Baltimore Talk (again) What needs to be done?

The city of Baltimore is in need of changes. While Baltimore is plagued with the problems that so many other cities face, the Charm City is also facing a different problem. Baltimore needs something to be pride itself around. The Panel of Writers that spoke at Loyola this past week were not as extreme as David Simon and the Wire, though they did speak truthfully. Gregory Kane, Jane Conly, Elizabeth Evitts, and Chezia Thompson all realize that Baltimore does not have very much hope in it’s present situation, but it can still be saved. The people with the ability to make changes, such as Mayor Dixon, must tend to the needs of Baltimore City. Baltimore needs a sense of community and companionship to drown out the underlying conflicts of corruption and crime.
One of the main conflicts in Baltimore that the panel of writers talked about was a problem called “blockbustering”. This was a scheme created by real estate developers that involved the purchasing of houses. The real estate companies in Baltimore would go into a nice neighborhood and buy a home from a white family. They would then sell the home to black family and inform the neighbors. During a time not half a century ago, racism was still an issue in Maryland, as well as in the United States. The real estate company would convince the neighboring white families that their homes would depreciate in value due to the presence of a black family. The real estate companies would go on to buy the white families’ homes for a cheaper price and then sell them to whoever would buy them for a more expensive price, making lucrative profits. When this atrocity of “blockbustering” was brought into the city’s forum, the Society of Jesus rose to the occasion in an effort to curb this corruption. A Jesuit priest in Baltimore started an organization to end “blockbustering”, and through publicity and tireless work, this terrible scheme was eventually eliminated from the agenda of real estate workers in Baltimore City.
This idea of corruption reminds me of my experience on a mission trip in Duran, Ecuador. Two of our days in Ecuador, we spent in a community called Veinitocho de Agosto. This was a new community that was built on a landfill. It was an incredibly sad sight to see trash everywhere in a place where people are trying to live. To make matters worse, the trash being dumped there from the nearby city, Guayaquil, was being burned and toxic fumes were emanated from it into the air that the people of the community breathe everyday. This terrible conflict needed to be resolved, and it was. However, the trash burning did not stop because the people were breathing in toxic fumes; the burning stopped because the rich people of Guayaquil could see the trash burning from over the river, and did not “look nice” to them. This conflict shows that corruption in a community is a terrible thing, especially for the poor.
While talking about corruption and crime, Baltimore is still in need of community and companionship. The writer, notable Mr. Kane, felt that the people simply need better utilities and necessities of a city, such as supermarkets and better public transportation. The panelists still did not show much hope for the communities, and they feel that Mayor Dixon does not do a good job of regulating crime in the community. The panelists also said that people want to be proud of their homes; the people want gardens and porches, family and friends. People deserve community, and Baltimore needs to live with less corruption. To pray for hope is not enough, Baltimore City, its people, and its politicians must make it happen.