FORTUNE -- The bankruptcy filing on the afternoon of July 18 by the city of Detroit isn't just a massive financial implosion. Nor is it simply a milestone moment, the biggest municipal collapse ever in U.S. history. It is an utter defeat.
Detroit's bankruptcy is a profound failure for a place where once beat the heart of this country, where the economic engine of the American Century roared to life, where a banner of African-American empowerment flew, where the middle class came to know itself, and where timeless aspects of the American Dream were born.
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