I was thinking a lot today about a reading I did for class last quarter, White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack by Peggy McIntosh, and I think I'm seeing a situation in which that white knapsack really cannot be "unpacked" without some serious changes in the entire makeup of society.
Out for coffee with Erica and Sarah, the VISTA/AmeriCorps volunteer at the 7th Ward, I realized what a frustrating and practically impossible situation Sarah find herself in terms of reaching out to the 7th ward community. She has been screamed at in meetings, called a tramp, told to go back where she came from, and generally mistrusted, in ways that are not only insulting and discouraging to her personally, but also are counterproductive to the entire campaign. Why? Because she, as a young, white female (through no fault of her own) manages to embody everything that is wrong with American society--whiteness as seen through the most negative, and yet shamefully accurate, lens possible. Whites are the gentrifying invaders, the fakers and the phonies who will take advantage of you, the arrogant outsiders who want to tell you what to do, the oppressors. And there is absolutely no way to deny any of these accusations, first of all because they are sometimes true. And second of all, because NHS in the 7th ward has not yet managed to build much trustworthy evidence to the contrary.
Of course Sarah herself has the best of intentions. She is not racist and she really is doing everything right from what I can tell. But what she represents is a problem that she cannot overcome alone, especially when the actions of others continue to reinforce the negative image she cannot help but represent. There was a meeting held by a developer who wanted to build yet another bar in the 7th Ward--Sarah attended this meeting having already heard a lot of community opposition to the bar, so she was expecting to hear more of the same. But then the first person to stand up and voice the opposition was a newer resident in the community--young, white, and gay. He stated that he did not want the bar because it was only going to bring more of those Second Line parades that always end in shootings.
You do not have to be psychic to accurately predict the outrage that followed his comment--community members who previously were wary of having yet another bar in the neighborhood (causing traffic congestion and bringing in outsiders who would not contribute anything to the residents) suddenly found themselves vehemently supporting it. Did they actually think it was best for the community? Probably not. But did they feel themselves dutifully bound to defend their culture and identities against the blatantly racist characterization of this ignorant outsider? Absolutely. In opposition to one man's ignorance, the bar came to represent everything that was important to the people of the 7th Ward... even though it wasn't.
These are the attitudes that the 7th Ward Neighborhood Center needs to address--attitudes based on centuries of oppression and mistrust. The Center has been there for a year and a half now, but still does not have the trust of the community. One way to do this might be to partner with local churches, the most obvious social organization already existing there. But can a white girl walk into a black church, introduce herself and say hey, how can we help you? The unfortunate answer is probably no. She would not face the same outrage Mr. Second Line Shootings did because she would not say something so ignorant, but I don't know how much people would trust her.
There are, of course, ways to address this. The 7th Ward has already gained enough trust from a handful of residents to at least have a working relationship with them, but the scale isn't big enough. I have only been here for a few weeks, so I do not know the entire story behind the problem of scale--I am not trying to be critical and really believe that NHS has beautiful intentions and is working very hard--but it looks like it's a struggle. Most problematic seems to be the fact that they do not yet have the same resources in the 7th Ward that the center in Freret is able to provide: a free computer lab open to all residents (although one is coming!), home buyer training classes, summer camp for local kids, free yoga classes. They have not yet reached out to the churches. And they have not yet begun building on the 20+ vacant lots NHS owns in the neighborhood. As a result, there are little visible, tangible, meaningful places for residents to look to see the product of NHS's work. For a few, the center provides some meaningful resources. But the sad truth is that for most, it is more of a mystery that doesn't really fit in.
There are, however, plenty of opportunities for growth on the horizon. The Circle Food Store campaign kick-off next month will hopefully bring together a variety of residents who may want to become involved in the future. The property campaign is beginning (I'm going to start drafting a mailing tomorrow!), which will hopefully result in the renovation of existing homes in the neighborhood, creating a tangible impact and also making the neighborhood more attractive to those who might buy the houses that NHS eventually hopes to build. Similarly, NHS might be getting money from the city to finance smaller home repair, having a quick and tangible impact. And there is even talk within DesignBuild about having a community meeting in the 7th Ward to get feedback on designs--if done correctly, this will hopefully avoid the problem they've run into in Central City where brand new and affordable homes have sat on the market for quite some time because nobody wants to buy into their modern geometric design, as well as show that NHS does value resident input.
So there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel for sure--yay!
No comments:
Post a Comment