Analyzing Detroit’s Racialized Public Discourse of Urban Renewal through Metaphor

Analyzing Detroit’s Racialized Public Discourse of Urban Renewal through Metaphor

Kailey McAlpin

Research in cognitive science and linguistics has demonstrated that metaphors operate as conceptual maps that create and reinforce symbolic systems of thinking whereby one semantic from a source domain is transferred to another semantic in a target domain (Lakoff, 1987; Santa Ana, 1999).  Metaphors employed in the press function as semantic building blocks that structure the readers’ understanding of the world around them, shaping public opinion of contemporary issues.  This study set out to examine the racialized attitudes expressed through metaphor concerning Detroit’s mid-20^th-century urban renewal efforts, which disproportionately targeted poor African-American communities, razing entire neighborhoods and displacing thousands of families from their homes.  The process of identifying metaphoric conceptualizations of urban renewal in Detroit involved keyword database searches of articles published by The Chicago Defender, a newspaper writing for a predominantly black readership, and The Detroit Free Press, a newspaper writing for a predominantly white readership, between 1940 and 1960.  Fifteen out of thirty-eight articles selected from The Chicago Defender contained reoccurring metaphors that conceptualized urban renewal as a catalyst for racial conflict, a mechanism used to contain and control expanding African American populations, and/or a nightmarish fantasy that is doomed to fail.  Forty-one out of one-hundred-and-twelve articles from The Detroit Free Press contained reoccurring metaphors that conceptualized urban renewal as a protector of elite white values, a savior ensuring the salvation of Detroit’s future, a mechanism for reviving the wellbeing of a growing city, and a far-fetched, naïve dream.  Analysis demonstrated that metaphors from The Detroit Free Press reflect and reinforce white support of urban renewal programs while metaphors from The Chicago Defender reflect and reinforce black opposition of urban renewal programs.  Overall, these findings provide insights into past experiences of urban renewal in Detroit and demonstrate that public opinion of urban renewal differed dramatically depending on racial identity.