[lbo-talk] Aljazeera on DC

Chuck Grimes c123grimes at att.net
Wed Sep 29 14:44:07 PDT 2010


The other day, I posted something about hating DC. After Wotjek said it had changed, I went back over several visits. Anyway, below is a link to a long Aljazeera study of changing demographics in DC.

http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/2010/09/2010927114430608793.html The subject is the gentrification of two areas of DC and its likely consequences.

The first time I saw some of DC was around 1971. I went back there with my boss, a project director for a disable student program. Many of the people running the project had been part of one or another civil rights movement programs and had learned how to battle segregation and discrimination on the ground. So inside the building there was a great sense of solidarity on a nation wide battle.

One morning I had forgotten to move the rented car and it got towed. It took a long time to locate it. I had to go to the police station show ID, pay the fine and get the location of the tow yard. Behind the front desk was a huge southern bull of a cop, with a softened southern drawl. In front of me in line was a black boy about ten or eleven. I ask him what he was here for because the cop was busy with a giant ledger book. The boy said he was here to pick up his bike. About that time the boy was next and told the cop what he was there for. The whole interaction was amazing for its illustration of bad race relations and pointless exercise of power. Then came my turn. Similar, but much less evident was the same attitude---tuned down a few points. I had to walk several blocks through the neighborhood which was of course run down, poor, and black. I really hadn't seen poverty like this, even in Oakland, maybe only in North Richmond. Anyway the tow yard was run by a black owner. He was polite and friendly, I got the car and drove back to the downtown area.

The only black people in our hotel, The Mayflower, were the staff of course. I had to do several other errands and got to drive around. Most of the white stores and residences still had little plaques on their door that said, servant entrance in rear. We often had to use these because my boss was in a wheelchair. The whole `vibe' of the city said Jim Crow was gone in name only.

I returned to DC around 1979 and stayed in a mixed neighborhood and got to see another side of the city, which was relaxed, open, and where that feel of segregation was not around.

The last time I was in DC was in March 2003 and watched the Iraq invasion on tv. The city had that war seige mentality.



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