Incremental Change Is a Moral Failure

[TreasonousBastard]

3. Excellent article-- bookmarked. I remember "broken windows" and Giuliani was one of its...

biggest proponents, even though he never really understood it. He just hid the problems, not solved them.

You see, you have to fix those windows, and find out why they got broken.

And, of course, you have to remember that the squeakiest wheel gets the grease. The residents of the Upper East Side must have their clean streets-- made so by the presence of trash cans and armies of street sweepers. The residents of Harlem and Brownsville make a lot of noise, but not the kind that drives City Hall.

There is that part of me that wishes maybe half the energy that goes into complaining about City Hall could be better put to organizing community cleanups and giving the city good answers that won't cost as much as doing all the cleanup itself. In many cases that's actually being done but there's always certain recalcitrance-- mainly, but not entirely, from the city.

There are always those who find it easier to complain about a problem than solve it. Especially if the complaining is profitable in some way. And not just in dollars-- power is a popular payment.

We all tend to be "racists" and every group, Jews, Koreans, Irish, Italians, Peruvians... had to fight their way in against resentment and prejudice. But only Black Americans have had to fight legal and ingrained discrimination going back generations to slave days.

I forget which comedian it was (I think Nipsey Russel, but not sure) had a routine where he played the white restaurant owner who proclaimed to a potential black customer, "No N******s allowed in here."

"But sir, I am a business representative from Ghana."

"Oh, you're an African! Come right in."