The following video is part of a series by the World Socialist Web Site reporters on the dire social conditions prevailing in former auto production centers in Detroit. Here, WSWS reporter D'Artagnan Collier speaks to family members and a teacher of one of the victims of the tragic house fire in Highland Park, Michigan which killed four people on Wednesday, October 22, 2008.

The first part of this series appeared October 23; video interviews with neighbors and friends of the victims followed October 24. The WSWS conducted further interviews published in the article "Detroit residents and firemen denounce social decay in fire deaths" October 29. "Detroit residents denounce social decay in fire deaths," a collection of video interviews, was published on October 30.