In the TED Talk “What if gentrification was about healing communities instead of displacing them?” by Liz Ogbu was about the overarching topic of gentrification. Liz is an architect who works on spatial justice. She believes that the idea that justice has a geography and that the equitable distribution of resources and services is a human right. She develops real and deep questions that challenge developers, architects, and policymakers about gentrification. When these people participate in the act of gentrification, they are harming the community members, some of whom have lived there for numerous upon numerous years. Liz strongly believes that healing is not about erasing pain, healing is about acknowledging pain and making peace with it and that is exactly why she does the occupation she is in right now. She is there not to build on top of the brokenness but rather, restore hope and healing in these communities. Some key points that were raised in the TED talk that really caught my attention were, “Who thinks you can go to therapy once and be healed,” “Hurt people hurt people, healed people heal people,” and “pain and grief are recurring themes of gentrification.” She also mentions that the choice of gentrification is not yours to make, it is no longer your home. This is completely true and disturbing becuase at the back of your mind you must formulate a backup plan just in case, which is saddening.
Author: zkuebee
In this article it talks about the slave trade that happened in St. Louis that was led by a prominent trader, Bernard Lynch. Black Missourians were considered property under the state law. During this time period, the cotton industry was on the rise so many enslaved people feared being sold down the Mississippi River. His main trade site was called, “Lynch’s Slave Pen.” Bernards prison incarcerated enslaved people about to be sold at auction, freedom seekers who had been captured, and free Blacks who had violated the law. Not to mention, he had employees to violently punish the “inmates.” Lynch abandoned his prison because the U.S military seized it at the beginning of the Civil War. Before these people were sold, they had to endure beatings, were forced to be naked or wear very little clothing in front of big crows, etc. In one of Lynch’s advertisements, it was descriptioned, “For Sale–A highly likely intelligent MULATTO BOY, between ten and twelve years of age. It is a good hand to wash dishes, wait on the table, take care of children, run errands, &c. Address post office, box 2,577”. In the advertisement for the selling a little light skin boy, they referred to him as “it” rather than his proper pronouns which are he/his. I feel as if that was very dehumanizing and degrading.
So the questions I’ve posed are:
- What are some ways to deliver information to people who aren’t willing to learn about the negative past of, in this case, St. Louis? How do you deal with their guilt and change their perspective?
- What goes through your head when finding out about uncovered history and how does it make you feel?
- Why don’t you think history like this isn’t already being told ? Do you think it’s not being told for a reason (like they are trying to hide it) or what do you think?
The source was created to suggest ways and methods where teachers can implement the topic of slavery into learning. Being that these kids are incredibly young and there is a lot of controversy in society on when the topic of slavery should be introduced and how it should be introduced, it is important we discuss this. The creator suggests useful source materials for K-5 students; a framework process. They want to build an architecture for teachers to teach slavery in a respectful and intentional way and meet students where they are. This source is important to me because my research question is how we can teach the history of enslavement in MOBOT Garden to children in neighboring communities. This can help my group and I formulate ideas being that we will be the ones in charge and will have to do this physically in first person.
The Madison County Historical Society’s mission is to, “open doors to Madison Countys history.” The way they present their work and mission is in a very sincere and authentic way. In their about, the language used shows how open-minded and courteous these individuals are. Most times, society likes to fabricate history rather than telling the harsh truth. This archive does not only preserve the county of Madison, Illinois but, also, they acknowledge, “our community achievements and triumphs, as well as our tragedies and failures.” The archive was founded “in 1915, the Old Settlers Union made a motion to organize a “historical society for the purpose of collecting relics and valuable information of all kinds pertaining to the history of Madison County” (Madison County Historical Society). Sometimes on the documents in archives, there is no demographic information about the individual(s). This can cause confusion so to understand it we might need demographic information, names, time, place, etc. Another huge component could be knowing how to translate Old English into New English being that a lot of these documents were retrieved during the early 1900’s. The archive serves the Edwardsville community. It can serve neighboring communities nearby, such as Madison County, etc. The people of Illinois have a stake in the archive’s contents because this archive relies on donations, and that is how they function and operate. In the source it also states that museum and library is, “owned and operated by the Madison County Historical Society through the generous donations of members and friends and the help of Society volunteers” (Madison County Historical Society).
This source is important to us because it gives us a deeper knowledge and understanding of what restorative justice is and each component of these steps. It also goes deeper into ways to incorporate restorative justice in our local neighboring community. The audience for this source could vary but I think the intended audience for this source was not only people who deal with adolescents and juveniles in the Saint Louis area but also those who reside in other states other than Saint Louis. They really talked about solutions pertaining to Saint Louis, but you can apply these things in areas greater than Saint Louis as well. No, the creator is not trying to prove anything, rather the author is more so trying to just inform the reader about restorative justice and its impacts on the victim and community. They are also going into depth about the programs they have implemented in schools and the community.
During the visit to the MOBOT archives, my group and I thoroughly examined an archival document of the Business Papers/ a letter to John Berry Meachum written by Henry Shaw. The document consisted of significant dates, prices, and information about the loan. Also, in the document my group and I noticed that in the document there were dashes used instead in parenthesis. In the document, Henry Shaw was extending the loan for two years because the Meachum’s were doing very well on their payments. Soon, they were unable to pay the actual house payments, so they paid the interest accrued. In result of the Meachum’s defaulting on their loan, Henry Shaw takes the house as equity. This leads to Meachum’s filing for bankruptcy. Shaw’s voice is the loudest being that he is taking from the disadvantaged. The Meachum’s are not the only individuals who have suffered from the exploitation of Henry Shaw. Not only is Meachum’s voice being silenced, but also others in the community that have encountered this issue with Shaw. Something we can learn from the voices that are being silenced is that there are gaps that we must fill. Keeping an open mind and knowing that not all voices are present is something to keep present. One way we can fill the gaps of silence is when telling this story, we can keep an open mind and acknowledge the Meachum’s voice/story was not told. Telling the story of humanity and handling it with compassion is essential. It is critical we tell the story with intent. Also, not to mention during this period, setting the house payments was very irrational. I feel as if Henry Shaw almost knew what he was doing and had a premeditated intent of exploitation. These are black individuals and obtaining money is not easy being that they are minorities.