Blog Post
John Walker
October 12, 2015
University of Colorado
Blog
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Discussion Question #2
There were moments in the video when it suggest
living in Pruitt Igoe is like living in a prison. The structure and the way it was constructed
and the behavior and actions that went on their by the people. The place was like living in hell. There were not many jobs or opportunities for
the people there which lead to violent acts. People who was there wanted better
lives for themselves but the exterior things damaged the place. The resident
talked about how they were eager to get into a new improvement but it failed.
The project started off nice but when the government stopped funding them it
fell apart. It was sewage everywhere, no heat, dirty, and etc just like jail.
In jail you don’t have extras only the basic which is not enough to survive and
live comfortable. Blacks were not allowed to own property, so the number of people
renting decreased and the estimated money to be used for upkeep never arrived. Fathers
wasn’t allowed to be at the house if women was on welfare. So no support there. They controlled people
on welfare and treated them like prisoners.
Whited wanted to be segregated and didn’t want to live with blacks.
Public housing was used as a tool for segregation covertly. Fighting in the
community was a way to get respect just like in jail. In jail once you first go
in there you usually have to get into a fight to show people how tough you are
and get respect to gain some type of power. The police stopped responding to
emergency calls and let the blacks be on their own and the crime rate went
through the roof. Just like in jail police let you fight and hurt each other
until someone dies and then they come and add that to your punishment. Funding
was the major problem here behind
I agree with your main argument. The public housing projects were most definitely a way of segregating the "othered" from society into a region where they could be monitored by white populations primarily who constantly lived in fear. The community directly fueled violence and crime and many have suggested that it was done on purpose to stereotype the black as being criminals. It was a completely ignored part of society sadly. Funding was a major issue and that is what eventually brought it down to ruins.
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