King Street ghetto

     Very simply, how come whenever a street is named after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (the man the legend) it is always in a crummy, run down, crappy, dirty, un-taken care of lower class ghetto part of town? Why do I never see a Dr. King boulevard in an affluent neighborhood? How come I have never driven down a Martin Luther King avenue while at the same time been able to observe clean respectable store fronts on either side of the street (or anywhere on the street for that matter)? How many more streets are named after Dr. King in poor neighborhoods than are named after him in wealthy neighborhoods, or are named after him in neighborhoods that are at least decent? It has been said that Dr. King was and still is an american hero, and perhaps even a hero for the entire world. He represented a huge part of the civil rights movement and history would be very (very) different had he not done what he did (had he not made the great sacrifices that he did). That being the case, the question is, again: Whenever a street is named after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. it is always in a poor neighborhood, why?

      The question to ask ourselves after this is what does this phenomena mean? What does the fact that Dr. King streets are always in poor neighborhoods reflect about our society, our culture, our selves (our city planners)?

      Anyway, this could have easily been put into the observations section if it wasn’t for the questions that this observation raises. So to put it honestly, here is my apology to Dr. King:

Dear Dr. King,

      I am sorry that after all your hard work, and after all the labor of so many millions of people, we are able to name streets after you and your cause only in areas where your dream has gone unrealized. I apologize for what that shows so strongly about us. I apologize for this disrespect and irresponsible irony. I am sorry that the healing wound is aggravated by placing your good name only in places where the Black Man has yet to excel, only in places where the Black Man has yet to be satisfied, only in places where the Black Man has yet to paddle away from his lonely island of poverty into the ocean of material prosperity that is this country. I apologize that we have not done more since you left us, and I hope that you will understand we are still a nation of children.

Sincerely,