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Though cities like DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and my beloved Oakland have notable reputations for them, every major city has blighted neighborhoods. These brutally poor neighborhoods are usually populated predominantly by people of color and are notable in the number of boarded over windows and barred entryways. Drugs, violence, and theft? Rampant. Fried fast food is everywhere and almost every corner market sells liquor, yet, as there is a lack of large grocery stores, healthy dietary staples are expensive.
Liberal politicians constantly point to these neighborhoods as something to be fixed while conservative politicians want them uprooted and removed. Some of these neighborhoods do disappear, and some of them do improve, but there are always some that seem to only grow and shrink over time.
International Boulevard, which runs the length of East Oakland from Lake Merritt to San Leandro, passes through many of these neighborhoods. In the 80's and early nineties "East 14th Street" was synonymous with crime, violence, and gang warfare. The 1996 renaming to "International Boulevard" was meant to herald a new era of intercultural community, neighborhood improvements, and prosperity for the street's cornerstone businesses. This mostly failed.
International Boulevard still passes through one impoverished neighborhood after another. Attempts to throw money at it by and large haven't been enough and the conservative 'solution' of forcing the residents out for the sake of better consuming clientele is abhorrent. This matters little as I am not sure that only investing money ever could work, for these neighborhoods are depressed. Money merely temporarily bandages the deep wounds of the loss of industry in the 50's and the daily realities of a system stacked against people of color.
Passing through these neighborhoods I can't imagine that a McCain presidency could make them much worse; there isn't much he could take away. On the other hand, I believe that just the fact of having a non-white president would do wonders by providing some proof that better things are possible. And not just during his term, from now on telling the kids from these neighborhoods that they can be anything they want, even president, would finally read as more than an a well meant but empty promise.
This is the main reason that I voted for Obama. The enormous voter turn out already shows how much he means to people in Oakland, nothing else he is likely to accomplish as president will have as much direct affect on my home town as just his existantance. The shiny things he says about what he will do for health care are nice, but political promises count for little. The economy is screwed beyond simple fixing. Iraq? Another mess that will be haunting us for decades, no matter who is in charge. But damn, he got a statistically apathetic demographic motivated enough to spend hours of their day waiting in line to vote.
Liberal politicians constantly point to these neighborhoods as something to be fixed while conservative politicians want them uprooted and removed. Some of these neighborhoods do disappear, and some of them do improve, but there are always some that seem to only grow and shrink over time.
International Boulevard, which runs the length of East Oakland from Lake Merritt to San Leandro, passes through many of these neighborhoods. In the 80's and early nineties "East 14th Street" was synonymous with crime, violence, and gang warfare. The 1996 renaming to "International Boulevard" was meant to herald a new era of intercultural community, neighborhood improvements, and prosperity for the street's cornerstone businesses. This mostly failed.
International Boulevard still passes through one impoverished neighborhood after another. Attempts to throw money at it by and large haven't been enough and the conservative 'solution' of forcing the residents out for the sake of better consuming clientele is abhorrent. This matters little as I am not sure that only investing money ever could work, for these neighborhoods are depressed. Money merely temporarily bandages the deep wounds of the loss of industry in the 50's and the daily realities of a system stacked against people of color.
Passing through these neighborhoods I can't imagine that a McCain presidency could make them much worse; there isn't much he could take away. On the other hand, I believe that just the fact of having a non-white president would do wonders by providing some proof that better things are possible. And not just during his term, from now on telling the kids from these neighborhoods that they can be anything they want, even president, would finally read as more than an a well meant but empty promise.
This is the main reason that I voted for Obama. The enormous voter turn out already shows how much he means to people in Oakland, nothing else he is likely to accomplish as president will have as much direct affect on my home town as just his existantance. The shiny things he says about what he will do for health care are nice, but political promises count for little. The economy is screwed beyond simple fixing. Iraq? Another mess that will be haunting us for decades, no matter who is in charge. But damn, he got a statistically apathetic demographic motivated enough to spend hours of their day waiting in line to vote.
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