Ive lived in this neighborhood for the last year or so. When i first moved here it was a very nice quiet place. Coming from the city, it was a very welcome change for me. About 70% of the people in this neighborhood were white when I moved here. Over the last year, most of the white families who lived here have now moved out, and have been replaced by black families.
Theres more trash on the street now, there have been a couple of stabbings and shootings, the quiet life i had before is pretty much out the window, and yesterday i saw the first crack-head I've ever seen in this area standing in my driveway as i was trying to pull in (she asked me if i had a lighter
.) Its as if I've been watching this community deteriorate slowly from the inside out.
After thinking about it, this reminded me of a side conversation we had in my African American History class about the destructive nature of certain facets of black culture. I had no idea any of this happened because I'm a younguhn, but according to my teacher, there's been a constant migration of ethnic groups in this city. He told us that from a certain street and outwards, there used to be a nice, clean, well-kept white community. The students (including myself) were shocked because in present day that area is one of the worst areas in the city (and predominantly occupied by black people.)
During the discussion we went through a LONG list of similar instances which all boiled down to the same thing: something new is built, white folks go there, slowly the black community comes in, crime rate increased, the surrounding areas become dirty and un-kept, and the white folks disappear.
Have any of you personally seen any instances similar to this? how does it make you feel? And for those of you who are black or who feel the desire to respond, what do you feel is the root of this destructive tendency in black culture?
Theres more trash on the street now, there have been a couple of stabbings and shootings, the quiet life i had before is pretty much out the window, and yesterday i saw the first crack-head I've ever seen in this area standing in my driveway as i was trying to pull in (she asked me if i had a lighter
After thinking about it, this reminded me of a side conversation we had in my African American History class about the destructive nature of certain facets of black culture. I had no idea any of this happened because I'm a younguhn, but according to my teacher, there's been a constant migration of ethnic groups in this city. He told us that from a certain street and outwards, there used to be a nice, clean, well-kept white community. The students (including myself) were shocked because in present day that area is one of the worst areas in the city (and predominantly occupied by black people.)
During the discussion we went through a LONG list of similar instances which all boiled down to the same thing: something new is built, white folks go there, slowly the black community comes in, crime rate increased, the surrounding areas become dirty and un-kept, and the white folks disappear.
Have any of you personally seen any instances similar to this? how does it make you feel? And for those of you who are black or who feel the desire to respond, what do you feel is the root of this destructive tendency in black culture?