Something called the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, put their collective egg heads together and wrote a study about something they have no knowledge of: anything west of the Hudson River. Of course, not having knowledge has never stopped a haughty New Yorker from pronouncing themselves correct and the last word on everything. That is why the nation is cursed with the New York Times.
This study, “The End of the Segregated Century: Racial Separation in America’s neighborhoods, 1890-2010.", claims that Chicago is the numero uno most segregated big city in the US.
We know a thing or two here in Chicago that those New Yorkers don't. Namely, that "number one" only counts when it is our mostly hapless sports teams making the claim, or that we are number one in dead bodies voting early and often.
Nuthin' else counts. Not the population, not the height of the skyscrapers, not the deep dish pizza, nuthin'.
The thing we also know is that the study is right, and that's rare.
Most of us, deep in our hearts know why it is right.
The survey right because we have a political class and a advocate class that roils the waters of race constantly. Each group uses the charges of racism to their own advantage and, ultimately, to line their own pockets.
Number one in the Advocate class of race pimps is Jesse Jackson. He has been living off of Dr. Martin Luther King's wounds for nearly a half a century. He has managed to do that with no vow of poverty and with a never-ending stream of camera-butt-ins. Then there are the Jesse Wanna-be Jacksons doing their best to take the masters place, but they lack the ability and speed-to-camera that Jackson has sharpened over the last half century.
The new guy on the block in the political class is Mayor Rahm. He is the the grand wizard of the soldiers in the Alderman class and community organizer group, who will ultimately call the shots. Oh, he is concerned about Englewood and the crime there; also about the West side. He shows up with his enhanced body guards, usually after a killing, and blathers on about how something must be done, including more gun control. All heads nod. Jessee mumbles an "amen".
This is why Chicago is the most segregated big city in the union.
We have had one party, the party of the ass, in cahoots with the dumbo party, stirring the racial pot, mixing in a big dash of Jesse, and coming out with Same-Old-Stew.
Meanwhile, the people in Englewood, the scared shitless citizens who can't even walk out their doors without the fear of taking a slug, get more and more frustrated, and they have nowhere to go.
More gun control for them, says Mayor Rahm, dancing about. Jesse rhymes something. All is bright, all is well in the city.
And the cowering citizens go to bed dreaming of gun control -- wishing they had their own cannons to blast away the street chum and then maybe some of the idiots of the last fifty years that created this mess. (Which, by-the-way, is going nationwide, thanks to the well-schooled Chicago based president).
Those smart guys in New York. They don't know nunthin'. Most of the time.
Ummm, did you forget Luis Gutierrez?
Frank...actually I didn't forget Luis, but how many instigators of hate can you include? I didn't include Eddie Burke, either.
I was at a basketball game at the Boys and Girls Club in Milwaukee, this weekend. The cordial nature of the parents and kids completely disregarded skin color. Players of both colors were applauded and rooted for. It was something you just don't see very often in Chicago. Richard is correct. Milwaukee used to be very segregated and you still see the politics of race used by Democrats up there. However, it is nothing like Chicago.
This was such a poorly written rant that all I really got out of it is you like to use curse words and you don't like New York. Way to be.
EdDeline...I do love to use curse words, but I do love New York, so 50% to you. Try the lottery next.
Sometimes it seems like racial division is nothing more than media manufactured hysteria. This facade of division is orchestrated with knee jerk sensationalizing to create witch-hunts like what we saw at Duke University. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton figured this out long ago. President Obama thinks nothing of inciting class with sound bites gobbled up by the media. The real "division" is not between races or class, as they want you to believe. It is between the media and the rest of America.
2BUD....
A lot of the media are guilt racked for some reason, and when they get to the offices from their north shore (and mostly segregated) enclaves, they feel they must do their part for humanity by writing about it, instead of living it.
somewhat in fairness, I heard that Burke has an adopted black kid at home and he is the scorn of his neighborhood for doing such a thing.
Is he as greviously at fault as the others... in all fairness?
small...
A cynic would say about Eddie Burke that he is trying to make up for his actions during "Council Wars", when he was railing against Harold Washington, but I'm not totally that cynical. I am sure that there is love in his heart for his adopted child, but like most politicians and activists, they can somehow compartmentalize their various beliefs and actions.
Eddie Burke has played a role in adding to the divisive nature of Chicago. But he is one of many. There are so many, many more, that, no matter what they thought in their hearts, had to be political animals, where the ends justify the means.