Crossing the Line

Abstract

This is an experimental piece that reports on findings from a research project conducted from September to December 2006 on the border between a neighborhood on the east side of Detroit (Jefferson Chalmers) and Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan. The project addresses the stark racial, economic, and physical divides between two proximate communities, and the way that the boundary line between these communities is enacted. Alter Road, serves as this real and infrequently crossed border. The physical barriers put in place to reinforce the imaginary line between East Detroit,1 and Grosse Pointe Park and the conditions on either side of the border are prominent themes. For social workers, understanding how and why bordering communities remain insular, and the effect of that segregation, is important in understanding human behavior and better appreciating the circumstances from which people come. This qualitative piece illustrates these issues through the eyes of a graduate social work student walking again and again across that boundary.