Something that disturbed me greatly tonight

[keg in kc]

My fiance and I were driving around tonight looking at potential homes to buy, as we've (or actually, more accurately, she's) just been approved for a mortgage. Some of the homes were in KC, and since neither of us are that familiar with the actual city itself, we weren't too successful at finding where we needed to be. Eventually, we found ourselves on Prospect Avenue. It was not a part of Kansas City I'd ever really seen before, and she had not either. We had both heard rumors, but nothing prepared us for what was really there. It was ugly and I literally felt an air of anger and a sense of violence in the air. There were spray painted messages (stenciled, by the way, and not grafitti) with things like "die pigs" and "black power" periodically. Seriously, I'm not kidding. There were a number of people "congregating" on the street corners, and the entire area looked run-down and delapidated. For lack of a better word, we'd stumbled across KC's ghetto.

Now, just to clarify some things about myself and my fiance, I am, as you may or may not know, a white male, 27 years of age from a small town in West Virginia. My fiance, Tracy, is a black female, 24, from the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. We were both greatly disturbed by what we saw, and were extremely uncomfortable. The question we both asked was "why the hell is there a place like this here?"

That's the question that keeps reverberating through my mind tonight. Why? Why in this country with weath and supposed goodness are there Prospect Avenues? What is it that makes this happen and what can we do to fix it?

Now I'm not naive, I've seen a good bit of the world and I've frequented cities across the country, from NYC to Boston to DC to Miami to LA and San Francisco, and there are places like this in every one. Again, why?

And why do we just accept it?

I'm not talking about welfare, here, and I'm not talking about social services. I'm no so-called liberal that people say wants to throw around hard-earned tax dollars, but my god, something has to be done. Why do these places exist?

I guess I don't have much else to say. I wanted to get this out why I still [i]felt[/i] it and I don't want to cheapen it by making some grand, evangelical diatribe about loving your fellow man, and I don't want to sit down and write some long drawn out treatice. This pissed me off tonight and that's my raw feelings on it. It's wrong that a beautiful city like Kansas City has to have a deep, dark hidden place. Somehow we've got to do better. I just don't know how.

[CASHMAN]

KEG- i once and i repeat once took a wrong turn there in ol prospect and never will again. its the hood of KC like you said every town has one and there are alot of wrongs in the world but we cant fix them over night?? i beat they say the same about OP ks?? diffrent strokes for diffrent folks......

[Ugly Duck]

Hey Keg.....Its not the place - its the state of mind of the folks who hang there. We are having a revelation out west here in the wine country, and we are as shocked as you are. I live in the cow town of Petaluma in Sonoma county. This place is gorgeous, just over the hill from the beach. Yeah, we have Cisco and other hitek stuff happening here, but we're still just a cow town. World famous Holstein dairy cows and acres of vineyards that produce fine wines. But lately we've been lifting our cowboy hats to scratch our heads in wonderment as we puzzle over the new phenomenon of GRAFITTI! Grafitti in Petaluma...what the??

Latino gang insignia, mostly. We set up a task force to erase it as they put it up. Good folks, mostly retired guys and a few of us workin dudes. My jaw dropped when some punk came up and told me I could be killed for erasing grafitti. Then my Border Collie wagged her tail and tried to lick his hand. Its happening everywhere, dude. Even in Petaluma, CA.

[Chiefs Pantalones]

Kyle,

Ditto what these guys said, its all around us, and on a better note, Congratulations!!!!!!

CG

Good luck to you and your fiance!

[keg in kc]

Yeah, I understand and know what you're all saying, but there's just something I can't get across well. I'll try a little more.

The thing here in KC about Prospect is that everyone knows it's there but nobody wants to acknowledge it. Almost an attitude of "if I ignore it then it's not really there". Prospect is like the little brother you hide from your friends because he embarasses you. Not many people talk about it and I think people need to look the problem straight in the eye.

I don't think it's a matter of location, but I don't think it's entirely a matter of the state of mind, either, although that certainly is part of the issue. You can't convince me that Prospect is full of "lazy blacks and crackheads" (someone once told me this...) who want to live off welfare and don't care that their area is falling all to shit. I don't believe that for a second. The question I ask is why are there so few businesses there? Why are there so many run-down homes?

And, I guess the big question looming over all of this, be it racist or not, is why is there bascially still segregation in 2001? Is it self imposed? Is it something else?

This bothers me. And it's not because I want to save anyone, I just want to understand why the world is like this.

[Chiefs Pantalones]

Kyle,

Just try not to think about it, thinking is bad thing (sometimes) you know what I mean. You and your fiance are about to get married!!!!!! Look for a house and forget about Prospect! This is a messed world we live in, and don't get sucked in to the negativity that you saw today.

CG

Good luck to you!

[Lbedrock1]

HERE IS MY HONEST OPINION TO WHY WE HAVE PLACES LIKE THE ONE YOU HAVE SEEN IN MOST MAJOR CITIES. AS I HAVE TRAVELED AWAY FROM KC AND HAVE MET MANY PEOPLE, MOST OF THEM GOOD PEOPLE, I HAVE LEARNED THAT MOST PEOPLE WHITE AND BLACK THINK THAT GREED IS GOOD. THE ONES THAT DON'T HAVE THINK IT IS GOOD BECAUSE THEY WANT IT AND BELIEVE IF THEY HAVE MOST OF IT THEY WILL HAVE THE POWER THAT GOES ALONG WITH HAVING IT. THE ONES THAT HAVE BELIEVE THAT IT HELPS TO KEEP THINGS GOING OR MOTIVATES PEOPLE. GREED HAS STOPPED OUR COUNTRY FROM PROSPERING TO ITS FULLEST POTENTIAL. I BELIEVE THAT GREED AND HATRED ARE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR MOST OF OUR PROBLEMS IN AMERICA. HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH? NO ONE CAN ANSWER THAT QUESTION BECAUSE MOST PEOPLE THINK ENOUNGH IS WHEN THEY HAVE IT ALL. EXAMPLE: LETS ASK WHY THE RICHEST PEOPLE IN AMERICA NEED A TAX CUT? BECAUSE THEY PAY TAXES ALSO? WELL THEY DON'T NEED IT THAY WANT IT BECAUSE OF GREED AND DON'T FEEL IT IS FAIR TO GIVE TAX RELIEF TO JUST THOSE THAT ARE REALLY IN NEED OF IT. NOW YOU MAY SAY THATS NOT FAIR IF JUST SOME GET IT AND I WILL TELL YOU THAT IT IS NOT FAIR THAT THE TAX CODES ARE WRITTEN FOR THOSE THAT ARE RICH. WHAT MIDDLE CLASS TO LOWER CLASS PERSON YOU KNOW THAT CAN BUY A MERCERDES JUST FOR A WRITE OFF AT THE END OF THE YEAR? DONATE 100,000 DOLLARS JUST FOR A TAX BREAK? WHY DO WE ALLOW RICH PEOPLE TO WRITE ALL THE RULES? WHO DO YOU THINK THAT THEIR RULES WILL FAVOR? THERE IS NO BALANCE. WE NEED HARD WORKING AMERICANS TO HAVE MORE OF A SAY THEN JUST RICH CONGRESSMEN AND PACS. THEY WILL NEVER FEEL WHAT YOU FELT BECAUSE THEY WILL NOT GO THERE THEY ARE TO BUSY TRYING TO FIGURE OUT HOW THEY CAN GET MORE.

[Oxford]

There are some people who think that they have no way out, or are not capable of better, or feel comfortable in where they are or who they are, or hate anyone with a different skin color, or for that matter political point of view. My point is this, there are no victims only volunteers. Yes it may be extremely difficult to get out of each cities "Prospect", it may take huge sacrifices of time and energy, it may take a reordering of your thought away from the pack mentality but it can be done. You may not be sucessful, but your example will help others be successful. At that point, the "Prospects" will disappear. I know, some of you will say that there is a conspiracy to keep these people in poverty. Yes there are "race-baiters" of ALL colors, but an organized conspiracy is just "Barbra Streisand" or BS. Goodnight, and have a pleasant tomorrow.

[oleman47]

Kyle

Your're in for it now. Compassion is doing away with the death tax and has little to do with social engineering. Why is the business lunch a tax deduction?

[Chiefsloyalist]

Bravo, Oxford! You cut to the essence of the problem with one sentence: "There are no victims, only volunteers."

Kyle, you know your football, but you are a babe in the things of the world. As long as you believe that it is the responsibility of *everyone* to solve the self-created problems of the few, we will *all* be the poorer for it.

I have seen poverty all over the world. Poverty will always be with us. Poverty is not the problem. What you saw on Prospect is the result of hate and ignorance...and that is the hate and ignorance of those who exist there, not elsewhere.

[bishop_74]

I hope this doesn't sound wrong or prejudice, but there are a few americans out there that feel that we owe them something. They were raised to believe that thier forefathers were oppressed, and now our government OWES them everything. Unfortunately, I think this is really an excuse to not have to work. However, this mentality thrives in these areas, and the condition of the area is a direct relation. Remember, anyone can be anything they want to be in America. It might take more work for some of these folks because we obviously have some advantages, but they have EVERY opportunuty to take advantage of a better life if they would just put fourth the effort. THey are obviously very comfortable in this kind of anarchistic environment, i.e. "Die Pigs!" So, as a society, what do you do? Everyone has thier right to live this way. I just don't care to invest MY money in revamping a neighborhood that has no intention of bettering itself, but just wants to freeload. I would rather thier be a program in which they have to participate actively in order to get my money. Thats my opinion.

[Brock]

When there is no family unit, there can be no neighborhood unit, despite what Hilary Clinton says.

[Luzap]

keg,

You ask a good question and ask for a straight (non-PC) answer, so I will attempt to give you one.

This country is basically made up of good people. When the civil rights movement gained steam in the 60s many people embraced it. They realized that there were racial (white/black) inequities in our society and were willing to change them.

Martin Luther King Jr. preached that all people should have access to American culture and society. From his writings and his speeches, he believed in what we used to call the ‘Melting Pot’ of America. His movement however, (postmortem) went a different direction.

The movement’s leadership chose to focus on diversity rather than assimilation. Rather than ‘melting in’ to our society and following the traditional rules for success (education, good speech, good appearance, etc,), the rest of America was told that we didn’t understand the black man and that what had worked for every other minority in the history of our country wouldn’t work for them. The liberal element in our country (sorry – just the facts) quickly picked up this drumbeat. In fairness, much of our youth were going through much of the same ‘anti-establishment’ phase themselves.

While much of our country soon got weary of anti-social behavior and went back to the proven ethics of success, King’s message was perverted by a number of black and liberal leaders. Instead of inspiring black individuals to achieve the American Dream, it told them that they were barred from it. Instead of teaching that individual will and determination were the most important factors in getting ahead, they were told that they couldn’t do it on their own; that society was against them and that only by isolating themselves further (voting en masse, elect someone just because they’re black, etc.) could they even survive.

Many black leaders dropped out of the movement (Ken Hamblin for example) because they realized that the oppressors of their people had become themselves. Today, the biggest enemies of minority equality are many of the very people that claim to fight for it. Jesse Jackson, Louis Farakan, and even Malcom X come to mind. Anyone that glorifies ‘the hood’ or romanticizes behavior that is anti-success is contributing to the problem, not helping to solve it. Their intentions may or may not be good (power does corrupt ~ and they know where their bread is buttered), but the results are a social section of our society that rejects the principles of prosperity and condemns themselves to poverty and ignorance.

So to answer your question, much of Prospect Ave. is inhabited by people who’s parents and grandparents bought in to this message. People who have heard nothing different for their entire lives.

The solution is much harder than understanding the problem, but I believe it will have to start with people like Ward Connelly, Ken Hamblin, Clarence Thomas, Colin Powell, J.C. Watts, Candola Rice, and many other blacks that are standing up and saying that traditional success ethics DO work. It is up to the rest of us to defend them when the current ‘minority/liberal leadership’ tries to attack them.

Luz
The proof of what I’m saying is that this whole conversation is not pc…

[Brock]

It's not even a racial issue anymore. This is an issue of fractured families. There are plenty of so-called "white" neighborhoods that look as bad or worse than Prospect.

[Chiefsloyalist]

Luzap,

You are courageous to speak the truth, and you are correct that it is not PC to do so. Stand by, for you will probably be shouted down.