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Personally, I had always thought the negative perceptions of poor neighborhoods like Englewood, Woodlawn, etc. were wildly exaggerated, that is until I starting reading the daily testimonials from residents of these neighborhoods claiming to be prisoners in their own homes, living in a war zone, terrified to step outside, describing daily unreported gunfire, etc. Maybe you live in one of these neighborhoods and want to give us a different view.
See there is a HUGE difference between SOMEONE LIVING someplace describing it as compared to people who have NO IDEA.
As far as giving a different view about someplace.
This is NOT about me.
I have NEVER lived in Chicago, hence my wanting to gain info about a couple of Chicago neighborhoods that I heard good things about, only to find a bunch of nonsense.
Writing posts about "ghetto blacks", suggesting there is a LINK between race and crime, claiming to understand black culture, hiding behind crime stats and racial fear.
I am reading some of these posts thinking to myself "damn, did I stumble upon a group of ANTHROPOLOGISTS or sociologists studying black people, or some ignorant people exposing their ignorance"?
It is a shame that you are so articulate but have a huge chip on your shoulder and sense of entitlement.
HAHAHA, man you are funny, are you analyzing me like you do those "ghetto blacks".
I'd say this, there is NO group in this country who FEELS MORE entitled than wm that is why they are usually the ones saying or WRITING someone else has a sense of entitlement. It is called projection.
There is NOTHING in my post that could be labeled as feeling entitled to ANYTHING.
Is that an "insult" you hurl at black people who write and say things you don't understand?
How were the suburbs denied to black people.
Man this question PROVES why you should stop writing the ignorace that you are writing.
SAD.
Many of the best and brightest black people abandoned their neighborhoods for greener pastures in the burbs.
You don't know the first thing about "black people". PLEASE stop speaking for us. And before some fool suggests it, I am not speaking for black people either.
I have first-hand experience with blacks as many of my neighbors are black, not affluent people like those who moved to the burbs but people struggling to get by.
I am sure you are a REAL treat as a neighbor.
Just because I and a number of other posters on here don't buy into your "white's got all this stuff and blacks did not" argument does not make us ignorant.
My POINT is NOT an argument. It is HISTORICAL FACT. Please read up on it, maybe then you will know how the burbs where denied to black people along with A WHOLE LOT of other things.
You seem intelligent, albeit narrow-minded. If more people such as yourself would stay in their neighborhoods and make them better instead of leaving or just complaining many of these neighborhoods on the west and south sides could become once again areas where people want to live and don't fear for their lives.
More of your "societal" analysis.
I thought we were ALL AMERICANS so why do you consider neighborhoods MINES and OURS and THEIRS.
See that IS part of the problem.
Yes, but in the real world people discuss their societal views and learn from each other ... even if it means learning by recognizing when someone else is expressing inaccurate views. I can't tell you how much I have learned by simply disagreeing with what someone has said and then doing my own research to find out if what I believed was the truth. So I would not discourage discussion on issues just because you disagree with a few things said by certain individuals. Plus, this would be quite a boring forum and it would get much less traffic if people did not hold open discussions on societal views regarding a city's makeup and happenings.
You make a GOOOOOOOD point, but the problem is MOST people DON'T disagree.
...And seeing as how in the south in the mid-1800's, many blacks were still slaves, I can see how a plantation owner might prefer to have slaves picking his cotton than freemen.
I was talking about the industrial cities in the North.
Well, if it pleases you- I would not feel comfortable living in a place where there have been that many murders committed. I would like to understand why you would feel this way. If you'd be so inclined, please tell me what these residents are thinking.
Based on what you're saying, it seems that you are angry that although many of us haven't been to some of these neighborhoods, we have no right to comment. However, what if we were to say, "these are the crime stats, and based on such things, I would not wish to live here." Would this be fair?
Your premise is that empirical data does not always tell the whole story, yes? If so, what are some of the things that let these people NOT live in fear?
First, I am not trying to curtail what ANYONE writes on here.
My "premise"?
You know damn well "numbers" can NEVER tell the totality of a place of a neighborhood of someone's home.
Most people in those communities ARE NOT VICTIMS of crime.
I am not saying there is not "danger", but if you think the AVERAGE person living in what YOU would describe as a dangerous neighborhood EVERYDAY wakes up and FEARS for their life.........
If you think that there aren't areas in MANY of what YOU would label as the dangerous neighborhoods where MANY people actually FEEL SAFE.......
You PROBABLY don't know what you are talking about, and that IS ALL the more REASON to STOP speculating about people YOU HAVE NEVER MET in a PLACE you have NEVER BEEN.
Well, if it pleases you- I would not feel comfortable living in a place where there have been that many murders committed. I would like to understand why you would feel this way. If you'd be so inclined, please tell me what these residents are thinking.
Based on what you're saying, it seems that you are angry that although many of us haven't been to some of these neighborhoods, we have no right to comment. However, what if we were to say, "these are the crime stats, and based on such things, I would not wish to live here." Would this be fair?
Your premise is that empirical data does not always tell the whole story, yes? If so, what are some of the things that let these people NOT live in fear?
First, I am not trying to curtail what ANYONE writes on here.
My "premise"?
You know damn well "numbers" can NEVER tell the totality of a place of a neighborhood of someone's home.
Most people in those communities ARE NOT VICTIMS of crime.
I am not saying there is not "danger", but if you think the AVERAGE person living in what YOU would describe as a dangerous neighborhood EVERYDAY wakes up and FEARS for their life.........
If you think that there aren't areas in MANY of what YOU would label as the dangerous neighborhoods where MANY people actually FEEL SAFE.......
You PROBABLY don't know what you are talking about, and that IS ALL the more REASON to STOP speculating about people YOU HAVE NEVER MET in a PLACE you have NEVER BEEN.
What else NEEDS to be written?
One more thing- You say that most people in these communities are not victims of crime. Let's say that we see that "X" neighborhood has 13 murders, 10 armed robberies, and 20 burglaries. Who are the victims in these cases? People from other neighborhoods?
See there is a HUGE difference between SOMEONE LIVING someplace describing it as compared to people who have NO IDEA.
As far as giving a different view about someplace.
This is NOT about me.
I have NEVER lived in Chicago, hence my wanting to gain info about a couple of Chicago neighborhoods that I heard good things about, only to find a bunch of nonsense.
Writing posts about "ghetto blacks", suggesting there is a LINK between race and crime, claiming to understand black culture, hiding behind crime stats and racial fear.
I am reading some of these posts thinking to myself "damn, did I stumble upon a group of ANTHROPOLOGISTS or sociologists studying black people, or some ignorant people exposing their ignorance"?
Dude, I don't know what alternate universe you are living in, but since you obviously don't know SQUAT about the south side, I would highly reommend you take the L to 63rd street sometime and stroll around the 'hood before you come back in here talking your ivory tower crap about all those nice knee-grows.
Englewood is thug city, dude. When they tore the projects down, the trash moved down there. It took a couple of years of gang wars for the situation to stabilize, but the war is over and the bad guys won. They have driven many, if not most, of the long-term residents out and replaced it with a gypsy thief-culture where kids are raised to steal from the time they can walk. Anybody who doesn't like it had better get home early and lock their doors, and anyone who calls the cops will get a bullet in the head and you can rest assured that nobody will ever see anything.
That's the way it is, and if that does not fit your tidy little world view, then my advice is to stay away from places like Chicago. Things are WAY too difficult and complicated around here for simple-minded fools.
Now that last post is very interesting to me, since I'm sitting on the south side as I type this. I've been in Englewood frequently in the last few months, both to have my car fixed, to go to the bank at 63rd and Halsted and to check out the construction of the new Kennedy-King College. And I certainly know folks who live in Englewood. But the comments of folks far removed from the area have convinced me that they are much more knowlegable about the south side than myself. So I guess I'll just move to Kenilworth.
Personally, I had always thought the negative perceptions of poor neighborhoods like Englewood, Woodlawn, etc. were wildly exaggerated, that is until I starting reading the daily testimonials from residents of these neighborhoods claiming to be prisoners in their own homes, living in a war zone, terrified to step outside, describing daily unreported gunfire, etc. Maybe you live in one of these neighborhoods and want to give us a different view.
See there is a HUGE difference between SOMEONE LIVING someplace describing it as compared to people who have NO IDEA.
As far as giving a different view about someplace.
This is NOT about me.
I have NEVER lived in Chicago, hence my wanting to gain info about a couple of Chicago neighborhoods that I heard good things about, only to find a bunch of nonsense.
Writing posts about "ghetto blacks", suggesting there is a LINK between race and crime, claiming to understand black culture, hiding behind crime stats and racial fear.
I am reading some of these posts thinking to myself "damn, did I stumble upon a group of ANTHROPOLOGISTS or sociologists studying black people, or some ignorant people exposing their ignorance"?
Perhaps, but I think you're talking a good deal of nonsense yourself to speak with such authority when you've never even lived here. Nine people have been shot in the last six months within 1 block of my apartment (on Woodlawn/Hyde Park boundary). I actually feel pretty safe there but many others (black and white) don't, and I can't really blame them. This isn't the paranoid delusions of a bunch of racists. It's been a rough year in the city.
P...Nine people have been shot in the last six months within 1 block of my apartment (on Woodlawn/Hyde Park boundary). I actually feel pretty safe there but many others (black and white) don't, and I can't really blame them. This isn't the paranoid delusions of a bunch of racists. It's been a rough year in the city.
This all we've been trying to say here, where the accusations of racism comes from, I can't fathom. It is interesting to say that you feel safe there. I'm genuinely curious to know why that is? Perhaps the targets of the shootings are gang members, but plenty of innocent people get caught in the crossfire. And if there are a lot of shootings, there is probably a lot of other crime like robberies. So, this is an area I wouldn't want to spend much time in, and I am kind of baffled that one could feel safe there.
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