Once Dying, Birmingham, Alabama is... Suddenly Dying Again: Birmingham Police Chief Laments "The concern of my people"

 If you haven't picked up a copy of The Tragic City: Birmingham 1963-2013, do so immediately. 

Then read this piece.

Only days ago, every newspaper in America published some version of this Associated Press article, which claimed the 74 percent black city was on the verge of a comeback [Once dying, Birmingham, Alabama is suddenly hot, The Republican, June 23, 2013].

"Once dying Birmingham, Alabama is suddenly hot."

"You say Birmingham is coming back, do you?"

Why was Birmingham dying? Why is it now suddenly hot?

There's no doubt your local paper carried some variation of this story, for the opportunity to claim Birmingham is on the up-and-up is too great a story to not promote to the heavens.

The only problem is a careful reading of the story showcases an uncomfortable truth: in spite of the 74 percent black population of the city, Birmingham is showing some signs of progress. Here's the meat of the story the AP produced:

Birmingham's culinary scene is a jewel, with nationally known chefs and restaurants, and decades of white flight are giving way to people moving into flats and condominiums with bare brick walls in once-vacant downtown buildings. The tables are full at trendy bars and bistros nestled in old brick mercantile buildings.

The city's minor league baseball team relocated this season from the suburbs and is drawing big crowds to a new downtown stadium that opens to Birmingham's skyline.

It's across the street from an urban park built on what was an unsightly lot strewn with weeds and gravel along railroad lines.

Combine all that with a thriving nightclub scene, new craft breweries and an entertainment district that has started opening, and suddenly Birmingham is becoming a hot spot for residents and visitors alike.

 Craft beers? Trendy bars and bistros? Flats and condominiums? All code words for gentrification and the creation of a small slice of whiteness in a sea of blight and cultural depravity -- the latter an unpleasant reminder of the Visible Black Hand of Economics, the former courtesy of gentrification.

Birmingham should be one of America's crown jewels, a city renowned the world over and a desired location for international tourism. White flight from Birmingham resulted in thriving suburbs Over The Mountain (OTM), while the increasingly black city partied like it was 1865, electing a string of ineffective black mayors (though it didn't matter the results they produced; the mayor was black... long live democracy!).

Recently rated the 7th most dangerous city in America (white people can create trendy bars and bistros, but they can't work miracles), the 74 percent black city of Birmingham is in the midst of a violent crime wave. A reminder that the AP article crowing about the resurrection of Birmingham was devoid of the critical component as to why it had to be brought back from the dead in the first place: it being one of America's blackest cities. [Seven violent deaths in the last eight days: Birmingham Police Chief A.C. Roper issues statement, Birmingham News, June 24, 2013]:

Birmingham Police Chief A.C. Roper today released a statement following a rash of homicides in recent days.

At least seven people have died violent deaths over the past eight days, five of them since Friday. Two people were killed today in separate incidents, two Saturday, one Friday, one Wednesday and one Sunday, June 16. 

"We are extremely concerned about this recent rash of homicides. It's unconscionable that we could go 10 days without a single homicide and then experience so many over the last week,'' Roper said. "We examine each incident for commonalities and variables. However, these recent cases appear to have no connections in any manner."

"For the most part, they do appear to be acquaintance-based which makes them more difficult to prevent,'' Roper said. "In fact, several occurred inside residences or away from public view. "

 This is why white flight happened in the first place, for just as a rising percentage of white residents in the city of Birmingham restores hope and offers a "comeback" opportunity, the black population of the Magic City continues to provide the negative statistics that drive away business investments and erode property value.

As we have shown at SBPDL, crime in Birmingham is almost an exclusive black avocation/activity.

And Police Chief Roper can be forgiven for lamenting the melancholy world 'his people' have created in Birmingham, they continue to be the great impediment to the true restoration of the metropolis Vulcan lords over [Police are on the scene of a fatal shooting in South East Lake, Birmingham News, June 25, 2013]:

Birmingham police are questioning a woman in connection with a fatal shooting in South East Lake this afternoon.

Police Chief A.C. Roper went to the scene, and became emotional while giving a statement to the press. "Although we realize the police department has only so much influence,  I see the concern of my people,'' Roper said and, with tears in his eyes, abruptly ended the press conference.

Today's shooting happened shortly after 2 p.m. inside a home at 636 84th Street South. Roper said a male victim was found fatally shot in the rear of the home.  Authorities have not released his identity.

A woman and two children were inside the house when the gunfire erupted. The woman was taken to police headquarters for questioning. The children were turned over to family members, the chief said. 

It was the third fatal shooting in Birmingham today, and the 6th since Friday. At least eight people have died violent deaths over the past eight days, and police are investigating a ninth possible homicide that has not yet been formally ruled as such.

With a tear in my eye, I lament the state of 2013 Birmingham, a 74 percent black city whose only economic growth/salvation can be measured in an AP article which highlights what gentrification (Stuff White People Like - SWPL - whites) is bringing to a city; one whose city council had to ban new payday/title pawn/check cashing stores, since that's the only economic activity a 74 percent black city could support...

The seventh most dangerous city in America, a reflection of the type of community its 74 percent black population creates, will come back.

In spite of its black population, which has regressed large portions of the city to a small scale version of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Birmingham will come back.

As you can see, the news of micro-breweries and bistros, flats and condominiums, and trendy bars represent the type of community amenities unique to white people; the violence Police Chief Roper is lamenting is unique to the black community.

No, Birmingham (the Birmingham created after 1963) is still dying, despite the attempts of resuscitation by those valiant pioneers attempting to breathe new life into the city.