As an immigrant that just moved here two years ago, as someone who has an outsider’s perspective, I feel that the articles have been very revealing about some of the problematic ways that our public offices operate in response to public issues. I say this because I noticed a common theme between both readings of our government officials failing to address and properly tackle the problems in our communities.

In the case of Detroit, I found it saddening to learn that a flourishing city that once provided all sorts of new opportunities to its citizens, ultimately ended up breaking apart due to a lack of financial planning by the Detroit government. I find it even more shameful that Detroit could not rely on the Federal government to step in and aid them simply because they lacked the political influence. The lack of Federal intervention meant that Black middle-class people in Detroit ended up having their standards of living lowered. In that sense, the Detroit and Federal government has failed its citizens.

Additionally, the reading that dealt with the closure of Jamaica High School in my opinion also showed inefficacy from our public officials. I could not agree with the reasons for closing the school. I feel that closing the school in favor of rebuilding it anew is neglectful policy because it failed to even consider the needs of Jamaica High’s students. As one of the teachers said, “we had many more higher-needs kids, English-language learners… we didn’t get the support. We were not prepared to deal with the changing population.” Yet the DOE failed to see this and were unable to adapt to the new tides of immigrants — the officials were insufficient in providing the school teachers the resources they needed. In this way, the decision to close an under-performing school with low graduation rates is seriously flawed because it gives out the impression that our government has given up on this diverse community. For this reason, I could not agree with the closure at all and find that the DOE has failed in ensuring quality education to its students and has robbed the neighborhood of its history.