All of this in all honesty racist talk has compelled me to share the story of a local community with you all.

Here in the Philadelphia area (in Southwest Philly to be precise), there is a section of Southwest Philly called Eastwick. Why is this important?

Well Eastwick used to be known as The Meadows before it became one of the largest urban renewal projects in the country.

The Meadows was an incredibly old place dating back to before Philadelphia County was consolidated as one city with roots going all the way back to before this country was even a country. It was eventually built up very similarly to the more urban parts of the city, with a streetcar running along the main avenue. This is fairly impressive because it wasn't a community with a lot of money. Sort of like a small town.

Anyway, by the time The Meadows was basically condemned due to "insufficient housing" and houses that were too low to the ground to line up to the new sewer system they wanted to put in, it was one of probably very few organically integrated communities in the entire country. White people of all ethnic groups, Jewish people, black people, Asian people, and possibly Hispanic people all lived side by side and were a genuine community. They went to school together, went to church together, socialized with each other, etc at a time when that was considered very taboo. (I can't put them up here because they feature kids but you can find old home movies on YouTube that shows the diversity I refer to, not to mention the many articles on it).... That is until the Redevelopment Authority rolled out its plan in the '50s to demolish the entirety, wipe some of its streets off the map, and build a development of what are known as Airlite rowhomes in its place. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to know that this meant the end of the integrated community, as those who didn't leave were left waiting forever for the new houses to be finished.

I have also heard places like The Neck (South Philly below I believe Oregon Ave) were also somewhat diverse and integrated but can't confirm that for sure.


The point of this story is the next time you buy into the idea that various races in this country have had to be forced to live with each other by the government or can't live with each other or any of that other nonsense, remember the story of The Meadows and what can happen when people recognize the humanity in each other and choose to not only tolerate but embrace each other as a part of the same community.

 

This story can be repeatedly told in almost every city in the country. Urban renewal in the mid twentieth century spelled the end to hundreds of homogeneous neighborhoods and communities.

They did need to be upgraded and improved for health and sanitation purposes, but the lack of clear planning was widespread.

 

I've never heard of a similar community anywhere in the country but I'd be glad to learn about any others that existed back then.

I come from the same general area and it's very independent-minded with a mindset that contrary to popular belief lends itself towards integration with other people who seek to become a part of the community. But these places have been ignorantly misrepresented as being backward and bigoted entirely because they're more small town than city.

It's a shame that the government took away the original homes in many of these places and filled in creeks, streams, and wetlands and redeveloped them or at the very least took away their right to do things like raise livestock all because of aesthetic reasons because it forced people to rely on and then fight over industrial jobs that of course eventually dried up. This made further integration damn near impossible and destroyed multiple independent black communities as well.

Creating these myths that so many unfortunately buy into.

 

Racists like msman really crack me up. It's reality check time.

Even the projects used to be safe and stable when there were jobs. There were still a lot of completely stable urban middle class black communities as late as the eighties. The vast majority of people in black communities were people who worked and were upstanding citizens when there were enough jobs. There were plenty of good majority-black schools before the war on urban education. Nobody has been undercut more than black urban communities, and yet many continue to fight to keep their communities safe and strong. It's your kids who copy the very people you look down on, and it's your kids buying drugs in urban communities. Stop pretending otherwise.

Your illusions of superiority are laughable.

 

It is very common for people who were raised and live in a ghetto to fail to understand how the rest of the world lives. Other people moved on to better jobs rather than becoming a ward of the government depending on charity and handouts. People learned skills and got an education. Not everyone gave up.
I do not feel superior to anyone. I did get an education and learned several trades. That kept me from having to live in a ghetto. I could find good jobs. I didn't give up and depend on the tax payers to raise my family and feed and clothe them.

 

It is very common for people from the middle of nowhere to think they know other places because they lived there basically as a tourist or saw some documentary even though they have absolutely no real experience with any of it.

Your being from the middle of nowhere stopped you from living in the ghetto. Stop pretending anything else. You were given a leg up in life by that that you can't comprehend because you're so clueless about just how clueless you are.

 

I was not given anything. I worked for everything I have. I know that would seem foreign to a person raised on food stamps and section 8 housing
There is a whole world of people out there that actually made something of themselves. They didn't give up, set down, and stretched out a begging hand for charity.

 

Yeah msman is racist.

Let me tell you I have been everywhere in the USA and to nearly every country on earth including N.Korea and the biggest racists I have ever seen are American blacks.

A lot of them have the biggest damn chip on their shoulder and they do not actually want equality which they have they want to be a superior race, and they never will be, they need to quit throwing around the race card, they need to start calling eachother out for their wrongs not blaming society.

There that's a good highlight, I will stop because I can go on for pages and pages.

 

Guarantee you haven't.

 

I bet you two like French Fried taters... mmhhmmm

 

'Ey Brandine!

 

Almost every "ghetto" was once a place of single family, duplex or 4-6 apartment homes, homes that were occupied by productive people, usually two parent families. As those places aged, many of the more successful residents moved to the "suburbs", this exodus happened predominantly in the 1940's and 50's. The bulk of the movement was by returning servicemen, who had learned a trade in the service and married shortly after their return to the civilian world. Others moved out because of the high paying jobs of the postwar era and the increased mobility of more modern automobiles on improved roads. This left their former neighborhoods with either older people or people who could only afford the cheaper housing costs, and the decline and decay began in earnest. The busing of school kids in the 1960's & 70's accelerated the migration of the more affluent families.

The tearing down of these neighborhoods was necessary due to the poor condition of the housing, along came the "projects" which really became "ghettos" in short order. The decline of American manufacturing in the rust belt brought huge changes to the cities, thousands of houses became vacant, vast areas of totally dilapidated homes were bulldozed. Detroit is a recent example of this.

What caused it, short sighted politicians who saw opportunity in building slums, who thought that the employers had to pay more of the costs of the cumbersome municipal machines they had conjured up.

 

@tenguy The point of this thread is to point out that that wasn't the case everywhere. It was the case in legitimate slums but other places were integrated by choice and had their way of life destroyed for aesthetic reasons.

As for the projects...Well around here there were standards that had to be met like having steady employment but Reagan slashed HUD funding, causing them to stop being maintained or inspected. Right around the time that jobs were leaving in droves.

Other than that, your post is mostly accurate.

 

Just because a person was born in a ghetto does not mean they have to stay there all of their life.
I live within a short drive of Jackson, Ms. At one time it was a nice city.
Look at it today. Streets are like goat trails. The school was closed all of last week because there was no water in the city. There was plenty of water running down the streets, just not any in the homes. The citizens were in an uproar about the kids not going to school. It wasn't the education they were worried about. It was the free food their kids were missing. They didn't care about the school, just wanted the breakfast, lunch, and sack lunch the schools gave the kids.
Finally different charities made meals for the school kids and delivered them.
The mothers were fat enough they had to ride around in the carts at Walmart but the kids didn't have any food to eat unless the school provided it.

 

It's cute that's what you think a ghetto is.

Explains a lot.

 

A problem few people are talking about, but one that is going to get worse, is the fact that computers and automation are eliminating jobs that most people have the intelligence to learn.

In order to get into a trade school that teaches something like auto mechanics, plumbing, carpentry, and so on one probably needs an IQ of at least 90. Many people cannot pass mental aptitude tests to get in.

I am not gloating, I promise.

Democrats and Republicans blame each other for a serious problem that lacks an easy and an obvious solution.

To change the subject slightly, I am distressed to notice that Democrats and Republicans (both on XNXX and nationally) have an easier time blaming the other side for problems than pointing out how their party has solved them. Neither party can easily explain how their party has promoted policies that have benefited most Americans. This has been particularly true in the twenty first century.

Instead, Democrats and Republicans prefer to point to this or that scandal this or that leader of the other party has presumably been involved in.

 

The point of this thread, @Distant Lover , is to point out that government involvement isn't necessary for people of different races to come together and often does the opposite.

 

The point of this story is the next time you buy into the idea that various races in this country have had to be forced to live with each other by the government or can't live with each other or any of that other nonsense, remember the story of The Meadows and what can happen when people recognize the humanity in each other and choose to not only tolerate but embrace each other as a part of the same community.

People will not ever be happy living together if one group is given benefits in job preference, getting into college, etc just because of the color of their skin.
If people want equality they should act like equals. If one group is allowed to be below par and get the same benefit as those who have to work for it they will not want to live with each other.

 

I will give the racists posting another local example.

There is an industrial area near Southwest Philly and a development known as Briarcliffe. This area used to be a completely self-sustaining black community known as Horntown. It was in modern day Darby Township. Then the county decided they would clear it for industrial purposes and to put in white people who were moving up to the middle class, again using the excuses used with The Meadows. You can guess what happened to that community.

Then there is the community of Cobbs Creek in West Philly, which was bombed during the eviction of a group called MOVE. It was a stable middle and upper class black community. However, before it was built up (for white people with money), it was a community similar to those in places like Kingsessing and Horntown. But the city wanted the land to be profitable.

Clueless people like msman want to pretend examples like these didn't exist because they contradict his delusional bumpkin views.

 

Why couldn't the black people with money move into these places?

Your experiences seem only to involve one small area. That is why I have suggested you should get out in the world a little more.

One question. If the country cleared it for industrial purposes how did the white people move into an industrial area? Why didn't the black people move in also?