European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 16, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Poverty in Central cities has risen sharply the poor who can Are fleeing to Small towns and  and unequal9�?~quiet riots split Urban America by Fred Bayles associated press for the Turners there could be no place to live but the City. Their Boston Condo has everything a Harbor View a Jacuzzi proximity to dozens of Chic restaurants. Its a Quick walk to work for John a venture capitalist. Carole Sells japanese prints from the building. Their Sailboat is moored outside convenient for a weekend ride to Marblehead. Quot we All like City life Quot says Carole. Quot the suburbs Are too stifling too Boring. Here there a  crime is mostly a Rumor. Some cars have been burglarized but there a a guard downstairs and a neighbourhood network of doormen and Valet parkers keep watch. Fourteen year old Brian rides the subway to private school without incident. His closest Brush came when he saw a shoplifter arrested at Filener a. Quot he was very shocked by it Quot said his Mother. Three Miles and a world away the Rev. Bruce Wall takes four boys Ages 14 to 16, to a pizza parlor in the City a violence scored Dorchester Section to hear what they have to say about their lives. Quot did they talk about basketball or girls jobs cars or their future no. They said we know that we re either going to get shot or stabbed and they discussed which they a rather have happen to them Quot said Wall. Quot their Choice in life was to be . More than 20 years ago after riots scorched Detroit Newark n.j., los Angeles and other cities the presidents National advisory commission on civil disorders a the Kerner commission a issued a warning. . Cities it said were Quot moving toward two societies one Black one White a separate and  after two decades of waxing and waning Federal Aid to the cities the warning seems prophetic. Quot now it is coming True Quot said Fred Harris who As an democratic Oklahoma senator served on the Kerner commission. Two years ago Harris a University of new Mexico professor headed a private commission that reviewed the state of the cities it concluded that instead of Street rioting Urban centers Are now undergoing Quot quiet riots Quot daily encounters with poverty crime family dissolution housing and school deterioration. Disproportionately these riots Hurt the minorities and poor of the City the Battle lines Are set along neighbourhood boundaries of wealth and race. Again two societies. Amid the new construction of office buildings and million Dollar condominiums pockets of poverty Are growing deeper and wider. Amid the explosion of technology schools Are crumbling and illiteracy rates remain High. Amid the lifesaving techniques of Organ transplants and laser surgery the life expectancy rate is dropping for those in the inner City. Two societies separated by income Opportunity even in a sense by language. William Labov a University of Pennsylvania linguist has made a study of Urban dialects. While the verbs and nouns sound the same the polarization within the City is creating two separate languages Labov said. Labov uses the example of the word Quot be Quot As in Quot she been  Quot to most White people it Means she was married to most Blacks it Means she was married and has been married a Long time Quot he said. Quot the machinery of language is changing and the differences can Lead to  this fragmentation of the City is most glaring in the once muscular Industrial centers of the North and East which have seen a decline in population or Only scant growth. Cities of the Sun Belt and the West Are experiencing steady population growth with the exception of Oil Region towns like Denver Dallas and Houston. Yet All Urban centers share some of the same issues. One major problem is the migration of the Middle class both White and Black from inner City neighbourhoods to the suburbs and beyond. In their Wake Are left poorer neighbourhoods with less political Power and fewer resources. Statistics illustrate some of this trend. Gary Orfield a University of Chicago political scientist said Many Northern cities have seen White populations drop by a sixth and Black populations slip by a 20th. The number of hispanics in Many Urban areas has doubled. As a result nearly 40 percent of the nation s minority students and 30 percent of its poor children now Are educated in Urban school districts. While much of the United states prospered in the steady economic growth of the 1980s, Many inner City neighbourhoods headed in the opposite direction. Poverty rates for the nations Central cities Rose from 12.7 percent of the population to 19 percent. A drive through the City can illustrate the effects of growing poverty. Quot in Chicago there Are neighbourhoods where you can count up the number of Bank branches and retailers that have closed up and five liquor stores Hau taken their place a said Greg Duncan program director of the University of Michigan a Survey research Center. Quot you can clearly see neighbourhoods shifting from working class to hardcore  Harris Points to Detroit As another example. Through the 1980s, the City lost Many of its jobs and nearly a third of its population. Quot people Black and White who could moved out to the suburbs Quot he said. Quot a lot of poor Blacks have moved in. The movement of Blacks and Whites to the suburbs and the Middle class has been a very Good thing for them but it has t been that Good for the  but which part of the City within each City Are Many different cities the City of neighbourhoods and the City of business and shopping districts some sparkling and Rich some decaying and poor. Many downtown have blossomed with new office towers new jobs and a Range of stores and restaurants catering to the Urban professional from Neiman Marcus to mrs. Field s cookies. Quot the City offers More Quot said George Jedlin a Boston real estate agent who lives in a downtown condominium. Quot i be been to the theater 15 times this year and i love to eat. In the suburbs there Are no  but while Many cities have seen commercial construction grow residential construction has remained Static or fallen. Most of the deficit has been in affordable housing. A report last year by the non profit Center on budget and policy priorities said that while the number of renters with annual incomes less than $10,000 Rose from 8 million to 11.6 million from 1978 to 1985, available Low rent units decreased by half a million. Quot Chicago has had an incredible investment in the Loop at the same time we have Many dying neighbourhoods Quot said Orfield. Quot the Way things Are going a he warned Quot Well have people living not too far apart from each other but in different  Orfield also notes that the downtown Boom while creating jobs for those in the suburbs has brought Little improvement for minority City dwellers. Quot Chicago employment statistics show Only one out of six Young Black men have a Job. If that is True you have a calamity Quot said Orfield. Many would argue there Are calamities taking place each Day. Calamities of drugs of gangs of violence. One telling statistic homicide is the leading cause of death for Black males Ages 15 to 19. Some might be not be surprised if the carnage was taking place Only in Detroit or Washington but it is happening too in cities like Boston Milwaukee and St. Louis. Tuesday october 16, 1990 the stars and stripes a a a Page 13