We should not be surprised that the bed we wake up in is the bed we made.
It is just dawning on some people in our community that we have not made our beds very well — if at all — and our dirty linen is being aired.
When our community is touted in the news at the top of all the “worst” lists, we seem shocked. What happened to us? When did our small community values and our pride leave us? Why is Henderson not like it used to be?
After teaching in the public schools here for 35 years, I can say one place it started was in our homes. Parents who defend their children in doing wrong, who take up for them and uphold them in cheating, lying, fighting, bullying, and worse, and who tell their children to always blame those in authority… They started some of our community decline.
I can name many students who, when the schools saw them going down the wrong paths and tried to intervene, had parents who either would not share in the concern or take steps to change the path. Some of these were students from prominent homes, and some of these were students from broken homes. It did not matter the race or the age of the parent — they took up for their child. Their child was right, and that was that! The school’s rules did not apply to them. For them, violence and bullying were acceptable. Threats and intimidation were acceptable. For them, rules were there to be broken or weaseled out of. Fortunately, some of these students saw the light for themselves and changed direction; many, many more are in jail or dead, while others are living unproductive lives of crime among us.
Our local governments also play a big hand in us finding ourselves with dirty linen. Violence and crime thrive in blighted areas. Our government is charged with providing us with an opportunity for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. When our government fails to protect our properties because they allow squalor, decay, and blight to go unchecked, then they are in a very real way depriving us of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Years ago our city council toured the streets of Henderson on a regular basis. The saddest of all sights was to see fellow citizens of Henderson trapped in the midst of deplorable conditions. Often they were elderly people who had worked and scraped all their lives to buy property. As the years passed, the properties on either side of them changed hands, standards went down, and blight took over. Crime and the fear that comes with crime took control and, in a very real way, their lives were threatened. And this we allowed to happen in Henderson.
When we do not enforce the ordinances that require properties to be maintained at a level of decency, then decency is not to be found. Filth, trash, and debris that goes unchecked breeds more filth, trash, and debris until you have neighborhoods that become so blighted that it is not safe for the citizens or even the police. The downward spiral continues until we do not recognize ourselves.
When the city turns a blind eye to minimum housing inspections or zoning restrictions concerning housing and properties, then it is failing us. When the city is known for being inept at requiring dangerous or burned out buildings to be removed by their owners, then it is failing us. When the city does not pursue or use Community Block Development Grants to revitalize neighborhoods, then it is failing us. When the city does not attach or enforce covenants and agreements on the properties we do improve, such as David Street, then it is failing us.
When was the last time your council person brought a neighborhood quality of life issue before the council?
Recently I heard that a civil suit was brought against the City of Detroit. There was an injury on a property that had become a haven of crime because the city had not enforced its laws. Will it take something like this to get our dirty linen in the wash at last?
Every day I hear of more and more people choosing to leave Henderson. They see other communities that freely provide quality of life, the simple liberty of being able to go out after dark, and the pursuit of the happiness to enjoy a nice spring evening drive without being preyed upon. If you want to know how a street fight can happen in Henderson with all the horrible and inhuman consequences that go with it, you can find the answer in what we fail to do.
We have made this bed we are waking up in, and we should not be surprised.
It is time to get busy and get our linen cleaned.