Detroit offers graphic illustration of the most pressing racial problems, and idiot white (or Hispanic) vigilantes are way down the list. When cities fail, those at the bottom of the economic ladder, disproportionately blacks, are hurt the most. Less than half of Detroit’s population over the age of 16 is working and 60 percent of its children are living in poverty. Education, the traditional path out of poverty, offers little hope. 47 percent of Detroit’s residents are functionally illiterate. Many of the cities’ 78,000 abandoned homes serve as crack dens or whorehouses, and some can be bought for $500 or less. One-third of Detroit’s 140 square miles is vacant or derelict. The violent crime rate is five times higher than the national average and the murder rate is eleven times higher than New York City’s, while the police force has been cut 40 percent in the last decade. It has an average response time of 58 minutes and solves less than 10 percent of the crimes committed. Detroit’s law abiding blacks’ concern about vigilantism―and racism within the police force―is far outweighed by their fear of crime and their desperate desire for any kind of policing at all.