Jack et al,
The reason that these violent episodes continue to happen is due to the fact
that the governing body and the majority of those who support(ed) them do
not want to deal with the social and economic realities that exist in Asbury
Park. You are talking about decades of a "spiral of violence." (Do a google
search for the term and you will get some excellent resources. I recommend
Dom Helder Camara's work.) If the root causes of this social and economic
decay are not addressed, then not only will the problems persist, but there
is the possibility that they will worsen.
In my time on the City Council, I consistently attempted to engage my
colleagues in developing a systematic approach to dealing with our displaced
youth, homeless, unwashed and unwanted. As you can imagine, this was not
popular with them and it was not popular with many of the vocal political
supporters of the council majority.
Dealing with the people in our society, whether in AP or beyond, that are
"on the margins" is not the stuff that gets one re-elected. So, the focus
remained on "re-development," which I find somewhat ironic, since, at its
heart, dealing with "blight," is in theory, supposed to help those on the
margins and re-integrate them into the mainstream of society. Again I say,
"in theory" because the political reality of "re-development" in Asbury Park
is geared towards moving "those people" out so that another class (read:
rich, white) can move in.
So, I guess the question is, "Do you want to really dig in and do the
grueling, never-glamorous, work it would take of rehabilitating the EXISTING
community? Or do you want to just put 'those people' on buses and ship them
off somewhere else like most other towns do?" Either way, I think it is
best that we are honest with ourselves on this question and get to work
doing one or the other in stark, bold ways. If not, you will continue to
nibble around the edges of this stuff and the (sometimes dangerous) status
quo will remain.
Peace, Jim Keady
--
Jim Keady, Director
Educating for Justice, Inc.
j...@educatingforjustice.org
732.988.7322
www.educatingforjustice.org
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
------------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AsburyPark/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AsburyPark/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
asburypark-dig...@yahoogroups.com
asburypark-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
asburypark-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
