5 ms·

Some unexpected racism in the story for the Harding Mall in Nashville, TN: > Throughout the many years, this mall really saw the tenants come and go. It was no

• mieseratte 7y ago
  I fail to see racism in the quote, it seems to be describing demographic shift of the mall as it fell out of popularity. > Then just as Harding Mall thought it was the end, it was not. Due to the high levels of foreign people and foreign languages, a local enteprenuer saw hope in the old mall cinema. He leased the space and ran movies that cost about 50% less than what other theaters charge today and they were all foreign speaking films.
  • timwis 7y ago
    As a fluent speaker of foreign I can confirm that is racist.
    • iamnotacrook 7y ago
      Ah, but you can also speak English. There's something about speaking any number of languages but not English which predisposes one to crime.
      • etatoby 7y ago
        I see your irony, but that's actually a specific case of a more general rule. Not speaking the predominant language of the place you live in will make your life more difficult and cut you off from the people and culture around you. It doesn't take much to see it as a precursor to crime, statistically speaking of course.
        • distant_hat 7y ago
          In many developing countries it is the other way round, expat enclaves where hardly anyone speaks the local language can be safer than the surrounding areas.
      • saint_abroad 7y ago
        >> that is racist. > speaking [...] not English which predisposes one to crime. Even in jest, this perpetuates the view that unless they speak English in one's presence they should be viewed as having a propensity to crime. edit: /s fail. toned down the personal.
        • Spivak 7y ago
          I think you need to read the parent comment with a /s at the end.
  • MrsPeaches 7y ago
    > foreign language people and gangs took over this part of Nashville This is clearly grouping "foreign language people" and "gangs" together. The phrase "took over" has negative connotations. It's pretty clearly saying that it is bad that people who speak foreign came into the area, not just neutrally "describing [a] demographic shift of the mall "
    • yostrovs 7y ago
      What if the two events did actually happen and that these two events were critical in the neighborhood's development?
      • mieseratte 7y ago
        Entirely my point. One of the two local malls in my area suffered a similar decline and demographic shift for a time. The half not anchored by a Target and a department store became vacant save for a smattering of small local stores, many owned by enterprising foreigners. The empty areas became frequent copping spots, and suffered a few drug related shootings and other incidents through the years before the City and the owners cleaned up and started getting more big-ticket tenants back into the mall. Nowadays the mall has sports facilities, a maker space, That foreigners and "gansters" are involved the decline of an area doesn't make pointing out their coming in with the decline of the mall bigoted. Ascribing intent to writing such as this says as much about the critic as it does the writer.
    • mieseratte 7y ago
      > The phrase "took over" has negative connotations. If you want it to, sure, it absolutely can! > It's pretty clearly saying that it is bad that people who speak foreign came into the area, not just neutrally "describing [a] demographic shift of the mall " No, it really isn't clearly saying what you're ascribing. That's your reading into it what you want to see. No one cries racism when an article about affluent whites taking over a neighborhood. This is just a different shift.
      • chapium 7y ago
  • mikestew 7y ago
    Here, try the entry for Lafayette Square in Indianapolis: "The mall itself became a haven for urban stores as white shoppers left for much better malls like the ones named above. Blacks continued to shop at the mall, leading to all kinds of theft and robbery problems." Granted, as pointed out by other commenters, it's user-submissions. But still, even as a former resident, yikes. (And, as a former resident, not that surprising.)
    • chapium 7y ago
      In the case of lafayette square it seems like white residents abandoned downtown to live in the surrounding suburbs.
• dasyatidprime 7y ago
  Keep in mind that the accounts are user-submitted and thus reflect the perspectives of the individual authors; the way you've put this sounds to me like it implies a site-wide perspective.
  • iamnotacrook 7y ago
    "the way you've put this sounds to me like it implies a site-wide perspective" No it doesn't. He literally refers to one entry.
• bluedino 7y ago
  90’s gang shootings kept a lot of people out of the malls in urban areas, even after crime went down in the 2000’s