There Are No Children Here. A thought provoking
title to a gripping true story of a low income family living in the Henry
Horner Homes, part of Chicago’s Housing Authority. The Henry Horner homes were some of many “projects”
located in Chicago. It is widely known
that these public housing areas were extremely dilapidated and downright
dangerous to live and raise a family in.
If these living conditions weren’t bad enough, gang violence, drug
addiction, and poverty were also factored into the equation. Crime is high and chances of survival are
low.
In the novel, one of the main characters, Lafayette,
has issues with coping with the amount of death he is exposed to. One of his friends was shot and killed. At his funeral, Lafayette is feeling numbed
by all the problems he is forced to face while living at the projects. It is almost unimaginable to understand what
these children must be feeling as they are raised in such a hostile
environment. It makes us take a step
back to really think and appreciate everything that we have been offered in life. These individuals who are born and raised in
these types of environments are often plagued with mental disorders and issues,
such as Pharaoh, younger brother to Lafayette, and the other main character of
the novel. Pharaoh is troubled with a
debilitating stutter, despite his high level of intelligence. It has made me wonder how some of these
children, if they are able to make it out of the projects, would assimilate
back into society with little to no issues.
In a study conducted by Harvard’s Raj Chetty
and Nathaniel Hendren, “The Impacts of Neighborhoods on Intergenerational
Mobility: Childhood Exposure Effects and Country-Level Estimates”, they found that
children who are raised in better neighborhoods improves the child’s later life
profession and income. Adversely,
children who are raised in poor neighborhoods are less likely to have favorable
outcomes. The study also found that in
areas which house primarily African American populations have a less likely
chance of upward mobility. Some
questions that those who have not experienced living in projects might involve
asking “if the conditions are so poor for these people and families living in
the projects, then why don’t they just move?”
The article and study is located below:
Above: Map of Chicago showing the income levels and dominant racial groups of certain neighborhoods. Also included is where fatal police shooting have occurred.
There are many factors that can influence why
people cannot just move away to better areas.
People who live in these projects are most often poor or low income
families. In these project areas jobs are
extremely scarce. Many people turn to
gangs and drugs in order to make a living for themselves. In a video shown in a group presentation in
class, an African American individual, (and a resident of a project in Chicago),
states that he had seen his grandfather work his whole life, yet he had “nothing
to show for it except for a limp”. These
people who do have jobs often times have large families that they are trying to
provide for. When having to fight for
survival, an individual might do drastic things such as deal drugs and join a
gang.
The Robert Taylor Homes, a Chicago Housing Project during demolition.
The Chicago projects were eventually all torn
down and later built over with nicer looking housing facilities. Residents were forced to move out. Upon move out they received government housing
vouchers which entitled them to a new apartment or areas to live in. The problem is that these housing vouchers
are not widely accepted, especially not in nicer neighborhoods of the
city. The housing vouchers only relocated
the family or individual to another poor area which has been enduring the same,
if not, worse issues that the project underwent. This creates a vicious cycle for poor
families and individuals. Upward
mobility in areas such as projects is virtually non-existent. Below is a
time-lapse video of the demolition of a Chicago Project, Cabrini Green, above right is a picture of partially demolished Cabrini Green apartmentshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sy9HZBAzN58
Overall I think you did a good job with this. The subject you chose is something that people are aware of but don't understand the gravity of the situation that those people face everyday. It's simply because they haven't experienced it so it is easy to say just go get a job. Children was a good point to have made as they are influence from their surroundings, so when they see people selling drugs, gang violence, and live in poverty, they believe that that is a "normal" life. It is unfortunate as well that people were handed housing vouchers that renters didn't necessarily have to accept which forced them back into another poor area as you stated.
ReplyDeleteI think you could have expanded more on the effects children experience in these types of settings by adding some information from what was presented in class. I say this because the video showed how desensitized children are to things like death. Not a very big deal, but the video didn't feel like it added much to the blog where a short minute video briefly describing or adding new information that we didn't learn in class might have been a better fit. Great blog overall.