Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Absolutely Fantastic Article About Benton Harbor

“For the Children”: Class, Race, Place, and Late Capitalist Eco-Enclosure in Benton Harbor

by Paul Street September 23, 2007

“One of the great gifts we can give our children is to make sure they connect with the amazing natural resources we have in Michigan. Whether we take them fishing, hunting, hiking, mountain-biking or simply let them discover the beauty of nature, helping our children connect with the outdoors is essential to making sure our natural resources are protected and respected in the future.”

- Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, March 2007 (Niles Daily Star, 2007)

“Here is another case of the rich taking from the poor, while those we have elected to protect our best interests, including our governor, tout what a great thing it will be for the community….The rich will get richer, while the working class and poor lose a little more of what they already have little access to: the lake. Soon, if developers have their way, there will be no such thing as public parks or scenic lake views in Michigan for the masses to enjoy.”

- Michigan resident Mary Smith, August 10, 2007 (Smith 2007)


“We’re using economic development to change people’s lives.”

- David Whitwam, former CEO of Whirlpool, July 2007


...”BECAUSE OF EVERYTHING’S THAT’S BEEN GOING ON FOR YEARS”

A smaller example can be found in Benton Harbor, Michigan, a desperately poor and 92 percent black town directly adjacent to Lake Michigan. Containing 11,000 people and located 100 miles east of Chicago, Benton Harbor is an especially graphic reminder that concentrated racial oppression lives beyond the metropolitan core. The town was designated “the worst place to live in the nation” by Money Magazine in 1989. Even at the end of the long 1990s “Clinton Boom,” more than half of Benton Harbor’s children and 40 percent of its families lived in official poverty. The city’s poverty rate was three and a half times that of the U.S. as a whole. (full article: http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=13855)