A Ghetto Is a Community, Too

In both Honors and College Prep Survey of Literature, the authors of our texts implore the readers to re-consider the "single stories" that we have about low-income communities and residents. Authors Wes Moore (The Other Wes Moore), LeAlan Jones and Lloyd Newman (Our America:Life and Death on the South Side of Chicago), as well as Geoffrey Canada invite us to envision a world where we can work collectively to address the problems of poverty. Mr. Shakur writes it well when he states, "Although poor neighborhoods may seem like they have always been poor, that's not necessarily true." 


Read on, explore at least one of the following links, and post a comment or e-mail your response. YOU choose. 

Think and write prompts:

• What are the three most important things you've learned?
• What is the main idea?
• What questions does this article/video raise for you?

Here are several links to help you examine the complicated issue of poverty, as well as three shout-outs for scholars who made outstanding contributions to our class, with their provocative insights. 

• Did you know that Martin Luther King, Jr. used to have an apartment on the west side of Chicago? Strange, but true. King came to Chicago hoping to help end poverty and housing discrimination. 

Left: 


Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. addresses a large crowd at Soldier Field during the time he spent in Chicago in 1966.

The Chicago Tribune produced a short documentary about King's work in Chicago. You can find it by clicking on the image below. 

• Where does the word "ghetto" come from? According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word dates back several hundred years. 
• It's interesting to consider the denotation of the word "ghetto" while considering our connotations (associative meaning) of the word. In class, we compared our connotations of the word neighborhood with the word ghetto. 

Origin:

early 17th century: perhaps from Italian getto 'foundry' (because the first ghetto was established in 1516 on the site of a foundry in Venice), or from Italian borghetto, diminutive of borgo 'borough'

• Left: Jelna Carr and her father listening to the 6:45 PM news broadcast (1942, Ida B. Wells housing project)

• A shout-out for scholar-artist Valentina, who noted that "the news always leaves out the positive things, like churches and outreach programs," the features that make ghettos truly vibrant communities. It is so easy to deny that unpleasant things, like domestic abuse, occur behind closed doors in "nice neighborhoods."

• A shout-out for scholar-artist Kahari, who compelled us to consider how Adichie's speech, "The Danger of a Single Story," relates to our connotations for neighborhood and ghetto. We tend to think of ghettos as poor, unwelcoming, violent neighborhoods. But there is so much evidence to the contrary, such as the historical images of the Ida B. Wells housing project in 1942, which we examined in class.

• A shout-out for scholar-artist Raven for sharing her story of growing up a block away from ChiArts current home at 521 E. 35th Street. Here the excerpt we read in class:

Growing Up Here, In This Neighborhood

Interview with Raven Sims

I was born near 47^th & Ellis. Then we moved to 3620 S. Rhodes and have lived here for 13 years.The Ida B. Wells housing project was right over there, at 36^th & Rhodes. Some of the Wells buildings were on King Drive, some were on Rhodes.

I went to school here, at Doolittle East,  back when it was pre-k through 3^rd grade.

When Ida B. Wells was around, I wasn’t allowed to go outside a lot. They had a thing for jumping people in Lawless Gardens at 3510S. Rhodes. So the only time I would go outside was when I was with my auntie or my mom. 

It was violent. There were always gunshots, a lot of fighting—fist fighting, foot-to-face fighting, gang violence and stuff. There wasn’t a lot of talking. 

My cousin was a victim. They came and jumped him a lot of times. One time it was me, my aunties, and a couple of my cousins, and my uncle. We were standing in front of one of the buildings, just talking. And a couple of guys, eighteen, they were old—well, not old, but older. My cousin was only twelve, thirteen. One of the guys came up to him. Now my cousin is not a fighter. But that day my uncle said, “If one of the dudes hits you, you have permission to hit him back.” 

One of the dudes came up and hit my cousin right in the jaw. We wanted to jump in and help. I don’t know why we didn't. I guess we wanted my cousin to stand up for himself. And he did. They fought for about a good ten minutes. When it was done, blood was all over the building wall and the ground. But it wasn’t my cousin’s blood. It was the other boy’s. He got a couple of scratches, my cousin, but wasn’t hurt that bad. I think he was just tired of getting picked on.

Five years later, they sent out an evacuation notice. They were shutting the Ida B. Wells down. That was in 2004. 

•   PBS aired a provocative documentary  titled "Race: The Power of an Illusion." In class we watched an excerpt from the segment "Race: The House You Live In," which addresses the role race has played in the complicated history of housing discrimination. You can watch it here.

Mr. Shakur writes on his class blog, "Chicago is considered by many to be one of the most segregated cities in the United States. There's a NY Times story that talks about how the city's history of segregation played a part in the latest mayoral election." Here is a link to this provocative news article. 

Chicago: World-Class For Many But Not for the Poor

He adds, "Segregation doesn't happen by accident. Historian Beryl Satter wrote an excellent book, Family Properties." In this provocative book, Satter illustrates how African-Americans were kept from buying properties in White neighborhoods. You can find an article that describes the techniques real estate agents and home sellers used to enforce segregation. You can find it here.  


Race and Real Estate

I look forward to hearing from you. Please feel free to recommend resources to further enrich our understanding.