Violence in Virginia

[IRISHJD98]

That was an interesting and well thought-out post to to me is an even more complex issue, and it seems the children are caught in the middle.
I have a question. While I was in boot camp I became friends with a black young man (I would say person of color of then I'd have to go into which color).
We both went into the same MOS training in Great Lakes. He said he live not for from there, but couldn't take me, because I was white and it was very dangerous.
The name of the place was Cabrini Green.

Have you heard of this place? He was telling me the school he went to was dangerous, and the teachers were always fearful.
In an environment like that what are teachers to do?

A friend of his picked him up an I talked them into taking me to look at their neighborhood. They told me I was crazy but they took me. I had to lay down in the back when we got close so no one could see me. This was in January 1979. The apartment complex looked caged and many windows frames had no glass....in January!

After MOS I took him to my house in Alaska but warned him they only fear out here were the grizzly bears.

I am familiar with Cabrini Green. Its was a housing project that sat on the southern edge of Lincoln Park and the western edge of what is aptly named the "Gold Coast" neighborhood. When the Cabrini-Green high rises were built, those neighborhoods had not fully developed and the specific site long been a high crime area going all they back to Chicago's original gangster days. Lincoln Park started "gentrifying" in the 80's (that what it's called around here when developers and yuppies start buying property in a poor neighborhood and developers build on every piece of property they can get their hands on). By 2000, Cabrini-Green was surrounded on all sides by wealthy development and due to location alone, the property became quite valuable. Those high rise projects - and similar ones throughout the city - had become havens for gang activity because gangs could easily secure the building from outside infiltration. That, and neglect to the property, made for some terrible living conditions for normal residents.

In the 1990's, Chicago's Housing Authority decided to tear down the high-rise projects throughout the city after a 9 year old elementary school girl was raped and killed in one of the Cabrini Green high rises. By 2011, the last of the Cabrini-Green high rises was torn down and the area is being redeveloped. You can currently rent a new one bedroom apartment there for about $2000/month. The redevelopment includes a plan for "mixed income" housing, which is intended to disperse the concentration of subsidized and low income housing.

Interesting you bring Cabrini-Green up. Most of the kids from Cabrini-Green went to high school at Lincoln Park High School, where my daughter attended, which developed into one of the state's best high schools. Cabrini-Green was being closed when she was in school, so there were a lot of Cabrini-Green history lessons being taught at the time.

Also while my daughter was there, Lincoln Park had a star on the girl's basketball from Cabrini-Green. There's a great story (here) about the girl's time at Cabrini-Green, what she saw and the obstacles she faced, and the effect it had on her ability to trust male authority figures in the school system. The trust issue is a problem I faced when running the school council. I initially thought it was because I was a white guy. Over time, I came to realize it was a general mistrust of authority figures.

As far as what scared teachers are supposed to do? I think CPS administration needs to figure that out. They get paid a lot more than the teachers do. IMO discipline issues are a tough battle when you have poor parental involvement and widespread distrust authority from not only students but also their parents (or guardians). Educational eggheads are divided on the issue of whether having an elementary school to middle school to high school system is better than a primary (k-8) school to high school system. I think many of K-8 schools in the gang infested areas would be well served if the older kids were moved to middle or jr. high schools. But it might just be kicking the can a bit too. I don't think rank and file teachers really have much say in what needs to be done.

Alaska - My Grandpa served in Alaska during WWII. He always wanted to move back.

 

[deadirishpoet]

I am familiar with Cabrini Green. Its was a housing project that sat on the southern edge of Lincoln Park and the western edge of what is aptly named the "Gold Coast" neighborhood. When the Cabrini-Green high rises were built, those neighborhoods had not fully developed and the specific site long been a high crime area going all they back to Chicago's original gangster days. Lincoln Park started "gentrifying" in the 80's (that what it's called around here when developers and yuppies start buying property in a poor neighborhood and developers build on every piece of property they can get their hands on). By 2000, Cabrini-Green was surrounded on all sides by wealthy development and due to location alone, the property became quite valuable. Those high rise projects - and similar ones throughout the city - had become havens for gang activity because gangs could easily secure the building from outside infiltration. That, and neglect to the property, made for some terrible living conditions for normal residents.

In the 1990's, Chicago's Housing Authority decided to tear down the high-rise projects throughout the city after a 9 year old elementary school girl was raped and killed in one of the Cabrini Green high rises. By 2011, the last of the Cabrini-Green high rises was torn down and the area is being redeveloped. You can currently rent a new one bedroom apartment there for about $2000/month. The redevelopment includes a plan for "mixed income" housing, which is intended to disperse the concentration of subsidized and low income housing.

Interesting you bring Cabrini-Green up. Most of the kids from Cabrini-Green went to high school at Lincoln Park High School, where my daughter attended, which developed into one of the state's best high schools. Cabrini-Green was being closed when she was in school, so there were a lot of Cabrini-Green history lessons being taught at the time.

Also while my daughter was there, Lincoln Park had a star on the girl's basketball from Cabrini-Green. There's a great story (here) about the girl's time at Cabrini-Green, what she saw and the obstacles she faced, and the effect it had on her ability to trust male authority figures in the school system. The trust issue is a problem I faced when running the school council. I initially thought it was because I was a white guy. Over time, I came to realize it was a general mistrust of authority figures.

As far as what scared teachers are supposed to do? I think CPS administration needs to figure that out. They get paid a lot more than the teachers do. IMO discipline issues are a tough battle when you have poor parental involvement and widespread distrust authority from not only students but also their parents (or guardians). Educational eggheads are divided on the issue of whether having an elementary school to middle school to high school system is better than a primary (k-8) school to high school system. I think many of K-8 schools in the gang infested areas would be well served if the older kids were moved to middle or jr. high schools. But it might just be kicking the can a bit too. I don't think rank and file teachers really have much say in what needs to be done.

Alaska - My Grandpa served in Alaska during WWII. He always wanted to move back.

Thank you for the response another well-read post.

Growing up in Alaska I guess made me a little naive to certain events in the lower continental US.

I grew up around all Races on an Air Force Base it never struck me as an odd thing or a hateful thing.

It didn't strike me until we move to North Jersey so we could visit my father's parents

I was told there was a lot of problems between the races there though I never experienced it because I went to school with people's of different rsces. I'm not sure it being a parochial school made a difference, but I don't remember race being a form of contention.

So when my friend asked me to lay down in the back seat you can imagine how odd that must have felt to me, but I listen to him because he said he didn't want to get his butt beat because of it.

In your opinion is this a state or a federal issue to fix this problem?
Can the union help or has it hurt (No offence echo)

On a sad side note my friend was killed in Beirut Lebanon during the bombing.
I tried for days to be the one to find him.
I never accomplish that mission though I know he made it home

 

[IRISHJD98]

Thank you for the response another well-read post.

Growing up in Alaska I guess made me a little naive to certain events in the lower continental US.

I grew up around all Races on an Air Force Base it never struck me as an odd thing or a hateful thing.

It didn't strike me until we move to North Jersey so we could visit my father's parents

I was told there was a lot of problems between the races there though I never experienced it because I went to school with people's of different rsces. I'm not sure it being a parochial school made a difference, but I don't remember race being a form of contention.

So when my friend asked me to lay down in the back seat you can imagine how odd that must have felt to me, but I listen to him because he said he didn't want to get his butt beat because of it.

In your opinion is this a state or a federal issue to fix this problem?
Can the union help or has it hurt (No offence echo)

On a sad side note my friend was killed in Beirut Lebanon during the bombing.
I tried for days to be the one to find him.
I never accomplish that mission though I know you made it home

I'm sure it felt weird being asked to hide. My son had a teammate we drove home from football practice for two seasons. He lived in the Austin neighborhood, which is one of the most violent neighborhoods in the city. (Gang members shot and killed two guys, on the steps of a church, on a Sunday, when when church was beginning a couple of weeks ago). The kid always had us drop him off a few blocks from his home. The first month we drove him home he barely said a word when he was in the car, and he never made eye contact with me. After he got to know me, he told me was worried about being seen getting out of a car with a couple of white guys because the only white guys driving around his neighborhood were police and he didn't want it to look like he was talking to cops. He also told me didn't know what kind of angle I was working. It was hard for him to believe that anyone would drive ten minutes out of their way without working some sort of an angle. He said he almost didn't get in the car the first time. Looking back I don't know why, but I was stunned. Its a huge city with tons to offer, but some of these young people have lived very isolated lives. He was an extreme example.

As far the state v. federal stuff and the teacher's union, that's the political stuff I try to avoid getting bogged down in. For the most part, education is a state and local issue. Sometimes I think there are equality and civil rights concerns that are more effectively addressed by the feds that can't be intimidated by local baggage. As far as the teacher's union, both the city and the teachers are very well represented and hold each other accountable.

I'm sorry about your friend. That had to be heart wrenching.

 

[deadirishpoet]

I'm sure it felt weird being asked to hide. My son had a teammate we drove home from football practice for two seasons. He lived in the Austin neighborhood, which is one of the most violent neighborhoods in the city. (Gang members shot and killed two guys, on the steps of a church, on a Sunday, when when church was beginning a couple of weeks ago). The kid always had us drop him off a few blocks from his home. The first month we drove him home he barely said a word w tohen he was in the car, and he never made eye contact with me. After he got to know me, he told me was worried about being seen getting out of a car with a couple of white guys because the only white guys driving around his neighborhood were police and he didn't want it to look like he was talking to cops. He also told me didn't know what kind of angle I was working. It was hard for him to believe that anyone would drive ten minutes out of their way without working some sort of an angle. He said he almost didn't get in the car the first time. Looking back I don't know why, but I was stunned. Its a huge city with tons to offer, but some of these young people have lived very isolated lives. He was an extreme example.

As far the state v. federal stuff and the teacher's union, that's the political stuff I try to avoid getting bogged down in. For the most part, education is a state and local issue. Sometimes I think there are equality and civil rights concerns that are more effectively addressed by the feds that can't be intimidated by local baggage. As far as the teacher's union, both the city and the teachers are very well represented and hold each other accountable.

I'm sorry about your friend. That had to be heart wrenching.

To think that opposition is true as well is a sad statement in this day and age.

I understand why any answer you would give to the problem would probably be inadequate for such a complex question./issue.
Chicago does have a lot to offer the food out there is amazing especially for me the Italian food.
My wife ,and I have been to Buddy Guys a bunch of times but it had been a while.
I keep a picture of my friend on our fireplace mantle, and named my first borned as after him.
To live such a short life in that environment , and then it ends seems unfair..

 

[IRISHJD98]

To think that opposition is true as well is a sad statement in this day and age.

I understand why any answer you would give to the problem would probably be inadequate for such a complex question./issue.

Chicago does have a lot to offer the food out there is amazing especially for me the Italian food.
My wife ,and I have been to Buddy Guys a bunch of times but it had been a while.
I keep a picture of my friend on our fireplace mantle, and named my first borned as after him.
To live such a short life in that environment , and then it ends seems unfair..

I have hope. There getting a lot of these gang members off the streets. Last summer the feds indicted almost 50 Latin Kings, which hurts their organization. They've hit some others hard too. Of course it leaves a power vacuum, so its one of those things that gets worse before it gets better.

I love the blues, one my favorite things about Chicago. Buddy Guys is a great place, but expensive. You find yourself in Chicago and want to venture out of downtown to see some blues, I can recommend some smaller (and quite safe) neighborhood clubs that have many of Chicago's other seasoned blues veterans. I'm lucky to have one of those and a great Italian joint a few blocks away.

And it does seem unfair that your friend's life was cut short after escaping Cabrini-Green. But you do him justice by remembering him.

 

[rgc7]

I have hope. There getting a lot of these gang members off the streets. Last summer the feds indicted almost 50 Latin Kings, which hurts their organization. They've hit some others hard too. Of course it leave a power vacuum, so its one of those things that gets worse before it gets better.

I love the blues, one my favorite things about Chicago. Buddy Guys is a great place, but expensive. You find yourself in Chicago and want to venture out of downtown to see some blues, I can recommend some smaller (and quite safe) neighborhood clubs that have many of Chicago's other seasoned blues veterans. I'm lucky to have one of those and a great Italian joint a few blocks away.

And it does seem unfair that your friend's life was cut short after escaping Cabrini-Green. But you do him justice by remembering him.

Just a question, is Cabrini Green named after Saint Mother Cabrini ?

 

[IRISHJD98]

Just a question, is Cabrini Green named after Saint Mother Cabrini ?

Yes. The name some from two sets of low income "row houses" that were created in the 1940's, one was the "Frances Cabrini Row Houses". It was an Italian immigrant neighborhood at the time. The other row houses were the "William Green Row Houses" were named after a national labor leader There were intended to be for homes for aging veterans and the working poor.

They left a handful of the Cabrini Row Houses standing after tearing down the rest of the Cabrini-Green.

 

[rgc7]

Yes. The name some from two sets of low income "row houses" that were created in the 1940's, one was the "Frances Cabrini Row Houses". It was an Italian immigrant neighborhood at the time. The other row houses were the "William Green Row Houses" were named after a national labor leader There were intended to be for homes for aging veterans and the working poor.

They left a handful of the Cabrini Row Houses standing after tearing down the rest of the Cabrini-Green.

Thank You Irish JD,
Mother Cabrini a very powerful Saint and one that I always pray to !

 

[justified1]

Any guy who wants to be a nazi is a friggen weirdo and a loser. Look at some of those chumps lol

Where do they come from? Are they born like other humans? They need to dissect one and examine the cranial tissue.