Apparently blockbusting, segregated schools, a mostly white city government, Jim Crow, and the lily white Buddy Deane Show are all still around. Oh... and of course the intrepid reporter had to ask the commissioner if he has seen The Wire. Baltimore has its fair share of racial tension and shameful history, but as the events in Ferguson, Cleveland, NYC, etc. show it is pretty much an American phenomenon.
In an interview set to air on C-SPAN Sunday, Baltimore Commissioner Anthony W. Batts elaborated on comments made a week earlier that he believes the city suffers from "1950s racism" and is more divided than other cities where he has worked.
Batts first brought up the issue when speaking in Phoenix before a White House task force studying policing. He brings up the idea again in the C-SPAN interview, where he is interviewed for an hour and touches on a number of topics - including acknowledging that he finally gave in and watched Season 1 of "The Wire." The interview airs at 8 p.m. Sunday.
Then again maybe not? According to Commissioner Batts California is some sort of racial utopia.
You know, southern California that has brought us such great recent moments in race relations like the Rodney King beating and subsequent riots. Or the stupid racist cops that blew the O. J. case. Well, that was a few years ago but it seems things are not quite so integrated yet......
In Southern California, where Batts grew up and was with the Long Beach Police Department for more than 25 years, "we talked about race openly ... because there was so much diversity," he said. His next job in Oakland exposed him to a "very progressive area" that had "moved beyond race."
"When I came to Baltimore, it was like going back in time," Batts says in the interview. "It's about about black and white racism in that city. It's all the things you dealt with in the 1960s."
- Los Angeles Metro 10th most segregated in the United States -
- L.A 24th most segregated on this list that includes smaller metros
- From another list.
Los Angeles is spectacularly diverse, and profoundly segregated. Though black and Latino Angelenos are increasingly likely to live near one another, their separation from white neighborhoods persists. Sociologist Camille Z. Charles, author of “Won’t You Be My Neighbor: Race, Class and Residence in Los Angeles.”
- And it seems Oakland hasn't completely "moved beyond race" just yet .
- And funny thing the post Ferguson protests here in Baltimore were peaceful but Oakland was another story.
- As I posted here before overall African Americans in the Baltimore area are ranked fourth in the USA in economic achievement. Interestingly there is only a single city west of the Mississippi on the list...and it is in Texas.
