Many blacks try to get out of black neighborhoods when they are economically able to do so. There are a log of places in Chicago, and here in LA, where if you are not black you would be well advised to not go. Blacks who live there are often victimized by their neighbors as well, but non blacks are nothing but a target. Hyde Park, surrounded on three sides by some of the worst black ghettos in the United States, and on one side by water, is a tiny, one square mile oasis in a vast area of crime, dilapidation, and degeneracy. It was fairly safe when I was growing up, years ago, but this is no longer the case.
The U of C has a real problem. They have sought to improve safety by creating buffer zones, purchasing property south of the Midway for example, but it has come to naught. I think the slide began when they built the McDonald’s on 53rd street. This brought in the blacks, and they have pretty much taken over 53rd street, as far as I could tell the last time I was there, making for a very frightening scene, especially at night.
What happened to my senior friend, a brutal and unwarranted beating that put her near death, was an unheard of phenomena when I was growing up there. Nobody I knew or heard of had so much as been purse snatched or strongarmed. Now it seems that the safety of the neighborhood has gone down. This happened right in her own doorway, on a quiet street, Kenwood just off of 55th street.
So, when Blacks stop viciously beating frail elderly women for less than $20, and threatening them to carry more money for the “next time”, maybe I will concede that black neighborhoods are good.
