Combatting the introduction of crack, heroin, and other drugs into Detroit would present a difficult challenge to the city’s people. Drugs, violence, and racial tensions had already taken a heavy toll within communities, changing family dynamics and the youth’s social institution. However, there was hope, and it came in the form of the arts. In times of need, the arts have always provided the people of Detroit with an outlet of non-violent and positive expression. The rebuild of Detroit, which is currently still in the process, can be credited to the city’s music scene, investments in entertainment, and efforts by the auto-industry and the United States government to salvage the remaining threads of the city and to attract business from the suburbs back into the city. The rebuild would begin in the 1990s, stagger with the failure of the auto-industry in the mid-2000s, and continue on in the most recent years. The arts provide the common thread between the rise, fall, and rebuild of Detroit. They serve to inspire the people of Detroit and help to characterize the city’s tough mentality that will keep it alive.
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