October 18, 2005--Holy Toledo!
Admit it, when was the last time you asked, “I wonder what’s happening these days in Toledo?” It hasn’t been on my screen, at least not since MASH ended and Corporal Klinger presumably returned to Toledo, his home town, and resumed his interest in the Toledo Mud Hens baseball team.
That is, until the other day when there were endlessly repeated, disturbing images on all the cable news channels of street riots sparked by a white supremacist march. The images, it is sad to acknowledge, were all of black people, mainly young boys, running in packs through the streets, attacking neighborhood buildings and allegedly looting some.
So when a piece about this appeared in the NY Times (see story below), I hoped to find there not only a balanced report about the events but beyond that, and much more significant, some sense of the meaning of the situation on the ground. For example, a bit of background about the historical treatment of blacks in central Ohio (not good at all), the dramatic decline in the economies of that region (our quintessential Rust Belt), and the total disintegration of the public schools (Ohio includes more cities than any other state in the US and all of their school districts, literally all of them have been deemed to be “low-performing” by state and federal standards).
But not a word about any of this was to be found in the tiny article buried on page 16. In fact, one would have had to read very much between the lines to even know that there were any black folks living in Toledo much less participating in the wilding. The issue of race was totally missing.
Thus, I was left to think about the further meaning of the events from what was available on TV. The Liberal in me was more than sympathetic to how a march by Nazis through the black sections of town would have been incendiary. I could even somehow deal with, if not quite accept, the idea that in ghetto situations rage against the basic conditions and realities of life is often turned against things close at hand, including shops and bars and restaurants that are of and serve the community. But as I grow older, it is more of a push to understand these matters. Also I suspect, as part of the aging process, feeling less secure in the world, it grieves me to see this stark evidence how thin, how very thin the veneer of social restraint is and how easily it is shattered. How easy it is to touch that part of people that is frustrated and angry and powerless. How both the reality and fiction of the Social Contract fails.
Those sad and terrifying images continue to haunt me. In the world gone wild, I’m tempted to increase my diversions and entertainments. But even while refilling my glass, I can’t stop thinking about those children, our children, and the promises betrayed.
That is, until the other day when there were endlessly repeated, disturbing images on all the cable news channels of street riots sparked by a white supremacist march. The images, it is sad to acknowledge, were all of black people, mainly young boys, running in packs through the streets, attacking neighborhood buildings and allegedly looting some.
So when a piece about this appeared in the NY Times (see story below), I hoped to find there not only a balanced report about the events but beyond that, and much more significant, some sense of the meaning of the situation on the ground. For example, a bit of background about the historical treatment of blacks in central Ohio (not good at all), the dramatic decline in the economies of that region (our quintessential Rust Belt), and the total disintegration of the public schools (Ohio includes more cities than any other state in the US and all of their school districts, literally all of them have been deemed to be “low-performing” by state and federal standards).
But not a word about any of this was to be found in the tiny article buried on page 16. In fact, one would have had to read very much between the lines to even know that there were any black folks living in Toledo much less participating in the wilding. The issue of race was totally missing.
Thus, I was left to think about the further meaning of the events from what was available on TV. The Liberal in me was more than sympathetic to how a march by Nazis through the black sections of town would have been incendiary. I could even somehow deal with, if not quite accept, the idea that in ghetto situations rage against the basic conditions and realities of life is often turned against things close at hand, including shops and bars and restaurants that are of and serve the community. But as I grow older, it is more of a push to understand these matters. Also I suspect, as part of the aging process, feeling less secure in the world, it grieves me to see this stark evidence how thin, how very thin the veneer of social restraint is and how easily it is shattered. How easy it is to touch that part of people that is frustrated and angry and powerless. How both the reality and fiction of the Social Contract fails.
Those sad and terrifying images continue to haunt me. In the world gone wild, I’m tempted to increase my diversions and entertainments. But even while refilling my glass, I can’t stop thinking about those children, our children, and the promises betrayed.
posted by Steven Zwerling at
10:17 AM
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