Black History Month looks less hopeful along 47th Street

Chicago Sun-Times ^ | February 14, 2005 | LAURA WASHINGTON

[Chi-townChief]

This almost seems like an odd yearning for the segregated past. A lot of people just left East 47th and went where the money is.

[dfwgator]

Ain't it just like "The Man" to make Black History Month, the shortest month of the year?

[pissant]

Smart blacks got the hell out of the ghettos that liberalism created. Hence the boarded storefronts and drug dealing homies.

[Maceman]

This almost seems like an odd yearning for the segregated past.

To me it sounds like a yearning for black neighborhhods that are free from the self-serving political shenannigans of progressive, so-called "civil rights leaders" who sap black communities of resources, opportunities, freedom and incentives to work.

[Redbob]

I>"...scenes teeming with juicy-hipped women in slinky reda...

"Juicy-hipped"?

Yeccch!

[JLAGRAYFOX]

Democrats and Liberal Left-Wingers at work keeping Black folks pegged to the bottom of the economic and opportunity totem pole forever. Good news is that Black Americans are waking up to the fact they have been had big time by the Democrat "Slavery" Party. Blacks only need to ask themselves one simple question. How many high paying decent jobs has Bill Clinton brought to Harlem, New York. Answer, Zero. End of story!!!

[steve8714]

Needs. Spell-Check. Now.

[Anvilhead]

I can understand why. Having an enemy gives people a sense of purpose and unity.

Times, however, have changed. The people who fought in the civil rights era lost their enemy and become what they originally despised. (the Man)

It won't change until the genXers come into power in about 5-10 years.

If they lived through segregation then they have the wrong ideological baseline. People have changed and they have not.

The blacks that lived through that era are eager to re-fight the battles of their halcyon days of youth.
The whites that lived through the era are eager to capitulate to prove that they are not a party (or no longer a party) to any brand of corruptive evil.

Both are wrong and both won't give it up because, to them, it's home.

[olivia3boys]

Freepers--I need quick advice:

My son's first grade teacher (private Christian school, BTW, so no public school rants!) announced Fri she would start teaching "Black History Month" today. I called her and left a message telling her I had some concerns about it I'd like to discuss. She's going to call me back at 3 pm today.

My stomach turns at the thought of my 6-yr old being taught about segregation and slavery in a first grade curriculum that includes NO history.

Please help! How would you address your concerns to this teacher? Thanks.

[Old Professer]

When society finally turns a blind eye to the celebration of difference it will only be because they are too busy to notice.

[econ_grad]

I used to live in Hyde Park at the edge of 47th Street. It was a complete ghetto but things are changing slowly with gentrification. I think the areas east of Cottage Grove will be annexed by the university at some point, but west of Stoney will remain ghetto even in the long term. As you walk down 47th St, you will see the effects of socialism all around you. This article talks about the 47th St marketplace? Is it the one where the Hyde Park Co-op used to be? That aint glamorous at all, and furthermore the Co-op there shut down some time ago. Now it has a Citibank, which I hear is also planning to shut down. There is a J&J fish down the street where someone got shot my first year in college. But, it was the only place that was open late.

[econ_grad]

Ask her to teach about Booker T Washington.

[justshutupandtakeit]

47th Street is not in the pits because people left. The population density is likely greater than ever but 47th has been a disaster for decades because of the crime which is rampant.

[justshutupandtakeit]

There is nothing inherently wrong with teaching about black history especially if the close relationship between the achievement of freedom because of the Republican Party is stressed. And the FACT that slavery was protected by the DemocRAT party which fought against the Union in the Civil War (more accurately the RAT Rebellion), fought against the laws allowing Blacks equal rights, formed and peopled the KKK, etc. ALL those who opposed equal rights were democRATS.

All the great Black leaders were Republicans, the NAACP was formed by Republicans, the first Blacks in political power were Republicans.

People should be taught the TRUTH about Black History though it is not clear how much can be taught 1st graders.

If anyone knows about slave labor it would be teachers in private schools.

[cyborg]

Huh? How do they plan to teach six year olds black history?

[cyborg]

And most of all, they should know that Carter G. Woodson intended it become part of American history and not as a separate month. How odd.

[Pompah]

civil rights leaders Someone referred to this group as "Poverty Pimps". I don't remember who it was, but it fits.

[expatpat]

How many high paying decent jobs has Bill Clinton brought to Harlem, New York.

Oh, I'm sure there were one of two additional prostitutes/call-girls added to the neighborhood.