I have a thing for Wise Jalapeno chips, so I went to the bodega
to get some the other day, and ended up in a conversation with a
neighborhood man who was old enough to be my father, about
Philly and Detroit.
He mentioned that his son is at Temple. He asked me if I went to
Temple, I said no, but that I had visited Philly this summer, that
I had friends that went to Temple and that the row homes there
were beautiful. He explained to me where his son lived and
how its wild for the night there. I was like, yeah, some parts
of Philly, Oakland , Chicago and DC have murders that approach
New York from the 1980's style. I added
that I was delighted to see all this attention being
being shined on Detroit recently, as I have always had a soft
space in my heart for the city.
When I mentioned Detroit, he lit up and told me that he had been
to Detroit recently and that the men were just "wondering around
aimlessly." I guess he thought I was about to trash black men.
Uh. Negatory.
I mentioned that Detroit, like many other cities were
left for death after deindustrialization and the crack era.
That it is a place with roughly only a million people but it was
built for 5 million. Finally, I added that when the system we live
in has decided that your labor is no longer needed you are left
for dead.
I know he was like, "No more talking to sassy black girls in bodegas."
I will not blame individuals for status, when it has been
made clear by the economic and politcal system that
they are only useful as warm bodies to fill a prison.
Black labor used to be needed and simultaneously
resented, then it was Chinese labor, now its Mexican labor.
Any guesses on whose next? I didn't say that to him,
but it is what I thought.
Detroit?
The Bail Out?
If We Nationalize the Banks and the Cars,
then Why NOT HEALTHCARE?
