“Help me understand why in 2012 we are still facing issues with race in Rockford.” Mike Brown asks for clarity in his recent blog; I applaud his candor and desire to better understand his new community. I think this is a question that is not simple to answer, however, and has as more to do with opportunity, classism and education than it does race.
There are predominately more people of color living on the westside and visibly more whites living east. That in and of itself isn’t necessarily bad if that’s where people choose to live. What’s bad is that there are very few opportunities west of the river once you leave the downtown area. There are no grocery stores, no pharmacies, no banks, one gas station and a couple of little convenience stores. There are no jobs, limited public transportation, few sidewalks and run-down schools.
What’s bad is that low income families often can’t afford to live anywhere else and must settle for absentee landlords who take advantage of the Section 8 vouchers many of the residents use. Businesses west of the river are poised to take advantage of low income, low opportunity residents who have few choices in how they spend their money. How many check cashing stores or payday loan companies does one section of town need? Corner convenience stores can easily charge $5.00 a gallon for milk when I can buy the same thing at Woodman’s for $3.00. That they can command $5.00 and get it only reinforces the theory that there is a market for a west side grocery store.
Accountability is always an issue when a discussion takes place about people who receive public benefits. The bar must be raised for parents and children if we expect them to better their opportunities in life. It doesn’t matter what the skin color, if we’re going to help break the cycle of poverty and offer new experiences to low income families, we have to set goals and expectations. There must be consequences if those goals or expectations aren’t met. Human service providers have the perfect opportunity to help set those goals when they are doing case management with their clients – they should also be working with the client in setting consequences in case of no follow through. I’ve actually been criticized by some of my human service provider peers for having that opinion.
I’d like to point out here that low income parents aren’t the only ones who don’t always hold themselves and their children accountable. I see it on a daily basis with friends and children my kids go to school with. Heck, I’ve been guilty of it myself and so, probably, have you. This is a universal problem and not one experienced by just one ethnic or socioeconomic group.
Sometimes as a working parent it’s just easier to cave than to keep fighting about something that seems minor at the time but actually reinforces a pattern of accountability and responsibility. “No, you can’t play basketball until your homework is done.” 20 minutes of nagging and not doing homework later and you say, “Fine! Go play and do your homework after dinner.” The child isn’t learning that responsibility requires that you work before you play; they’re learning that if they continue to nag and refuse to do their work, the authority figure will give in and let them play first. Granted this is a minor example of accountability, but it’s often one of the first ones we give in to and not model responsibility and accountability. How does that continue to play out for a child who is never held accountable – what sort of an adult will he/she become?
Yes, there is a geographical racial divide; I’d challenge that there is a greater class divide. Why are we worrying and fighting the downtown Dollar Tree project and why aren’t we fighting for a grocery store to adjoin the development? Because many of us are thinking we wouldn’t use a Dollar Tree and can jump in our cars and drive to an east side Logli’s or Woodman’s.
If we’re looking at community and economic development and really taking into account the needs of all residents, then the City and Rockford Area Economic Development Council should place priority on this project to ensure that we don’t have tobacco or payday loan stores joining the Dollar Tree plan – they should be working to secure a grocer or pharmacy to join the development and build the capacity to support quality of life needs for downtown and west side residents.
I love the Rockford and northern Illinois community and I enjoy most of the people who live here. It’s easy to become insulated and not see the reality of many of our community’s residents and what they have to do to survive and provide for their families. Only by providing a better education for children and greater opportunities for parents, including employment, will we be able to begin bridging the perception of a divide, racial or otherwise.
Kris, thank you writing this post. One point of clarification – the Rockford Area Economic Development Council works towards retaining and attracting jobs to the reigon, and does not focus on retail developments.
Rockford is the most racist city I have ever lived in. I was part of the 2010 healthy community survey where you Kris and many other community leaders including the head of the NAACP, Mayor, Sherrif, were interviewed on what they thought the area’s problems were and how best to address them. The apathy displayed in some anwers by so called community leaders was sickening. In 2008 I was involved in a incident at work where I came to meet a Chicago attorney who alone has won millions of dollars as a result of lawsuits in Rockford. She said she has” never seen a place like this. I have made more than enouth to build a house here, and there is plenty of buisness here but I hate even coming here. I hate it here and I have never seen anywhere with such instututionalized racisim in both buisness and city government”. I finally moved away last year. I will send you a email why and I will send some of the letters I send describing what it has been like for me and other people of color here. The rr star has a duty and it is failing miserably to represent all the people. When I interviewed Linda Grist Cunningham for the study she told me she was “answerable to theree groups. The common people, the stockholders/ owners who need to make a profit, and the powerbrokers, like police and mayor. Your paper is becoming increasingly irrevelant because you only really answer to the first two. The people are not represented with your paper. Not many of the poor black people of Rockford
Lee – thank you so much for your comments. I agree that there is much racial tension in our community and I do remember being interviewed for that study and saying as much. I actually don’t work for the paper, I just write a blog on my own time.
I would encourage you to watch a video the YWCA just launched on this very topic – I’d like you to email me with your thoughts:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls-lml-oPiE&feature=youtu.be
While I would certainly agree that there need to be more stores and services of all kinds on Rockford’s west side, there are at least two grocery stores, a number of pharmacies, several gas stations, a variety of fast food sites, and many of the schools have actually been fixed up or rebuilt quite nicely. I have lived in west Rockford for more than 30 years and have shopped at what was the Logli, now Schnuck’s, on N. Rockton Ave. I still shop there on occasion, and use their pharmacy regularly, but prefer to go to Woodman’s for cost savings and variety of items. There has also been a Walmart, with grocery store, for a few years now, on W. Riverside. There were a couple of IGA’s in the past, which are now gone. I also agree with a previous commenter about the degree of racism in Rockford. It is one of the most racist communities I’ve lived in, and that’s including comparison with cities in Texas and Georgia, where I lived many years ago. I also agree that classism is a big problem here.
Cathy – You agree with Lee about Rockford being one of the most racist communities you’ve lived in. Given the work the YWCA is doing around eliminating racism in our community, I certainly have insight to your statement. Can you share with me why you feel this way?
Kris
I will try to answer your question, Kris, but in a limited time and space, it will be rather a brief, and rather superficial, summary.
I have lived in a primarily black neighborhood in west Rockford for more than 30 years, sent three children through the public schools, several of those years during the desgregation lawsuit, worked in agencies on the west side of Rockford serving low income, and those with mental health and other issues. Most importantly, I have kept my eyes, ears and brain engaged during these experiences, while trying to remain objective and analytical at the same time.
I agree with Alderman Venita Hervey and others who feel that social service programs, including public housing, recovery homes, and others have, historically, been concentrated in high minority areas, compounding poverty, crime and lack of opportunity, and creating an ambience that has negatively affected quality of life for most people in those areas.
The fact that school desegregation had to occur via a nasty and protracted lawsuit, speaks volumes. It wasn’t all that long ago, relatively speaking, and are schools truly desegragated now? I’m not sure, but I do know that there continue to be several problems with education and minorities here.
The fact that power brokers in Rockford have overwhelmingly been well-off white males, with the occasional well-off, well-placed white female, has set a tone and a pattern of opportunity or lack thereof, in this community.
The fact that there have been a number of attempts over the past 2-3 decades to pull people together to work on issues of racism and poverty, and that those who respond tend to be the usual suspects, with the efforts and initiatives dwindling away until the next crisis prompts the next attempt.
Housing and neighborhood circumstances that fall mainly along racial lines, and which have been allowed to exist for more than half a century, in my mind, border on the criminal, and are at least profoundly negligent.
And I think that what most leads me to feel that Rockford is, or at least has been over the years, more racist than other places I have lived (and, to be fair, I have lived most of my adult life in Rockford), is that the majority of people here seem to think they are not racist, and do not believe there is a problem with racism in the community. The people I lived and worked among in Columbus, Georgia,recognized and admitted their racism. They could not have denied it had they wanted to. It was apparent every day in the late 1960′s when I lived there. As the saying goes, “you can have your own opinions, but you can’t have your own facts”. Many people in Rockford seem, for whatever reasons, to have a hard time acknowledging and accepting facts, particularly regarding historical patterns of behavior and social constructs, and are more than happy to live by their own opinions.
These are my immediate answers to your question, Kris, but there are others. I have always been an observer of people, and have been in a great many diverse situations and settings in Rockford over the past three decades, and report what I have observed. I also have collected documents, newspaper articles, and other materials, that clearly demonstrate that most of these concerns have repeatedly been brought to the public’s awareness for more than two generations.
Cathy – thank you for your response. I’m going to print it off and give your observations some thought. I appreciate your taking the time to put your thoughts in writing.
Kris
I agree with Lee Bracy…as a hispanic in rockford, i do see the racism here in rockford. i have lived 25 years in califonia and when i moved to the midwest, the culture was a shocker…like Dr. Sheffield once said, “Rockford has made racism an art”. i plan on moving out of Rockford in the near future and never come back….
GOOD RIDDANCE TO ROCKFORD…IT SUCKS!!