This
week, what I found most interesting about the reading from Wilson was when he
touched on the deindustrialization of cities and the joblessness that followed,
and the effect that it had on black people who lived in the city. The part that
I find most annoying about it is the fact that nothing replaces those factory
jobs, they are simply gone, so all the people that made a decent living for
years in the factory are suddenly left with no job and basically no way of
getting another job. I would argue that this situation was not considered to be
a big problem and the reason that nothing was done to create new jobs was
because the people affected weren’t white. I believe that if the city would
have done something soon after the factories shut down or relocated, the
negative effects that followed could have been curtailed. If you leave an area full
of people with nothing to do, with no money and no jobs, it seems pretty clear
that what will inevitably happen will be a huge increase in social problems in
that area. Part of me thinks that as crooked a city as Chicago is, the people
who could have influenced change, like politicians, really phoned it in by not
supporting the community. This whole thing makes me think more deeply about the
crime rate in Chicago.
A
quick back story about me is that I lived in another suburb before moving to
Schaumburg, and that suburb was Streamwood. It was a more racial and ethnically
diverse area than Schaumburg is, and until I moved to where I am now, I had no
idea how often I used to see police patrolling every area of Streamwood. It
took moving to a predominantly white neighborhood for me to recognize the
absolute non-presence of cops in my side of Schaumburg. I can literally go
weeks without seeing one cop (which is great because I drive fast) whereas I
saw cops every single day in Streamwood. To say that there isn’t crime happening
in my neighborhood is total nonsense, there are tons of teenagers walking
around with backpacks in warmer months and those backpacks could be bursting at
the seams with drugs and guns (probably not that full, but you know what I’m
saying), but because we live where we live, everyone is free to walk around
with no worries. I mean, Schaumburg could have some pretty serious problems,
but we wouldn’t even know it because it doesn’t hit the blotter. This is all
due to cops not being there and, really, not suspecting the white people.
Bringing
this back to Chicago neighborhoods, what are people without jobs supposed to do
when employment doesn’t exist near them? I can say with a good deal of
certainty that if I were living in a place with no work and I grew up around crime
to the point where crime has an element of normalcy to it, I would definitely
do what it takes to get by, and that includes dealing of whatever I could. It
is so easy for white people to say things like, “get a job” when they have no
earthly idea how desperately people want to make money legitimately and not be
bothered by cops all the time. I truly believe that no one really wants to live
their lives always looking over their shoulder. If cops would actually patrol
all of the neighborhoods of Chicago (and the suburbs) equally, and treat every
interaction with citizens the exact same, we would have a way more racially
balanced incarceration rate.
My
whole life, I have seen cops as good people, people who you could look up to,
and I was told they will always be there to help me if I ever get into trouble.
They were always portrayed to be stand-up individuals there to protect and serve
us individually and our community. I heard something recently that resonated
with me when I was watching the news. I watched a black woman say that she
would never call the cops for help because cops make her nervous, and she said
that no cop has ever protected her from anything. What she said really struck a
chord with me and highlighted the fact that my experience with cops has been
framed by my whiteness. My positive perception of them came from a cushy space,
from lessons taught to me by other white people who only have glowing things to
say about cops, and all that crap, our lovely experience, comes from the color
of our skin. Of course there isn’t anything I can do about it, but it’s not
something I take lightly.
http://www.neighborhoodscout.com/il/schaumburg/crime/
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