In If I Were Mayor Of Greensboro: Part 8 I brought up Greensboro's youth and promised to tell you how I would keep them in Greensboro but before I tell you that please take about 13 minutes to watch this short film titled ReMoved.
In my Greensboro neighborhood there were always children like this. I grew up with them and for 60 years nothing has changed for the better. Why? Because the people who run Greensboro care more about taxes and real estate development than children-- our most important and valuable asset.
And who can blame these children for leaving at the first chance they get? Who can blame them for not trusting Greensboro's status-quo?
Conservatives blame it on Liberals, bad parenting, and moral decay. But what can you expect when a child grows up this way?
Liberals like to blame it on the failure of Conservative religious values but that's bullshit too.
Our children are being abused, left behind and encouraged to leave because the people who have long controlled our city have failed to provide an adequate level of opportunity for all, preferring instead to invest in and support only their own vested interests.
And it's not just parents and child molesters-- governments abuse children too.
Governments abuse children when governments fail to act while children go hungry. 33% Of Greensboro Urban Population Lives In Food Desert and according to that same link provided by the City of Greensboro: Greensboro is the #1 Hungriest City In America with 23%, almost 1 person in 4 not having adequate food to eat.
Can you think of a more horrible way to abuse a child than to make a child go hungry?
And don't forget the many ways I listed Greensboro's failures to take care of our children in Part 8. It makes me sick on my stomach just to research and write it. Greensboro Mayor Nancy Barakat Vaughan and the Greensboro City Council should all be ashamed to show their faces in public.
So how do we solve these problems?
We begin by recruiting Greensboro's young adults to positions of power and responsibility. We put young, healthy bodies and minds to work and pay them a livable wage working in our communities.
Instead of lip service we start finding things to put them in charge of-- the more the merrier.
We let them make mistakes and learn from their experiences. We allow them to grow. We demand apologies when they screw up. And should they break the law we hold them accountable like we should be holding our current leaders accountable but don't.
No, that's not entirely fair. Hell, that's not fair at all, but only in that way can we raise the bar. Our youth cannot continue to watch and learn from a corrupt status-quo lest they become just like them. You see our current leaders have spent their lives in an era of not being held personally accountable for their own contributions to our downfall. Continuing that kind of policy will only allow matters to get worse-- not better.
I personally know the pain of loosing my only child. If I were Mayor of Greensboro I would do my best to make sure none of you ever experience what I have felt and still feel every day of my life.
This is part of an ongoing series of posts that begins with If I Were Mayor Of Greensboro and is linked in succession back to here. If you haven't already I recommend you read them all before continuing to If I Were Mayor of Greensboro: Part 10.
