There certainly are good people stuck in those areas; a lot of the older blacks in Newark back then had migrated from the South when our cities had a lot of jobs to offer. They themselves did fairly well, but their children (totally disconnected from their Southern roots) were nightmares. Many of the older blacks I worked with back in the 80s were caring for their grandchildren as drugs and crime obliterated that next generation. Very sad; these were hard-working people, nearing retirement, and starting over raising grandchildren (who were starting to encounter the same pitfalls their parents had).
I saw Asbury Park listed on a website of ghost towns - too funny! Twenty years ago they were telling us how it would come back because perverts would make it a “gay Mecca” (even they weren’t stupid enough to present the savages with such targets of opportunity); I see on the website pictures of building that were never completed as reality set in. It showed stretches of boardwalk and strips along the beach, completely deserted...
The “family” owns it, now.
Seriesly.
We have a “that street” in the town nearest me.
The first two blocks are home to drug dealers, drive by shootings, rapes, murders, slums and scum.
The “old” last two blocks are filled with humble but dutifully, pridefully maintained homes full of elderly blacks.
I worry about them.
No matter how bravely they maintain their calm, dignified area, eventually, the “first two blocks” will overrun them.
Sometimes I think I can actually see it creeping towards them like a slowly advancing, toxic fungus.