Recently I read about Detroit�s new plan to scale back the city.� With a substantial population decline over the years, and the effects of urban blight and abandoned buildings, the Motor City has a plan to downsize.� Specifically, there�s a plan afoot to demolish the abandoned and unlivable parts of the city, and move people to stronger parts of the city.� Then, as much as a quarter of the 139-square-mile city could become farmland.� It is an idea that is worth exploring, at least.

That we�ve reached the point of entertaining the idea�of turning Detroit into a semi-rural city�reflects both a crisis of failed urban policies, and an opportunity to rebuild from the ashes.

Detroit was at one time a potent symbol of American industry.� And its decline today, like that of America itself, seems to foreshadow the future of the American urban center.� Once boasting a population of 2 million, Detroit now has less than half that amount.� The once titanic U.S. auto industry is a remnant of its former self.� A casualty of self-inflicted wounds and fierce competition, the U.S. auto makers have relied of late on government largesse and taxpayer philanthropy.��

In a former life, I lived in Detroit as an analyst in the auto industry.� It was the early nineties, my first three years after college.� I could not help but notice that a sparkling downtown was surrounded by a no-man�s land� a forbidden zone, if you will, of burned out, crumbling and otherwise vacated buildings.� This was a memorial of sorts, to white flight, to the riots of the sixties, from which Motown never really recovered.� The sprawling suburbs prospered fabulously, as if they did not need the city, when they were actually benefiting at the city�s expense.� And a corrupt black political leadership exploited the people, as pimps tend to do.�

The region relied on one industry for its bread and butter, and thought it was the center of the world.� The big three auto makers were sloppy and arrogant, producing shoddy gas guzzlers and maintaining stifling, top-down, military-style bureaucracies that killed good ideas and the spirits of even better people.� But I digress�

Detroit declined for the same reasons that other American cities have met a similar fate, or are flirting with such a trajectory.� We have failed to invest in our cities, our people and communities, our children�s education, and in infrastructure.� We do invest in prisons for black and Latino folks, though, breaking up their families and breaking down their communities.� The result is urban blight, alongside the environmental effects of an industrialization, in a society dependent on over consumption.

So, with that context in mind, it seems fitting that Detroit attempt to restore itself to a more natural state.� We cannot argue that more cities should become greener places, where people rely on localized agriculture.� But I have some questions about the Detroit plan.������

First, there is the destruction of communities and the role that ordinary people will have in any plan that is implemented.� What will happen to those who remain, and who decides this?�

Second, there is the issue of economic empowerment.� Would the mostly African-American population benefit from a new, rural Detroit, or would the lion�s share of the agricultural profits benefit big agribusiness?� In a country with a long tradition of discrimination, history has not been kind to the black farmer.� A group of black farmers recently reached a $1.25 billion settlement with the USDA.� Yes, billion.� These farmers claimed, among other things, that the USDA systematically denied loans and farm subsidies to them.� In some cases, even when they were awarded a loan, the agency dragged its feet in paying out the money, so that farmers ran out of time to plant their crops and repay their debts.�

President Obama should be commended for doing the right thing and committing his administration to civil rights enforcement.� At the same time, Black and Latino contractors have received a mere 1.1 percent and 1.7 percent, respectively, of the $46 billion in contracts from Obama�s federal stimulus program.� It should be no surprise that in this society, people of color frequently seem to miss out when there are opportunities to be had.� The rewards always seem to go to those with the right connection, not to mention the right complexion.� Gender discrimination finds its way in there, too.� Why would Detroit Farms be any different?�

The point I�m making here is that people seeking more sustainable ways of living is a wonderful thing.� But as society develops these new ideas and structures, it cannot fall into the same patterns of funky behavior, exclusion and injustice.� Otherwise, the Detroits of America are only setting themselves up for colossal failures in the future.� And all the green pastures in the world will be unable to cover them up.�

BlackCommentator.com Executive Editor, David A. Love, JD is a journalist and human rights advocate based in Philadelphia, and a contributor to The Huffington Post, theGrio, The Progressive Media Project, McClatchy-Tribune News Service, In These Times and Philadelphia Independent Media Center. He also blogs at davidalove.com, NewsOne, Daily Kos, and Open Salon. Click here to contact Mr. Love.