I took some similar pictures of Detroit when I was there for Christmas last year. You can see them on my site:
http://www.tty1.org/~prophet/archives/000154.html
One of the photos:
Also, one of the best books you can read about the demise of Detroit is called "The Origins of Urban Crisis"
(heres the powells link) The racism experienced there is amost unimaginable. Even worse, some of the most racist leaders in the city have their names plastered all over the landmarks of the city.