There is no such thing as integration

Recent news that carjackers are targeting the Ruskin Heights area reminds me that there is no such thing as integration there are merely neighborhoods in transition.

In my neck of the woods, the rich white people want back in and they are kicking out all of the poor and mostly minority folk in order to build their silly looking lofts, condos and poorly designed houses. Ruskin Heights was once a nice suburban neighborhood until a few Black people moved in, the whites left (bolted), the property values plummeted and then more Black people (this time poorer ones) moved in and now the area and a great deal of South KC is in free fall.

Last year, in the same vicinity of Ruskin Heights Robert Osborn was man shot to death while riding his bike home from work and nearly a decade ago the rape and murder of Ann Harrison in the area spelled the beginning of white flight and the end of a decent neighborhood. You can place your blame for this situation on the predominately Black and Meth'd out white perpetrators of crime, the white flight that initially dropped property values in the area or the fear and ignorance that guides nearly all instances of crime and panic. It doesn't matter because in the end, no matter who you blame . . . You're going to want to do it from another location that doesn't put you in jeopardy of being robbed or killed in poor, ignored and illustrative of this town's history . . . Ruskin Heights.