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diff --git a/research/two-hopes.rst b/research/two-hopes.rst new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f7de108 --- /dev/null +++ b/research/two-hopes.rst @@ -0,0 +1,150 @@ +Two images and two hopes +######################## + +:date: 2005-08-27T10:38:00 +:category: research +:tags: dissertation, BostonMiracle + +This is probably the most obvious conclusion from reading of all the +materials about the Boston Black community (shouldn’t I use term +“neighborhood” as describing just geographical proximity of its +members?), but in the spirit of Len’s theorem that all sociology is +either common sense or non-sense, I should not forget to record it as +well. + +There seems to be two images, two lines of thought, and two hopes +present in both primary and secondary literature on the Boston Black +community. First there are those (let’s call them “liberals”, but it is +not a good label, because it implies too much homogeneity in their +thinking and too much about what they think) who think that the most +important things in the Boston are *causes* — prejudice, racism, +government neglect and many others. I do not know whether they have any +hope at all, but if anything then they would like to install justice and +apportion blame to all who caused the current situation. The other group +of people is much less concerned about the causes of the current +situation and much more about its possible *solutions*. I have two +examples to show it. First is from the article “Putting our minds +together for community—young leaders share their wisdom on prejudice, +bad schools, lost opportunities” (Boston Globe, March 5, 2000, C3): + + There is also a problem on the development side, or the side of the + built environment, where we don’t really realize the potential and + value of what we have. The number one thing of value in our city is + our intellectual capital, our ability to put our minds together to + think about an idea. That is something that all of us here as + panelists share, how we think about things. But the problem is, + while there is an incredible resource structure in the city … it is + inaccessible to people that live in the neighborhoods. + + So we have these great schools, these great museums, and these great + places, but even the young people that are in my program in MYTOWN + couldn’t tell you where the MFA was. They couldn’t tell you the last + time they’d been to the JFK Library. + + All of the wealth that we have in the city, [and] the 574,000 + Bostonians who live here and their children, the 60,000 young people + that are in the schools, they may as well live in another state. + That’s a problem in terms of our resources, how we distribute them, + how we understand them, and how we value the people that live here. + It’s a big problem. + + […] + + The second thing is to understand that we are a city of great + wealth, wealth that is material, wealth that is unseen as well as + seen, and to put that to work for our city. … Take all those … + underutilized resources—urban youth, urban communities—and let it be + a benefit to the community, because we are sitting on vast assets + that we do not realize. + + So many people come from outside of Boston, from all over the world, + and tell us how great it is, but we are blind to it. + +This sounds to me like a great example of speech by experienced +community development professional and I would dare to say, politician. +It doesn’t say much about specific proposed solutions, but it offers +unification of all parties (“That is something that all of us here as +panelists share, how we think about things.”) and then to all those such +united parties his own solution is put into their mouth (“But the +problem is, while there is an incredible resource structure in the city +… it is inaccessible to people that live in the neighborhoods.”). All +language is economical, promising, and very non-specific. + +Contrast this with this quotation from the article (created in context +of the Democratic Convention in Boston) “Jesse Jackson’s Dressing–Down +of Boston on Race Draws Rebuttals” (Mens’ News Daily, August 1, 2004): + + Jesse Jackson, the nation’s leading purveyor of identity politics, + came to Boston to practice his shtick and received his comeuppance. + + […] + + This was the past that Jackson sought to exploit when he came into + town for the Democrats’ convention with one of his familiar lectures + aimed at eliciting concessions in the form of racial preferences and + wealth redistribution. Speaking to the press on the second day of + the convention, Jackson publicly chastised the city for what he saw + as its lack of racial progress and failure to adequately serve as a + “shining light on the hill.” + + […] + + But then an unexpected thing happened: Boston’s political leadership + did not bend over backwards in a fit of apologies to appease the + Rev. Jackson. Instead, they fired back in defense of the city’s + strides in race relations. + + “It’s nice he comes into our city and makes a statement like that,” + Boston Mayor Thomas Menino sarcastically retorted. He told the + Boston Herald that in his 11 years as mayor, Jackson has never + contacted him to discuss any racial or other issue involving the + city. + + African-American activists who actually work regularly in Boston’s + black neighborhoods also took issue with Jackson’s comments. + “Jesse’s talking trash and blowing smoke,” said the Rev. Eugene + Rivers, chairman of the Ten Point Coalition. “This is Jesse’s + showboat.” + + Rivers seconded Menino’s assessment of Jackson’s lack of involvement + in Boston: “Jesse Jackson has never, ever come to me or any of the + black clergy that work on the streets of the city of Boston. Jesse + has been too big to actually meet with the black clergy that work in + the trenches and have been doing that for many years, so we are sort + of mildly amused that Jesse has so much to say about something he + knows so little about.” + + The Boston Herald also reported the reaction of a black state + legislator who immigrated to the Boston area from Haiti in 1969. “I + guess the reverend is entitled to his opinion,” said Democratic + state Rep. Marie St. Fleur, “but as an individuals who was raised + here, in the city of Boston, I have seen an experienced major + changes. To tell me there hasn’t been progress is not real for me.” + +I abbreviated the article just to parts relevant to the discussed issue +and I have removed all opinions of the author (which were rather +conservative). However, I think that even this list of quotations makes +a pretty good picture of the rift between two different pictures about +the Black community problems (of course, I do not pretend that Jessie’s +speech was just motivated by pure intellectual reasons, and I can easily +accept that he was probably more trying to make points without any real +concern and knowledge about the reality on the ground). If there was any +Boston miracle, then it seems to me that one of the most important +components of it was this ability to step over the past hurt and talk +with people who were (and who still are) viewed as one’s enemies. + +Which leads to more personal comment on whole issue. I have to repeat to +myself, that if I want to make something sensible from my research then +I have to use whole of my person in it and so it is no surprise that I +will see in my research issues of forgivness and reconcilliation. Which +also reminds me that I should study some history of White-Black +relations in 1970s’ Boston. + +*{added later}* Again, it is about hope. I remember talking with a +pastor who claimed that the biggest issue of the young gang members +which led them to gangs is lack of hope for their future. Unless you are +a basketball wizard, super-super-smart, from rich family (at least so +that they can afford college), or you go into army, there is no hope for +you to get out of Roxbury and the only way which you were told by your +parents (if there are any) and people around you is that the only hope +is to sell drugs and make quick bucks. |