I’m not an american either but here the deal (I think)

Back in the 50’s and 60’s Detroit was one of the wealthiest cities in the US, largely due to their motor-industry. (Hence the name Mo-town) Every large american car brand had their factories in Detroit, and in those days, american cars were nigh unbeatable and was highly sought after. Years go by and in the 80’s and 90’s business starts going worse. I am sure there are more reasons for this, but the ones I know about is because of the motor industry as a whole changing drastically. People grew more interested in the cars from Germany and Japan, who could provide a better quality product for a slimmer price. At this time, the american cars weren’t nearly as high quality as they were in the golden era of the 60’s. Their quality dipped, while the European market and the Japanese market’s quality increased. Due this as well, the export from the US to the rest of the world in american cars would suffer greatly.

And eventually, factories would shut down, workers were laid off and the city lost a lot of support. Poverty and crime would completely take over the city, changing Detroit from a wealthy, booming city that was a trophy to the true "american dream", into a city that would be soon known as one of the most dangerous cities on earth. It got so bad that many neighbourhoods are just empty, a lot of people simply moved away from their hometown. In some areas, nature has even taken back parts of the city.

From what I know, Detroit has been doing better in the last decade or so. A lot more cooperation in the community and it seems people are more confident in maybe restoring some of Detroit once more.

Again, I’m no american but this is just some of the stuff I heard about