In “Five Points” Anbinder talks about political conflicts affecting the behavior of people out on the streets. While this is true even today, the way we depict our opinions of political conflicts has changed. Protests have replaced riots, and I think that’s a sign of political maturity. In an optimistic world view, the riots and gang fights are a part of the process. Things will get worse before they get better. Five Points, Anbinder says, was often the home of these riots and fights. Interestingly enough, (and I think Jessica mentions this), the people of Five Points had little political say as they rarely voted. Compared to Five Points, Brownsville seems to have a better political standing. It was more organized and focused on actual progress.
In her blog, Susan asks if singling out Blacks to give them a better education was the right way to go? I think that if the city wanted to improve the education system of the city and consequently improve the lives and futures of its students, the best thing to do would be to even out the discrepancy between upper class and lower class neighborhoods. Our education system is very lopsided, with predominantly White schools having a higher budget and better teachers than with predominantly minority schools.
