Neighborhood Blues

Even though my energies are focused on issues facing homeless children, youth and families, I am not blind to the plethora of issues related to homelessness and poverty.

Take for example the all too common neighborhood problem, especially, but not limited to, urban areas--rampant theft. When it becomes personal, well, it's harder to ignore....

The small houses in a few Atlanta neighborhoods provide a refreshing alternative from the mega-million mansions that seem to occupy almost the entire southern capital where some of my family lives. My 26-year-old niece, a hairstylist, is proud of her humble abode. Or she was, until about 2 weeks ago when, on a Sunday afternoon, her space was violated by bold daytime burglars.

They ripped off highly-marketable items: computer, jewelry, iPod, TV, etc. They also took her peace of mind. The good news, she wasn't home when it happened.

Her neighborhood consists of rows of well-kept houses of hard-working people, like my niece, who have their American Dream--a house, their own or rental, reasonably affordable, located close to stores and city life. But rampant graffiti boldly covers houses lining the nearby main drag. To me this means, in both urban and small town areas, gangs own the neighborhood.

People like Leigh are probably more qualified to sort out the multitude of urban decay causes and to propose broad solutions. Me, I look at the fact that a struggling, hard-working single person, in this case a woman, no longer feels safe in her own home. Unnerving, sleep-disturbing, fortress mentality kicks in, but everyone knows that if someone wants to do evil deeds bad enough they will.

Epidemiologist Richard Wilkinson and health researcher Kate Pickett have just written a book on the issue of disparities: The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better.

In Huffington Post's review of the book, Fuller and Schreff point out:

...Disconnection has an effect on the emotions. Just as being closely connected with others leads to authentic pride, so disconnection leads to shame and humiliation. The isolated person is apt to feel rejected, if not completely worthless, and live in a more or less permanent state of shame.

I wonder how much crime is tied to the shame related to the long-standing neglect of people and neighborhoods, even before this latest spate of "shenanigan-ism" on Wall Street. How many drug dealers were born of economic necessity and decaying home life? Have we lost neighborhoods like hers to thugs who need to stimulate their own economy? And rich folks who buy drugs are included in the "thug" reference. It's a huge industry.

What else contributes to this and other residential crime? And, most importantly, have any communities come up with solutions? If so, let's share!

Seems to me when tragedy hits close to home it really gets a person's attention. I hope my niece gets some good pointers on how to discourage invaders. With the ever-expanding Washington agenda it might be good if the next stimulus package would include guard dogs.

photos by the author