Comments on: How far could YOU travel when you were a kid?

By: Temple3

Temple3 — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:35:44 +0000

Why do you assume that? It’s of tremendous relevance to most of the folks who post here – especially the host who is intimately familiar with all you’ve mentioned. I only lived in Michigan for four years and am familiar (more or less) with each of the items on your list. Your post is poignant – and you don’t need to sell low when you deliver such valuable insights.

By: Beamon

Beamon — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 14:37:07 +0000

Hmmmm. Perhaps it is of no relevence to many folks on this site but how many of you REALLY live or even LIVED in Detroit? We know more than 90% of the residents now are of African descent. What do you know about life here and in Highland Park during the last 40 years?
These winsome “gotta help our city” conversations based on some no longer extant notion of what makes a city ANYWHERE on the planet really burn my biscuit, as Lonnie Bates has been heard to say.
Detroit Synergy and let’s “save the ‘D’ types appear, for the most part, ignorant, of any serious appreciation of the social, political, economic, culture and spiritual trails of Detroit or of the nation.
Do any of the the following mean anything to you?
“Message to the Grassroots”
“The Ballot or the Bullet”
The Shrine of the Black Madonna
New Bethel Baptist Church
STRESS
The Nation of Islam Mosque, number 1
King Solomon Baptist Church
DRUM
The Inner City Subcenter
police corruption
African-Centered education
Algiers Motel
Black theatre movement
Conscious artists and intellectuals who never left or even those who had to.
What about the role of white supremacy in the fate of this city? What about the economic blockade established against the Black populace with a mayor (Young) who seemed alien and threatening to “outsiders?”
And from whence – do you think – comes the commonly held notion that “the white folks are taking the city/cities back?”
Hmmm New Orleans anybody?

By: Charles Follymacher

Charles Follymacher — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 21:59:33 +0000

As a pre-teen kid, the furthest I was allowed was the couple miles down the road to soccer practice. I walked it, there and back. Otherwise, my range was limited to as far as my parents’ eyes could see (they hadda be able to easily spot me from the window). So I was in the front yard a lot. I wasn’t always mindful of the lineosight rule, but as long as I was home in time for supper or sundown — whichever came first — I remained in good standing.

Relative to some of you, it might seem a little strict, but for much of those years, we were the only Black folk for miles (immigrants, to boot) so my parents exercised caution even tho I never really got into uncomfortable situations (well, there were a couple, but they were minor).

I live in a mixed neighborhood now. Tho I don’t have kids, I’d prolly keep the same rules my parents had for me unless I knew more of the parents and kids around me.

By: Crime crisis in Detroit; myth or mayhem? « The “D” Spot

Crime crisis in Detroit; myth or mayhem? « The “D” Spot — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 20:35:47 +0000

[...] The following transcript originated with an extremely interesting piece posted by my good friend Dr. Lester Spence on his blog site Blacksmythe. The article can – and should – be read here. [...]

By: Creating safe spaces in urban communities : Dr. Lester K. Spence

Creating safe spaces in urban communities : Dr. Lester K. Spence — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 18:07:27 +0000

[...] A number of people have answered my simple question. How far could you travel when you were a kid? [...]

By: Lester Spence

Lester Spence — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 15:31:44 +0000

Audacity. This is a good point. I asked the question what do we lose?. And it is this. Instead of The Audacity of Hope what we're talking about is The Hope of Audacity.

By: cnulan

cnulan — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 15:04:54 +0000

Then maybe there is sort of a justifying connection between the propaganda that makes you feel less safe

That combination along with other things makes it very difficult for us to let our children out of our sight.

Fear is the mindkiller…,

From where I sit, my chirrens world is going to require a baseline of novelty-seeking and personal initiative far in excess of what I was able to muster – and though I’ve slowed down a little bit – I’m by no means finished with my own adventures. The common and indispensable thread running throughout these is audacity.

When I reflect back on the Dickensian combination of adventure and privation that my father went through as a child – that he was willing to relate to me – and on the intentionally laissez-faire attitude he took toward my own license to self-govern – I realize how profoundly blessed I was to have him as a parent. Though far quieter than I’ve ever been, he was an astonishingly audacious man. He helped me in every possible way to become audacious.

As challenging as it may seem, can we afford to do any less for our own chirrens?

By: Lester Spence

Lester Spence — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 13:55:36 +0000

So offline, Keith Owens told me that members of Detroit’s police department have informed him that crime appears to be more random than it used to be.

And on one level I can see that. I’m not sure this will show up in the BOJ data, and like Bruce I’m not necessarily trying to dig into that thicket unless I’m writing a paper on it. But again how much more random?

If the odds of being a victim of a violent crime are 1 in 50,000….and all of a sudden something happens (increase in drug consumption, increase in unemployment, decrease in parks and rec funds, increase in hypersegregation, etc.) that makes this number ten times worse, what happens? Instead of 1 in 50,000, that number becomes 1 in 5,000.

which is STILL very very very small.

The increase in crime narratives, in dramatic television, in radio and music videos, and on the local news creates a climate of fear. The increase in surveillance technology (here I include cell phones though they weren’t designed for this particular purpose) increases our perceived ability to control and surveil our kids. The increased suburbanization of living–kids don’t play frozen tag outside anymore because all play has been privatized (ymca, nintendo and the like).

That combination along with other things makes it very difficult for us to let our children out of our sight.

By: Bruce Dixon

Bruce Dixon — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 00:02:22 +0000

I’m not about take the time to dig up the stats and references now, but you can wade through stats at the Bureau of Justice Statistics for a decade or three or four back, and when you do you will see that violent crime rates in the US have remained essentially level for about that long.

Of course the US is now locking up six or seven times as many people as it did back in the early 1970s. Are you seven times as safe? No? Then maybe there is sort of a justifying connection between the propaganda that makes you feel less safe and the dramatic increase of longer sentences, two and three strikes, no parole, no probations, the elevation of vengeance or “victim’s rights” as a consideration in criminal prosecution. Maybe.

I’m like you. Growing up in Chicago I went pretty much where I wanted as long as I got back home by dark, and as a teen, stayed out later than that, and traveled from my south side neighborhood as far as I could walk or wherever the buses and trains ran. While there were cheap trains to Milwaukee and Gary and I or friends had the cash, we went there, and didn’t tell the folks that either.

My own kids grew up in the 70s and 80s and 90s, and by the time they were teens they ranged pretty far too. So they’ve told me — after being safely grown.

By: cnulan

cnulan — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 08:15:33 +0000

I grew up in Wichita and could basically go wherever I could get to under my own power or by bus. So I’d go downtown to the library or ride my bike way out on a creek etc…, no limits.

KC is a much bigger city than Wichita. My kids are allowed to do as I did when I was a kid. My 13 year old has a cell and goes pretty much where she pleases. My 7 year old ventures out about a mile at the most with one of his little cronies.

Be back before dark is rather strictly enforced, and we (I) constantly reinforce that old Hansel and Gretel shyte to let them know that things haven’t changed that much over the passage of time. There are monsters in the world and they look jes like everybody else – so watch each others backs and handle your business.