from NewsOne.com
Jennifer Hudson's Tragic Spotlight
by Stephany Rose
As a native of Chicago, my prayers and heart go out to Jennifer Hudson and her family. However, my sympathy and concerns are not reserved for the Hudson family alone. They stretch long and wide, covering the hundreds of victims and victims' families whose murders go unsolved and remain out of the national spotlight.
Amidst the details of America's DreamGirl Jennifer Hudson's tragedy, will the heinous incident turn a national eye upon a pandemic quite often ignored in urban centers across America?
When shots rang out in the vicinity of the 7000 S. block of Yale Ave, early Friday morning, residents nearby thought nothing of it; or if they did, chose to ignore them.
Such a response surprises few who live in or are aware of the temperament of Chicago's Englewood community. For many residents, violence in Englewood is to be expected. This sense of normalcy is one reason Hudson tried to persuade her mother to move. Her mother refused, wanting to remain close to family, friends and sense of being.
The Englewood community, once a thriving residential and business district only minutes from the Chicago Loop, today can provide a bastion of fodder for Hollywood financed gangster movies. Boarded and abandoned buildings line the avenues from 7000 to 5500 South, between the Dan Ryan Expressway and Western Avenue.
Drug transactions are as common, if not more, as grocery shopping. Additionally, the widespread collapsing of public schools and the demolition of public housing facilities have left redistributed gangs fighting for new and old territory.
Coined, "America's Midwest Bagdad," Englewood is a constant site of warfare. At one time it was racial aggression and systematic redlining inflicted upon African Americans who attempted to move into the predominately Irish Catholic community during the height of the Great Migration and then after World War II. Today, it is the site of black genetic annihilation couched within the phenomenon of the prison industrial complex, a breeding ground for behavior that leads to incarceration.
Read more @
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Stephany "Stiletto" Rose is a poet, performer, community organizer and author of Stilettoed Roses Bleed (Interstices, Inc. 2004). She is an Assistant Professor of English at Claflin University.
Jennifer Hudson's Tragic Spotlight
by Stephany Rose
As a native of Chicago, my prayers and heart go out to Jennifer Hudson and her family. However, my sympathy and concerns are not reserved for the Hudson family alone. They stretch long and wide, covering the hundreds of victims and victims' families whose murders go unsolved and remain out of the national spotlight.
Amidst the details of America's DreamGirl Jennifer Hudson's tragedy, will the heinous incident turn a national eye upon a pandemic quite often ignored in urban centers across America?
When shots rang out in the vicinity of the 7000 S. block of Yale Ave, early Friday morning, residents nearby thought nothing of it; or if they did, chose to ignore them.
Such a response surprises few who live in or are aware of the temperament of Chicago's Englewood community. For many residents, violence in Englewood is to be expected. This sense of normalcy is one reason Hudson tried to persuade her mother to move. Her mother refused, wanting to remain close to family, friends and sense of being.
The Englewood community, once a thriving residential and business district only minutes from the Chicago Loop, today can provide a bastion of fodder for Hollywood financed gangster movies. Boarded and abandoned buildings line the avenues from 7000 to 5500 South, between the Dan Ryan Expressway and Western Avenue.
Drug transactions are as common, if not more, as grocery shopping. Additionally, the widespread collapsing of public schools and the demolition of public housing facilities have left redistributed gangs fighting for new and old territory.
Coined, "America's Midwest Bagdad," Englewood is a constant site of warfare. At one time it was racial aggression and systematic redlining inflicted upon African Americans who attempted to move into the predominately Irish Catholic community during the height of the Great Migration and then after World War II. Today, it is the site of black genetic annihilation couched within the phenomenon of the prison industrial complex, a breeding ground for behavior that leads to incarceration.
Read more @
***
Stephany "Stiletto" Rose is a poet, performer, community organizer and author of Stilettoed Roses Bleed (Interstices, Inc. 2004). She is an Assistant Professor of English at Claflin University.
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