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Pinned
Up Rage
Fuels
Racial
Tension
Op-Ed By
Edward
Foxworth
III/Tell
Us
Detroit
DETROIT,
MI (Tell
Us Det)
- Over
the
police
radio,
the
dispatcher
shares
details
of a
recent
fight:
“Reports
of a
female
victim,
white,
approximately
25 years
of age,
says she
was
punch in
the face
and
beaten
by an
African
American
man,
approximately
6’2
tall.”
When
news
crews
arrived
on the
scene to
interview
this
victim,
Brianna
Owen,
repeats
the
report
of being
beaten
by a
black
male for
all to
see and
talk
about
around
the
dinner
table in
suburban
Detroit
and
across
the
country.
Days
later,
surveillance
cameras
outside
of the
party
store
reveal
how this
woman
was beat
up, but
by
another
Caucasian
woman
and not
an
African
American
at all.
“Why
would
she lie
like
that?”
says
Sam, the
owner of
Grand
House of
Liquor.
A more
important
question
to ask,
is why
did this
happen?
Answer:
While
the City
of
Detroit
attempts
to
rebound
from its
economic
woes,
there
are
still
major
social
concerns,
especially
in
underserved
and
mostly
populated
by
African
American
and
Latino
communities.
Touting
statistics
like a
43%
unemployment
rate,
50%
functionally
illiterate
rate
along
with
high
rates of
crime,
continued
problems
of real
learning
in urban
schools,
the
result
of
splintered
approaches
to
education
and an
over
focus on
compliance,
the
wealth
gap in
America
continues
to
expand,
with
Caucasian
Americans
enjoying
10 times
the net
worth of
African
Americans.
As
individuals
in
minority
populated
cities
like
Detroit,
Cleveland,
Chicago
and St.
Louis,
experience
astounding
high
school
dropout
rates
and low
household
incomes,
the war
on
poverty,
which
was
started
in 1964
by
President
Lyndon
B.
Johnson,
has not
produced
the kind
of
relief
that
individuals
and
institutions
need.
According
to a
recent
report,
today,
“there
are
nearly
49.7
million
Americans
grappling
with the
economic
and
social
hardships
of
living
below
the
poverty
line,
including
13.4
million
children.”
Unfortunately,
students
from
poverty
stricken
homes
don’t
often
see much
difference
in their
income
levels
as they
grow
into
adulthood.
When
crimes
happen,
particularly
in
minority
communities,
the
transgressions
can
often be
the
result
of
unaddressed
frustration,
a
feeling
of being
stuck
and
pinned
up rage.
It can
be said,
and many
do, that
the war
on
poverty,
the war
on drugs
and the
war on
blight
are
fights
that
America
is
losing.
“The
riots of
the
60’s,
across
the
country,
didn’t
start
themselves,”
says
Eric
Turner
of
Detroit.
There
was a
frustration
in the
black
community
that
received
little
attention
and it
only
took a
small
incident
to
ignite
civil
unrest.”
To this
point,
the real
opportunity
lies in
policy
that
requires
social
workers,
schools
and
community
based
organizations
alike,
especially
those
that
receive
federal
funding,
to
address
this
chain
reaction
and the
long
term
affects
of how
illiteracy,
joblessness,
and
homelessness
often
lead to
racial
tension
and
crime.
The end
result
should
be
focused
on
achieving
specific
social
and
targeted
economic
goals,
so that
the
condition
of
people
living
in
America
in 2064
will
look
much
better
than
they do
in years
1964 and
2014.
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