Huh - that's pretty much the neighborhood I live in, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Too bad all "bad neighborhoods" aren't really like that. On 8/19/07, Sam wrote: > http://ee.iusb.edu/index.php?/adp/blog/bad_neighborhood/ > > ADPblog > Tuesday, August 02, 2005 > Bad neighborhood > Jeff Nixa looks at the code words, like bad neighborhood, that mask > and express fear about low income people of color. > I live in a bad neighborhood. > > At least that's what people said about it. "Cottage Grove Avenue?" > said a friend. "That's a bad neighborhood." It is? Our Mennonite > friends lived just a block from the house we were looking at in South > Bend. They weren't bad. Then a man at work said, "I wouldn't buy > there. There's no resale value." We wanted a home, not a real estate > venture. > > Some warnings involved my children. "Don't you want your kids to go > to a good school?" asked one mother, appalled. Even our real estate > agent sat me down. "Jeff, think about your wife's safety." (As if I > could make her move somewhere she didn't want to.) > > But the fear began to work. I called our Mennonite friends. "Are you > guys worried about your safety?" I asked. They paused. "You been > talking to real estate people again?" We laughed, and they invited us > over to dinner in the bad neighborhood. > > As we drove up, I scanned the streets and doorways like on a recon > mission in Fallujah. But our friends opened their door wide, welcomed > us in. They poured wine, prayed at dinner and passed homemade bread. > After dessert they brought out crime statistics, obtained from the > South Bend police department. Crimes were marked on a city map with > little symbols. > > Sure enough. In the blocks surrounding us a car had been broken into. > A vacant house vandalized. Drugs confiscated from a woman. A man > passed out in a yard. This was as bad asÂ…college. Then I noticed the > same symbols dotting the rest of the city. Robberies. Domestic > violence. Rapes. That month burglaries and auto thefts were worse in > a wealthy suburb. > > And that's when I realized that all those warnings really weren't > about crime, real estate values, or schools. They were code words, > white folks use to express fear, about low income people of color. No > one ever said a racist word out loud. No winks or nudges. Instead, > the racism was a perfectly concealed weapon. It didn't break loudly > into my house, or steal my precious car. It hid, like a virus, deep > in the anxious beliefs of my own friends and colleagues. > > Sometimes the truth does set people free. We bought the house on the > near west side. > > That was seven years ago. No one told us that the day we moved in, a > pack of joyful, scruffy kids would run over to meet our kids. That > our house on a double lot cost less than a minivan. About Demetrius, > raising his nieces while their mother does time. About Jose and Maria. > Or Latisha and other single moms. And Mike, the ponytailed Harley > biker who one day stepped out directly in front of a speeding car. > "Hey!" he yelled to the startled driver, bamming his fist on the hood. > "There's kids around here!" We sit on front porches, hear the > neighbor girls' jazz double jumprope riffs, and buy snow cones on hot > days out of an old guy's shopping cart. > > There are nuisances here: litter, some orphaned properties, barking > alley dogs. As far as danger? I've learned that stupid behavior is > color blind, and bullets prefer alcohol and drug deals over law > abiding citizens any day. > > One day, driving out of our new neighborhood toward Grape Road I > noticed the streets got cleaner, and the lawns got greener. But there > was no one in the yards. The only thing I saw running house to house > was a sleepy conformity I'd never noticed before. > > Returning home, I realized I needed my new neighborhood. To balance > my life out, show me real color, and save me from things far worse > than litter or a stolen Subaru. Like the blindness and coded racism > of privilege. > > I live in a great neighborhood. On the near west side, on Cottage > Grove Avenue, in South Bend, Indiana. > > Jeff Nixa is a certified massage therapist and hospital chaplain. > > > > > On 8/17/07, Deanna Schneider <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I haven't been to L.A. since 1989, or there-abouts. But, when I was > > there, I went with an Hispanic friend of mine. Her parents were > > divorced and her mom lived there and her dad lived in Wisconsin. So, > > we were staying with her mom. They told me, in no uncertain terms, > > "You're okay walking around our neighborhood, but do NOT cross XX > > street. White people aren't allowed there." > > > > Call me racist if you will, but these were Hispanics telling this > > little ol' white girl where she could and couldn't go if she wanted to > > make it back to Sconnie safely. > > > > > > > > On 8/16/07, Sam wrote: > > > Are you afraid because they're black or because you're in a very poor > > > area and your Rolex is screaming "Take me". Would you be equally > > > afraid if you stumbled into a rundown trailer park? If not I suspect > > > racism. > > > > > > Just a note, blacks usually don't attack people just because they're > > > white. Most ghetto crime is black on black. As for your daughter, > > > don't worry about her, I've never heard of blacks beating up a white > > > guy and taking his daughter. > > > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Check out the new features and enhancements in the latest product release - download the "What's New PDF" now http://download.macromedia.com/pub/labs/coldfusion/cf8_beta_whatsnew_052907.pdf Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:240750 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
