In loop one of Can’t Stop Won’t Stop by Jeff Chang I
was intrigued by the history of the Bronx. At first I was shocked to read about
the slums that Robert Moses created in the Bronx, and that with his Cross-Bronx
Express he would be displacing 60,000 residents. However, when the idea of “planned
shrinkage” came into the picture, I was even more blown away. The book
explained it as “…health, fire, police, sanitation, and transit services would
be removed from the inner-cities until all people that remained had to leave….”
This belief that a certain group of people or city is not valid enough and
needs to be moved is absurd. Another quote that shocked me was from Professor
George Sternlieb, of Rutgers University, when he said, “The world can operate
very well without the South Bronx. There’s very little in it that anyone cares
for, that can’t be replicated elsewhere.” This goes back to the idea that “I am
better than you, so I can do with you as I please,” which is similar to the Black Like You reading when the differences
between the Europeans and Africans caused a history of abuse and disrespect. On
the other hand, knowing this history of the Bronx brings light to the fact that
this genre of music and art was able to spring up from such hatred, and allows
the listener or onlooker to have more compassion for the piece.
My song of choice is : Every Night by Imagine Dragon
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