But last week, that didn’t matter.

People of all colors and creeds poured into the city from all directions, eager to see the tall ships and jam with some of the greatest musicians of all time.

Of course, this wasn’t a flawless rainbow congregation. When we arrived in the jam-packed Hart Plaza amphitheatre, one man’s t-shirt caught my eye. “Come back to Detroit,” the shirt proclaimed, bold white letters crying out against a black backdrop. “We missed you the first time.” A menacing handgun illustration accompanied the aphorism.

And as people pushed their way through the gargantuan crowd, they proceeded in distinguishable clumps of color.

But when the music started playing, everyone clapped. When film montages of Detroit sports history appeared on large television screens, everyone cheered. And when The Temptations belted out the well-suited classic, “Stay,” everyone sang along.

In recent years, civic leaders have tried to engineer a Detroit Renaissance. Three imposing casinos line the city streets, touted as an urban panacea by some and a Pandora’s box by others. New leaders line the city school board, hoping to rescue floundering schools from funding cuts and a state takeover. Major businesses, such as Compuware, are moving back into the city.

But Detroit’s woes cannot be healed with a unilateral quick-fix initiative. The answer does not lie in building casinos or rebuilding the school board. Our construction efforts will employ less tangible bricks; we must invest our time, our effort and our faith in our city. If the 500,000 people I watched last week, celebrating, sipping lemonade and singing along with The Temptations in Detroit’s Hart Plaza—black and white, young and old, urban and suburban, Jewish and Christian, rich and poor—are any indication, the city is on its way to greatness once again.