Brooks: Crime is a policy issue
18.05.12
The Chattanooga city government and the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce have created a myth about our city. It is one we all know well, almost by heart. It is trotted out with the arrival of each new factory, each mayoral election, each time the national spotlight is affixed upon us. The myth goes something like this: the blue-collar working class town of Chattanooga lost some factories and population and was dirty, poor and uneducated - but the residents were virtuous and innovative. Through the combined leadership of big business, political machinery and public will the city of Chattanooga rebounded and became the sustainable and green shining city on the hill. The pride and joy of Dixie. Business came, factories sprung up, fiber-optic cables were laid down. Chattanooga has now even become the tourist spot that children find preferable to Disney World .
This myth serves the same purpose as an advertisement, but what it is selling is not a name brand product. What is being sold to us are policy decisions. And policies matter. Budgets have consequences. Policies dictate what the official position is of the city government, budgets determine what we collectively value by deciding who gets money and for what purposes. The city and Chamber have marketed their policies to us and are leading us to believe one thing, but, like Disney World, there is another side that we purposely choose to ignore, to silence, to forget, until it results in nine people being shot on Christmas Eve.
Source: Nooga.com