One of the most painful aspects of living in Belleville, Illinois, is that we are right next to East St. Louis. East St. Louis is one of the poorest municipalities in the state, and its population is almost all African American. The city is blighted and littered, the infrastructure of a formerly thriving city is in serious decay, and everyday there is more news of homicide or drug-related violence.
This is painful on its own, but when East St. Louis is compared to Belleville, its immediate neighbor to the east, the tremendous and crushing weight of America's problem with race is obvious. While Belleville is more and more racially integrated, the difference between these two largest cities in St. Clair county is nearly inexplicable. Belleville is tidy and quaint, trees line the streets, and there are many well-kept businesses.
This morning, at the invitation of a family acquaintance, we went to a "Breakfast with Santa" event at East St. Louis High School. The activities were in the school cafeteria: cookie decorating, ornament making, a magic show, face painting, a toy raffle, and, of course, photos with Santa Claus himself. Teenage girls, who were dressed up with felt reindeer antlers, escorted in St. Nick, clapping and stomping. When he came into the room, the Jackson Five's "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" was piped in over the loud speakers. There were probably 500 adults and children there enjoying the festivities, including our family, and Alex and I were the only white people.
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4 comments:
it's intense, no? and so big, so very big.
We had so much fun! Thomas and Lily both got to tell Santa what they wanted for Xmas. I am very grateful that we've had the chance to participate in these kids of events. I am looking forward to going again next year.
Brett, thanks for this story. Glad you're blogging again!
We did have fun. This is kind of a heavy post, but like Alex said, the main part of the morning was playing and visiting with Santa and everyone else.
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