The welfare program bastardization of the blacks in America was a big player in this disaster... What left wing Democrats didn't destroy -- the unions destroyed.
Liberals have once again produced devastating unintended consequences with their "well meaning" liberal bullsquat theology...
The DNC's attempt to secure the black plantation and the black vote -- has destroyed a large percentage of several generations of black families...
Semper Fi
The unions
Coleman Young was the end of the line from the riots
White flight from the riots
The auto industry avoiding the unions
My vote is the unions for their soviet style bargaining with the automakers. The brothers came for the auto jobs and weren't really the problem. If there were a vital tax base to maintain the infrastructure there would be a Detroit today just as there is a Chicago that weathered the same problems.