Hunters Point Documentry (San Francisco, Compton, Fillmore: environment, lawyer, loan)

[Motion]

Has anyone seen 'Straight Outta Hunters Point'? It came out around 2002 I think.

Oh and notice that guy using the term Frisco in the trailer.

YouTube - STRAIGHT OUTTA HUNTERS POINT - TRAILER

[Motion]

What's been keeping that toxic waste from getting cleaned up there? I'd think with all the enviromentalist types in San Francisco this would have been taken care of years ago.

[d-iron]

Originally Posted by Motion

Has anyone seen 'Straight Outta Hunters Point'? It came out around 2002 I think.

Oh and notice that guy using the term Frisco in the trailer.

YouTube - STRAIGHT OUTTA HUNTERS POINT - TRAILER

Your obsessed with the term Frisco huh

[Alexus]

Originally Posted by Motion

Has anyone seen 'Straight Outta Hunters Point'? It came out around 2002 I think.

Oh and notice that guy using the term Frisco in the trailer.

YouTube - STRAIGHT OUTTA HUNTERS POINT - TRAILER

It's a shame that the city has neglected this section so extensively. What is a greater shame though is for the residents to want to remain in a place that is being neglected. A self-imposed, self-perpetuated enormous level of vile ignorance they promote amongst themselves.

[Motion]

Originally Posted by RomanInSF

What is a greater shame though is for the residents to want to remain in a place that is being neglected. A self-imposed, self-perpetuated enormous level of vile ignorance they promote amongst themselves.

Can't that be applied to all ghettoes across America? People can leave Hunters Point and I'am sure some do but considering the educational level and jobs skills of many of the residents they may end up moving from one ghetto to another. I mean what else can they afford as far as neighborhoods?

[Motion]

A little long but an interesting read:


" As a young man, he went into the Air Force, where he learned about the trucking business. When he got out of the service, his father took him to sign up for the truckers’ union in San Francisco, a moment that defined his career. There were four or five white men standing at the union office, and they let Walker know what his chances were right away: “We don’t let ni.ggers in this union,” Walker recalls them saying. Many white-controlled unions at the time either didn’t let African Americans in or kept them from progressing into highly skilled jobs.
Walker’s father gave him some sage advice: “If you want to be a trucker, buy your own damn truck.”

Walker did buy a truck. Then more trucks. He now owns a very successful trucking company based in Bayview called Walker Trucking. And this is basically his message to black America: buy your own damn truck.

Here, Walker throws up his hands and returns to his overarching thesis: how black America and Bayview–Hunters Point got truly screwed.

He begins his speech with slavery. But then, slavery goes without saying, he adds. After that, blame Martin Luther King, Jr. That’s right, integration. Recently, Walker even called for segregating San Francisco’s schools again, a pretty unpopular suggestion.

The theory goes like this: just before integration, African Americans had started to get more education and make more money, says Walker. They were spending their money amongst each other, much like Walker’s favorite tribe, the Jews. This was happening in the Fillmore and Bayview–Hunters Point and all over America. But integration weeded out the elite African Americans: lawyers, dentists, and doctors left the ghetto. “None of them thought when they were riding that bus,” says Walker, “that the answer was, buy our own bus. None of them thought,damn the lunch counter, we’ll buy our own lunch counter.” So uneducated African Americans were left to fester in ugly environmental wastelands like Bayview–Hunters Point, Compton, and the South Bronx. “And what did you think was going to happen?” he asks me in a high-pitched tone. “They would start to eat each other, just the way they’re doing now.”

The remedy, Walker says, is to promote black-owned businesses within black neighborhoods, especially banks that would loan money fairly. Many Bayview–Hunters Point residents say they have been redlined. Little research has been done on this, but a 2002 study by the Center for Community Change found that blacks in general, as well as Latinos, have significantly higher interest rates than whites in similar income brackets. Another study showed that around $113 million leaks out of the Bayview annually—money that could be spent in the neighborhood if there were more businesses close by, like a grocery store. Just to get weekly groceries, residents have to take two buses to the nearest Safeway on 16th Street and Potrero Avenue. “The dollar changes hands 18 times before it leaves the Jewish community,” says Walker. “It changes hands 2 times before it leaves the black commu­nity.” Jewish people would not stand for that, he says... "

link

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I think Black-Americans haven't done enough of what is suggested above because for the past 30 years we have been too focused on getting the gov't to redistribute wealth rather than on wealth creation for ourselves. This is where I think Blacks are hurt for voting liberal democrat. When liberals see a poor community their thinking is more gov't programs(welfare) but when a republican sees a poor community they think more investment is needed in the form of businesses and tax policies that will help to promote this. The latter is what's needed most in low income areas especially when you consider the unemployment rate in some of these communities.

[Alexus]

Originally Posted by Motion

Can't that be applied to all ghettoes across America? People can leave Hunters Point and I'am sure some do but considering the educational level and jobs skills of many of the residents they may end up moving from one ghetto to another. I mean what else can they afford as far as neighborhoods?

By implication, it does apply. When Muhammad Ali was in exile after refusing to fight in Vietnam, he would travel around the country giving speeches at college campuses. At one such campus, one in a predominately white, prestine neighborhood, he addresses the masses, and what he said was true then and rings true today. He said that you could take all the white people from the nice neighborhood and put them in the ghetto and within a short time, the white people would turn that ghetto into a nice neighborhood. He went on to say that you could move black people from the ghetto and put them in a nice neighborhood and in a short time, they'll turn that nice neighborhood into a ghetto. His conclusion: The problem is not in the place, it's in the people. The people make the ghetto. I believe this.

Considering the horrid past that black people have endured for centuries, where so many died so that today blacks would have more opportunities, why isn't high educational achievement the first priority? Where is the desire for intellectual enlightenment? Why is there a propensity for violence, self-hatred, and an unwillingness to compete on an intellectual level? Newly arrived Africans are the exact opposite. They thrive on intellectual stimulation and live to attain high academic achievement. They view this country as a land of opportunity. But, when I look at many black people today, it is shameful where the race has gone to. Rap music is a musical expression, sure. But its language is that of ignorance, pettiness, and frivilous subject matter. The thug dress is absolutely atrocious. Big, over-sized pants, XXXL t-shirt, oversized high-top sneakers, baseball cap flipped to the side, pants falling off, "you know what I'm sayin?" uttered after every sentence. It's incredible. No education, no skills, no goals, no sense of history, no respect for those who came before, no respect for those who are educated or attempting to educate themselves, no respect for parents, kids, no heroes, no respect for themselves or others, no individuality, no respect for women, no respect for the law, no respect for life. Looking at places like Hunters Point is like watching a horror flick entitled, "Night of the Walking Dead." Zombies galore.

Where is the thrust? The thrust to get into medical school or law school? How about mathematics, science, engineering? Classical music is extraordinary music with a rich history. Why hasn't it been embraced? Great universities are screaming for qualified black applicants, but there just aren't enough "solja boys" willing to step up, instead choosing to mimic each other in a celebration of ignorance. Ali was right. The problem is in the people.

[Alexus]

Originally Posted by Motion

A little long but an interesting read:


" As a young man, he went into the Air Force, where he learned about the trucking business. When he got out of the service, his father took him to sign up for the truckers’ union in San Francisco, a moment that defined his career. There were four or five white men standing at the union office, and they let Walker know what his chances were right away: “We don’t let ni.ggers in this union,” Walker recalls them saying. Many white-controlled unions at the time either didn’t let African Americans in or kept them from progressing into highly skilled jobs.
Walker’s father gave him some sage advice: “If you want to be a trucker, buy your own damn truck.”

Walker did buy a truck. Then more trucks. He now owns a very successful trucking company based in Bayview called Walker Trucking. And this is basically his message to black America: buy your own damn truck.

Here, Walker throws up his hands and returns to his overarching thesis: how black America and Bayview–Hunters Point got truly screwed.

He begins his speech with slavery. But then, slavery goes without saying, he adds. After that, blame Martin Luther King, Jr. That’s right, integration. Recently, Walker even called for segregating San Francisco’s schools again, a pretty unpopular suggestion.

The theory goes like this: just before integration, African Americans had started to get more education and make more money, says Walker. They were spending their money amongst each other, much like Walker’s favorite tribe, the Jews. This was happening in the Fillmore and Bayview–Hunters Point and all over America. But integration weeded out the elite African Americans: lawyers, dentists, and doctors left the ghetto. “None of them thought when they were riding that bus,” says Walker, “that the answer was, buy our own bus. None of them thought,damn the lunch counter, we’ll buy our own lunch counter.” So uneducated African Americans were left to fester in ugly environmental wastelands like Bayview–Hunters Point, Compton, and the South Bronx. “And what did you think was going to happen?” he asks me in a high-pitched tone. “They would start to eat each other, just the way they’re doing now.”

The remedy, Walker says, is to promote black-owned businesses within black neighborhoods, especially banks that would loan money fairly. Many Bayview–Hunters Point residents say they have been redlined. Little research has been done on this, but a 2002 study by the Center for Community Change found that blacks in general, as well as Latinos, have significantly higher interest rates than whites in similar income brackets. Another study showed that around $113 million leaks out of the Bayview annually—money that could be spent in the neighborhood if there were more businesses close by, like a grocery store. Just to get weekly groceries, residents have to take two buses to the nearest Safeway on 16th Street and Potrero Avenue. “The dollar changes hands 18 times before it leaves the Jewish community,” says Walker. “It changes hands 2 times before it leaves the black commu*nity.” Jewish people would not stand for that, he says... "

link

----------------------


I think Black-Americans haven't done enough of what is suggested above because for the past 30 years we have been too focused on getting the gov't to redistribute wealth rather than on wealth creation for ourselves. This is where I think Blacks are hurt for voting liberal democrat. When liberals see a poor community their thinking is more gov't programs(welfare) but when a republican sees a poor community they think more investment is needed in the form of businesses and tax policies that will help to promote this. The latter is what's needed most in low income areas especially when you consider the unemployment rate in some of these communities.

Nice story. Certainly self-initiative, self-reliance, self-restraint, self-respect are concepts lost on many black people. Relying on someone else to change or give you something has never worked. Democrats, Republicans are not going to change. Each person must change themselves and create their own reality. Right now as I write this, there is some "solja boy" in Hunters Point nervous about living there. He is not like all the others. He recognizes the enormous level of ignorance that he experiences everyday and works like hell to emulate. It takes effort to walk like a solja boy, use language like a solja boy, language that resembles nothing learned in a classroom. It takes an incredible amount of energy to appear like a solja boy, always having to step up and prove that he belongs. He can't be a punk, can't act like one, even give the slightest clue that in the privacy of his room, he longs for something better, something different. However, he dares not show this side of himself for this is considered a weakness, and it could result in serious bodily injury or worse. So he works hard to perpetuate the ignorance, to prove he's a solja boy. He must do drugs. He must commit crimes. There is a high likelihood that he will not see his 30th birthday and he knows this. While Asians boys his age are studying Quantum Physics and taking AP classes to get into MIT, Harvard, and Yale, this brother voluntarily chooses the bottom path. This is his call. Not that of the "white man", not the Democrats or Republicans. He himself must search and find a way to rise above it, overcome whatever obstacles are placed before him.

[Milliano]

The thing about recent immigrants from Africa is they tend to be amongst the smartest and best educated from the countries that they are leaving. It's not like they just give out visas randomly to the poorest Africans. So despite the racism they may face for being black, they do really really well. At the most recognized universities in the country, they say the majority of black students that they have are probably either recent immigrants or children/grandchildren of recent African immigrants ( Nigerian American - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ). African immigrants actually have the highest average levels of educational attainment in the USA, even higher than Asian Americans.

[Motion]

" I see a very strong association between some of these problems like gang behavior and violent crime and joblessness. For example, if you look at a recent longitudinal study conducted by my colleague at the University of Colorado -- we are doing a book together -- Delbert Elliot. He found, for example, that by the time white males and black males reached the late 20s, the violent crime ratio is 4 to 1 -- 4 black to 1 white. Much higher violent crime rate among black males. However, when he controlled for employment, there was no significant difference in the violent crime rate between white males and black males. No significant difference.

The reason that they had a much larger rate of violent crime among black males is because of the very, very high jobless rate. A lot of these people are concentrated in the inner city neighborhoods. Joblessness triggers a whole lot of other problems.

It's one of the things I try to emphasize in my latest book 'When Work Disappears' that a neighborhood in which people are poor and working is entirely different from a neighborhood in which people are poor and jobless... "

LINK

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What I find interesting with the info above is that it touches on the fundamental causes of ghettoes and the gangs that can come with them. It addresses high unemployment as a key factor. To add to the employment angle,I think that when employment for young males is high or low in a community it shapes how they utilize their time. When large numbers of young males are unemployed or under-employed in a community they end up with much of their time being over concentrated in the streets and all that can come with that. Jobs not just providing legal money also have the effect of keeping young males off the streets. It's similar to athletes who avoided the streets by getting involved in sports while growing up. Sports kept them from spending so much of their time in the streets. So job increases is definitly a big part of the solution for turning these types of communities around. I read that Hunters Point has a 30% unemployment rate. No wonder so many of the males are in the streets.