I think most people are decent human beings trying to do the right thing in a chaotic and overstimulated world.
Then, I’ll read a discussion on Facebook that stops me in my tracks and reveals everything wrong in our community when it comes to race and class.
Rhetoric is heating up over the Rockford Housing Authority’s plan to tear down its Fairgrounds Valley development and replace it with new housing off East State Street.
The CEO of the RHA often says his organization is in the people business, not the housing business. And he’s right. No matter your viewpoint on this issue, public housing is not about numbers on a spreadsheet. It’s about people, no different from you and me, from varied backgrounds and circumstances, just trying to find their place in the world.
Sadly, some in our community are not receiving that message. Here is a disturbing sample of quotes from a local TV station’s Facebook page after it ran a story on the RHA proposal on June 1. They reveal deep fissures in our community’s foundation of how we perceive each other.
- They live off the state and nobody works.
- They don’t want to work and couldn’t pass a drug test even if they wanted to.
- Much like feeding wild animals, they become dependent on handouts rather than fending for themselves.
- They should just keep all ‘that’ on the west side.
- These people only know how to destroy.
- Stop giving to these professional takers.
If you’re not shaking your head yet, you should be. If we truly wish to achieve real transformation in Rockford, the tenor and tone of these discussions must change. And, we must learn to disagree without being disagreeable.
I’m Wester Wuori, and that’s my perspective.
