Rep. James Clyburn Exposes GOP Pledge to America

Without apology, I will admit that this blog is political.

It is not political in the partisan sense, but rather down a policy line that just happens to demarcate liberals from conservatives.

In my heart I know that the Republican Tea Party of 2010 is a party led by bigots and racists who have the financial backing and media intelligence to marginalize and oppress minorities through coded hate.

This "code" is necessary so that certain people (a significant segment of white Christian folk) who would not otherwise be racists will at least be complicit in voting for policies throughout America that will, at the end of the day, have the following outcomes:

• gut the inner-city education budgets,
• strip cities of the funding to revitalize blighted neighborhoods,
• and favor the zero-sum thinking where all the good jobs would go to Americans that are already in a position of advantage.
• (updated: November 2010) There were 111 sitting or hopeful Tea Party / GOP candidates who pledged to abolish the Department of Education in the next congress, if they take power.

One politician that I follow in order to see what is being done for the folks who live along the MLK Blvds of America is Rep. James Clyburn, D-SC. This is from a press release that went out yesterday.

GOP "Pledge to America" is a "Plague on Americans"

Indexing for This Topic:

"Complicity"

"Zero-Sum Thinking"

Report Card: MLK Blvd, Pompano Beach, Florida

Pompano Beach

Broward County, Florida

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard

(formerly named: Hammondville Road and Third Street)

Zip Code: 33060

Overview:

MLK Blvd through Pompano Beach starts at Dixie Highway, which is the historical center of the city that divides east from west at the railway tracks. Heading west, it is a four-lane road with commercial zoning fronting the road. To the south is the commercial core of Pompano Beach, and immediately behind the commercial zoning to the north is a viable but hurting residential neighborhood. The locals, including the Black locals, still refer to this section of MLK Blvd as Third Street.

After about a mile one drives under the I-95 freeway (no entrance to freeway) and enters the industrial corridor. This section of MLK Blvd is still referred to by the locals as Hammondville Road. On both sides of the freeway the area has a hard-core inner-city feel to it and I would not be anywhere near here after dark. From here (the 1100 block) to the end, the area to the north is pure industrial, with the exception of the Sunshine Health Center at 1711 MLK Blvd. This is a health center that caters to Medicaid and Medicare recipients and also offers dentistry. The area to the south is residential, and a sheriff’s substation is located on the corner of 18^th Avenue.

Once past Powerline Road (2100 block), you are in NIMBY land, where there are two strip joints and three prisons within blocks of MLK Blvd.

MLK Blvd ends at NW 31 Avenue, where there is a Florida Turnpike entrance.

Length:

Approximately 3 miles

·000 Block (Dixie Highway) to 3100 Block West.

Category:

Residential Neighborhood (houses fronting MLK Blvd) = 0%

Commercial Corridor: Main Street = 0%

Commercial Corridor: Mom & Pop Shops = 20%

·Blighted and Ignored = 30%

·Blighted but Not Ignored = 30%

·Gentrification Failing = 0%

·Gentrification Succeeding = 10%

·Viable with Room to Improve = 20%

·Vibrant and Car Friendly = 10%

· Vibrant and Pedestrian Friendly = 0%

Industrial Corridor = 80%

·Blighted and Ignored = 50%

·Blighted but Not Ignored = 30%

· Gentrification Failing = 0%

·Gentrification Succeeding = 10%

·Viable with Room to Improve = 10%

· Vibrant and Car Friendly = 0%

·Vibrant and Pedestrian Friendly = 0%

Community Assets:

1) The E. Pat Larkins Community Center at 520 MLK Blvd. It is a brand new facility built in a relatively safe area. It seemed well staffed with a broad variety of programs for all age groups. (http://www.mypompanobeach.org)

2)Churches: Along the length of the boulevard there were three significantly large and well maintained churches, and perhaps a half-dozen small “store-front” churches.

3)National Chain Grocery or Department Stores: None were encountered.

4) Brand Name Franchised Restaurants: At the far western end, where the ramp to the turnpike is located and you are within a block of Coconut Creek, there is a Wendy's Restaurant.

5)Other National Franchises: None, not even an auto parts franchise.

NIMBY Items Encountered:

1)Three prison facilities (within 3 blocks)

2)Two strip clubs

3)Two major rail corridors

4)Three major overpasses (only two with access)

Indexing for This Topic:

"Report Cards"

Bishop Eddie Long and Homophobia in the Black Church

My husband is a news junkie and he posts some very interesting things on his Facebook wall. If you really like the kind of material on this blog, you should follow him as well.

In case you haven't been following my blog from the beginning, you should know that my husband is an African-American descendant of slaves. That means that his perspective on the news is still very different from mine, so the things that grab his attention are things I often would never otherwise read.

I am very nervous when I approach Black folk on MLK Blvd because the first obstacle I face is explaining to them the common ground that I share with them, which almost always mandates that I tell them about my own "othering" process. To do that effectively without lying I can't get around the fact that I am married to an African-American descendant of slaves.

This news story explains a great deal about why I am so apprehensive doing this. The article won't exactly be "news" to the Black community, but it should help to indicate the need...and the possibility...for change.

The picture is taken from a cell phone shot sent to one of the teens that Bishop Eddie Long traveled with, and who is one of his accusers.

Bishop Eddie Long News Story

Indexing for This Topic:

"Black Church"

"Most of those programs lost their funding."

I was trying to set up an interview with someone from the Fort Lauderdale Black community that had ended up in prison, and I was particularly interested in talking to somebody from the Sistrunk neighborhood.

I decided to call the Corrections Department of the Broward Sheriff's Office to find out how to set up a prison visit. The voice mail robot gave me an option to listen to a recording about the programs offered to inmates, so I took advantage of that.

The list was impressive:

• Anger Management
• Alcohol Abuse
• Substance Abuse
• STD's
• HIV/AIDS Programs
• GED
• Group Therapy
• Mental Health Counselling
• Relapse Prevention
• Work Release Programs

The list was provided so fast that I didn't get to write them all down, but I knew immediately that I wanted to talk to somebody about the group therapy, relapse prevention, and work release programs. I hit zero so that I could talk to a live person.

I was told by the lady who answered the phone that the recent budget cuts have necessitated the suspension of the majority of those programs. After two more phone calls I now know that I need to talk to a Dr. Ludwig at the Joseph V. Conte Facility at 1351 NW 27th Ave. in Pompano Beach.

I will be following up on this, but when 55% of the prison population in Florida is made up of African-American males, I have to ask myself how cutting funding for these programs is going to bring about drastically needed changes in the culture of Broward County's Black communities.

Are our prisons now little more than warehouses? You don't need to answer that. I'm currently reading Texas Tough by Robert Perkinson, and he makes it clear that this is exactly what some government officials want the prison system to be.

That needs to change.

PS. Three of Broward's prison facilities are within walking distance of MLK Blvd in Pompano Beach. The two photos in this NIMBY blog post seem to be a point of convergence for the three.

One prison is a block or two north, another is a block or two to the southeast, and the Joseph. V. Conte Facility is 1/2 block away to the southwest.

Indexing for This Topic:

"Reparations"

"Just War Theory"

MLK Pompano Beach: On the "wrong" side of the tracks.

A visible railway presence in this day and age almost always means that you are either in an industrial park or in the inner city. It also could be both.

MLK Blvd in Pompano Beach falls in the category of "both," and it doesn't just have one major rail corridor, but two.

The easternmost tracks follow Dixie Highway, which also (coincidently?) marks the point where 3rd Street becomes MLK Blvd. This photo is taken while sitting on 3rd Street at the tracks, looking onto the beginning of MLK Blvd.

Behind me in this photo above is a fairly tidy neighborhood of single family and apartment homes. The volleyball court had a nice crowd of primarily white 20-somethings playing a game while their dogs watched from where they were tied to the chain link fence. I have good friends who live in a very upscale townhome just a few blocks away. In their minds, when I cross these tracks in front of me I will be on the "wrong side of the tracks."


View Larger Map

The above map shows Dr. Martin Luther King Blvd prominently, but a Mapquest map showed the road as Hammondville Road, which is a story for another blog post. The rail corridor in the above photo is out of sight to the right of the above map.

Next (below) is a photo of the other major rail corridor, which is on the west side of the I-95 freeway and runs along the Andrews Avenue industrial park (dead center in the map above). That is Andrews Avenue above us in this photo.While this is the Tri-Rail and Amtrak corridor, as well as a freight corridor, it does not mean that people who live here have good transit. There is a single bus (Route 60) that runs along MLK Blvd and it would take at least two connections to get to the Cypress Creek Tri-Rail Station. It is not too likely that anybody in this neighborhood will be taking Amtrak, so I won't concern you with how complicated it would be to get to the nearest Amtrak stop at Broward or Deerfield Beach.

Now, what you see out the window while riding in the Tri-Rail or Amtrak passenger cars from Northern Palm Beach County to the Miami Airport is the subject of an entirely different blog. Suffice it to say that a "white guy" riding on Tri-Rail fully understands what it means to be "in" the world, but not "of" the world. Most would focus on a book or the morning paper, diverting their eyes from a view that at times looks like a landscape from Calcutta.

Indexing for This Topic:

"Wrong Side of the Tracks"

Pompano Beach: NIMBY Goes to MLK Blvd.

NIMBY: "Not-In-My-Back-Yard"

If the rest of a community is opposed to something, and if that "something" is a business or institution that just about every community will support at the end of the day, then it will eventually end up in the least desirable part of the community by default.

These two photos of businesses that are located along MLK Blvd in Pompano Beach, Fla. say it all.

PS. In researching another post I discovered that there are three Broward Sheriff's Office prison facilities within blocks of these two corners of MLK Blvd in Pompano Beach.

Talk about NIMBY! But hey, if Hammondville Road was just renamed five years ago to MLK Blvd, you have to ask how smart it is to name the road that goes through this kind of an industrial park in honor of one of America's greatest heroes.

Indexing for This Topic:

"NIMBY Sent to MLK"

MLK Pompano Beach: Vacant Land

Vacant land in the inner city is not a good sign, and that is why I focus on it as part of my systematic review of an MLK Blvd.

In Pompano Beach, it is hard to tell what the vacant land is an indicator of, but here are just 12 of the pictures that I took on September 14, 2010. Trust me when I tell you that there were far more than just 12 vacant patches of land.

The photos are grouped in fours and you can click on a grouping to enlarge it. Also, if you see a building and think I made a mistake by including it as "vacant land," simply look behind or beside the building to see the vacant lot(s).

(More to read after the photos.)

More than anything else, vacant land represents to me the residual effects of "white flight," which is what gave rise to the pejorative use of the term "inner city" in the first place. Everybody who had the means fled to the suburbs to raise their children in a single-family detached home with a yard and a dog.

I will create a separate post as a reference for "white flight" later, but for now, if you have not read my post on "white privilege" and how it was perpetuated by "complicity," then take a moment to read up on that to better understand why an MLK Blvd would inherently have a lot of vacant lots along it.

For now, suffice it to say that apartment living and transit were originally NOT part of the plan for the suburbs. In other words, moving to the suburbs meant having a down payment for a house and a car. That is why the words "white flight" and not "country living" are more accurate.

Indexing for This Topic:

"Vacant Land"

"Urban Blight / White Flight / Inner-City"

"Just War Theory"