At one point Bethany tells the author that she worries he’s pigeonholed her, that she isn’t a victim, that she is more—far more—than just a struggling single Black mom. To his credit, he doesn’t walk away but instead reflects on how he may have failed her. After some consideration, he offers to let her write the epilogue to the book, and in those few sharply written pages we have a clear-eyed take on what has occurred in a place like Penn Hills coupled with a passionate plea for what could be.
“We want to build good lives for ourselves,” Bethany Smith writes. “We want to raise our children in safe environments. We want to have them in schools where they are being taught and governed by folks who have their best interest at heart. We want the same deal that the suburbs gave white families like Ben’s. This time, though, we want it to last.”
"I WANT WANT WANT WANT." This is African American discourse in its purest form. It's how they've been trained.
I'm far from convinced of the idea that white suburban townships just borrowed a lot of money they never paid back. Maybe their debt repayment plan hit a snag when the taxpayer base started moving out.
Black communities aren't safe for children because of all the gang violence, they aren't being taught in schools because when black kids even bother showing up they're nothing but a disruption, and when they become the government blacks are the most corrupt swindlers imaginable. You can hand blacks a fully automated sci-fi utopia with infinite energy and they'll somehow ruin it within a decade.
In South Africa we built them entire cities, highways, hospitals, schools, railroads etc. All we asked was that they stayed on their side and we’d stay on ours.
They broke and burned down all their shit in a decade and then cried oppression and demanded we hand ours over too. Now the whole country is gone to shit.
It’s gonna play out exactly the same in all the western nations that are importing these fuckers by the millions every year. It’s inevitable
MTG back in the 90's: "Let's ironically sneak in a joke about 'nigger time' by making the time wizard black and having him disappear for a thousand years!"
MTG in Current Year: "let's ban certain cards from all formats because the artwork is offensive!"
Lol that's a real card, he also managed to look like the 40 yr old migrant who claimed to be middle schooler, not the Idris Elba rip off in the planewalker portraits
I'm far from convinced of the idea that white suburban townships just borrowed a lot of money they never paid back
There has been an anti-suburbs reeeing among the city rats for at least 60 years. The latest is hue and cry is "unless we are all packed together like sardines the infrastructure is unsustainable!", or more insidious "since its cheaper per person to centralize everything the denser the population is, people who don't want to live like rats owe us money!".
I like the places that are laid out just like SimCity with only high-wealth commercial and industrial paying the bills for nice roads, with a high ratio of jobs to residents.
The whole concept of a suburb is because people needed to be close to cities, but diversity drove them from their city neighborhoods. A lot of people don't need to go to cities any more, and they are leaving the suburbs, which would relieve things a bit except for immigration.
And then, when white (and asian) people move back to the downtowns, they bring the magic soil with them, land values go up, and screams crying out "gentrification!" are heard.
That's what jumped out at me, too. Single mom, so not even building a safe and healthy household, wants the whole neighborhood to be better than what she is able and willing to provide herself.
This time, though we want it to last.
And she wants that perfect environment to be maintained indefinitely, without ever contributing.
"I WANT WANT WANT WANT." This is African American discourse in its purest form. It's how they've been trained.
I'm far from convinced of the idea that white suburban townships just borrowed a lot of money they never paid back. Maybe their debt repayment plan hit a snag when the taxpayer base started moving out.
Black communities aren't safe for children because of all the gang violence, they aren't being taught in schools because when black kids even bother showing up they're nothing but a disruption, and when they become the government blacks are the most corrupt swindlers imaginable. You can hand blacks a fully automated sci-fi utopia with infinite energy and they'll somehow ruin it within a decade.
We built them a power grid in their home countries and they drained the oil out of the transformers to fry food.
In South Africa we built them entire cities, highways, hospitals, schools, railroads etc. All we asked was that they stayed on their side and we’d stay on ours.
They broke and burned down all their shit in a decade and then cried oppression and demanded we hand ours over too. Now the whole country is gone to shit.
It’s gonna play out exactly the same in all the western nations that are importing these fuckers by the millions every year. It’s inevitable
Rhodesia produced more food than most states in the Midwest.
Zimbabwe is starving.
Disruptive black students?
No way.
MTG back in the 90's: "Let's ironically sneak in a joke about 'nigger time' by making the time wizard black and having him disappear for a thousand years!"
MTG in Current Year: "let's ban certain cards from all formats because the artwork is offensive!"
Lol that's a real card, he also managed to look like the 40 yr old migrant who claimed to be middle schooler, not the Idris Elba rip off in the planewalker portraits
Not uh, you ever hear of Wakanda?
There has been an anti-suburbs reeeing among the city rats for at least 60 years. The latest is hue and cry is "unless we are all packed together like sardines the infrastructure is unsustainable!", or more insidious "since its cheaper per person to centralize everything the denser the population is, people who don't want to live like rats owe us money!".
I like the places that are laid out just like SimCity with only high-wealth commercial and industrial paying the bills for nice roads, with a high ratio of jobs to residents.
The latest term is 15 minute cities.
From a city designer's point of view, it's easier to just lump everything in one place, and not every few miles like the suburbs require.
The whole concept of a suburb is because people needed to be close to cities, but diversity drove them from their city neighborhoods. A lot of people don't need to go to cities any more, and they are leaving the suburbs, which would relieve things a bit except for immigration.
And then, when white (and asian) people move back to the downtowns, they bring the magic soil with them, land values go up, and screams crying out "gentrification!" are heard.
It's okay to want these things. The fact is that their choices is what keeps them from being reality.
Rejecting "white man's education". Pretending gud boi dindu nuffin. Voting for people based on their skin color over their vision.
That "deal" with Ben they claim they can't get... it obviously required people being civilized and not being shitheads.
That's what jumped out at me, too. Single mom, so not even building a safe and healthy household, wants the whole neighborhood to be better than what she is able and willing to provide herself.
And she wants that perfect environment to be maintained indefinitely, without ever contributing.