Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Murder Factory
Kansas City is a great place to live, full of complex cross-currents that sustain and challenge those who live here. Our newspaper, the Kansas City Star, recently ran a three-part series called Murder Factory dissecting the most deadly zip code in town. Check it out and you'll understand why I can't resist setting my books here.
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1 comments:
Hi Joel -
The brutality is staggering! A friend of mine had some properties near 32nd and Agnes and the situation was much as described in the article. Although he was African American, he would often have me go with him and he would carry a .38 when collecting rent. He converted several properties to section 8 housing so the rent would come from the government, however their inspection process often required repairs or money was withheld. He ultimately sold the properties at a loss to avoid getting "lead poisoning" as he called it. -wink-
The one aspect of the Black Betty story that didn't fully ring true to me was Easy as a "father" of the two adopted kids. Based on Easy's upbringing, essentially without a father and mother and growing up streetwise would have left deep psychological and emotional wounds. I believe he would have what has been called "fatherhood" wounds in that he didn't have strong and healthy father role-models while growing up, so while he may love his kids very much, his skills at being a healthy father figure would likely be crippled. The fact his marriage fell though could also indicate unresolved relationship issues. So his happy interactions with Feather and Jesus weren't as believable given Easy's past.
I bring this up here because in the "murder factory" article there is indication of lack of strong healthy male role models in these neighborhoods. Boys are asked to become men without the proper tools and the behaviors and opportunities that are modeled lead to the consequences described. It is fascinating and surreal to me.
Thanks for sharing the article!
Dave
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