Housing Distraction

The Buffalo News reports today on housing discrimination that is still legal in Baltimore.

After reading the article, I wondered why they focused on Baltimore? We can find African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, and other poor peoples segregated into specific areas all over the USA.

Look at Buffalo Schools and their struggle for funding, their low performance on tests that don't matter, and all sorts of issues. Then drive down the road to Amherst, Williamsville, Clarence, and other segregated suburbs. Play compare and contrast. And look at the racial make up of the communities as well. And their financial data.

When I lived on the East Side of Buffalo, all it took was a few blocks and I was technically in Cheektowaga. There were still poor people, but the minority population dropped off significantly.

When I lived outside of Clarence, I rarely saw African Americans. Or Hispanics. I might see some Asians. When I was pursuing my degree in librarianship (Yes, there is actually a degree needed to be a librarian.) I had the opportunity to visit Clarence High School. The library was the former gym – renovated to be a two story area. It had an attached computer lab. It's database budget in 2000 was $20,000. That's more than my entire budget this year – Library Materials Aid and supply lines combined.

And drive through the Kensington area – It's not exactly pretty in some places. And then there are the former stores and “mini-malls” as we called them. Technically they were called “plazas.” Not exactly seeing a renaissance in this area of town. And the “Fruit Belt” is going to get whalloped with increasing rents because of the Downtown Medical Campus. Guess who is going to be driven out so that better paid middle and upper middle class people can have a convenient place to live?

In reality, we should be reading articles like these and then looking critically at our own communities to see if what the article is reporting on is evident in our own community and region.

I would write about Rochester, but not being intimately familiar with it, I do not want to comment on it. I have met teachers that say that they are happy that they “escaped it.” As if is a prison? I'm sure that's what the people of the community want it to be seen as.

To me, the article was a case of a shell game. Ignore what is going on in your community – look at how terrible things are over in this neighborhood. To me the article was a way of trying to distract people from how bad things are for the urban poor where they live. Yes, things may be bad in (your city here), but look at this place and these examples. You should be happy you have it so good.

BS.

Minority communities have it poor wherever they are. They are redlined into specific areas and deliberately gerrymandered so that they do not have the power in voice that their numbers deserve.

Minorities need to break free from the two capitalist parties and start voting for candidates and parties that support their needs and demands.

Skip the Democrats (and especially the Republicans) and look into socialism for real solutions.

You have nothing to lose and a whole world to win.