NYT on Detroit Debacle: White Republican 'Undemocratic Seizure of Control'

On Tuesday, the New York Times warned that “Detroit, a mostly black city led mainly by Democrats” is at risk of “needless and undemocratic seizure of control” from “intervention by the state, mostly white and led by Republicans.”

The Times’ Herculean effort to inject race into a story about Detroit’s moribund financial status and pending state takeover may telegraph the left’s next move in shifting the Detroit narrative away from failed Democratic policies to one of a racial power grab by Michigan’s Republican Gov. Rick Snyder. 

According to New York Times reporter Steven Yaccino:

For decades, a variety of methods – from oversight boards to appointed receivers – have been used in cases where cities have fallen into financial disarray, but the arrangements are often controversial, stirring up political struggles.

In Detroit, a mostly black city led mainly by Democrats, the intervention by the state, mostly white and led by Republicans, has been viewed by some as a needless and undemocratic seizure of control.

Missing from the article was any discussion of Democrats’ failed economic policies that led to the potential need for Gov. Snyder to appoint an emergency financial manager, or the fact that last year, nearly half of Detroit property owners failed to pay $246.5 million in taxes. Indeed, according to an analysis by the Detroit News, “delinquency is so pervasive that 77 blocks had only one owner who paid taxes last year.” 

Look for the racial meme to pick up in the weeks ahead as Detroit–the town that Democrats built–slides deeper into economic despair.