Dusty Bake Activate
Fukk your corny debates
The pop culture from the 70's makes being black in the ghetto seem not that bad...happy and carefree at times even. Cooley High, Car Wash, Soul Train, Good Times, What's Happening, motown, disco. Even the blaxploitation flicks make black gangsters seem like cultured, stylized anti-heroes.
It's crazy because shyt was NOT all good then. Crime was way higher then than it is now. The conditions in inner city were horrendous. The murder rates were considerably higher from the late 60's through the mid 90's than they are now. Crack and neoliberal economics of the 80's made things a lot worse, but the 70's was still bad.
For instance, everybody talks about "Chiraq" and how horrible it is. But look at the murders in Chicago over time.
1970: 810
1971: 824
1972: 711
1973: 862
1974: 970
1975: 818
1976: 814
1977: 823
1978: 787
1979: 856
1980: 863
1981: 877
1982: 668
1983: 729
1984: 741
1985: 666
1986: 744
1987: 691
1988: 660
1989: 742
1990: 851
1991: 928
1992: 943
1993: 855
1994: 931
1995: 828
1996: 796
1997: 761
1998: 704
1999: 643
2000: 633
2001: 667
2002: 656
2003: 601
2004: 453
2005: 451
2006: 471
2007: 448
2008: 513
2009: 459
2010: 436
2011: 435
2012: 516
2013: 441
2014: 432
Granted, Chicago did have a slightly higher population back then, but the murder rate was still consistently much higher than it is nowadays.
970 murders in 1974.
It's less than half that now. But the Evans family and Cochise and Preach made living in Cabrini Green seem not that bad, and when people think of the Chicago ghetto today, they think of...
Hip-hop brought truth to mainstream America. But you can argue it gave us a branding problem.
It's crazy because shyt was NOT all good then. Crime was way higher then than it is now. The conditions in inner city were horrendous. The murder rates were considerably higher from the late 60's through the mid 90's than they are now. Crack and neoliberal economics of the 80's made things a lot worse, but the 70's was still bad.
For instance, everybody talks about "Chiraq" and how horrible it is. But look at the murders in Chicago over time.
1970: 810
1971: 824
1972: 711
1973: 862
1974: 970
1975: 818
1976: 814
1977: 823
1978: 787
1979: 856
1980: 863
1981: 877
1982: 668
1983: 729
1984: 741
1985: 666
1986: 744
1987: 691
1988: 660
1989: 742
1990: 851
1991: 928
1992: 943
1993: 855
1994: 931
1995: 828
1996: 796
1997: 761
1998: 704
1999: 643
2000: 633
2001: 667
2002: 656
2003: 601
2004: 453
2005: 451
2006: 471
2007: 448
2008: 513
2009: 459
2010: 436
2011: 435
2012: 516
2013: 441
2014: 432
Granted, Chicago did have a slightly higher population back then, but the murder rate was still consistently much higher than it is nowadays.
970 murders in 1974.
It's less than half that now. But the Evans family and Cochise and Preach made living in Cabrini Green seem not that bad, and when people think of the Chicago ghetto today, they think of...Hip-hop brought truth to mainstream America. But you can argue it gave us a branding problem.
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