2. Minutes 3/5/10 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

South Bend Redevelopment Commission Regular Meeting –March 5, 2010 it on the back burner. We minimize it somewhat. And I’m passionate about it because I’m compassionate about it. Both of those things are important in order to be able to achieve and to accomplish the goal that we really need to accomplish. So, I can’t say it loud enough, or hard enough, or passionate enough, or compassionate enough to say that it is more than just important, it’s vital. Literally. It’s vital that we do it, and it’s vital that we fund it, as vital as anything you have on your agenda, is the lives of these guys and the lives of the guys and ladies that are in our program. It’s just as vital, if not more. So, I can’t express it enough, how vital it is. And I’m there! I know it! There is a writer that says, “There is a quiet plague that’s going on in America.” It’s not just in South Bend, and it’s talking about the punitive incarceration of black people. Because if you look at the numbers you can see that they are all out of proportion. The reason why that’s happening is because America still hasn’t gotten over it yet. We still got the same problems that we always had. That doesn’t mean that everybody is evil or anything like that. I’m just saying that there are some systemic problems that we still have to address and systems have to address them. And they have to be real and honest about the real problems and not just gloss over the problems and go onto the next thing because that’s what generally happens. We go on to the next thing. When I’m out there, when a guy comes to me and says, “I’ve got to have $15 to get some diapers. I can’t afford diapers for my kid. And I’m going to get some diapers one way or another.” So, I reach in my pocket and give him $15, because, I would rather give 15