In the latest edition of The Independent News, the weekly profiles Escambia County's District 3 in three different stories. In Rick Outzen’s piece, he describes the district as a place where whites don’t go “without risking their lives”. Dewayne Escobedo says District 3 is an area “where few white people ever venture”. Come on guys – is the area really that bad?
I think Outzen and company are being a little too over-dramatic in their descriptions of the area. I was a substitute teacher at Pensacola High School a couple of years ago and was never afraid of being mugged or car-jacked when I left the school.
Residents venturing near Pensacola’s “inner-city” don’t need to worry their safety. Pensacola doesn’t see the type of violence that bigger cities experience.
You don’t ever hear about an incident like this in Pensacola: Last month, in the predominantly African-American areas of Washington D.C., four people were shot to death in a span of five hours. That’s real violence.
That being said; I’m still glad the paper decided to write about this issue. Escambia County’s mostly African-American third district is a heavily blighted area; we should all take the time to understand the root causes of the district’s poverty. We can do something about the poverty once we understand it.
I think Outzen and company are being a little too over-dramatic in their descriptions of the area. I was a substitute teacher at Pensacola High School a couple of years ago and was never afraid of being mugged or car-jacked when I left the school.
Residents venturing near Pensacola’s “inner-city” don’t need to worry their safety. Pensacola doesn’t see the type of violence that bigger cities experience.
You don’t ever hear about an incident like this in Pensacola: Last month, in the predominantly African-American areas of Washington D.C., four people were shot to death in a span of five hours. That’s real violence.
That being said; I’m still glad the paper decided to write about this issue. Escambia County’s mostly African-American third district is a heavily blighted area; we should all take the time to understand the root causes of the district’s poverty. We can do something about the poverty once we understand it.
2 comments:
The piece is definitely melodramatic or over the top in a couple of places, and we definitely can't compete with DC, but there are shootings, there is prostitution, there is a LOT of drugs. It's a very depressed district.
District 3 is pretty big. I live on the edge of East Hill in District 3, and I think my neighborhood is pretty nice. My wife works at Baptist Hospital, often late at night, and has no concerns about working there (although, to be honest, I do). Does District 3 have problems? Sure. But I think the IN story was putting it too strongly to just say the whole of District 3 is in crisis.
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