Letters to the Editor
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Right on the money
Debra Dickerson is right on the money about the cruel economics of New Jersey's abandoned cities. The flight of the middle-class from once-prosperous Newark, Trenton, and Camden left a huge economic vacuum, and the situation for the citizens who are left is not pretty. If the capital of the state, Trenton, is in the condition that it is (try walking two or three blocks north from the state house toward the Battle Monument, which once faced the now-abandoned Reading RR station), why should Newark fare any better? And then there is the unbelievably grim state of Camden, once home of RCA Victor and Campbell Soup, and now an immense landscape of abandoned housing, directly across the river from the beautiful and prosperous Old City district of Philadelphia. Those left in these cities are the ones who have no alternatives and no way out.
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He needs to fire that crooked Zellman
And get that Esplanade project finished.
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Leverage = EWR
Hizzoner ought to go for the throat if he is serious - his city's only means to make anyone outside Newark care about his populace is to take over the port or airport. The flight service already sucks out of there, why not just squeeze a little harder by forcing the airlines and the many corporations that depend on them to fund an alternative to the treadmill to nowhere Dickerson describes.
just a thought
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Not all about the war on drugs.
On one hand Cory Booker is a good guy and one of the best hopes out there for urban New Jersey in a long time.
On the other hand the war on drugs is a disaster. Kids being put in jail for possesion of a couple of joints. I'd like to see them legalized (certainly marijuana) and out of the hands of mobs.
However, the State of New Jersey is not the sole problem here. Newark and its compatriots Trenton and Camden have been subject to the worst, outright criminal local legislators and law enforcement out there. Successive mayors have stolen, lied and embezzeled to their hearts content and their constituents have suffered, but still voted the asswipes in anyway. The cities and their residents have to take a long hard look at themselves and take at least a measure of responsibility for the state they are in.
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Straight, clear, to the point
... and not a single "I" this or "I" that in the entire piece. More of this, please.
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Who are you, and what have you done with Debra Dickerson?
Excellent column. I agree with leenichol -- more of this!
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That's more like it Debra!
One of my hobbies is letting Debra Dickerson know on a monthly basis that I think her writing sucks. However, never let it be said that I don't give credit where credit is due- This month she's right on!
I hope this is the start of a trend away from her regular bloviations into more thoughtful and saner territory.
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Cory Booker not black enough for Debra
Oh look, it's Debra taking another big shit on another black politician trying to make a difference, just like the angry, militant, screw-up she is. Surprise! It's almost like she has nothing else to say, a one track mind, and a deep inferiority complex or something.
Anyways, Booker is right: the war on drugs in incarcerating way too many poor blacks in a vicious cycle which ain't exactly breaking-news. Even not-black-enough-for-Debra types, whites, and those with grad school degrees hung on walls have been saying so for decades. Of course solving the problem is a lot harder than waving a magic wand, or perhaps magic fist pick, as Debra seems to imagine. Solutions require skill in navigating the hazards of politics and the law to actually accomplish something more than rhetoric.
Politics and law of course being two areas Debra has aspired to, but failed at. But she sure shoots her mouth off about them anyways.
According to Debra Dickerson's standards, Cory Booker, like Barack Obama, isn't a real black man anyways. To start with he's too educated and successful, and not angry or militant enough. I suppose Debra imagines her dropping out of Harvard law, her failure in politics, and overall mili'tude better qualify her for civil governance. That and her being a "real" black person and all. (Notice the power afro as evidence of blackness.)
A recent column in the Newark Star-Ledger lays out the stark reality that has turned this Zen-y, post-race, teetotaling philosopher, Rhodes scholar, Stanford football star and Yale Law grad into Martin Luther King Jr. If he doesn't see progress soon, we may be heading for Malcom X territory.
MLK to Malcolm X? Debra has black history rather backwards. Is she trying to say Booker is regressing and she finds it endearing?
Booker was talking about peaceful protest of the type MLK used. I don't hear him talking about carrying rifles in the street, or joining the Nation of Islam, or otherwise making more enemies than friends and helping perpetuate the problem for blacks. Though I'm sure he'd be more welcome in Debra's camp for doing so.
Booker's million and one grad school-infused plans... before he nailed his shiny diplomas to his office wall...
Project insecurity much? What does "Grad school infused plans" mean? Dickerson would presumably have "Harvard law dropout infused plans" and "hack writer infused plans" and no diploma worth nailing to any wall. Which would qualify her better, how exactly?
That Salon continues to pay (presumably) that clown Debra is a good example of why Salon is struggling.
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Shite story
The lede is kind of a decent feature-y opening but has nothing to do with the story. Also, the headline doesn't even begin to accurately reflect the content of the piece. "Cory Booker is angry as hell" but no interview with him? Who says he's mad as hell? Did he? I sure wouldn't know since the "journalist" who wrote this couldn't be bothered to include a quote.
This is very, very reminiscent of some overachieving journalism undergrad spewing out some appeal-to-emotion statistical finger-f*cking to get an A on their term paper.
Salon is lucky they have Cary Tennis, otherwise I wouldn't pay two cents for a subscription.
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Good Article But Pretty Sketchy
For readers, like me, who do not follow Jersey politics on a daily basis, this article has a lot of gaps. I would have appreciated a link to an interview or article with more quotes by the Mayor.
However I did get the gist of the article - New Jersey law marginalizing or imprisoning people with the underlying wish that they would just go away and die.
The drug war we are fighting in this country is and has been futile since the beginning. Black neighborhoods are held hostage by dealers and police and the white clients glide through undisturbed.
I never believed that I would say this even 5 years ago, but I think ALL drugs should be legalized. Let the hardcore heroin users register for their drugs and needles and get rehab if they want. Tax the drug profits (although prices will probably go down) and use the money for rehab and rebuilding neighborhoods and schools. Being high would still be illegal if you are operating a vehicle or at work, etc. just like it is now. I don't use drugs and I wouldn't run out and get them just because they become legal. And I think people will be more inclined to get help if they are not in danger of being thrown in jail instead. Maybe things would get even worse, but I doubt if things could get any worse than they are now.