Sandy Banks on Poverty and Utopia?

"Penny stared at her with raised eyebrows, uncharacteristically silent. Twenty-four years in the projects and she had yet to consider all of its possibilities..."

c Dear friends.

It is easy to understand why luxury is a vice. Yet, its opposite, that is, poverty, can be a vice as well. Moreover, with poverty as a vice, people are often left to being content with their oppression. We witnessed this during the Katrina fiasco where we saw people running out of department stores into the streets, with water up to their hips, holding stolen televisions, as they grinned into TV news cameras. Meanwhile, simultaneously, others who were just as immersed in water as their television-carrying cohorts had several pairs each of expensive sneakers hanging around their necks that they had stolen, gawking the same way into the news cameras (vice). Where were these folks going to plug in the televisions or walk in the sneakers?

In any case, on the link below is a piece written by the exceptional Los Angeles Times columnist Sandy Banks that, although incredibly penned, seems troubling, at least to me, because the alleged vision of what seems to be a community’s future only reveals the fact that they are not a “community” at all (barred windows and doors, and so forth). Rather, many of the people in the story are those who have lived in poverty for generations and appear to have no desire, much less concept, of what it would mean to use their inner and outer powers of energy, physical and mental stamina, concentration, memory, and so many other strengths that will allow them to join in with their fellows and create a loving and prosperous environment in which to live and grow, without needing a great deal of outside aid. Instead, they act as if someone “owes” them something and waiting for a handout (more vice). Still, Sandy, an accomplished and established veteran words the predicament in a way that makes the whole reading experience involving this situation not just palatable, but thought-provoking as well. Enjoy!

G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-jordandowns22-2009aug22,0,7348179.column