Recent Comments
Re: “Westvleteren XII: The greatest beer in the world?”
"Like music, it's supposed to be one of life's pleasures—to argue about it would be to supremely miss the point."
Oh, I don't know--arguing about alcohol can be intoxicating.
Re: “Parodies lost: why satire must be banned from the Internet”
Indigestion.
Re: “This is your brain on coffee”
Yours hardly need embiggening.
Re: “Another price of segregation: not just homicide, but countless walking wounded”
You don't think he's smart enough to tell the difference?
Re: “Our segregation footprint”
Fascinating stuff, Tom--well worth the visit. The census data Tom's looked at indicates Chicago is getting more integrated "albeit painfully slowly."
Re: “"Why are whites afraid of blacks?"”
Any historical story requires "time-traveling skills," Welshman. I'm sure you're up to it. What happened to Geneva and her family and others in 1957 isn't ancient history. There were dozens of kids there that afternoon--people now in their 50s and early 60s, for some of whom the attack molded attitudes about white people that live into the present.
As for finding "what all of us know"--that poverty's the problem--I used to think that too. But I've come to believe that poverty and segregation are not interchangeable words. Poverty's far more persistent for people who live with poverty all around them. For how many poor white people is that true? Because of segregation, it's the norm for poor African-Americans.
As for the story you say I haven't bothered writing about--how do you know I haven't?
http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/race-…
Re: “Endangering the lives of children: the ceaseless train of tragedy in segregated neighborhoods”
I did, Jaques. I wrote about Delenna's and Derrick's father, Derrick Hall, who was living with Laverne and the kids. He was 22 then and grilling burgers at a Wendy's for minimum wage. That's where he was when the fire broke out. About a year-and-a-half after Laverne died, Derrick was shot to death by a young man who wanted his Bears jacket.