This marks the completion of forty-nine days, making seven weeks, and leading to the holiday of Shavuot.
Some important evidence —
A page of resources, including a number about gun-related evidence, was prepared prior to Recounting Exodus along the Anacostia‘s publication in late March. The material is included here as it was prepared then — with an update on one report mentioned in March and issued in April — with no attempt to update after May events.
Gun-related Evidence
Urban Institute has done a great deal of work on gun violence, its causes, its costs, and strategies for addressing it. Here are some reports to check out:
The Hospital Costs of Firearm Assaults, 2013
Guns and People of Color: Voices from the Community, 2016
Is Gun Violence Stunting Business Growth? 2016
Gun Violence Affects the Economic Health of Communities, 2017
Perspectives on Guns and Gun Violence from Young Adults Living in Chicago’s West and South Sides, 2018
The new organization, Peace for DC, commissioned a study from the Urban Institute on costs of gun violence, which was released on April 15. Peace for DC, co-founded by CRDer Rachel Usdan, works to “amplify and accelerate the efforts of DC’s community gun violence prevention and intervention organizations” and provides more information about community-based approaches.
Economic Evidence
In addition to research on gun violence and its costs, the Urban Institute has a plethora of resources in print, and other media about economics, nationally and in specific locations. The Color of Wealth in the Nation’s Capital, (see Day 40, above), was the third in a series that included similar reports about Boston and Los Angeles.
Again, that huge wealth gap cited from the Color of Wealth was no typo:
White households in DC have a net worth 81 times greater than Black Households: In 2013 and 2014, the typical White household in DC had a net worth of $284,000. Black American households, in contrast, had a net worth of $3,500.
Moreover:
[DC’s]Black population stands at 48 percent, down from 70 percent in the 1970s. The demographic shift is accompanied by gentrification. While gentrification can bring benefits to neighborhoods, it can also bring strife. Displacement is a threat when rents, home prices, and property taxes rise. As one real estate expert put it, having wealth means having staying power. The typical Black household in DC has only $2,100 in liquid assets—resources they can quickly convert into cash when faced with an emergency. Whites, in contrast, have $65,000 in liquid assets….
…There is a tendency to attribute the racial wealth gap to individual character flaws among people without wealth. This report shows that building wealth is hindered by a history of structural barriers and practices that helped create wealth for White families and blocked asset building from Black families.
..This report provides the history, status, and implications of the racial wealth gap in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area. Unlike the prior reports, this study includes a more extensive historical context for the racial wealth gap in the nation’s capital. Given the substantial presence of Black people in the District since its inception and the unique role of the District as the nation’s seat of government, we examine the role of policy-based structural barriers in the accumulation or dissipation of wealth across different racial and ethnic groups, but focus on Black people. We also examine the events, programs, and practices that led to these policies.
— Urban Institute. The Color of Wealth in the Nation’s Capital, 2016
See also related testimony, from institute fellow Kilolo Kijakazi, before the Council of the District of the DC Council’s Committee on Government Operations hearing on racial equity.
Back to Go-Go
Go-Go is more than just music. It’s a complex expression of cultural values masquerading in the guise of party music in our nation’s capitol. — The Beat: Go-Go’s Fusion of Funk and Hip-Hop (2009)
Ayanna Long’ 2020 movie “The Let Out,” is now available on YouTube.
Dr. Natalie Hopkinson’s Go-Go Live: The Musical Live and Death of a Chocolate City. Duke University Press, 2012.
Long Live GoGo: The Movement #Moechella includes a preface from CRDer Kymone Freeman of We Act Radio.
And, brand new, from CRDer and director of the Go-Go Museum, Don’t Mute Moe: Vision of an Urban Scholar Turning Words into Action.
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49 Days Completed = SEVEN WEEKS
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We pause to observe the holiday of Shavuot, the Festival of Weeks — seven of them! — at the end of the 49-stage Omer journey. Shavuot marks the “late harvest,” and one point of this journey was for us to grow new understandings to bring to the Eternal, as we celebrate Revelation.
So, enjoy a day or two for the 50th stage of this journey, acknowledging whatever new things grew for you over the last seven stages.
But then, it’s time to keep moving.
Explore Response, Resistance, and Repair,
and much more on each topic above,
in Rereading Exodus along the Anacostia
This Past Week’s Readings
42 Days Completed — Infants and Mothers
43 Days Completed — Planning
44 Days Completed — Pharaoh’s Household
45 Days Completed — Guns
46 Days Completed — Evidence
47 Days Completed — Collective Shrug
48 Days Completed — The Long Interval
Rereading Torah Towards Liberation 