Posted on 01/19/2014 12:22:12 PM PST by Olog-hai
A walk down the 6-mile city street named for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. yields plenty of images that would surely unsettle the civil rights leader: shuttered storefronts, open-air drug markets and a glut of pawn shops, quickie check-cashing providers and liquor stores.
The urban decay along Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in St. Louis can be found in other major American cities, from Houston and Milwaukee to the nation’s capital.
“It’s a national problem,” said Melvin White, a 46-year-old postal worker in St. Louis and founder of a 3-year-old nonprofit group that is trying to restore King’s legacy on asphalt. “Dr. King would be turning over in his grave.”
Nearly three decades into the observance of Monday’s federal holiday, the continuing decline of the most visible symbols of King’s work has White and others calling for a renewed commitment to the more than 900 streets nationwide named in the Atlanta native’s honor. …
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
Don’t pay any attention to that man behind the curtain.....
It’s fortunate that civil authorities have developed a foolproof way of warning white people to stay away. They put the initials MLK on the street signs.
Maybe New York should change the name of Wall Street.
These MLK-themed ghettos are EXACTLY what the inhabitants want them to be. It will never be otherwise, by force of law enforcement or efforts of “economic development” ($$ down a toilet.)
I know if I find myself on any MLK Blvd., I make sure my doors are locked.
They have had how much money thrown into these areas and how many years to improve and what has changed? What will it take?
Ideally, napalm.
It depends on the area. There are several MLK streets near here and business are fine as they are not in heavy black areas.
Larger cities with heavy black areas have a problem.
Years ago, Tulsa OK designated the northern bypass I-244, as the MLK Memorial Expressway, and placed BIG signs up at each end of it.
Every time we went by those signs, the number of bullet holes had increased till the signs looked like Swiss cheese and were replaced and put on overhead signs. (I did not put any of those holes in the signs).
More money. This story is a prelude to an "obummer executive order" authorizing the bailout of MLK communities.
Streets renamed MLK were almost exclusively in black areas, already suffering from economic decline 45 years ago. Just in case business owners didn’t know what they were doing, the name reminded them of where they were about to locate.
The government caused both problems and now they want to government to fix it by throwing tax dollars at it. I’m guessing that it won’t work.
Here in Grand Rapids, Mi, there was an attempt to rename the main North-South street (Division Ave.) to MLK Blvd. After all of the usual BS charges of racism, the street got an “honorary” designation only. No one to this day ever refers to it other than by its real name. It is one of those streets for most of its length that you would never dare drive through with your doors unlocked.
Wait for all the Barack Obama Blvd’s in the future.
Lansing, MI, MLK Blvd. = Sh!thole
Detroit, MI, MLK Blvd. = Sh!thole
Flint, MI, MLK Avenue = Sh!thole
Saginaw, MI MLK Blvd. = ditto!
I suspect we’ll see a similar scenario when all the Obama Boulevards start getting dedicated in 2017.
How long before younger and more radical black leaders start dissing MLK for “acting white”? They’ll probably demand the streets be renamed for Sharpton, or Mumia.
Milwaukee, WI, MLK St. = Shitte Hole
I moved to Southern California 30 years ago. My Dad asked me, as a courtesy, when I was in Connecticut at Christmas time, to pay a visit to his pal, who had gone to college in L.A. - and had the time of his life. The pal was waxing, nostalgically about the good old days, in his apartment on Santa Barbara Av. Then he asked “hey, how’s that area, these days?” I replied “Well, they renamed it Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, if that gives you any indication”. The smile disappeared from his face, as he looked down at the ground, and then changed the subject to how much he missed the warm winters. :(
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