Justice in a Country of Freedom

America is a country of freedom, democracy, and liberty; a place where immigrants come to build a life for themselves and their family. It is as a utopia of prosperity and opportunity, but can all citizens say that? Camden is a city located in New Jersey, just across the river from Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love. Once a thriving hometown for the typical American family, Camden is now our country’s poorest and most dangerous city; however, it is located in the wealthiest state. These proven statistics contradict each other; nevertheless, the government is lacking in it’s efforts to change that fact. The idea that the lackadaisical and undetermined attitudes of the citizens have caused them to enter into a life of poverty must be reevaluated and compared to the circumstances in which they are living.

All humans are made in God’s image and have dignity; this means we are all equal. Equal can be defined as “the same as” or “of the same value.” If all people are equal, there are many injustices depicted by simply walking down the streets of this struggling city. Are the people of Camden truly being valued if they are not given the resources and opportunities to succeed just as many Americans do? Fifty years ago, Camden had places for families to shop, community parks for children to play in, and thriving businesses that provided jobs for adults. Today, one in seven homes are abandoned and streets are flooded with trash (“Camden, America's Poorest City, Fights Crime, Poverty”). This dilapidated area is never undertaken by the wealthy neighbors surrounding the city because these people would never be found meddling in the inferior troubles that the Camden residents are consumed by everyday.

There is an epidemic of hopelessness when it comes to advocating for injustices. Whether or not there is an impetus to help people in poverty, middle to upper class citizens find it difficult and overwhelming to formulate strategies of fixing these broken communities. In a video documentary named “The Corridor of Pain: Baltimore, Wilmington, Philadelphia & Newark!”, Charlie LeDuff, the host, focuses on the four cities listed in the title. They are all train stops in-between the Washington DC and New York City: the two “towers of American power” (LeDuff). Enclosed by the two richest urban areas in the country, these fours cities transitioned from beautiful, safe, and thriving areas into violent and impoverished traps. On his sojourn, LeDuff says, “It breaks my heart to look at it, so I’m not gonna.” This statement verbalizes the mindset of the many people who are capable of advocating for the poor but are hopeless in their efforts.

Education is one of the highest valued principles in American society. Without it, a person in the upcoming generation is not seen as an asset in many career fields. Woodrow Wilson High School, the secondary education facility attended to by Camden teenagers, has a drop out rate of seventy percent (“Camden, America's Poorest City, Fights Crime, Poverty”). These teens are hopeless in their efforts to achieve a degree.  It is not a lack of determination or hard work that is holding these teenagers back; more over, it is a lack of resources available. I had the opportunity of volunteering on a three-day emersion trip to the city of Camden to personally experience the marginalization of the citizens and live in solidarity with them. While volunteering at Hope Works, an organization that serves as a home and resource of helping Camden teenagers to return to school, I met a teenage boy named Tyree. He was forced to drop out of high school to support his mother and six other siblings. His dream is to play football at Rutgers and pursue a double major in psychology and business. I had compassion for him as I stood there listening to his story of flourishing determination. What is seen when looking at high school dropouts is accounts of negligence and disregard; however, in many cases like Tyree, these students are lacking the resources and opportunities to be achieve their goals.  

If a citizen of Camden is privileged enough to have the ability of obtaining a high school degree, he or she will struggle with the process of finding a job. What once was a city full of business and prosperity is now a place with limited job opportunities. There are only two supermarkets in the entire city. This extremely limits the accessibility of food shopping. Many parents struggle with transportation fees and the price of food. The lack of food stores allows these two business to raise prices to increase profit in lieu of high demand. The average family has a yearly income of $11,000 and eats off of $12 a day (“Camden, America's Poorest City, Fights Crime, Poverty”). The Campbell’s Soup Company used to be a proud symbol of Camden and is now just a memory for many families. During my personal experience of service, I met a woman at an adult daycare in Camden. She began to tell me how she used to be an employee of Campbell’s; I could see the sadness and despair in her eyes knowing that her joy-filled memories of her hometown have become overshadowed by the poverty that consumes the area.

The lack of job opportunities and expense of transportation results in people turning to illegal action to collect an income. Selling drugs can be found on almost every street in Camden. The profit averages about $10,000 a week (“Camden, America's Poorest City, Fights Crime, Poverty”). Drug dealing and stealing are the two easiest and quickest ways for anyone to obtain money in the city. There is a homeless man called Detroit. His entire family was killed in a car crash while he was still in his mothers womb. Thankfully, Detroit was saved as a baby and raised in foster care. He can be found at the New Visions homeless shelter collecting warm meals before he heads back to the streets. In a very honest and upfront manner, he explained his reasoning for stealing. Detroit said that he does not wish to break into cars, take someones valuable items, and sell them for money; however, he has utterly nothing to his name and there is no other choice. This explanation does not justify his actions, but gives insight into the struggles of poverty.

The city of Camden needs help. These people lack the resources to escape the cycle of poverty. Instead of delegating a large portions of New Jersey’s money to “Restore the Shore” in efforts to rehabilitate the area back to the multi-million dollar money maker it is, some of that money could be used to restore the city of Camden to a place where people can actually live and feel safe enough to raise a family. These authoritative decisions could be made by leaders such as Senator Chris Christie. Money should not be taken from necessities and given strictly for entertainment. For example, police cuts should not have taken place in the city of Camden, the most dangerous city in the country. With more than 60 homicides a year, Camden’s murder rate is raising rapidly (“Camden, America's Poorest City, Fights Crime, Poverty”). Also, this decreases job opportunities in the city.

Despite all of the corruption, there is hope for Camden. The reality of the city’s rehabilitation will begin once the citizens, government, and neighbors of Camden work together to rebuild the communities within the area. Attractions like the Camden Aquarium and Susquehanna Bank Center benefit the city and pave way to prove the area’s potential. Increasing  attractions like this, Camden can return to the thriving city it once was one day at a time. Tawanda Jones, a proud citizen of Camden, is the director of an organization called Camden Sophisticated Sisters that takes in applicants “to motivate, educate and empower youth through the structure and discipline of a drill team and the performing arts” (Camden Sophisticated Sisters). Foundations like this rejuvenates the spirits and motivations of Camden’s youth in the direction of positivity and hope. Documentaries such as “Camden, America's Poorest City, Fights Crime, Poverty,” which interviews Jones about her organization, and “Waiting on the World to Change” by Diane Sawyer give insight to outsiders of the injustice and marginalization imposed upon Camden citizens.  It is the duty of more American to take on the responsibilities to help their neighbors from being swallowed by poverty.

Living in The United States means living in freedom. Being trapped in the cycle of poverty is strangling and suffocating citizens of living as all Americans should. They are determined to receive an education, have a career, raise a family in a safe environment, and restore their hometown to a city to be proud of. There are many efforts by citizens to being this process, but they cannot do it alone. The government and neighboring citizens must aid in providing resources for their fellow Americans. This must be an impetus for people to pride themselves in our country of freedom. 

References 

“Camden, America's Poorest City, Fights Crime, Poverty.” Perf. Brian Williams. NBC.com. Rock   Center NBC, 8 Mar. 2013. Web. 23     Sept. 2015.

Camden Sophisticated Sisters. "Camden Sophisticated Sisters." Camdensophisticatedsisters.com. Camden Sophisticated Sisters, 2014.  Web. 23 Sept. 2015.

LeDuff, Charlie, dir. “The Corridor of Pain: Baltimore, Wilmington, Philadelphia & Newark!” Dir. Charlie LeDuff. Perf. Charlie LeDuff. Americans with Charlie LeDuff. N.p. 26 May 2015. Web. 23 Sept. 2015.

"Waiting on the World to Change." Perf. Diane Sawyer. ABC. 20/20 Special, 26 Jan. 2007. Web. 23 Sept. 2015.

Moon River and Me

“Okay, life's a fact, people do fall in love, people do belong to each other, because that's the only chance anybody's got for real happiness.” This quote is exclaimed by Paul Varjak in the last scene of the classic movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s. His expression of love to the dynamic character, Holly Golightly, is foreshadowed earlier in the film when Paul listens to her sing the sweet melody of “Moon River” on her tiny New York balcony. The song “Moon River,” lasting only a minute and a half, touches my heart every time I hear the lyrics. Through repetition and analyzation, this song has become more than my favorite lullaby and ear worm, but an inspiration when thinking about my future.

One might ask how I came to love a song that most teenagers of my generation have never had the pleasure of listening to. Music has had an impact on my life ever since I was a child. I could be found watching classic musicals on repeat and memorizing every tune. I admired the work of actresses and singers such as Julie Andrews, Angela Lansbury, Barbra Streisand, and, in this case, Audrey Hepburn. The song, “Moon River,” won an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1961 for its original performance in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Since then, it has been covered by many famous singers such as Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, and Aretha Franklin, to name a few. 

“Moon river, wider than a mile": this first line iterates the fact that no one knows what the future holds. I constantly think of where I will live, what career position I will hold, will I have a family of my own, will I get the chance to inspire people? It is exhilarating to imagine all the possibilities that the world holds for me to take advantage of. I may want to become a teacher, work as a successful business woman, have five children, or advocate for social justice… anything is possible. The lyric, “wider than a mile,” depicts the many paths in life that a person can take. “I’m crossing you in style, someday.” There is an episode of the Sex and the City in which Carrie Bradshaw and Mr. Big slow dance to this melody in Big’s apartment. This lyric prompts me to think of my admiration of Carrie Bradshaw. She is an independent, confident, and stylish woman who walks the streets on New York like she owns them. When I think of myself drifting along my own moon river, I see a part of her in my future.

The foreshadowing is pursued by a message that conveys joys and hardships in life. “Oh, dream maker, you heart breaker, wherever you’re going, I'm going your way.” When my dreams are fulfilled, they become my joys; on the other hand, when my fears become reality, they are my heartbreaks. Both are inescapable in life; therefore, I am inevitably going their way. All of these concepts relate back to the idea of pondering the future. I believe that I cannot live life in horror of what may happen; rather, ride the wave of happiness, sadness, excitement, and all other emotions to see where life takes me. I have goals of graduating with a Religious Studies degree, using my education along with my life experiences to help and inspire people, having a family, and living in New York. Attaining these goals, along with many others, will bring me great pride; although I must remember, life will always throw curve balls and sometimes not getting what I want may be an incredible stroke of luck. 

“Two drifters, off to see the world, there’s such a lot of world to see.” Who will I take with me on my life journey? I believe that people come in and out of my life to impact me in some way. The simplicity of the phrase “two drifters” has an enormous impact on my thoughts of my life path. I often think if the latter is accurate, then I will have only one other person to help me along my way, such as a spouse, best friend, or maybe even my sister. Society says that I will marry a man, together we will have a family, and as a couple, work together to benefit most from the opportunities in life.  As a woman in a progressive American society, I may stay single and independent and have a best friend whom I turn to for the sharing of life’s influential moments. This brings me back to the show Sex and the City and a quote which resinates in the feminist corner of my personality, “Maybe our girlfriends are our soul mates and guys are just people to have fun with.” Soul mate does not have to be defined as the person whom I marry; more accurately, it can be someone who understands me fully as a person and respects and supports the decisions and paths I choose in life. Who knows… Maybe I will be my own soulmate.

“We’re after the same rainbow’s end, waiting, round the bend.” This subsequent lyric expresses, once again, the goals of the future. It reminds me that although not yet attained, they are feasible just around the bend. The bend symbolizes tasks, responsibilities, work, or simply amounts of time that are a roadblock in the path. Whether it be my husband, girlfriends, or family, whoever is there to share in my life journey, will be walking with me until we have encountered, as the theme song of the TV comedy Who’s the Boss states, “A brand new life around the bend.”

“My Huckleberry friend, Moon River and me.” The words, “Huckleberry friend” prompt me to think about a light hearted person, drifting through life and enjoying the ride. Although I am unsure, it is exciting to think of all the things I could accomplish. Anything is possible if I put my mind to it, and the message of this song reassures me of that. Through this melody, I gain confidence and strength when life gets tough. It is a reminder that I am on a “Moon River”: sometimes it is dark as night, but at other times, it is beautifully lit by the moonlight. There will be magnificent waterfalls and strong, rapid currents. It is through the support of others or strength within myself that I will find my rainbow’s end.