A prevailing characteristic of Chicago is responsible for its being called, "A city of neighborhoods." Having grown up in Chicago as an African American on 39th east of Cottage Grove near the lakefront during the 50s 60s and 70s, it was easy for me to see a reluctance of the races to mix. Most whites were concerned with property values and living comfortably and peacefully among their own. Most black people, myself included, felt pretty much the same way about living among other black people. Nobody I knew had a desire to be the only negro family in an all-white neighborhood. But as more and more non-white, low-income black residents moved into Englewood and other predominantly white neighborhoods, there was the typical "White Flight."

Keep in mind, between the 1930s and 1960s, most black Chicagoans were low-income because of limited job opportunities and/or because of the limited education many of these former residents of the south possessed. So, a vicious cycle of poverty was overtaking these migrants from the south.

The sanctity of Chicago's predominantly white neighborhoods was always a concern of the city government. As Chicago's black population increased, high-rise public housing "projects" were erected to accommodate and attempt to contain it. Most of this, on the south side, took place east of Englewood: from 22nd to 53rd, from State Street to Federal was the largest public housing project in America. When these projects were at full occupancy, there were as many people in this nearly 2-square mile area as there were in some of the state's rural counties.

Black poverty, hopelessness, black-on-black gang-related violence and crime, a lack of positive and constructive resources created by blacks or provided by the city, brought on a decline in the quality of life in Englewood and other predominately-black neighborhoods in Chicago. It is a hopelessness and despair that neither blacks nor whites want to live in the midst of.

When you look at old photos from the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s of these southside residential areas, you see stores, businesses and industry. These were vibrant communities because the white residents owned these stores, businesses and industry. These white residents recognized the importance of properly educating themselves in order to sustain the economic foundation of their communities. As these whites left these neighborhoods, they took the stores, businesses and industry with them. Black people back then, and to some extent today, did not or could not establish businesses in these neighborhoods. As a result, these blacks did not create the employment base vital to the survival of their neighborhood. In my opinion, much of black unemployment, and the poverty it brings, can not be blamed entirely on white people.

The images of Englewood from the 1930s up to the 1960s, as opposed to today are a sad and stark contrast in opportunity taken advantage of, and opportunity lost and wasted.

As you travel around Chicago today through former predominately black neighborhoods, you see townhouses being built to replace dilapidated slums and public housing. A sad irony in all of this is, banks and realtors have invested more money towards this revitalization in the past 20 years than they did in the previous 40 years.

"Inner City" will one day no longer be a code word for "The black part of town." And Englewood is only a small part of this new reality.