Check out this promotional film made for the City of Detroit, an unsuccessful bidder for the Olympic Games. With views of city highways, automobile manufacturing, a diverse population, and social activities, all shot prior to the city’s economic decline. A world city, the USOC’s choice to showcase all that was great about America!

But even as they shot the film, the highwaymen were busy slashing it up. The result was this.

The racists of Detroit blame it all on the riots and “non-whites,” but they gloss over the fact that, lots of other cities had riots, and they are just fine now. Some people learn how to get along, others don’t. Detroit is a fine example of where racism is hardened and very public. Just check out the comments section to the video above.

Detroit was–and is–a failure of civic leadership. A failure of imagination. A failure of will.

When one ideology is allowed to prevail above all others (in this case, Highways über Alles), society teeters, and easily collapses.