The
Beautiful Ghetto surprised me. I was
not expecting to get that much from a book filled with pictures, without
specific context. I had heard of the
book and lived in Baltimore during the Freddie Gray Uprising, but also did not
know much of the context. Just as they
said in the introductory essays, I, despite living twenty minutes from where
the riots were, was just as removed from the action as most of the rest of the
country.
Some of
this separation was probably little to no family ties to the city. From my
parents, I inherited their natural distance from the city. It was only since living on my own over the
past few years that I have grown ever increasingly connected to my home city. In
reading this collection of essays and photos, one specific passage stood out for
me as a born-again Baltimorean.
My
Baltimore, is a short essay about Devin’s mother’s changing experience of
Baltimore throughout the years. I enjoyed the changing perspective of the
gloriously classy 70’s to the crack-troubled 80’s concluding with a strong
outlook for the 90’s. It is convenient
that the 90’s is where my limited experience begins to slightly fill in the mystery
left at the end of Allen-Kearney’s essay.
The first
decade sets up the scene for life in the Baltimore 70’s. Business is booming, people who are
struggling are able to get onto their feet quickly, and neighborhoods are safe.
Gail describes even people who are conventionally thought of as criminals and
thugs as being classy folks, working to better their lives. The drug dealers see their business as merely
a stepping stone towards a better life. In this decade, life was relaxed, and
police were friendly, neighborly.
The 80’s on
the other hand were drastically different. People began dying in the streets,
police became more unfriendly, and crack-cocaine became a city-wide epidemic.
All the while, help to those struggling in Baltimore’s neighborhoods was
eliminated. Overall city-life was on the
decline as those who were able fled to the county, and many of those who were
stuck turned to lives of crime and addiction.
It is almost as if in the year 1980, Baltimore’s essence was
forgotten. The result of this is Allen-Kearney
wondering in the early 90’s wondering what the future has in store for
Baltimore, and today, much of the Baltimore metro has forgotten the city as
well.
This is
where my ‘Baltimore story’ picks up. Born in the late 90’s in a Baltimore
suburb, born to people not from anywhere remotely near our city. Like much of my neighbors, we had forgotten
the struggles of our metropolis down the road and lived where many other people
had moved to from the city, unknowingly sentencing those who remained to hardships. All I knew about the city during this time
was that when my parents were moving to Baltimore, the mansions along Charles St.
and University Parkway were in the relatively cheap $300k price range. It was
not until high school that I began to learn more about where I had grown up;
Calvert Hall did its job and opened my eyes and heart to my city. Fast forward to today, living in the actual
city-proper, I have the opportunity to explore the city more and shape my own
experience in it. Still, admittedly, this is a small experience so far, but this
reading has reinvigorated my drive to continue exploring the city and getting
to know it as I arguably should have years ago.
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