Between a rock and a hard place

I was recently on the 70 bus towards Silver Spring from China town. It is a long journey and for some reason it is my favorite route out of the District. Every time I take the 70 I fall in love with the city. I think to myself

“This is DC, this is my new city.”

The route from Chinatown does not pass by a single national monument, you don’t see the white house, you don’t see any statues of battles, you don’t see anything that would be on a tourists “must see” list. Rather what I see is a hood, I see a neighborhood hood of small businesses, small ethnic shops selling food, cars, and hair.

The route passes Howard University I pass by a historically black university as if it was just another high school. There is so much culture on Georgia avenue, more culture than where the statue of Thomas Jefferson stands.

When I travel the bus down Georgia avenue I know that I will be more than happy to ride this bus, just to ride it, even if I had a car, even if I didn’t have to, I would still want this tour of the city, the real city, the realist part of the district.

What saddened me this particular trip was seeing a school, that was between a strip club and a liquor store. The school looked to be an elementary school, and on its left was a strip club a side road between them, and then on the schools right sharing a wall a liquor store. I marveled at this, having never seen anything like this before.

It makes me wonder, isn’t there a law that a church and a strip club cannot be built within a certain radius within each other? So why not the same for a school? Do the children really have to walk past a liquor store going to and from school? Do they really need to be exposed to what a strip club is at such a young age? Where else is this found? I knew in my heart that had I been traveling back up Georgia avenue I would not find something like that. Up, the road where the buildings start to turn white and roman, it is unheard of for a school, elementary or other wise to be built next to a liquor store, let alone a strip club. So why is it okay here in the lower parts of the district?

Did not Malcolm teach us that “What is good for the goose is good for the gander?”

Is this how serious DC takes education? This city needs help, its children are in need they are truly in between a rock and a hard place. In the district there are plenty of liquor stores surely they can stand to not build one on that corner. What about a playground instead? Is another strip club needed there? Is it a must? Cannot it be moved further down the street? On Georgia there are plenty of unused buildings. It just bothers me that the children are expected to learn in such conditions. It is almost as if the city is giving up on them. When the city is giving the choice between booze and selling sex it chooses both and puts the children in the middle of it. As if your environment does not affect your learning. And what is the product of a school with a strip club and a liquor store as its neighbors? Showing the children their prospects for the future? Truly the city has given up on its children, so in truth the city has given up on its self.