Sunday, March 17, 2019

The white problem

Image result for ebony magazine cover: "the white problem"
Ebony

I grew up in Corte Madera, Marin County, in the 1940s and 1950s. 

One of my vivid memories as an adolescent was an Ebony magazine in the school library with a cover like the one above when I was at Tamalpais High School, probably in 1956. 

That memory stuck with me, prompting the question: What is the race issue in the country all about?

Tam High had all the black kids in Marin, since one also noticed that all the black people in Marin County lived in Marin City. I never heard anyone discuss or even acknowledge the reality of this race-based housing discrimination in Marin. (My parents weren't racists---I never heard the word "nigger" in our house growing up---or race ever discussed, for that matter, which, yes, is a more common manifestation of racism.) 

But the answer to the question above soon became apparent to me as a young man in San Francisco: The country's race problem was because of white racism and nothing else.

Obviously, that's still true today in the Age of Trump.

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4 Comments:

At 11:40 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Lived in SF most all my life and i firmly believe that Marin residents talk a good game but they would never admit to the fact that they are just fine with keeping all the black people in Marin city. Total BS. Why not build some subsidized housing in Kent Woodlands? Larkspur?

 
At 2:17 PM, Blogger Rob Anderson said...

Okay. What about some subsidized housing in Pacific Heights, Laurel Heights, Nob Hill, Noe Valley, the Marina, etc. here in the City That Knows How?

 
At 7:30 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yes Rob I wrote that comment and acknowledge it is so in all areas. I agree build in upscale places in SF as well. I live in D6 and we seem to be where every navigation center, SRO, rehab clinic, and shelter are located ....mainly because other districts do not want them. I say every district should take a fair share since there are low income people needing housing in about every neighborhood of the city.

But back to Marin..my friends there are uber liberal, i get it...but honestly they would freak if moderate income housing was built on their block. They would come up with plenty of environmental impact type reasons why they don't want the development.

 
At 12:02 PM, Blogger Rob Anderson said...

Yes, and here in SF we don't see homeless people camping out in Pacific Heights or St. Francis Woods because City Hall would respond immediately with cops to get rid of them.

 

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