tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21083673.post2247465455491987133..comments2023-10-28T03:07:12.758-07:00Comments on Mirror On America: St. Louis Black Men March Against ViolenceBrian http://www.blogger.com/profile/07872444863142531165noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21083673.post-52063058180690257842008-06-02T22:49:00.000-07:002008-06-02T22:49:00.000-07:00My family lives in the Newstead area, where the Ma...My family lives in the Newstead area, where the March took place. I myself lived in the area for a while many years ago when I had no place to live ( had to live with my folks). The experience left me shell shocked. I only visit now for funerals. Terrible!<BR/><BR/>St. Louis goes through this kind of reconciliation every 5-10 years or so...when the carnage gets bad. But not much comes from these marches. There is little follow-up. Hopefully something will be done this time.<BR/><BR/>But the real underlying issues have to be dealt with. <BR/><BR/>The city of St. Louis has been losing private and corporate tax revenues...due to population shrinkage. At the least, it hasn't kept pace with other cities. Combine that with the devestating impact that white flight has had on the city...and the city has been a recipe for disaster. <BR/><BR/>The police are undermanned and outgunned... (low tax revenues means Police officers can't be hired). The city also has a horrible time with redeveloping its destroyed neighborhoods. Investors don't want to come in because of the risk... real estate developers don't want to come in because they can't make any money, insurance would be too high, the crime is too high and the surrounding property values are too low. Then you have a school system that collapsed last year...losing its accreditation. The district is now being run by the State of Missouri. It's hard to lure new corporations, new businesses and new residents to your city when the school district has fallen apart. <BR/><BR/>There are not enough resources for Black youth (or for the citizens overall). Few community centers, or job training opportunities that are worthwile. Thousands of young black males, (and black females) with nothing to do but be fed a steady dose of BET, Poverty, and Rap culture. Of course this is leading them nowhere.<BR/><BR/>St. Louis has been in the same funk for a long time, but it is especially rough at the moment because there is this perfect storm of a lot of bad circumstances coming together at once.<BR/><BR/>On top of all that...there are rumors that the St. Louis Rams may be leaving the city....and the City's most prominent corporate headquarters may also be lost- Anheuser Busch - (the city has lost a string of big corporate headquarters over the past 10 years or so), including McDonald-Douglas, TWA, AG Edwards, Ralston Purina just to name a few (although some of these companies remain after being swallowed up by other companies).<BR/><BR/>It will be interesting to see if there will be any follow-up to this latest reconciliation & healing effort. I'm not a big fan of marches...but getting 20,000 Black folks together to do anything that doesn't have to do with a Festival, or a Barbeque, is indeed a triumph.Brian https://www.blogger.com/profile/07872444863142531165noreply@blogger.com