How Did Chi Become A Gang City? (Chicago, Columbia: low income, neighborhood)

[Motion]

^
Well what's missing here especially in Black areas is Black entreprenurship.

Black-Americans for a variety of reasons have a low rate of business ownership. This affects job and wealth building opportunities for Black areas. This situation isn't just in Chicago but across the nation. So until there is an increase in Black entreprenurship(especially from college educated Blacks) nationwide too many Black areas will continue to have problems with joblessness and poverty and all that comes with that.

[ajolotl]

On that note, out of curiosity I've spent the last few weekends walking several miles along the main business strips west of cottage grove between 63rd and 95th. The most striking thing is that 90% of the food establishments seem to be owned by Middle Easterners and apparently very few are run by blacks. I was expecting this but not to such a great extent.

Can anyone back up my anecdotal impression? I just popped my head in about fifty places, didn't interview the people in the stores.

Originally Posted by Motion

^
Well what's missing here especially in Black areas is Black entreprenurship.

Black-Americans for a variety of reasons have a low rate of business ownership. This affects job and wealth building opportunities for Black areas. This situation isn't just in Chicago but across the nation. So until there is an increase in Black entreprenurship(especially from college educated Blacks) nationwide too many Black areas will continue to have problems with joblessness and poverty and all that comes with that.

[Venom]

The ones that sell gyros?
mmm

[Motion]

Originally Posted by ajolotl

On that note, out of curiosity I've spent the last few weekends walking several miles along the main business strips west of cottage grove between 63rd and 95th. The most striking thing is that 90% of the food establishments seem to be owned by Middle Easterners and apparently very few are run by blacks. I was expecting this but not to such a great extent.

Here's some insight.

Innercity Enterprise

[via chicago]

Originally Posted by At1WithNature

I am sure it is terrible. Where are they going to work? in poor areas all there really is is fast food joints and liquor stores. and poor areas don't have high high school graduation rates so what you have is a plethora of unskilled and uneducated workers to start with. No wonder they turn to the streets for that fast money.

Exactly.
Watch this documentary; the kid talks about how he is trying to earn an honest living working at a chicken joint..he makes $5.15 an hour. The guys selling drugs in his project are pulling in thousands a day selling drugs.

[Avengerfire]

What the hell is "Chi?"

[Venom]

Nickname for Chicago...

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by Venom

Nickname for Chicago...

Umm yeah I know that. I and many others think it is a stupid nickname.

Most people that were born and raised here (or know better) do not ever say "Chi."

[Venom]

I was going to make a topic saying how Chicagoans feel about outsiders calling Chicago Chi-town, chi, Chi city, etc.

but I was afraid everyone will say they don't care.

[JanuaryGirl]

Originally, back before the 70s, there were a variety of gangs in the city, many of which started out as neighborhood "clubs." Their were white gangs, black gangs, polish gangs, etc. They were not money-driven like they are now, they were territory driven, and in general there was nowhere near the level of violence we see today. They weren't large, national gangs like now, they were localized and focused on "protecting" specific neighborhoods; since Chicago's neighborhoods have always been divided by race and nationality, as neighborhood demographics changed gangs formed to defend turf. Later, many of the gangs merged into fewer larger groups and many of the white gangs disbanded. In the 70s-80s the focus really shifted from territory-based to money-based; the gangs began running as for-profit ventures and capitalized on the demand for crack and other drugs.

I had read extensive histories of this a long time ago, not sure if I'm remembering everything correctly but that is the gist of it. And yes, every city is now a "gang city." The bigger the gangs the more money and power they have.