Lani's Blog

Don't Mistake Changing Headlines for Changes

December 13 prompt "don't mistake changing


headlines for changes"


d.a. levy





"Low Income Integrated Housing - A Bold Step for our City" 





"Stupid bastards!" I muttered to myself as I crumpled the faded 1970's newspaper. Just more trash to throw away on moving day. I wasn't worried that my parents would hear me curse. My mom was on the phone trying find us a place to live and my dad renting a truck. The headline was six years old and it was as long as we had lived in the Projects. I don't remember the real name of the place. It was always the Projects.





Like most government programs, the Projects started out with high ideals. The execution was the problem. It was to be a place for moderate to low income families of all races. They could live together, get a better understanding of each other and racism would be overcome. As the upwardly mobile whites and blacks moved on, a new kind of tenant moved in. The drug dealers, the whores, and the gangs found the Projects a perfect setting. The Projects became the ghetto. I watched this happen as a child from ages six to eleven. I went from a lot of friends to a few friends to "I'm afraid to play outside Mom."





The reason we were there so long was my father had a serious illness at the time we moved in and was out work for months. It took years to recover physically and financially. What drove us out was racism. Our apartment was egged many times during the last weeks we live in the Projects. Then broken bottles appeared at our doorstep. My father feared for our safety and felt being homeless was better than staying. We stayed with family and friends for two weeks before my parents found a house we could afford.





As to headlines, they're just paper and hot air. Real change cannot be thrust upon the human heart. Politicians and newscasters would do well to remember that.