Text Production

The following group work activity consists of three successive steps. A business manager, a newspaper reporter, and an environmentalist are involved in the controversy of economics versus ecology. Choose one of the roles.

Step 1 (statement): You are a representative of Chemicals International. Write a statement which you are going to deliver at a press conference. The purpose of the statement is to announce the company's decision not to take immediate steps to reduce pollution of the environment. Try to convince the audience.

Step 2 (newspaper article): You are one of the reporters attending the news conference of Chemicals Internationa!. Take notes on the business manager's statement and write an article for your newspaper. Step 3 (letter to the editor): You have read the article about the commercial views of Chemicals International on ecological problems. As an active environmentalist you do not agree. Write a letter to the editor.

5 The Urbanization of America

part A Background Information

NEW YORK The first glimpse of American city life for the 12 million foreigners who

arrived in New York harbor during the wave of European immigration between 1892 and 1924 was New York City. The first destination of many tourists to the United States today is the "gateway to America." What one sees in New York City is in many ways the best and worst of American cities. Many would agree with contemporary American novelist Saul Bellow, who observed that "what is barely hinted at in other American cities is condensed and enlarged in New York." All large cities, not only in the United States but all over the world share many of New York's desirable and undesirable qualities.

On the one hand, New York is a focus of culture and power. New York's attractions include spectacular sky-scrapers, Broadway theaters, outstanding museums, and posh department stores. The city houses the national centers of finance, insurance, advertising, and communications. On the other hand, New York is a city of poverty and deterioration. Acres of neglected tenements and failing business establishments betray the city's social and economic troubles.

As America's largest city, with a population of 7 million people of various ethnic groups, New York is plagued by interracial conflicts, slums, and financial difficulties.

New York is sometimes called "the melting pot that didn't melt." New York's ethnic groups generally do not intermix. It is easy to point out black, Italian, Jewish, Chinese, Puerto Rican, Polish, and other ethnic neighborhoods. Even the city's Swedes and Norwegians live in separate neighborhoods. Tensions surface when members of one ethnic group begin to challenge another group for housing, jobs, and power. Some friction has arisen between • blacks and other city ethnic groups that have tended to be concentrated in certain occupations. Historically, New York City policemen have been pre­dominantly Irish and garbage collectors have been mostly Italian. Each of these groups has resisted attempts by blacks to move into these occupations.

A well-known problem in New York City is its slums. In many sections of Brooklyn and the Bronx, one can see demolished buildings, littered lots, and abandoned structures. Problems such as high crime rates, deteriorating schools

Bellow, Saul: born 1915, American novelist, author of Herzog, Mr Sammler's Planet and Humboldt's Gift.

82 AMERICA IN CLOSE-UP

GROWTH OF CITIES

SUBURBANIZATION

and public services, and poverty require costly solutions.

New York City has suffered serious financial problems. In the mid-1970s the city came near bankruptcy and was forced to appeal to the federal government for loan assistance. Financial problems have recently been worsened by the flight of many businesses and industries from the city to the suburbs.

Many of New York City's problems are not unique, but are shared by most large cities at this stage in the urbanization process. A look at present-day New York gives the reader an orientation point for a wider view of American urbanization.

Today most Americans live in urban areas. This high concentration of the population in cities was not always the case in America. In the 1780s most Americans lived in rural areas; only 10 percent lived in cities. Throughout the period of industrialization and immigration in the nineteenth century, cities grew rapidly so that by 1920, 50 percent of the population were city dwellers. Urbanization has continued in the twentieth century. By 1980, America's metropolitan areas claimed 80 percent of the population.

America's transition from a rural to an urban nation brought on new problems for cities. At the beginning of the 1800s, American cities did not experience the social problems resulting from overcrowding which were charac­teristic of European cities at that time. Within a few decades, however, rapid urban population growth gave American cities the same unpleasant qualities associated with the world's older cities. Social services such as sanitation, housing, and public education were inadequate, and facilities for sewage treatment and garbage collection were archaic or nonexistent. One temporary solution for clearing the garbage-filled streets of large cities was to let pigs roam the streets as scavengers. Gradually, conditions in large cities improved. By 1920 most cities had public health facilities, housing quality laws, and more adequate public schools.

Even as the United States has become increasingly urbanized, counter-currents of hostility have run strong. The corrupting influence of cities con­trasted with the wholesomeness of rural life has been a common theme in American literature and philosophy. Yet urbanization is an inescapable fact of modern life. People are drawn by the promise of economic gain or cultural advantages that cities offer. At the same time, however, Americans have traditionally yearned for a separate piece of land, closeness to nature, and freedom from restrictions imposed by living too close to others.

One rather recent trend which reconciles the ambivalence Americans have felt towards their cities is suburbanization. In the suburbs, the less heavily populated areas at the edge of the city, both the spaciousness of rural life and the bustling activity of urban life are available.

Since the mid-1960s many central cities have experienced a decrease in population, while the suburbs have continued to expand as a result of America's increasing prosperity and desire for cleaner air, more space, and a private house and yard. Of the 80 percent of Americans who live in urban and metropolitan areas, about two-thirds now live in suburbs. Suburbs are regarded as part of a city's structure. As suburban rings spread farther and farther out, metropolitan areas, in the past ten or twenty years, have become enormous. The metropolitan areas of each of the country's six largest cities, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Houston, and Detroit, have populations of over a million. Many metropolitan areas have become so large that they have begun to merge into other metropolitan areas, forming a megalopolis, which

THE URBANIZATION OF AMERICA 83

THE TRANSPORT FACTOR

DETERIORATION

AND

ABANDONMENT

SLUM CLEARANCE

GENTRIFICATION

is the term used to describe the urban network that results from such expansion. One megalopolis extends along the Atlantic coast from Boston through New York to Washington, D.C. It is estimated that by the year 2000, 80 percent of Americans will live in 28 or so of these megalopolises.

The first outward spread of cities away from the center, a movement ante­cedent to suburbanization, was made possible in the 1890s with the develop­ment of better public transportation. Electric trolley lines and trains allowed wealthy and middle-class city dwellers to move out from the city at a commut-able distance from work. As the middle class moved away from the working class, the wealthier moved even farther into the countryside. Thus, the possi­bility of commuting allowed urban areas to spread outwards and provided for a rough stratification along class lines.

The change which directly precipitated the emergence of suburbs was the popularization of the private car. In the baby boom of the 1950s, when cities were scarcely able to cope with the demand for family housing, the wealthy and middle class, now car owners independent of public transportation, were able to move still farther out of crowded cities to find a suitable home with a private yard. In the 1950s and early 1960s, the building industry responded to the demand by developing residential areas which characteristically were comprised of neat, quickly constructed, look-alike houses set on unfenced lots. Today, the typical suburban home, the symbol of middle-class security, is comfortably equipped with at least two bathrooms, a den, and a separate bedroom for every child.

Not only have families been attracted to the suburbs, but businesses have also discovered the advantages of a suburban location. Lower taxes and the growing labor pool there have prompted many retail stores, corporate centers, and other firms to move from downtown to the suburbs.

A direct consequence of the suburbanization of American cities has been the depletion of the central cities' financial resources, a condition which has led to a new problem: deterioration and abandonment of city centers. With suburbanization, city centers were regarded as the least desirable areas in which to live. Houses and apartments were poorly maintained and allowed to deteriorate to such a state that many residential areas have been abandoned. The inner city slums, where rent for shabby buildings was cheaper, were then populated by those who could not afford to move out: the uneducated and unskilled. In addition, there was an influx after 1945 of many newcomers to the city, mostly blacks and Hispanics, whose livelihood had been lost through mechanization of farms. With the increase of relatively unskilled poor people, for whom employment was not readily available, social problems such as crime and slums were exacerbated.

In the past two decades, nevertheless, attempts have been made to improve cities. One approach, which was practiced in the 1960s, was the systematic clearance of slums and the construction of modern high-rise social housing units in their place. Between 1949 and 1968, 425,000 housing units for poor people were torn down in the belief that social problems could be erased by starting from scratch. This response failed to take into account the human element—the feelings of displacement and alienation which these underprivi­leged families suffered at having to abandon their neighborhoods.

Another more recent response to the problems of cities has been preser­vationist in nature. Rather than razing whole neighborhoods, many people are restoring and renovating. Washington's Georgetown, Boston's Beacon Hill,

84 AMERICA IN CLOSE-UP

THE NEW DOWNTOWN

and Philadelphia's Society Hill are areas which, protected from demolition, have recently been restored as charming townhouse residences for the well-to-do. The interest in restoration has extended even to old warehouses where studio lofts are becoming trendy residences for artists and young professional singles. This private-sector restoration of dilapidated housing is known as gentrification.

For many people, gentrification, and thus the return of the middle class to the cities, represents real progress in the urban center's struggle to bolster its impoverished rax base. Some cities have experienced not only cosmetic renewal but overall economic and social rejuvenation. However, viewing gen­trification from the perspective of the poor, who are displaced by the trans­formation of low-rent housing into luxury apartments, leaves some of urban renewal's more difficult questions unanswered.

Another recent strategy for renewal has been targeted at the downtown the term which has come to refer to the central business district where banks and stores are located, as opposed to the inner city which connotes troubled, crime-ridden residential areas. Private sector groups, including architects, bankers, and retailers, have been active in redeveloping downtown areas. Many of the new downtowns are modeled after Atlanta's Peachtree Center, a spacious, elaborately decorated plaza complex containing retail stores, res-

Modern office building in central San Francisco

THE URBANIZATION OF AMERICA 85

taurants, and cultural attractions such as art exhibits. Other downtown programs feature main-street malls, skywalks, and dial-a-bus systems, all designed to give office workers a reason to stay downtown.

During the past two decades, cities such as New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco have succeeded in rebuilding and renovating large tracts of the central city area, thus once again attracting businesses and more affluent groups.

In recent years, downtown areas undoubtedly have become more livable, more people-oriented, and more aesthetically interesting. Where ten years ago it was virtually impossible in many cities to get around without a car, today many cities offer pedestrian zones and improved mass transit systems, making car ownership optional rather than mandatory.

Although the inner cities' social problems of poverty, unemployment, inadequate housing, and crime are not adequately addressed by this focus on business districts, the new interest in preserving the nation's downtowns provides hope for many cities as they compete with the suburbs for tax bases and federal assistance.

GROWTH OF SMALL The recent urban renewal programs have been successful in stimulating
TOWNS population growth in at least some major cities. Yet since the 1960s and 70s,

many cities have been experiencing a continual decline in population. Detroit, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland were among those cities with the greatest population losses between 1970 and 1980. Not all of those who are leaving the city are settling in the suburbs. According to the 1980 census, small towns have been experiencing heavy population growth. Rural population growth in the 1970s was the greatest since the 1870s. Between 1970 and 1980, it grew by over 11 percent.

Public opinion polls consistently show that most Americans would rather live in small towns or rural areas if they could. What accounts for the fact that so many Americans are now fulfilling this dream? New employment oppor­tunities have opened up, especially in small southern towns, as light industries move to these less expensive, warmer locations. In addition, the improved network of highways gives smaller communities better access to supplies and markets.

What many of these city people hope to find by escaping to small com­munities is the fulfillment of their wistful longings for friendly neighbors and a slower pace of life. While most newcomers find that small towns do provide the more congenial atmosphere they sought, small town life is far from idyllic. They are discovering that America's small towns are beset by the same prob­lems that affect cities, except on a smaller scale. Like cities, many small towns suffer from high unemployment rates, tight budgets, housing shortages, and even "downtown decay." Poverty exists in most small towns.

Many of these conditions occur because rural America is no longer econ­omically or culturally isolated from the rest of America. Although the move­ment to small communities may at first seem like the beginning of a deurban-ization of America, what is actually happening is that the countryside is becoming more urbanized. Since the Second World War, when roads and communication lines permanently linked country to city, rural America has been modernizing at such a rate that the gap between rural and urban is closing. The present attraction to small towns represents not a ruralization trend, but the continued suburbanization of an already quite suburbanized America.

part в Texts

• SMALL-TOWN LIFE

We were sitting around a fireplace filled with greenery - Edward Runden and his wife, Linda, and I - drinking sherry and smelling the good smell of something roasting in the kitchen. Runden is forty years old, with an eager, boyish look and an incon­spicuous mustache, and he teaches history at Cory-don Central High School. Mrs. Runden, a vivid young woman with a fall of thick, dark hair, is also a teacher. She teaches behavioral science twice a week in a family-practice residency program at the University of Louisville Medical School. "Oh, sure," Runden was saying. "Randy West and I have a lot of things in common. For one thing, we both married local girls. Linda was a Keller. Her Cousin Bill runs the furniture factory."

Mrs. Runden smiled across the lip of her glass. "I'm also related to Art Funk," she said. "And to Fred Griffin's wife. And Bob O'Bannon. And Rosamond Sample."

"She's probably even some kin to Marydee West," Runden said. "Another thing about Randy and me - his first job when he came to Corydon was teaching at the high school." He took a sip of sherry. "And I used to be a newspaperman myself. That's how Linda and I met. That was in Chicago, at one of those demonstrations. Linda was demon­strating, and I was covering it for the Associated Press. I started out on a paper in Elgin, Illinois, and then I went with U.P.I, in Chicago, and then I tried the Foreign Service, in Iran, in Teheran, until our deadly foreign policy made me sick. I was glad to come back to Chicago. That's when I started working for the A.P. But by the time Linda and I got married we were both getting tired of city life — the ugliness, the squalor, the misery. So we got to thinking about Corydon. We subscribed to the Democrat — a terrific paper, by the way — to try to get the feel of the

place. And, one way and another, we liked the feel we got."

"I liked the idea of connectedness," Mrs. Runden said. "And, I guess, the roots. My great-grandfather came here from Germany in eighteen forty-six. He arrived in New York, and the first person he met who spoke German was a black freedman, who was on his way west - on foot. My great-grandfather walked along with him and ended up in Harrison County. I think I miss big-city life more than Ed does. I seem to need people more. And then there's the conservatism here. Corydon must be one of the last places on earth where people in real need are too proud, too ashamed, to go on welfare. And you can imagine their position on something like abor­tion. Still, when I remember Chicago..."

"Small-town life has its drawbacks," Runden said. "There is a certain lack of privacy, although people are aware of that and make an effort to keep their distance, to not be nosy. But lack of privacy doesn't bother me. It might if I had a Swiss bank account, or if I was into some kind of kinky sex. But I just don't have that much to hide. I think the good side of small-town life far outweighs the bad. If you have trouble with your dry cleaner in Chicago, he couldn't care less what you think or do. It's different here. You can't be ripped off. A person's reputation mat­ters. And so does the individual. He can still influence the course of events. Corydon's still on a human scale. There's a sense of the seasons. There's a closeness to the basics. It's something to be able to hear a rooster crow these days. I think more and more people are coming to realize that. I think Linda and I are part of something interesting. We're in the first wave of people of our age and position who are moving away from the city — and not to the suburbs. Moving to the small town. To Corydon."

Associated Press: the oldest of the American press agencies, started in 1848. Associated Press (A. P.) and United Press International are the two largest American press agencies.

U.P.I.: United Press International, American press agency, formed in 1958. freedman: man who has been freed from slavery, an emancipated slave.

THE URBANIZATION OF AMERICA 87

REVIVAL OF A CITY'S VIRTUES

Why a young single woman moves to the city by Mildred Norman-Risch

and we've learned to take off our wooden clogs as soon as we come in," Susan laughed, "Besides, it's a lot cheaper than buying carpeting. We really didn't have much money when we moved in here."

Last fall I spent a weekend visit­ing my friend Susan m Richmond, Virginia. One purpose of my visit was to get away from the small town where I had been living and enjoy the motion and activity of a bigger city. Furthermore, I was looking for­ward to seeing Susan's new apart­ment, which I had already heard so much about. Four months earlier, Susan and another girl had moved into the second floor of a two-story brick house in a part of the city known as "the Fan." This section gets its name because the streets here radi­ate from a central point in the city forming a fan shape. The main busi­ness district, the tall, 25-story build­ings, the grand, old southern hotels, and hundreds of stores and park­ing garages, all of which designate "downtown," are only a few blocks away from Susan's apartment.

From the outside, Susan's house was what I can only describe as neat and yellow. Yellow shutters at the windows, a solid yellow front porch, brightened with geranium blooms, and a heavy colonial style door with a brass eagle knocker. I was some­what surprised. Perhaps I had ex­pected to see some chipped paint, a sagging front porch, or some feature of the picture I had had of inner-city houses.

Susan met me at the door and proudly asked, "Well, how do you like it? I'm dying to show you the inside!" We went up the stairs to her place. What caught my attention were the beautiful wooden floors.

Renovated houses in "the Fan'[, Richmond, Virginia

How long had it been since I was in a house that had no carpeting? How many modern houses and apartments are even built with hardwood floors? "Ann and I really like the floors. We've gotten used to walking softly,

AMERICA IN CLOSE-UP

2. continued

The large room was in fact sparsely furnished — a big oak table, a red leather chair, a small table and some bookshelves. A large fireplace, already stacked with wood, and ready for use, dominated the living room.

Next I was shown the bathroom, which included an antique bathtub complete with four little feet, two bedrooms, both of which had large windows, and the kitchen, which was large enough for a breakfast table.

We talked about how she and Ann had made the decision to move here to the Fan. I was curious about the neighborhood. Many mner-city resi­dential areas are predominantly black, and very often there are ten­sions between whites and blacks.

"We haven't had any bad experi­ences, if you mean trouble between blacks and whites. Before we moved here, our parents and some of our friends tried to persuade us into moving into a modern apartment complex, which they considered "safer"; they warned us against moving to the Fan, where crime is supposedly a problem.

"I think many people have a totally false impression of city life, and what it's like to live here in the Fan. We don't take any more precautions against theft or rape than our girl­friends who live farther away from the city. Sure, every day you can pick up the newspaper and read about a robbery or a mugging; it happens. And there are a few streets in the Fan that I absolutely avoid. But I think many people exaggerate the dangers and carry in their minds the delusion that life in the city is a constant fight for survival and self-defense. It's certainly not my experi­ence. Some people think that if you live in the city, all you have to do is

look out your window and you can see live scenes from Kojak and other crime shows passing before your very eyes; risk, danger, violence.

"I find another kind of challenge living here in the Fan: the challenge of restoring the neighborhood, for example. And there's adventure in discovering the little cafes and shops that only real city people know about. The people here in the city are so interesting to watch and to talk to. This is why I moved to the Fan."

Susan told me about her neighbor­hood. The Fan is one of the many city neighborhoods which follows the recent trends in urban community renewal. As Susan put it, the Fan is one of those places that's "on its way up and in." The neighborhood has in recent years taken on a new identity and has become a popular area for students. For one thing, the university is located right in the Fan, and so the row houses have attracted students because of their convenience. Many landlords invested money renovating the houses so that they could ac­commodate the students' demand for housing and also meet the student's expectations. With the influx of students, the Fan is experiencing a changing identity.

What was the neighborhood like many years ago? Quite different, Susan told me. This area near down­town had followed the pattern of many neighborhoods in cities, typical not only of Richmond, but other cities as well. In the 1880s, when many houses in the Fan were built, the property was expensive, and most of the people living in the area were people with money. At that time, this residential area was not so near the city. Richmond was much smaller then. But as the businesses ex­panded, the city spread out until it

met the Fan. Many of the residents joined the middle-class exodus from the city to the suburbs, where dis­tance from the city was seen as more desirable. The property in the Fan, being therefore less desirable, went down in price. Throughout the years the population of the Fan community shifted to a greater percentage of black residents, most of whom rented the houses from former or other owners. The houses by this time had become run-down. Paint was peel­ing, porches were sagging, win­dows were broken. Generally, these lower-income families couldn't afford to make repairs, and the landlords didn't take the responsibility to keep up the quality of the houses. The investment wouldn't have paid off, in their short-sighted point of view. The neighborhood acquired another reputation by this time. Crime, seg­regation, and dilapidation were some of the new features.

However, in the last twenty years, the composition and character of the neighborhood has started to change again. Besides the Fan's students, who come and go, lots of people are moving to the Fan to stay. These newcomers are often young pro­fessionals who take advantage of government programs that give tax breaks to anyone who buys and reno­vates an old house in this area. It's becoming trendy among young pro­fessionals not just to live in the city but to live in city townhouses they've renovated to suit their personal style. This fad has brought new life and charm to the Fan.

Susan remarked that what she liked about the neighborhood was that it seemed "both old and new at the same time." That phrase captured my impression of Susan and Ann's renovated apartment, too.

Kojak: name of detective and police drama TV series.

THE URBANIZATION OF AMERICA 89

Beneatha goes to the door and opens it as Walter and Ruth go on with the clowning. Beneatha is somewhat surprised to see a quiet-looking middle-aged white man in a business suit holding his hat and a briefcase in his hand and consulting a small piece of paper.

lindner Uh — how do you do, miss. I am looking for a Mrs. (he looks at the slip of paper) Mrs. Lena Younger? beneatha (Smoothing her hair with slight embarrass­ment) Oh — yes, that's my mother. Excuse me (She closes the door and turns to quiet the other two) Ruth! Brother! Somebody's here. (Then she opens the door.) (The man casts a curious quick glance at all of them.) Uh — come in please. lindner (Coming in) Thank you. beneatha My mother isn't here just now. Is it business? lindner Yes... well, of a sort.

Walter (Freely, the Man of the House) Have a seat. I'm Mrs. Younger's son. I look after most of her busi­ness matters. (Ruth and Beneatha exchange amused glances)

lindner (Regarding Walter, and sitting) Well — my name is Karl Lindner...

walter (Stretching out his hand) Walter Younger. This is my wife — (Ruth nods politely) — and my sister.

LINDNER HOW do yOU do.

Walter (Amiably, as he sits himself easily on a chair, leaning with interest forward on his knees and looking expectantly into the newcomer's face) What can we do for you, Mr. Lindner?

lindner (Some minor shuffling of the hat and brief­case on his knees) Well — I am a representative of the Clybourne Park Improvement Association — walter (Pointing) Why don't you set your things on the floor?

lindner Oh — yes. Thank you. (He slides the briefcase and hat under the chair) And as I was saying - I am from the Clybourne Park Improvement Association and we have had it brought to our attention at the last meeting that you people - or at least your mother — has bought a piece of residential property at - (he digs for the slip of paper again) — four о six Clybourne street...

walter That's right. Care for something to drink? Ruth, get Mr. Lindner a beer.

lindner (Upset for some reason) Oh - no, really. I mean thank you very much, but no thank you.

ruth (Innocently) Some coffee?

lindner Thank you, nothing at all.

(Beneatha is watching the man carefully)

lindner Well, I don't know how much you folks know

about our organization. (He is a gentle man; thoughtful

and somewhat labored in his manner) It is one of these

community organizations set up to look after - oh,

you know, things like block upkeep and special projects

and we also have what we call our New Neighbors'

Orientation Committee...

beneatha (Drily) Yes — and what do they do?

lindner (Turning a little to her and then returning the

main force to Walter) Well — it's what you might call a

sort of welcoming committee, I guess. I mean they,

we, I'm the chairman of the committee, go around and

see the new people who move into the neighborhood

and sort of give them the lowdown on the way we do

things out in Clybourne Park.

beneatha (With appreciation of the two meanings,

which escape Ruth and Walter) Uh-huh.

lindner And we also have the category of what the

association calls - (He looks elsewhere) - uh - special

community problems...

beneatha Yes — and what are some of those?

walter Girl, let the man talk.

lindner (With understated relief) Thank you. I would

sort of like to explain this thing in my own way. I mean

I want to explain to you in a certain way.

walter Go ahead.

lindner Yes. Well. I'm going to try to get right to the

point. I'm sure we'll all appreciate that in the long run.

BENEATHA YeS.

Walter Be still now!

LINDNER Well —

ruth (Still innocently) Would you like another chair -you don't look comfortable.

lindner (More frustrated than annoyed) No, thank you very much. Please. Well - to get right to the point I — (A great breath, and he is off at last) I am sure you people must be aware of some of the incidents which have happened in various parts of the city when colored people have moved into certain areas — (Beneatha exhales heavily and starts tossing a piece of fruit up and down in the air) Well - because we have what I think is going to be a unique type of organization in American community life — not only do we deplore that kind of thing - but we are trying to do something about it.

90 AMERICA IN CLOSE-UP

3. continued

(Beneatha stops tossing and turns with a new and quuizzical interest to the man) We feel — (gaining confidence in his mission because of the interest in the faces of the people he is talking to) — we feel that most of the trouble in this world, when you come right down to it — (He hits his knee for emphasis) - most of the trouble exists because people just don't sit down and talk to each other.

ruth (Nodding as she might in church, pleased with the remark) You can say that again, mister. lindner (More encouraged by such affirmation) That we don't try hard enough in this world to understand the other fellow's problem. The other guy's point of view.

ruth Now that's right.

(Beneatha and Walter merely watch and listen with genuine interest)

lindner Yes — that's the way we feel out in Clybourne Park. And that's why I was elected to come here this afternoon and talk to you people. Friendly like, you know, the way people should talk to each other and see if we couldn't find some way to work this thing out. As I say, the whole business is a matter of caring about the other fellow. Anybody can see that you are a nice family of folks, hard working and honest I'm sure. (Beneatha frowns slightly, quizzically, her head tilted regarding him) Today everybody knows what it means to be on the outside of something. And of course, there is always somebody who is out to take the advantage of people who don't always understand. walter What do you mean?

lindner Well — you see our community is made up of people who've worked hard as the dickens for years to build up that little community. They're not rich and fancy people; just hardworking, honest people who don't really have much but those little homes and a dream of the kind of community they want to raise their children in. Now, I don't say we are perfect and there is a lot wrong in some of the things they want. But you've got to admit that a man, right or wrong, has the right to want to have the neighborhood he lives in a certain kind of way. And at the moment the over­whelming majority of our people out there feel that people get along better, take more of a common interest in the life of the community, when they share a common background. I want you to believe me when I tell you that race prejudice simply doesn't enter into it. It is a matter of the people of Clybourne Park believing, rightly or wrongly, as I say, that for the happiness of all concerned our Negro families are happier when

they live in their own communities. beneatha (With a grand and bitter gesture) This, friends, is the Welcoming Committee! walter (Dumbfounded, looking at Lindner) Is this what you came marching all the way over here to tell us?

lindner Well, now we've been having a fine conver­sation. I hope you'll hear me all the way through. walter (Tightly) Go ahead, man. lindner You see — in the face of all the things I have said, we are prepared to make your family a very generous offer...

beneatha Thirty pieces and not a coin less! walter Yeah?

lindner (Putting on his glasses and drawing a form out of the briefcase) Our association is prepared, through the collective effort of our people, to buy the house from you at a financial gain to your family. ruth Lord have mercy, ain't this the living gall? walter All right, you through? lindner Well, I want to give you the exact terms of the financial arrangement —

walter We don't want to hear no exact terms of no arrangements, I want to know if you got more to tell us 'bout getting together?

lindner (Taking off his glasses) Well — I don't suppose that you feel...

walter Never mind how I feel — you got any more to say 'bout how people ought to sit down and talk to each other?... Get out of my house, man. (He turns his back and walks to the door) lindner (Looking around at the hostile faces and reaching and assembling his hat and briefcase) Well — I don't understand why you people are reacting this way. What do you think you are going to gain by moving into a neighborhood where you just aren't wanted and where some elements — well - people can get awful worked up when they feel that their whole way of life and everything they've ever worked for is threatened. Walter Get out.

lindner (At the door, holding a small card) Well — I'm sorry it went like this.

WALTER Get OUt.

lindner (Almost sadly regarding Walter) You just can't force people to change their hearts, son. (He turns and puts his card on a table and exits. Walter pushes the door to do with stinging hatred, and stands looking at it. Ruth just sits and Beneatha just stands. They say nothing. Mama and Travis enter)

From A Raism in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry

Hansberry, Lorraine: 1930—65, black American playwright.

THE URBANIZATION OF AMERICA 91

CHILDREN OF POVERTY

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Дата добавления: 2015-10-26