We knew we had to help our neighbors learn what their grandparents knew about prejudice and racism. It was helping children learn in youth programs to sit up straight, wait for a turn, follow directions, get along with peers and respect teachers. If they did, they would have a better chance to learn in failing schools. To not be able to do these things meant teachers would stop teaching them and blame them for not learning. In our work readiness program, we had to help African American participants learn to get along with white people in a work setting. We had to talk about conforming to the expectations of work in a mostly white environment. Whether that was changing appearances to fit expectations or learning how to get along with white interviewers, bosses and co-workers, we wanted people to be prepared upon entering this predominantly white work world.
The opportunity to move from poverty to the working class, or from the working class to the middle class, has been in decline for decades. This economic mobility, which began in the 50’s, is in decline because wages have not kept pace with the cost of living. In the 1950’s and early 60’s, soldiers coming back from World War II and the Korean War could find factory jobs or those in manufacturing to support their family. With the help of unions, these jobs provided the income needed to move from the working class into the middle class. My wife Joyce’s family is an example of this. Her father worked in factories in Cleveland, Ohio, all of his life. Joyce and her six brothers and sisters experienced a middle-class upbringing.
The GI Bill gave soldiers the opportunity to go to college. My father was the first in his family of immigrants to attend college. After he graduated, he was able to attain a job in middle-management at a women’s clothing manufacturing company in Kansas City, Missouri. His job allowed him to provide an upper-middle class lifestyle for me and my brother and sister.
The closing of factories in the U. S., and the efforts to lessen the strength of unions, made economic mobility for new workers practically non-existent. With the downsizing of companies in the past two decades, middle-management jobs have all but been eliminated. Families are forced to survive with lesser income.
Social mobility has suffered the same setbacks. Some groups of people are socially unacceptable. They may be new immigrants who are trying to make their way into and through a new culture. Primarily, though, the group excluded from social mobility is African Americans. Our primary goal was to help our neighbors practice behaviors which would help them overcome some of the prejudice they faced.
When we discussed how white people felt about others washing their cars on the street in front of their homes, or groups of people hanging out on the stoops (stairs) in front of their houses, we were not trying to say white people were right. We were suggesting that making a choice to do these things would satisfy their neighbors and show them how the “better” person behaves. It is unfortunate and wrong that African Americans have to bear the burden of prejudice and racism.
Our work was not about telling African Americans they needed to be “like white people,” but discussing the reality of America. We let people know we did not agree with this reality, nor did we accept how people were treated. We wanted the people coming to MIDTOWN to know we believed in loving our neighbors and would do the best we could for anyone who came to us.
SOCIAL LIBERATION
I met thousands of African Americans over the nearly 40 years I worked in St. Louis. I would have to say there is something special about the people I met. They were more generous, patient, concerned about their neighbors, non-judgmental and willing to work with white people than I ever expected. Maybe the pain of slavery and its aftermath has made them a different kind of people. I know they are willing to forgive this American “original sin” and move forward as complete members of our society. I think there is much more African Americans can teach other Americans about life and living. What we as white people must do is repent the sin of slavery, seek forgivenessand repair our relationships with the descendants of slaves.
I learned this about African Americans through nearly forty years of relationship-building and nearly 20 years of community organizing and development. Although initially our goal had been to work with our African American neighbors to help increase opportunities for social mobility, our efforts changed to include working toward Social Liberation. Unlike social mobility which requires conformity, social liberation goes to the root of our divisions: class and race. This would mean our neighbors could work on the issues most directly causing the stagnation of social mobility.
The efforts to fight gentrification in two neighborhoods, where neighbors and staff stood together against the sponsors of redevelopment, helped the people we served find their voices and use them with great strength. Staff had the opportunity for solidarity with our neighbors. Small business development and the formation of two non-profit, community-based corporations, helped our neighbors become the controlling partners of efforts in their own neighborhoods.
NOTES
98% of the guests who visited MIDTOWN were members of African American families. In no way do I consider the experience of all African Americans to be the same. Nor do I believe African Americans and white people who live in poverty have the same experiences. I did find the experience of people who are poor limited by their income and opportunities. In this book I talk about and tell stories of the people I met and with whom I developed positive human relationships. Almost all of these relationships were with African American neighbors in mid-city St. Louis.
When I use “people”, “neighbors” or “guests,” I am speaking of low-income individuals and families who came to MIDTOWN. 89% of the people who came to the agency had incomes under $12,000 per year. Everyone who received help and support had an income below the federal poverty guidelines which currently puts poverty for a family of four at slightly more than $25,000 annually. I do not like to use the words “poor people” to describe our neighbors. Although everyone struggled financially, I would not describe people as “poor” whose culture, tradition, resilience and generosity were expressed daily.
Although I developed MIDTOWN’S program ideas and plans, I certainly did not implement anything without the help of Joyce, staff, volunteers and our neighbors. The words “I,”“we,”“staff” and “MIDTOWN” can almost be interchanged in any description of our work. Input from our neighbors, Joyce’s agreement and staff involvement all came together to create the work. No one was more important than another in making programs work, creating an atmosphere of support or doing their job.
In our neighbor, we should observe only what is good.
St. Jane Frances de Chantal
MIDTOWN
This section describes the efforts we made to build a peaceful community; including, the people we served and the programs we developed. It also explains how relationships formed and grew to create lasting impact in families and neighborhoods.
Take life as you find it,
But don’t leave it that way
Thomas Fuller
In 1982, Catholic Charities of St. Louis began to explore a new way of reaching people in the St. Louis community. By this time, white flight from the city had slowed and those “left behind” tended to be poorer, African American and non-Catholic. The priest who spearheaded this idea had heard from other priests in city neighborhoods. They told him they were overwhelmed by the number of people knocking on their doors for help.
Since many city neighborhoods had been affected by the movement of white, middle class families into the suburbs, the people who remained struggled to keep their church communities together and at the same time help others. Many of the churches did not have groups in place to run food pantries, do home visits, help with bills and provide support. The church members were also not ready to invite their neighbors into their congregations.
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