Class conflict hits home

This is the one issue that may have cropped up in the last couple of decades or so. You might have seen hints of this on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air for example. In that episode Carlton attempted to join a fraternity only to raise the ire of the head of this fraternity. He had a chip on his shoulder because Carlton was considered a sell out to the struggle. Whatever that could entail. Well it could be more complicated than that. One could talk about being a "sellout" to the struggle, but it could just plain be jealousy as a result of laziness. Among other things of course.

I'm not going to pretend I know I just loved this second article. They talked about some neighborhoods on the near south side of Chicago. Mainly Kenwood, Oakland, and Bronzeville. These neighborhoods are being built up, however some of you wouldn't want to be caught dead in after a certain point in time. As I've stated in my other post the less well to do may wind up moving out because the rents are going to go up and/or it may be more profitable to just sell all together.

To invest in impoverished neighborhoods in Chicago may be a questionable investment, but a worthwhile one as is the case on the near south side. But some of these residents we saw didn't feel too bad about those who had to move in fact some of them are espousing somewhat conservative ideas...

Of the public housing that once dominated his neighborhood's skyline, [Rashaun] Williams says: "All of that was suppressing the value of this very valuable land. People who are on government subsidies, in general, don't have a right to any particular land because taxpayers are the ones paying for it, anyway. If I'm supporting the whole thing, should they get a better view of the lake and I get a view of a south suburban neighborhood and an hour-and-a-half commute?"

OK, maybe it wasn't all that conservative but I hope you get the drift. I don't want to tear down public housing residents but there are those who just don't want to leave and it could be because they don't have anywhere else to go. Is it our problem if they just don't want to move out of public housing on their own anyway. Well public housing in Chicago is rife with tragedy unfortunately with children dying playing in elevator shafts, falling out of windows, or shot by a gang members' bullet.

Also there are hope that these near south side neighborhoods could be like the Bronzeville of years past, which was actually an upper middle class black neighborhood and Hyde Park which is racially mixed. However in some of these neighborhoods whites are moving in being readily able to afford the real estate in ways most blacks aren't. Most of the black in the article will contend that blacks need to drive revitalization.

Even mentioned are those blacks who aren't used to the segregation in Chicago. One statistic suggests that 80% of Chicago's blacks may have to move before Chicago is integrated. Some have come from other places where the segregation isn't as stark as in Chicago. There is an idea that the more integrated a neighborhood the better prices might be. The jury may be out on that.