Walking America: Washington, DC (Anacostia and Alexandria)
intellectualinting.substack.com
intellectualinting.substack.com
The author seems eager to fit the neighborhoods into his sociological and political analysis so some parts seem reductive but he's rather overt and honest about it. The author seems impressed with his social analysis and political opinions and I'm glad he has them but not sure how much I agree.
In my positive assessment, it doesn't hurt that I agree with some of his general sentiments: Anacostia is mostly homey and run-down, not brimming with menace; Crystal City is dominated by the offices of corporations and doesn't have much going for it, e.g.
Whatever is normal for us defines our world. The constant underlying battle is that we're less and less capable of walking in the shoes of others. If you live in rural America, you'll realize the same blights and issues exist too. People go through trauma and tragedy, and they often simply give up, this world is harsh on people who give up, or use drugs, or resort to harmful behavior especially if they're financially and racially not able to overcome societal stereotypes that are promoted. Just as there are individuals using crack and heroin in the inner city, there are wealthy people in Hollywood doing exactly the same things. Society works so hard to define differences and then to rebrand them as case studies and perspectives, but no one talks about the human nature perspective because it's really uncomfortable for humans to examine their own individual faults in the process.
I've lived in DC for over 30 years, and seen every corner of it. I was born to middle-class priviledge, but I've also As a minority myself, I know how hard it can be at the bottom through not being intimidated of living inside of that "fish tank", and knowing from that experience that there are people born to, and suffering from, much worse situations than mine.
If we look at the ways out of poverty and desolation as a scientist, we're already failing because there is no really effective way of grouping individuals into any actionable case study. It's frickin everyone that is the issue now. The cure for ignorance is understanding how every last one of us is vulnerable, susceptible, and accountable for their individual perspectives and actions and self education about wealth inequality and racial insensitivity... world wide.
When government social services are ineffective or had broken down, the little churches in communities like that is often the only thing which keeps the community together. Family issues, an old person is sick and needs meals brought home, a place to meet.
Yeah it makes the people across the river pretty uncomfortable. They like to have their abstract model of a poor victim they support but that often doesn’t jive with reality. Most of them wouldn’t even dare walk through that neighborhood.
Would rather not share my address. But, yes, I am familiar with the area.
> Or are you just accepting your own bias
Not sure how to parse that exactly. Mind rephrasing a bit. In general, to be a better person, should one reject their biases or accept them?
Do you personally know people like this? It sounds like you're making some pretty broad generalizations and imagining (not wholly inaccurately!) how some people act and think.
Yes. Would they tell you to your face "I'd never walk in that neighborhood" not directly, no. But they'd say "it's not safe there". They keep their support by protesting on twitter, but would never set foot in a soup kitchen in one of those neighborhood churches.
Since we're sharing stories, another interesting one I have is of an initiative of an atheist organization. Kind of like a non-religious church substitute. The decided that there was not enough outreach into the communities like you see in the article. After some bitter back and forth, they eventually met with the leaders from those communities and learned how much of a support those little churches provide. So striking at their foundation, in an attempt to bring enlightenment doesn't work, especially when there are no other services or help there to substitute it for all the help they provide.
> you're making some pretty broad generalizations and imagining
You might have a better experience or perspective, would want to share it? Usually, that's more constructive than just saying "well, you're imagining stuff" and leaving it at that.
People shouldn't rely on religious organization for those basics - visits when sick, food when hungry, especially in a developing country, but the sad situation is that they are.
Is there a reason that you think Northwest is a better reflection of "DC proper"? Anacostia and Benning are very much inside the city limits- they can't represent what most of Northwest is like and vice versa Northwest can't stand in for them.
I’m sorry to tell you the author’s “usual fare” does not impress me as nuanced or insightful.
If you don’t already share that point of view and haven’t read his book this will seem superficial and lacking nuance.
With that said I highly recommend his book, Dignity, which is a much longer and fleshed out discussion of how our society treats people and places that don’t matter.
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/566661/dignity-by-c...
[0] https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/mcdonalds-as-america-a-c...
However, no one should confuse this with actually being some kind of analysis. This piece is entertainment to be enjoyed by white folks in Alexandria cozy on their couch with their cafe-au-lait.
Source: Decades-long resident of DC who walks and bikes those routes every month.
Or the Asian and Indian folks who increasingly make up NoVA’s “front row” communities. Source: growing up in Alexandria and living there for a decade.
There are elements of truth to the author’s racial generalizations, but one defining aspect of NoVA and DC is how different groups and races intermix (my middle school was more than 50% black and Hispanic, my high school more than 50% Asian). This aspect is entirely absent from the author’s just-so analysis.
Do you think Alexandria might feel uptight compared to Anacostia and Benning Road? The author is partly expressing a comparative judgment - that's kind of the point, going for a walk in a much poorer black neighborhood vs strolling past the perimeter of Old Town Alexandria.
One expression of what I might call "uptightness" that you might hear from DC area residents is an overt fear of even driving through certain DC neighborhoods (or maybe even Southeast as a whole!), as if they were active war zones and not just a place where the signs of low social maintenance and low-income lives of black people are unmistakably visible. It makes sense, the crime stats are worse; most people have no reason to visit these neighborhoods and see what they're like; everyone has heard stories about how bad DC was decades ago and these neighborhoods hold the bad reputation.
In my opinion, people being "uptight" in this way is a mix of "common sense" (maybe it doesn't reflect reality, but if people act like it does they really pay no price) and "hysteria" (other people told me I ought to be extremely afraid, so I will be). [scare quotes added to emphasize that these are my subjective judgments and, imo, inescapably subjective.]