Dear Glenn & List, Both of my "White" kids have played at 47th & Woodland. Both of my "White" kids have played even further west at 50th and Kingsessing. Both of my "White" kids have played in a variety of "Rec" centers including Mantua and areas where white faces are rare, even on the major thoroughfares. They have always been safe and treated as young athletes, not aliens. Student-Athletes and the parents involved in coaching and mentoring kids are generally decent people, for whom race is secondary.
My family attended an international "Ultimate Frisbee" tournament (US vs. Australia) at 50th and Kingsessing. I heard about it from Jon Moore who hosted several of the Australians. Jon did a great job of extending friendship and welcome across lines of class, culture, race and neighborhood. I hoped it would be the first of many events held at the site, because it did bring a lot of new faces into our 'hood. Unfortunately, there does not appear to be a lot of other use / activity building on his success or momentum, and Jon, like myself, is a parent who works full time. It is not fair to ask much more of him. I would like to see at least the older soccer players moved to one of the nearby "Rec" centers. To me Clark Park is an oasis, and deserves more thoughtful use. I would like more of the "powerful middle class" to realize that many of their prejudices are pointless. Best! Liz On Wed, 4 Apr 2007 14:36:10 -0400 "Glenn" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: Topic: Breaking up the city Dear Liz, When I moved to the neighborhood 28 years ago as a young adult, I fell in love with this rare inspiring neighborhood for reasons I believe I share with you, an indigenous resident. Sharrieff described the "great history" and "remarkable tones for diversity," that I also found made an inspiring community to call home despite the big city problems which adversely effected all of the cities of the northeast. For decades the middle class of this country attempted to abandon our cities and blame their spiritual problems on various populations of our fellow citizens left behind. Now this middle class has decided to reoccupy urban areas with the same ignorance and prejudices which motivated their departure. With complete disregard for the voices in great communities like ours; we will get out of their way, one way or the other. I believe that this grand "vision" of which we hear so much might now be deconstructed so that more of us might understand what I began realizing, to my horror, some years ago. It was because of my attempts to serve the community when I returned here in 1996; that I relatively early, discovered the ideology guiding the so called "vision" long before our neighbors were given the overwhelming data to deconstruct it. Corporate America wishes to break up our cities into pockets of homogenized suburbanesque middle class zones like this UCD and further isolate the lower economic classes into impoverished zones around these. Residents of those zones will continue to lose their rights as citizens as well as basic governmental services. I believe the demonizing of government that was the cornerstone of Reaganism should be recognized as a historical point in the development of this ideology and the current "vision" destroying our community. Contained in the vision, the powerless, voiceless, residents of West Philly are to choose to be servants to the elite or they will become the new slave class through the emergent prison industrial complex. Approximately a year ago at Penn, one of these so called "city planning experts" outlined the guiding ideology justifying, in palatable terms, this glorification of middle class prejudices, anger, and hatred. Fundamentally, the powerful good folks dont want to carry the burden of the losers in our society so the city must be divided around class boundaries. Since a heartless middle class unable to escape its misery wants to reoccupy urban zones, this break up of the city is just natural social Darwinism. Thus, the UCD is a God given right for a powerful suburban middle class and the destruction and homogenization of our great community is similarly the God given right of the prejudiced and powerful Everyone on the list has seen my attempts to show the reality behind the "revitalization of Clark Park." The unfortunate reality is that the impoverished Philadelphia Department of Recreation turned Clark Park over to the new order, the UCD, at least 3 years ago. In my opinion, its too late for our great public park at the center of our once successful diverse community I wish our neighbors would look at a prominent demarcation line between Philadelphia and the new UCD. One only needs to walk from the upscale Clark Park across the border to the recreation center in Philadelphia at 47th just south of Woodland. As one of the new leaders of the upscale district barked at me 4 years ago, "the white kids arent going to play soccer at 47th and Woodland," the appropriate Philadelphia facility for an exclusive upscale soccer league. (Presumably, I was to see and be sympathetic to the UCD/FOCP need to destroy the culture of Clark Park in order to accommodate these powerful middle class prejudices.) I truly hope that it is not too late for those of us who understood the beauty and inspiration of our great but very rare community to organize and reject this bigoted vision for a new plutocracy. I dont know our courageous neighbors whom are putting up the stickers. Personally, I stand with West Philly and I hope you and more of our neighbors will too. Glenn PS. Here is a quote from one of my heroes. "I cannot teach you violence, as I do not myself believe in it. I can only teach you not to bow your heads before any one even at the cost of your life." Mahatma Gandhi
