This was written in 1902 in the book "The Battle With The Slum," by Jacob Riis. Riis was a penniless immigrant who started out living in the worst slums of New York City, and eventually grew to become one of the single most powerful voices for reform in American history. He was one of the those credited with ending child labor in the United States, establishing and enforcing building codes that put an end to the unimaginable squalor many lived in during the 19th century, and was a defender of immigrants and the poor. Here's a quote of his I just read from "The Battle With The Slum" -
"The boy who flings mud and stones is entering his protest in his own way against the purblind policy that gave him jails for schools and the gutter for a playground; that gave him dummies for laws and the tenement for a home. He is demanding his rights, of which he has been cheated, - the right to his childhood, the right to know the true dignity of labor that makes a self-respecting manhood. The gang, rightly understood, is our ally, not our enemy. Like any ailment of the body, it is a friend come to tell us of something that has gone amiss. The thing for us to do is find out what it is, and set it right."
This is what's sticking in my brain right now, a half hour drive north of South Central LA.
"The boy who flings mud and stones is entering his protest in his own way against the purblind policy that gave him jails for schools and the gutter for a playground; that gave him dummies for laws and the tenement for a home. He is demanding his rights, of which he has been cheated, - the right to his childhood, the right to know the true dignity of labor that makes a self-respecting manhood. The gang, rightly understood, is our ally, not our enemy. Like any ailment of the body, it is a friend come to tell us of something that has gone amiss. The thing for us to do is find out what it is, and set it right."
This is what's sticking in my brain right now, a half hour drive north of South Central LA.
