How a Century of Racist Policies Made Ferguson Into a Pocket of Concentrated Despair

[logosoco]

15. K&R and bookmarking for re-reading.

I read the first part that mentioned Kirkwood. That is where I grew up. There was a nice AA community there...well, I saw it as nice because we were on the lower economic scale in the town, plus my mom was single and in the 70s that was different than it is now. I felt more connected to the black kids at my school because we were in the same economic bracket, which made a big difference in Kirkwood.

I moved from there in the mid 80s. My mom and mother in law are still there, so I see what is going on. The community of black and poor people was bought out and demolished to build Walmart, Target and Lowes. There were other areas they could have built in, but that's where they did it. I guess the folks there got money for their property, but it destroyed a community, and it was not replaced nearby. It seemed sort of obvious to me at the time what was happening, but everyone was just so damn happy to have a Walmart and a new Target,they didn't care.

There is more integration happening where I live now, because I think people are seeing it is not the color of a person that matters, but that we are all hard working people who are just making it in this world and we need to stick together. For the people out here to even see that a little is a major change. Housing is much more affordable here than St. Louis county, but it is still close enough to the city for "convenience" (I would say jobs, but there are not a lot of good jobs here, as elsewhere in the country). Unless it snows!

Or maybe I am just trying to be optimistic because i hate seeing us going back to where we were before I was born!