Sunday, October 18, 2009
Detroit: Too broke to bury their dead
This article describes the increasing trend of families not being able to bury their loved ones due to the economic crisis. In this disturbing but all too real article, morgues are piling up with the deceased because families do not have the means to pay for cremation. It is $695 and people in Detroit, among others, can barely afford to survive themselves let alone pay for a proper burial for loved ones. According to Albert Samuels, chief investigator for the morgue," he has never seen anything like it during his 13 years on the job. 'Some people don't come forward even though they know the people are here. They don't have the money."' This is a sad and horrible trend that will continue to escalate as long as we are faced with the economic crisis. Something needs to be done to stop this crisis and prevent future disturbing events like this one occur.
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3 comments:
Wow. That is about the only thing I can say after reading this article. This is very depressing and something I would have never thought of but makes complete sense. It is very sad to think that after you die you might not have anyone to take care of the remaining process. However, I am certain that the fact that this article was released in Detroit, it has something to do with their notable crime rates. High crime areas call for more murders, and these people usually do not have strong family ties. I'd like to see how many of these bodies are being left behind because the recession or because of the crime. And of course, we would have to look at high unemployment rates that definitely play a part in increased crime.
I believe that this article is thoroughly tied with the current recessionary period that has hit Detroit. The major decline in the Big 3 automakers has led to massive unemployment levels and thus to increased crime. The economy needs to straighten out before anything can be done about the crime factor!
This is a very disturbing but interesting article about the affect of the current recession in all areas. Although the article points to LA as another city with this same problem, it would be interesting to compare it to other major cities across the US that maybe do not have as high of a current or general crime rate. I think that the recession does have to do with the pile-up but I think that the high incidences of crime related deaths are making cities like Detroit and LA feel this problem more than other cities with potentially a lower crime rate.
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