAYING)
♪ Ain't no stoppin' us now
♪ Ain't no stoppin'
♪ Stoppin' us
♪ Ain't no stoppin'
♪ Ain't no stoppin' us now
♪ Ain't no stoppin'
♪ Oh, stop ♪
(MILD APPLAUSE)
MAN 1: Yeah!
♪ Tell it like it is ♪
MAN 2: Shit.
All right, all right. Who made that originally?
Who made that originally? Come on, now.
You know your music now.
Donny! Don't ask Donny.
No, you're supposed to know.
I don't know.
TOMMY STEPHENS: Yeah, I'll get your apron,
now, look.
You got a wing basket and three wings.
Okay.
You know, I never could understand
how those Mexicans roll this thing.
This is a hell of a roll that they do.
When they put this lettuce in here,
it's a heck of a roll.
I like the way they do it.
I'd be damned if you could ever
undo it, you know.
You always have to cut it.
SINGER: Right, all right.
That's better than the sailors knot.
I used to have a cook back in the days
when we were making it quite a bit.
And times got so bad that I had to
use my knowledge.
Of course, I love cooking.
I do it all the time as a hobby.
(BLUES MUSIC PLAYING)
We used to be open quite frequently in here
until the recession or the really...
It was a depression that hit us. Truthfully.
When you really study that piece,
we are where we were in 1929.
They're just not saying it 'cause it would scare
the American people.
I used to have the guys from the factory,
they would come down and they would order
50 wings.
You know, there would be five of them
sitting around the table,
they'd order 50 wings, you know.
And all of that's kind of gone.
Completely gone.
Give me another five minutes, baby.
Then it'll be ready. Yeah, it'll be ready.
But it'll come back, I do believe.
(HOLLYWOOD SWINGING PLAYING)
♪ Hey, hey, hey
♪ What ya got to say?
♪ Say hey, hey, hey
♪ What ya got to say?
♪ Hollywood
♪ Hollywood swinging
♪ Hollywood ♪
MASON: It's the Mason radio show,
good morning, Detroit.
We doing a little Hollywood Swinging.
Memories and sing-alongs, what you going to do?
Caller, good morning, welcome to the show.
What are your thoughts here?
MAN: Well, basically, everybody is just, you know,
tired and fed up.
And basically, it's gonna all
blow up and explode.
The crime in the city has just gone wild.
I'd like to see more city services,
and that they're gonna cut.
They're gonna cut it.
MAN: Mason, we're losing it, man.
In the '60s you had civil unrest
because people couldn't take it anymore.
And we're getting to a tipping point
in this country.
We've moved to a have and have not society.
He who controls the gold runs the show.
(SIRENS WAILING)
(WOMAN SINGING OPERA)
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDS)
Thank you.
I always felt that it's the arts that can help
revitalize a city.
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDS) Yeah.
Now, we have many challenges ahead,
but we are determined that we will overcome them
and that this opera house will continue to be a home,
a mecca for great opera and dance,
for the next 40 years.
I won't be here, but I know you will be.
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDS)
DAVID DICHIERA: Everything in Detroit
is at stake.
This is a city which is undergoing
probably one of the greatest challenges
of the last century.
The rise of industry
and the demise of industry as we know it...
I think a lot of other cities
will follow suit.
MAN: One, two,
three, four, five.
(TALKING INDISTINCTLY)
What we're seeing is that virtually the entire city
is illustrating
some level of population decline.
Over the last 50 years, we've lost about
50% of our population.
If we were at about 1.86 million in 1955,
we're arguably somewhere between
800,000 and 900,000 today,
within a city of the same size.
You know, as the population plummets,
the number of jobs is actually decreasing
even more.
I think you're probably up into the 50%
real unemployment in the city.
BING: Even though you may have some Detroiters
that get a job in Detroit,
once they get to a certain level of income,
they get the hell out of town too.
So, you know, that seems to be
a direction that a lot of folks are taking.
MAN: We have a lot of vacant land.
You may have a situation where you have one home
on an entire block,
or one home on two blocks.
Out of a city that is about
139 square miles,
we're looking at 40 square miles
of potentially vacant land.
One way to put this into perspective is
you can see where they've laid in
the city of San Francisco,
Boston and Manhattan in their geographies
and how they can actually fit within the overall city
of Detroit.
With a lot of space left over for that matter.
Maybe we need to rethink actually how we
develop our land use and our land use policy
moving forward.
But the reality of thinking that we're going
to re-populize this area
in significant numbers anytime in the near term,
uh, I don't see that as my reality.
When do we think we'll be able to identify
those neighborhoods we deem to be stable,
where you really want to make new investments?
We have to start doing something.
That's got to happen.
Otherwise you're gonna... We'll lose the people.
Right, right.
Can I get a small coffee with one cream?
All right, how have you been?
You doing okay?
Yeah.
(WOMAN ON TV SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)
Other public meetings are scheduled for Thursday
and Saturday.
There will also be more later this month.
In light of today's first set of public meetings
with the Mayor's
Detroit Works Project,
we want to ask you, would you move your home
to right-size and save the city you live in?
(CLAMORING)
MAN: We did not come here... We did not come here
to talk among ourselves.
We came here to talk to the Mayor.
We could've stayed at home and talked to ourselves.
Straight mayhem and chaos at a town hall meeting.
Is this honestly how you all plan to do this?
WOMAN 1: Mmm-hmm.
You got people scattered... And look, doesn't it look like
the city of Detroit to you?
People are looking for answers.
I don't know where I wanna go.
I don't know...
This is, like, completely not even...
I can't believe intelligent minds
put this together.
Like, I'm angry...
It's not gonna do us any good.
I'm trying to understand, with the neighborhood,
why do we have to move?
Why can't you build around us
and do what you need to do
instead of trying to, one, burn us out,
and two, trying to take us out?
And then thirdly, I wanna know
what is gonna be done to that land once you
move us out?
Because it seems like your downsizing
is just another form of segregation.
And at my 40 years of age,
I thought my mama and them already been through that.
And I don't want to have to go through
it again.
And if we don't understand
that we who live in the city of Detroit
have to stick together or they're gonna take
this city away from us.
WOMAN 2: Twenty years from now,
I won't know what the city will look like
unless the good Lord let me live.
I'm 83 years old,
but this is our city.
We don't have to stay in it.
We can go somewhere else,
but if the good Lord let me live,
I'll die in Detroit because this is my city.
(ALL APPLAUDING)
MAN: Could you come a little closer please?
FEMALE REPORTER: And basically, this is about
downsizing the city and what we can do
with the land?
No, I think we need to forget the word
about downsizing.
We're not downsizing this city.
This city will be 139 square miles whenever
we finish with this process.
So we've got to repurpose the land.
MALE REPORTER: Are you saying that no one will be uprooted
or forced to leave their home?
I'm not saying that.
Are you gonna offer a tax incentive or some kind
of financial benefit?
It's gonna be difficult. The city is broke.
I don't know how many times I have to say that.
I mean, we've got a financial crisis we're
dealing with
and I don't want people to sit back
and think
there's a bucket of money somewhere
and all they have to do is sit and wait until
we offer them that.
That's... That's not our case.
MAN 1: Look, the dog pulling him, he ain't got
no control over the dog, man.
What are you doing? Pants about to fall
down and shit.
His pants at knee level. (CHUCKLES)
(ALL LAUGHING)
You is silly, man.
MAN 1: If I can have Detroit back
like it was when I was younger,
before all the craziness,
you know what I'm saying,
I would consolidate this city in a hot second.
It'd be half a city.
Period.
Man, fuck the consolidation shit.
Man, I don't agree with it. I really don't.
I mean, I know what they're trying to do,
but it can never work.
I don't think this gonna never get done.
Like most stuff don't get done.
You know what I'm saying.
But I think it'll be a good idea, you know
what I'm saying.
MAN 2: Mmm-hmm.
MAN 1: What the...
What the fuck is all these damn gardens...
They're gonna put...
What are you talking about, "We gonna make gardens
all around the city."
We gonna build gardens every motherfucking where
in the city, man.
That's some bullshit, you know what I'm saying?
What? Are you gonna turn Detroit into a farm now?
You know what I'm saying? You're gonna turn Detroit
into a farm.
Motherfucker's gonna be fighting like...
They gonna be like, "This my garden."
They gonna come out with the burner and they go,
"Put my tomato down."
MAN 3: This is crazy. You know what I'm saying?
"Drop the fucking tomato right now
"or I'm going to shoot."
(ALL LAUGHING)
MAN 1: This used to be like the cream of the crop.
Everybody came here from down south
for jobs, you know what I'm saying.
Everybody had a job over at Chrysler.
Look at this shit. Man, it just looks
like somebody
just dropped a bomb on here.
You say, "What happened up here, man?"
Doggone spiders and everything had a home
up in here.
Wasps.
But it's time for them to go.
They have to find another home.
Sorry about that.
So we gonna be finished with that today?
I just need to go over. I just started helping...
Okay, well, one of you guys probably need to be
working on the windows.
This house over here was vacant.
Somebody lost it for taxes.
And it belonged to the city.
So they just let it sit there.
And these pyro-maniacs come by and burn it up.
And this is repeated all over this city.
You got these guys who love fires.
You know, they set the fires and they go
somewhere and masturbate.
You know, they're sick.
You know, they get thrills out of that
for some reason unknown.
Just sick.
Got some sick people in America, but they
have a right to be sick.
I defend their right to be sick.
Just need some help.
But anyway, we then... We own this house here.
And this house was getting ready to be lost
for taxation purposes.
So, for $6,000 I got the property.
TOMMY: All right, you ladies take care of yourselves.
WOMAN: All right, you do the same.
TOMMY: All right.
Mr. Brooks? Yes, sir?
You're leaving tonight, sir?
Yeah, it's time to go.
All right, my brother.
You have a good night now.
Okay.
Sharp dressing. MAN: I'm telling you, man.
Brooks's sugar shy.
What size are you giving them shoes, man?
(ALL LAUGHING)
Brooks's sugar shy.
He'll tell you he worked a number of years in
the plant for them.
Right, Brooks?
(LAUGHING)
He worked a lot of years in the plant...
MAN: A lot of years.
TOMMY: ...to be able to get that.
MAN: He got the car, imagine that!
TOMMY: Eighteen hours a day that man
worked in that plant.
MAN: Yeah, he deserves it.
(TOMMY SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)
Yeah.
TOMMY: 7:30 tomorrow.
Yeah.
TOMMY: You know, at one time they had
to turn this sign off.
They had it completely off
when General Motors went bankrupt.
It's a huge plant.
And we were just five blocks from them.
Only a short distance
is the Raven Lounge.
Detroit house of blues.
Now they're making the new Volt.
Their new electric car, the battery car.
And I'm waiting on them to come back
'cause my business will come back.
(PHONE RINGING)
MAN: Local 22.
WOMAN: Hi, do we have a vision?
Do you have vision?
No, eye care. To get glasses.
No, we don't have it.
You know, we lost that in the...
In order to get the money from the government
we had to give back the vision and dental
for the retirees.
Where did you work at?
I worked the Cadillac plant. All right, you know
who you talking to, don't you?
You sound familiar, I just can't think.
This is George.
Yeah, okay.
Okay, what are you doing now?
I'm president.
Yeah, well, you've been president for a while,
that's a good thing.
Yeah, I know who you are. (CHUCKLES)
Yeah. I know who you are.
Well, have things changed?
Have they changed very much?
Oh, yeah, they've changed a lot, sweetheart.
They've changed a lot.
Have they? Yes, they have.
Oh, Lord.
But we gonna be fine.
Well, is it getting better or is it
getting worse?
Well, this can't get no worse so it's got to get better.
Okay, well, I'm praying for everybody,
I tell you.
All right, so make sure you call on Thursday, okay?
I will. Okay, sweetheart,
I'll talk at you.
Okay. Goodbye. All right, bye-bye.
All day long.
They want to know about the healthcare though.
During World War II,
America was like... Bam.
We built... We built war machines for...
For the world. Right?
Right on here where I used to...
(INDISTINCT)
They turned that from an automobile factory
to building airplanes. Right there on 4th Street.
We built everything and put them on a ship.
And shipped them to England and everywhere.
Y'all know what we did. Keep up with that history.
Now we can't buy American made
washing machines.
Or an iron.
Hmm?
So where did all our manufacturing base go?
Where did it all go?
'Cause we built everything.
We built everything.
Everything.
America did it.
We have a standard of living in America
that the working guy provided.
A standard of living.
Which is eroding now, but it's a standard of living
that the working guy... And it started
right here in Detroit.
Right here in Detroit.
A middle class started right here.
Everybody knew it. We just gotta
face up to it.
So we were able to send our kids to school.
We're able to set up a little bit of money.
Some of our guys were able enough to get a
place up north or whatever.
Middle class. Got a boat.
You understand what I'm saying?
Middle class.
Middle class.
Leave it to Beaver. Little white house,
the picket fence.
Leave it to Beaver.
Wasn't that the middle class?
Come on, now. We're looking at it
on TV, right?
Weren't we?
Then we see it come into our lives.
There it is, the middle class.
(CLATTERING)
MAN 1: That's gonna fall. That's gonna hit the ground.
That's gonna hit the ground.
(INDISTINCT)
That's gonna hit the ground.
MAN: Tell him to pull it that way!
(MAN SHOUTING)
MAN 2: It's held on by that top beam right there.
MAN 3: Got a big ass flame. MAN 4: Timber!
(CLATTERING)
(ENGINE REVVING)
MAN: Whoa! Hey, hey, hey. (INDISTINCT)
(TIRES SCREECH)
(ENGINE REVS)
Pass it by.
Got to get lifted up.
Yeah, there you go.
Down and push.
(GRUNTS) Heaviest fucking piece
we got all day right here.
Look here, drop it on my hands one more time.
We're living in this block.
This whole neighborhood is probably 100 houses
from fucking 20 blocks that way, 20 blocks that way.
Full of hookers and bums.
Drugs and money.
No one will mess with you
around here.
Police came earlier. Just to make sure we
weren't stealing nothing.
And we was careful.
They said if they had any complaints,
they'd have to run us off.
But it was all right for now.
Easy money.
Easy money!
And the economy is shit!
Can't get a job.
For this steel we're getting
11 cents a pound.
But if you're taking copper, you get, like, $2.50 a pound.
It goes somewhere and gets melted.
It goes all over. Wherever, it goes wherever.
China.
MAN: Why is it going to China?
So they can make shit and send it back here
and sell it for more.
(CHUCKLES)
MAN 1: We got into this problem by
doing the most dangerous thing a country can do.
We misread our environment at the end of the Cold War.
We thought we could actually put our feet up.
In fact, we unleashed the world
with two billion more people just like us.
Competitors.
MAN 2: America has been an exceptional country,
but exceptionalism is not a distinction
bestowed on a country once that it gets to keep for life
like an honorary degree.
Exceptionalism has to be earned every day.
MAN 3: I actually think that we need to start looking
at other countries.
And looking at what makes them successful.
MAN 4: A country that manufactures things
has power.
A service country don't have no power.
Why did we let that happen?
Greed?
Sure, greed.
We all can take a little blame, can't we?
MAN 5: Look at the country today, what's going on.
We're having a financial crisis.
And our politicians are having an election.
(JAZZ MUSIC PLAYING)
♪ Shake it to the left
♪ Shake it to the right
♪ Shake it in the middle
♪ Shake it all night
(YELLS)
(SINGING INDISTINCTLY)
♪ But you know what?
♪ It won't be nothing
♪ Won't be nothing
♪ Won't be nothing
(VOCALIZING)
♪ Oh, my God
♪ No
(INDISTINCT)
♪ No
(INDISTINCT)
♪ It's a man
♪ It's a man
(INDISTINCT) (VOCALIZING)
♪ Without the woman I love ♪
(VOCALIZING)
(AUDIENCE CHEERING)
Tell your daddy I said hi.
All right, I will.
All right. Hey, you tell your daddy
I said also to don't forget my roof.
All right, I'll tell him.
All right, man.
You have a good night now.
Happy birthday, Tommy. Drink some water, boy.
WOMAN: A job is a right, we're gonna...
CROWD: Fight, fight, fight.
WOMAN: A job is a right, we're gonna...
CROWD: Fight, fight, fight.
WOMAN: The people have spoken.
CROWD: Keep the plants open.
MAN: We begin where everything begins.
With nature.
Wind.
Water.
Air.
Surround yourself with pure luxury.
An experience of sheer joy is
at your fingertips.
Release that power.
WOMAN: The Volt is symbolic to Chevrolet's
job commitment to the future.
The main benefits include
reduced petroleum consumption...
TOMMY: I like it.
How far will that go?
What's that? On a charge?
Uh, on a charge it will travel
25 to 50 miles
completely electric.
When do you think that the engineers are gonna
get it
up to, let's say, 500 miles to 1,000 miles?
How long is that gonna be?
I don't have any official word on that yet.
This car was built down the street
from my business.
The Raven Lounge. In Hamtramck.
In Hamtramck. I own a blues bar
on Chene down there.
That's interesting.
Solar power, energy storage.
Holy cow.
They gonna drive it from the sun?
(INDISTINCT)
ANNOUNCER: Just in one night, steamers spread
over the world.
During the 250 years
after the Industrial Revolution,
mankind created a wealth more than that
of the past 2.5 million years.
Crazy enjoyment at one side
while slow suicide at the other.
Could the bloody black gold really
dominate the world?
Mankind has to swallow his fruit of evil
from crazy conquest.
Where is Noah's Ark
to save human beings?
An enterprise that can make cars as well
as batteries
is storing its power to change the world.
TOMMY: Hi, how are you doing?
This BYD...
WOMAN: BYD, build your dreams.
Is that the name of the company?
Yes, BYD is the name of the company.
And build your dreams is our slogan.
Where is the company based?
Is it in Japan, China? What?
Uh, China, it's in China. Oh, in China?
Near Hong Kong.
Hmm.
So this is the Chinese version
competing with the American Volt.
Yeah, yes.
Yes, and our price is very competitive.
Hmm. That's interesting.
Yeah. (LAUGHS)
So this is comparable.
Yeah, after... Hey, it's a better deal.
I'm saying, "my God!"
I mean, the Volt,
even though I want it to succeed,
has some genuine problems at 40-some-thousand.
And you are talking about 20?
Yes, 28.
Then you will have to...
How can the Chinese do that?
The Chinese...
Chinese can do... Yeah, Chinese can do.
Oh, I know you can do. I believe you can do.
Man!
Hey, you know what?
The Volt got problems.
WOMAN: He said Warren Buffett
is a major investor.
Yeah, so they're gonna be around, but I'm saying
what does that do to the Volt?
Excuse me, can I just ask you a question?
Do you have any literature on this?
I do not have any here at the show,
What are we gonna do about that BYD over there
that I just saw?
The Chinese car?
Electric car. Have you all seen this?
No. No.
Sir... You gonna do about it?
Go over there... You see BYD?
Yeah. Yeah.
Go over there and take a look.
Chinese electric car
can run more than this
and it cost 20 grand!
Yeah. I'm going like,
"How can China do this?"
This is 41. Yeah.
It's amazing!
You know, I'm gonna be telling you.
This global economy stinks.
This has probably got $20,000 worth of options
compared to that over there though.
Yeah, I'd say you're a little apples to oranges
on your car though.
I don't think it's gonna... It's not...
But why am I apples to oranges?
It's not the same car. It's like saying
the Cruze is $20,000 and the Corvette is 80.
You're not driving a Vette if you're driving a Cruze.
I mean, it's a nicer car.
I know... And I agree with you.
I agree with you. Totally.
Can I take you back in the '60s
and talk about Honda for a moment?
Sure.
Don't you remember when nobody would
buy a Honda?
Uh-huh. And they said
the identical things that you just told us here.
That you're talking about apples and oranges.
Honda is a piece of junk, they said.
And finally Honda took us over.
My question is... Honda didn't.
Yes, Honda did.
They stole our technology.
I want this car to succeed.
It's built down the street from my business.
SALESMAN: Thank you, sir. Good luck with your club.
MAN: It's awesome.
You see, that guy don't want to talk
about reality.
He doesn't want to talk about...
We got our heads in the sand again.
Oh, leave it alone.
No, I'm gonna leave it alone.
But we're not dealing with reality.
Right.
We're not... Oh!
This is heart-breaking for me.
'Cause I know the average American...
Now, I probably wouldn't.
Because I probably would buy this.
But the average American will go buy that
junk over there.
If you call it junk. Whatever you call it.
Or, the apples, as he called it.
(ORCHESTRA PLAYING)
(SINGING OPERA SONG)
(APPLAUSE)
If I should ever be called upon to act
(HISSES)
professionally,
I am happy to think there will be no difficulty
in finding plenty of people
whose loss will be a distinct gain
to society at large.
(ORCHESTRA PLAYING)
♪ As someday it may happen
♪ That a victim must be found
♪ I've got a little list
♪ I've got a little list
♪ Of society offenders
♪ Who might well be underground
♪ And never would be missed
♪ Who never would be missed
♪ Here's Hyundai, BMW
♪ And Honda too ♪ I've got them on the list
♪ They never would be missed
♪ Civil servants who write letters for internal revenue
♪ Just to tell you what you've missed
♪ I've got them on the list
♪ Our government officials
♪ Who shaft the middle class
♪ They don't care about what's happening
♪ And all can kiss my...
Ax!
♪ But it really doesn't matter
♪ Who you put upon the list
♪ They'll none of them be missed
♪ They'll none of them be missed
♪ You may put them on the list
♪ You may put them on the list
♪ And they'll none of them be missed
♪ They'll none of them be missed
WOMAN ON TV: ...40% this year.
At a time when America really needs
jobs and innovation,
General Motors, which got bailed out by tax
payers, don't forget,
says it's moving its electric car
business to China.
MAN ON TV: In the future, its global platforms
for electric vehicles,
most of that research and development,
is gonna be taking place in Shanghai.
The Shanghai automotive and the government of China
is requesting and pressuring
General Motors, in order for them
to sell in their markets,
to share their intellectual property.
And that means the unique technology
that's assigned to the Volt
is gonna potentially be made in China.
You seem afraid
about the idea that we would share our
intellectual property
with the Chinese.
Do you trust them?
WOMAN: The Chinese government
and the Premier of China
has said that he wakes up every morning
wondering how he can create
25 million jobs a year for his people.
Unless we, as a nation,
wake up every morning and say, "How are
we gonna create
"millions of jobs for our citizens
and take action?"
we're gonna continue to lose jobs.
I'm getting a little nervous.
What are we doing?
We're selling our souls.
It's not good at all.
We don't value our jobs here.
I think they're playin' us.
Uh, they're playin' us like a $2 pimp.
And eventually, uh,
they're having us selling our souls
for little or nothing.
I tell you, it's, uh...
Uh, China is rocking the world.
They're more advanced than we are.
And they're more economical than we are.
And their standard of living is lower
than ours.
Yes, they are.
So, shall we lower our standard of living?
We're gonna have to,
in order to compete.
I don't think the American people
are going to like that.
WOMAN: It's coming from my savings.
Is there a chance...
They don't have any money.
It's coming from my savings.
AUTOMATED VOICE: Please hang up, now.
Please hang up, now.
This is a recording. Please hang up and dial again.
If you need assistance, call your operator.
What's up, Detroit?
(INDISTINCT)
Listen, like, I don't know if y'all understand,
but they're shutting down schools,
they're shutting down
futures, basically.
And that's not cool. Like, it's just not cool.
You know, it almost makes me feel like
we might be, uh, regressing.
And I feel like, uh,
if you're concerned about
the six abandoned houses on your block,
if you're concerned about
the people next door to you not eating dinner,
if you're concerned about the laws that don't exist,
if you're concerned about these things,
I'm urging you...
I'm not even urging you, I'm daring you
to come out.
We got enough problems, y'all.
Now, let's just come up with some way
to solve these problems.
'Cause I think we're destined for
the heavens, Detroit.
WOMAN: Okay, can we have quiet, please?
My name is Stephanie Weir.
I work.
I make minimum wage.
I keep pushing and pushing
to improve myself.
I have a new job, I start this Monday.
I get up early in the morning,
faithfully.
I may not have to be to work until 10:00,
but I am out there at 8:00 and 7:30,
waiting to catch my bus,
'cause I don't be late for anyone.
What am I to do
when all I have is the bus?
Please, please,
don't take our transportation away.
That's all we have.
Thank you.
MAN: We cannot take any more cutbacks.
Period.
Not only in relation to the buses,
but services, period.
We're not going to accept any more downsizing.
We wanna hear about upsizing,
big sizing, supersizing Detroit.
And... And I'm gonna tell you something.
God's gonna judge each and every one of us
by the things that we do to one another.
And I'm gonna tell you, he's gonna hold
you accountable,
and believe me, he's not gonna
have as much mercy
as the citizens of Detroit have
had on you.
(INDISTINCT YELLING)
Burn, baby, burn!
MALE REPORTER: We said it couldn't happen, but it did.
On July 23, 1967, Detroit was hit by a riot,
which left 43 dead, thousands injured,
and a city in flames.
As governor of the state of Michigan,
I do hereby officially request
the immediate deployment of federal
troops into Michigan
to assist state and local authorities
in re-establishing law and order
in the city of Detroit.
(GUN FIRES)
(PA SYSTEM DINGS)
ANNOUNCER: The next station
is Cobo Center.
(MAN SINGING OPERA SONG)
(COFFEE MACHINE WHIRRS)
Are you guys gonna have it here or you
wanna bag this up?
Do you want me to put this in a bag?
Take it to go? Okay, sure.
MAN: I'd like a coffee. Uh-huh.
Do you have ceramic cups?
Yeah, like dine-in cups?
You know, not cardboard.
(CHUCKLES SOFTLY)
Got the Coney Island style, baby, what do
you know about it, huh?
All righty. So, I'd like, you know,
like, just, uh,
black coffee with milk.
Well, then, it's not black anymore
if there's milk.
Well, yeah. You're integrating.
Digging the Harry Potter glasses.
Hey, hey, hey. Kind of fancy.
Well, I mean, I didn't...
You know, that could potentially be offensive.
How could it be offensive?
Everybody loves Harry Potter, okay.
I don't like Harry Potter.
Oh, you don't like Harry Potter?
No.
Okay, I won't say it again, I'm sorry.
It's...
It's modeled after 1950s Italian architects.
That's what these glasses should represent.
Oh.
Oh, okay. Well, I learned something new.
I see. Where're you guys from? Where're you from?
Switzerland.
Switzerland.
That's kind of fancy. What're you doing here?
Sightseeing.
Just checking everything out? Yeah?
Yeah.
What's your... What's the object
of your affection?
(CASH REGISTER WHIRRS)
Well, kind of, in Switzerland, everything
is always neat and proper and new.
And we kind of feel like Detroit seems
somewhat interesting
with all of its, you know, decay.
Decay? That could be slightly offensive.
Yeah. (LAUGHS)
Cafe got busy today, thank God for the opera...
The Opera House.
(CROWD APPLAUDING)
(CARNIVAL MUSIC PLAYING)
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
(MACHINE WHIRRING)
MAN: Jordan and I met in Hawaii.
We knew we weren't gonna stay in Hawaii.
So, we were just tossing around places,
we wanted to be somewhere urban, of course.
We had a project that we wanted to do,
like, street art, public installation.
And so, we just started evaluating,
you know, we looked at Baltimore.
We were looking into New York City.
And Detroit came up.
And I knew that's one thing Detroit had,
an abundance of space, and old warehouses.
I feel like we've assimilated into
that community of artists
that are moving here and coming here.
(CAMERA CLICKS)
(CAMERA CLICKS)
That's pretty sweet.
(WHISTLING)
Never had appliances this nice,
so I feel like I should be
taking care of them.
Yeah, well about... Just a couple weeks ago.
And we're able to
keep our studio because everything's
so affordable.
Yeah, I just...
Detroit is constantly amazing me.
I feel like this is...
Like it's redefining what the value
of things are.
You know, 20... 20,000...
You know, $25,000 for an amazing loft.
I don't know, that just makes it accessible
to people like me.
I would never be able to afford
a home as an artist.
And here I am, with a studio,
and an apartment.
In... In a major city, you know, functioning
for, like, $700 or less a month.
We can experiment here.
Because if we fail, we haven't really fallen
anywhere. (CHUCKLES)
WOMAN: It's about time we got some good news.
MAN: It is. You can't beat that.
2,500 people coming back, that's...
That's beautiful, man.
That's awesome. This is where it started.
This is where it should always be.
I agree.
Eminem said, "Imported from Detroit."
WOMAN: Yeah.
(LAUGHS) Imported from Detroit.
WOMAN: Imported from the D.
Yep.
(LAUGHTER) Yep.
See the fish I caught? (CHUCKLES)
Huh? You wanna see my fish I caught?
(CHUCKLES)
Huh?
Wanna see my fish I caught?
Get your head down in there.
I just have to go and relax.
It's all about celebrating and relaxation.
(BREATHES HEAVILY)
Hey. You all right?
Wow.
That's the shit I'm celebrating. (LAUGHS) Shit!
I think my hands got real high when
they said the third shift.
That's what really excited me.
I was giving thanks.
That's what I was doing. I was giving thanks
to the Lord.
It's good news for us.
I just like this place.
I just love it. I just love it.
I love it.
WOMAN ON TV: The auto industry
is experiencing a resurgence
and that's good.
The bailout has saved a million jobs.
But that doesn't mean that manufacturing
is back to what it was
20, 30, 40 years ago.
MAN 1: Change is difficult. Change is hard work.
You have to keep up.
You have to innovate. Otherwise, you're gonna
be out of a job.
MAN 2: There's much more competition,
and the burden ultimately rests on our education system.
We need more education and we need better education
if we wanna prepare people for the 21st century.
Yee-haw!
(CAR ENGINE STARTS)
MAN: Can America work collectively?
Yes. I mean, we have in the past.
I'm an infinite believer in American pluck.
WOMAN: Where there is crisis,
there is opportunity.
So, we don't want people to say
this is the end of Detroit. It certainly is not.
But we do want people to learn from our experience,
which has not been pretty. We also want it
to serve as a wakeup call to the country.
MAN: It was fucking massive.
WOMAN: This was one of the most
elite train stations
in the country. Yeah.
(TRAIN HORN BLOWING)
I just love how this glass hangs on.
It's like, "I'm not falling. I will not...
"I refuse to fall off this fucking frame.
"Ever."
Sometimes, I sit down here,
meditate,
pray,
strategize,
uh, about the business.
And just kind of, uh, rest for a while.
Let me see, what are they doing
with, uh...
With the budget today?
Detroit was the highest foreclosure rate.
My brother called me from Florida.
And he said, "Man!
"You guys are gonna be out of the world,
"in a minute everybody's gonna lose their homes.
"What the hell are you all doing
up there?
"You can't pay your mortgage loans or something?"
And I said to him, "Look,
"this is tip of the iceberg."
I called my brother last month and I said,
"I just read that Florida, now, is number one."
That Florida, he goes,
"Yeah, man, everybody here is losing their jobs.
"We thought Disney World was gonna hire everybody,
"Disney World ain't what it used to be."
See what I'm saying?
You know, capitalism is a great
system. I love it.
But it exploits the weak.
It always does.
It always does. Unfortunately.
You know,
Kagan, one of the sociologists that I used to read
back in the '60s,
uh, said that...
The upper class
needed the middle class to buffer the poor.
That if you take the middle class away,
the upper class will spawn
and will have problems from the lower class.
We got to think about it now.
Only 2% of Americans
exceed $300,000 a year.
Only 2%.
So, if you wipe out the middle class there,
then, are you gonna have 98%
of poor folks in this city?
I mean, this country?
98% of us will be poor?
Making under $30,000 a year?
And we're gonna see these guys sitting up
there, sitting on his laurels,
making billions, off of us?
The country wouldn't stand for it.
Human beings are not standing for it.
There's no buffer between the rich
and the poor,
only thing left is revolution.
When you see your neighbor
going down,
you have to think about yourself.
And if you don't go over there
and put that fire out,
help your neighbor put that fire out,
that fire is coming to you.
No matter what the problems are.
What happened in Detroit
is now spreading throughout.
This is coming to you. Yeah. It's coming to you.
That's just my opinion.
Holy cow.
(VOCALIZING)
Hmm.
(TRAIN HORN BLOWING)