'Living in hell'? Trump's words don't match reality, black people say
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| New York
It was getting late when Colvin Grannum started walking home from Just My Sweet, an event space and art gallery on Fulton Avenue here in a still-notorious part of Brooklyn.
The Bedford Stuyvesant haunt, which features and art by African artists, was hosting a dinner honoring local civil servants this evening 鈥 鈥渁ll products of Bedford Stuyvesant who went on to do great things,鈥 Mr. Grannum says.
But as he walked home just before 11 p.m., taking especial notice of the smiles and laughter he was seeing on this vibrant thoroughfare, Grannum, the president of a major community center not too far from Just My Sweet, says he couldn鈥檛 help but think of Donald Trump of all people.
During Monday鈥檚 debate, the Republican nominee had said that 鈥淎frican-Americans and聽Hispanics are living in hell,鈥 following up on a theme he had been sounding at campaign events the week before.
As in North Carolina last Saturday, when Mr. Trump told a mostly-white audience that 鈥淎frican-American communities are absolutely in the worst shape they've ever been in before. Ever. Ever. Ever. You take a look at the inner cities. You鈥檝e got no education. You鈥檝e got no jobs. You get shot walking down the street.鈥
Grannum found his words 鈥渟hocking and dumbfounding,鈥 and he wondered: Is that what people think of inner city communities like his?
鈥淚t鈥檚 far from the truth, it鈥檚 just far from reality, and it鈥檚 not the way people who live here feel,鈥 he says of Bed-Stuy, where and 20 percent are Hispanic. 鈥淐ould the conditions be better? Yes. But they鈥檙e a lot better than they used to be and they鈥檙e getting better every day.鈥
Take the formerly abandoned milk bottling plant which has been transformed into a full city block of lively cultural and community spaces. His organization, the , oversees the center, which includes the Billie Holiday Theater, Skylight Gallery, and Youth Arts Academy, where some 500 children participate in youth choruses and dance troupes. Its outdoor spaces are often the site of weddings, outdoor concerts, or just a place for the community to gather. 聽
The optimism of black Americans
In recent years, many have noted who often express more faith in the future than their white counterparts in opinion polls. And from to there have been notes of progress. In 2015, for example, while employment growth for whites and Hispanics slowed when measured as an employment-to-population ratio, African-American adults with a job increased 2.5 percentage points, according to the Employment Policy Institute in Washington.
In the 2016 elections, too, black political power emerged as a surprising bulwark for the status quo, providing Hillary Clinton with the support she needed to become the Democratic nominee during a season in which Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Trump were champions of party revolutions.
Make no mistake, for many black communities around the country, the struggle for equal standing and social justice remains as urgent a cause as ever. From protests spanning city streets to National Football League sidelines, many have been giving voice to the issues surrounding police shootings and the inequities within the criminal justice system. Outside the headlines, many community leaders continue to struggle for greater equality in health care, housing, and education as well. 聽
Trump鈥檚 words, interpreted generously, were in some respects political hyperbole, making a rough-and-ready point that black Americans, according to a number of measures, lag well behind the nation. Black unemployment is still double the national rate; black homeownership is the lowest among any racial group, ; and 26 percent of blacks live in poverty, compared with 15 percent of the country as a whole.
Such social ills are especially acute in Bed-Stuy, where 1 of 3 residents live below the poverty level, and 1 of 6 remain unemployed. The neighborhood, which, along with Manhattan鈥檚 Harlem is considered a historic center of black culture in New York, also has one of the city鈥檚 highest crime rates. In 2016 so far, one of its two police precincts has recorded the second highest number of murders in all the five boroughs. 聽
'Brooklyn girl, born and bred'
But Brenda Fryson, a member of the , a nonprofit volunteer organization dedicated to the preservation and revitalization of the neighborhood, says the community here, with numerous block associations and a spirited community board, has always been particularly close-knit, even when times were rougher.
Now in her 70s, Ms. Fryson, the former chairwoman of the neighborhood鈥檚 community board, has lived in Bed-Stuy for over 40 years, and is something of a 鈥渇orce of nature,鈥 residents say.
鈥淚鈥檓 a Brooklyn girl, born and bred,鈥 she says with an easy laugh, which occurs often in her conversations. 鈥淎nd what always impressed me, was that there was this deep commitment to neighbors and community... That still exists. And I don鈥檛 think that鈥檚 going anywhere. I think that鈥檚 so deep in our DNA that, you know, when people come, we鈥檝e always been a welcoming community, at least that鈥檚 been my experience.鈥
鈥淭he block associations were always extremely, extremely strong,鈥 Fryson continues. 鈥淎nd that is something that I really love about Bedford Stuyvesant, that you have these neighbors that get together, they plan, they look at legislation 鈥 they don鈥檛 take no junk.鈥
When the streets really were mean
Back in the 1980s when Bed-Stuy resident Tony Herbert was growing up on the streets of Brooklyn, the streets he knew were infamously mean.
One of four boys being raised by a single mother 鈥 a teacher鈥檚 aide who took home a little bit more than $200 from her biweekly paycheck 鈥 he and his family even spent time being homeless, squatting in abandoned buildings between finding affordable apartments. 聽
鈥淧eople stole the copper pipes from the basement, so we had to go outside to get running water from the hydrants,鈥 says Mr. Herbert, now the president of the New York State Minority Restaurant and Nightlife Association, and a community advocate in the Bedford Stuyvesant neighborhood.
鈥淵et as I reflect on what we've come from, as far as the '80s and '90s were concerned, when crack was king and created an atmosphere where everybody wanted to make some money real quick and got involved in that, there have been enormous strides,鈥 he says, noting there were often dealers in the buildings where he grew up.
But even then, Herbert noted a certain kind of community. 鈥淥ur saving grace, these drug dealers knew my mother from the public school, so they showed her the respect of saying, 鈥榃e won't let your kids get involved with this, nor will we let them get into harm's way.鈥 鈥
Today he works with business owners and entrepreneurs, helping them navigate city ordinances and license requirements. He also works closely with the New York Police Department to maintain the city's dramatic decrease in crime, even in Bed-Stuy.
And New York has seen its lowest crime rate in its recorded history the past two years. Murders are down in the city over 4 percent from this time last year, and the NYPD expects another record-setting year.
Still, murders in the United States have been rising this year, mostly because of spikes in three cities, Baltimore; Washington, D.C.; and especially Chicago. Yet many experts see these spikes as anomalies, and not portents of impending crime waves.
'Lots for us to feel proud about'
And most black Americans throughout the country reject Trump鈥檚 description of their communities as hellish, hopeless landscapes.
鈥淚t鈥檚 an inaccurate portrayal of the community that seeks to define the community by only its biggest challenges,鈥 said Marc Morial, the president of the National Urban League, 聽鈥淏lack America has deep problems 鈥 deep economic problems 鈥 but black America also has a large community of striving, successful, hard-working people: college educated, in the work force.鈥
Grannum鈥檚 sprawling complex on Fulton, too, has had tremendous success with its Economic Solutions Center, he says, which places more than 500 people in jobs each year. It also provides low income workers with income supports, including free child care, free health care, and assistance navigating government-sponsored programs.
Its Brooklyn Business Center also tries to help aspiring entrepreneurs, teaching the basics of business plans and ways to obtaining financing. 聽
鈥淏ut we still have a great deal of work to do,鈥 says Fryson. 鈥淲e are still a poor, urban community, and what has kept us going is ordinary people doing extraordinary things.鈥
鈥淭his is what the original pioneers of Bedford Stuyvesant fought for, and won,鈥 she continues. 鈥淚鈥檓 one of the cheerleaders, I鈥檓 not the doomsayer. We overcame a crack epidemic, we overcame redlining 鈥 these would be devastating factors to any community, let alone an urban community of color. So there鈥檚 lots for us to feel proud about, still.鈥