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All of you who are deriding our views on the American ghetto as opposed to the European slums have never been to Europe, I assume.
You can't compare a Turkish 'hood in Germany or Brixton in London with, say, South Central LA or Detroit. You won't find in Germany or England the devastation, extreme poverty, high crime, empty lots and garbage; the homelessness, the starved kids and single mothers and general destruction and hopelessness you see in the American ghetto.
Of course there are poor areas in Western Europe where Albanians, Romanians and Africans live; and of course there are middle-class areas and rich neighborhoods where white people live. So what? They are not the American ghetto. Our slums are unique.
And for those who say the ghetto will snap, let me remind you once again that the poor snap when there's poverty and injustice (such as the 1967 riots), but rarely ever when the issue is gentrification and development. They just move on.
Nope! That's a false statement! you can find crime anywhere. In those low-income neighboorhoods are I would say small crime activities like selling drugs. That's it...a lot of those peepz who are hanging out there are just bumbs...they dont know nothin better to do with their time and their lives.
@Manhattan-ite: I totally agree with your statement.
I sometimes wonder whether the increasing rents, increasing housing values, increasing cost of living, will have a backlash in the ghettos of this city. When the more moneyed people live along side the poor, who see the new car, the nice home, and the lifestyle more in there face, will there be some sort of backlash? I would like to say no..but it is in people's nature to be envious, fearful of others, and resentful.
I dont believe the poor, though, are being tossed out of their homes with nothing. That is a false assumption and is really the exception and not the rule...thats alot of fear mongering and nonsense. The poor do quite well in NYC, it is the middle that struggles the hardest.
At the end of the day, I believe there will NOT be a snap in the ghetto, but nonetheless there will be a reshuffling of the deck in the city. By that I mean population trends will change, neighborhoods will change....but thats what the city ahs always been about. The recent ghettoficiation of entire swaths of the city has prevented the ebb and flow of communities...and this anomoly is coming to an end as ALL neighborhoods are now in play (of for the most part.) If anything, the ghettos will become more mainstream (as has been evidenced) and there will be no snap, but an integration...the way is should have been 40 years ago.
You can't compare a Turkish 'hood in Germany or Brixton in London with, say, South Central LA or Detroit. You won't find in Germany or England the devastation, extreme poverty, high crime, empty lots and garbage; the homelessness, the starved kids and single mothers and general destruction and hopelessness you see in the American ghetto.
I have lived in Europe and while you are right that they are not completely similar situations, you certainly find depravation if you look around.
Eastern German cities are dotted by districts with "Wohnblocks", Stalin-ear projects loaded with alcoholics, the unemployed and other grim groups of people. Italy has slums in Tornino and Naples that make South Central and Detroit look like Beverly Hills. The UK has some of the grimmest pockets of poverty I have ever had the displeasure of seeing, particularly in Leeds and Newcastle. Do we even need to bring in France as an example?
Even wonderful Sweden has projects full of unemployed foreigners while the streets are loaded with legions of alcoholics- looks like Spring Break except that the people are all grim faced and older than 40. Switzerland, prosperous without a doubt, is crawling with junkies.
And homelessness? You must be kidding. I have been to around 15 European countries and each and every one has more than its share of homeless people begging, boozing or just puking in public.
Europe is neither a dump nor heaven. Its pretty much like here with some slight variances.
I have lived in Europe and while you are right that they are not completely similar situations, you certainly find depravation if you look around.
Eastern German cities are dotted by districts with "Wohnblocks", Stalin-ear projects loaded with alcoholics, the unemployed and other grim groups of people. Italy has slums in Tornino and Naples that make South Central and Detroit look like Beverly Hills. The UK has some of the grimmest pockets of poverty I have ever had the displeasure of seeing, particularly in Leeds and Newcastle. Do we even need to bring in France as an example?
Even wonderful Sweden has projects full of unemployed foreigners while the streets are loaded with legions of alcoholics- looks like Spring Break except that the people are all grim faced and older than 40. Switzerland, prosperous without a doubt, is crawling with junkies.
And homelessness? You must be kidding. I have been to around 15 European countries and each and every one has more than its share of homeless people begging, boozing or just puking in public.
Europe is neither a dump nor heaven. Its pretty much like here with some slight variances.
OK if you wanna go there, of course there are worst ghettos than the US ghettos. Especially in South America. Like Brazil, Ecuador, or the caribbean, like Haiti, PR and of course the dem.-rep. That make Europe look like heaven.
OK if you wanna go there, of course there are worst ghettos than the US ghettos. Especially in South America. Like Brazil, Ecuador, or the caribbean, like Haiti, PR and of course the dem.-rep. That make Europe look like heaven.
True enough.
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