Thread by @GodCloseMyEyes

scott cummings was an academic involved in community organizing. in the late 70's he arrives at a place in texas he calls "Rosedale," which is experiencing the exact same process of demographic transformation as dozens of other cities in america at the time.

community center meeting. he is discussing problems elderly residents are having. notice his own reaction and his reporting of other academics' reactions. this was in the late 70's btw.

this was an actual response from someone in a position of responsibility. also note the retort that real concern shouldn't be for the people but rather an imagined backlash (that has never come).

imagine being a sincere post 60's liberal and this is the outline of the book you write because you saw it all first hand lel

in approx. 30 years a city goes from 98% white to 12%. again, it must be remembered that this transformation is not unique at the time. this is happening in many places simultaneously.

long excerpt here but crucial. he actually cites nisbet. this is how communities were, in fact, destroyed. he even admits that technological & industrial change were at best secondary causes. it was race and violence.

the people who could not engage in "white flight," which is a pure propagandistic euphemism, were left behind. a lost position, without hope, without rescue as vesuvius erupts.

the analogy with a volcanic eruption is in fact closely related to the psychological impact of race and violence. extreme grief, coping mechanisms, etc. exhibited by the white residents of rosedale paralleled how people react to their homes being destroyed in natural disasters.

this is what a true concern for community integrity looks like. not the meaningless and bastardized form invoked by people who in all likelihood support the things which actually destroy it. but yeah I forgot it's only about "edgelords" wanting to say slurs online, right?

while spending pages on the extreme fear felt by white residents, the author seems to attribute their precautions (locking doors, barring or even boarding up windows, never going out at night, etc.) to a kind of racial phobia inherited by white southerners. then he ends with this

have to include this story he writes while describing the southern racial code elderly whites are clinging to. white woman being beaten up by her black bf seeks help from her neighbors. coal, toll, etc.

partial description of the reality for millions of people after the civil rights movement. this is its actual history, everything else being state and corporate propaganda. even calling this 'crime' is a misnomer, it was a state sanctioned violent occupation.