LIVING IN RICHMOND
What's the story?
In this commentary, Bianca Butler talks about how her life changed when she moved from a suburb of Sacramento to Richmond, California when she was 15. The move meant leaving behind the freedom to take long walks and ride her bike. Now, she’s home by sunset, because of her dad’s fears and her own:
When I see my neighbors through those barred windows, I wonder if they feel trapped and isolated like I do.
Bianca’s dad wants to relocate with his family to a more “peaceful” place, but she worries about what will happen to her neighborhood if the “old timers” like her dad move away, in what she calls ‘black flight,” taking their memories of Richmond with them.
Read this Script!
Listen to this Commentary!
Teach this News Break!
Living in Richmond
"In Sacramento I felt secure riding my bike, taking long walks and riding the bus, but since I moved to Richmond, I’ve lost those privileges"
By Bianca Butler
I have a really early curfew - my dad forces me to be home by sunset. Don’t get the wrong idea, I’m not a juvenile delinquent. I’m a 17-year-old honor student, but I live in Richmond and this is my reality. I have to worry about random shootings, someone inviting themselves into an open window, and homeless people strolling down my block.
I moved to Richmond from a suburb in Sacramento when I was 15. In Sacramento I felt secure riding my bike, taking long walks and riding the bus, but since I moved to Richmond, I’ve lost those privileges. I know there is no place sheltered from danger, but in my old neighborhood I didn’t need bars on every window in my house. In Richmond I do.
When I see my neighbors through those barred windows, I wonder if they feel trapped and isolated like I do.
I have a photograph of downtown Richmond in the 1950s when it was vibrant and the streets were lined with flourishing department, jewelry and pharmacy stores. If you pass down those same streets today, those stores are vacant, abandoned and boarded up. Whenever my dad talks about his childhood it reminds me of that old picture.
Now, my dad wants to move out of Richmond to Vacaville or Sacramento where he can leave the worries of the city behind and settle into a peaceful and respectful neighborhood. He sees long-time residents like the old woman around the corner moving to houses in the suburbs as Richmond changes. But if people like my dad start to move away, in a sort of Black flight, if you will, who will bring back the memories of what Richmond was and could be?
Use the script and audio of the commentary in this Newsbreak to inspire students to explore these skills and themes:
Language Arts:
• Experiment with free writing.
• Explore community history through personal narrative.
• Identify cause and effect through inference.
• Examine how media both covers and helps produce sociological shifts in Richmond and other places across the United States.
Social Science:
• Explore the impact of an individual’s choices and actions on changes in both communities and public policy.
For this month's feature, you can access to these strategies and resources:
1. Ideas and Suggestions for lesson plans
2. Toolbox handouts
3. Synthesized Standards
4. Reporter Bios
5. Resources and further research
6. Youth Radio’s media production techniques
1. IDEAS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR LESSON PLANS:
LANGUAGE ARTS:
Sense of Place: Bianca opens her commentary with a picture of home, including details that give a sense of what it’s like to live where she does. With her line, “Don’t get the wrong idea,” she implies, quite rightly, that people often make all sorts of assumptions based on where and how you live. Have your students do a free-write off Biana’s line, “I live in ___________, and this is my reality.” Make sure somewhere in their writing, they include the line, “Don’t get the wrong idea.”
Oral History: Bianca’s dad’s memories of Richmond help shape her view of the city and the way it’s changed. Have students identify an elder in their neighborhoods to interview. They might select a member of their own families, a local leader, or maybe someone they’ve seen around but never thought to talk to - like a store owner, or the guy who waits at the bus stop or hangs out on a park bench. Have them work in teams to develop questions that probe the individual’s personal history and explore how the community has changed. Ask them to write up profiles of their interviewees that also serve as portraits of their neighborhoods.
Endings and Beginnings: Bianca’s story ends at a crossroads -with her father weighing the decision of whether to stay in Richmond or move to a different community. Split your class into two groups. Ask your students to take on the voices and characters Bianca introduces here, and write two different endings to her commentary. In one, her family decides to stay in Richmond. In the other, they leave. What happens next? What are the ripple effects of each decision? Bring the groups back together to share their stories.
*MEDIA LITERACY:
Black Flight: Bianca’s dad is considering moving his family out of Richmond, but Bianca worries that he might, in doing that, contribute to “black flight.” What does “black flight” mean? What is “white flight”? In a 2004 article for blackamericaweb.com, a reporter found 2,500 articles addressing the effect of white flight on public schools, but fewer than 100 dealing with the phenomenon of black flight. What does that tell you? How can “flight” be associated with the privilege of having options? What special issues and challenges does black flight raise for families like Bianca’s, and for urban America more broadly?
Richmond in the News: Around the time that Bianca wrote this commentary, Richmond, California was in the news because of escalating rates of violence, including homicides. Officials considered declaring a state of emergency in some neighborhoods. Have students find a newspaper article covering the situation in Richmond in 2005. Compare the insights and portrayals in Bianca’s piece and the print report they find. Where do things stand now? What community resources were activated to address the growing violence? How did young people play a role?
SOCIAL SCIENCE:
Picturing History: Bianca describes a photo of Richmond from the 1950s, when the streets bustled with residents and businesses. Have students do some research to find a picture of their town or city -even their own street- from back in the day. Notice what has changed -everything from local businesses, to the demographics, to vehicles on the road. What do these changes represent, in terms of economic, political, cultural, and environmental shifts? Do students see these changes as improvements, signs of things getting worse, or some combination? How do young people see themselves and their own families as playing a role in these changes?
Urban Environments: Something Bianca doesn’t mention here that marks the city of Richmond is that it contains a federally designated Superfund site. Ask your students to research the federal Superfund program. What are the debates surrounding environmental contaminants in Richmond? How have young people served as key organizers working for a healthier environment, using the framework of environmental justice (see research and resource list below)? Consider how this framework relates to the issues Bianca explores in her personal story.
Use these to help students focus and extend understanding...Coming Soon!
Subject: LANGUAGE ARTS
Reading: Comprehension
Reading: Connections
Reading: Response
Writing: Process
Writing: Product
Language Conventions: Word Choice/Style
Listening & Speaking: Discussion
Media Literacy: Analysis
Media Literacy: Evaluation
Subject: SOCIAL SCIENCE
Course: US History
Course: Economics
Course: Geography
Course: Sociology
Lens: History
Lens: Geography
Lens: Economics
Lens: Citizenship
Lens: Culture
Lens: Science, Technology & Society
Analysis: Cause & Effect
Analysis: Connections & Patterns
Analysis: Interpretations & Debates
4. Meet the Youth Radio REPORTER who produced the story:
Bianca Butler is a 2004 Youth Radio graduate and was a newsroom intern when she wrote this commentary, while finishing her senior year at El Cerrito High School. She is now in her first year at Sarah Lawrence College. Her plan is to concentrate on history and intern for print publications in New York City. She enjoys listening to techno and alternative rock, and reading nonfiction regarding race, class, and gender. Plus, she’s a total foody!
5. RESOURCES AND RESEARCH related to the story's themes:
•Article about “black flight” from public schools
•Youth Radio public affairs show on Richmond
•San Francisco Chronicle article on Richmond
•Environmental justice in Richmond
•Environmental health and justice organization for youth
6. MEDIA PRODUCTION TECHNIQUES:
Guides and inspiration for creative media-making projects: conducting interviews, writing commentaries, and producing features.
For many more hands-on resources and behind-the-scenes accounts of youth media production, check out the new book, Drop That Knowledge: Youth Radio Stories. Written by Youth Radio's Research Director and Senior Producer, Elisabeth Soep, and San Francisco State Professor Vivian Chavez, it's being touted by media experts as a "landmark contribution to our understanding of media and youth movements in the US."
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