An Autobiography of a Detroit White Boy, Tears For My City

By Andrea Isom
FOX 2 News

DETROIT (WJBK) -- In the 1970s Dean Dimitrieski moved from Macedonia to one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Detroit.

With a crack house next door and gangs like Young Boys Incorporated fighting for control of the neighborhood, the entire Dimitrieski family struggled to stay safe.

He tells Fox 2's Andrea Isom that his friends were in a gang, carried guns and had his back -- and this likely saved his life.  In spite of it and in large part because of his strict father, he refused to join.

What was it like to grow up a white kid in a tough black neighborhood? Play the video to get Andrea Isom's full report.

Dimitrieski wrote a book about his experience.  In it he describes how he befriends two of Detroit's most wanted drug lords and how he becomes a witness to a horrific crime that shatters his life in Detroit.

"I wrote the book to express my love for Detroit and that will never change. Growing up here, you've earned the right to be called a Detroiter," says Dimitrieski.

For more about Dean Dimitrieski's book "Tears For My City: An Autobiography of a Detroit White Boy," log on to: www.amazon.com/Tears-For-City-Autobiography-ebook