Wednesday, December 28, 2005

inner city blues, part one.

I work in an area called Pigtown. Washington Village is its technical name, located in Southwest Baltimore. I grew up about 5 minutes away from this place, on McCulloh Street. Westside. Every day I come to work, I have to walk past a generator with 4 stadium style lights attached to it. A Baltimore City Police sticker emblazoned on its side. Across the street, a camera hangs from a lighpost. Above it, a blue light flickers. Similar Baltimore City Police sticker surrounds it.
Everyone has a couple different personalities that reside inside of them. I have about 6 I think, but for today's purposes, I'll only discuss 2.

One is optimistic Mike. He likes to believe in the inherent goodness in people. In the system. In white people, government and the police. That somewhere, powerful people are tirelessly working to remedy the wrongs. All of them. He knows they care, but sometimes "the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry." But the intentions are noble, and as long as the intentions are noble, the actions are bound to conicide with them.

The other is pessimistic Mike. He likes to think of himself as the penultimate realist. Not negative, just realistic. He can't believe that people are at heart decent when they do such terrible things. White people have to be evil, because they enslaved another race of people. And to add insult to injury, established a system of oppression so detrimintal and inconspicous that they could retire the whips, chains, hoses, nooses, jim crow laws, miscegnation laws and granfather clauses and elect them to the hall of fame. We (black people) willing perpetuate our own distruction. The police are pigs and the streets are the sty where they do their dirt. Judges and other members of the justice system are the farmers that keep them fed and fat, sometimes sacrificing a couple when public opinion dicates it.

Optimistic Mike reads the newspaper and cheers when he reads about advances like Drug Courts. They are in existance to funnel non-violent drug offenders away from jail and into drug treatment programs. Treating addiction as a medical problem. Score one for the good guys trying to make a difference. Re-arrest rates for those in drug court down 50%. 700 people graduated from drug court since 1995 and only 11% have been convicted of new crimes. Optimistic Mike shows off that Tiger Woods fist pump. Hop on the 8, and head to work. Blue lights dots the horizon. Stadium lights illuminate the street corners. Pessimistic Mike doesn't have to say a word. A simple head shake speaks volumes.
(I told you so) is etched in his gaze.
700 people saved by the systems since '95. Those cameras will make up for the loss. 6 months tops. 72 months wipe out 11 years of sympathetic judges and remorseful defendants. How can trust the noble intentions of the justice system and their Drug Court when they assist in the placement of 178 electric eyes all over my fair city? 178 cameras= 2 million dollar Homeland Security grant+ 2.9 million dollars in confiscated drug money+ 20 million dollar grant from the U.S. Justice Department. All that cake. And how effective could they really be?

Take a trip with me, back to your childhood. Your in your room, mind set on no good. And right before you can commit the mischevious act, moms pops in. Thwarted, for now. But her presence didn't make you want to do dirt any less. Let's say, that your momma stayed there, and didn't leave. Once you got past the initial fear that moms was now a robot, you would go somewhere else where she couldn't see you. These lights and camera do not eliminate crime, just shuffle it into different areas where big brother isn't watching. (hood feng shui) And here is the essential problem with this type of surveilance (other than invasion of privacy): it's an all-or-nothing proposition. Put them up everywhere where a crime could be committed, or save your money. Watching crime instead of changing the situation that allows it to be one of a few viable options? To be continued.

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