Clairton: Here and Now

      As I write I am sitting in a well-lit heated room located on a Pittsburgh graduate school campus. It’s frigid outside. There was a snowstorm earlier and tonight the temperature is supposed to drop to 16 degrees, but the sudden drop in temperature won’t really. Affect me. Why? Because I have privilege. Privilege, defined as securing unearned benefits due to membership of a dominant class or group, breaks down on multiple levels including white privilege, straight privilege, able-bodied privilege and so on. Once again referring to Patricia Hill Collins’ Matrix of Domination  we can begin to see how multi-layered oppression can become. It can be segmented and analyzed from multiple frameworks, but inevitably most analyses come to the same point that oppression harms people.

     Self-disclosure I am a graduate student aspiring to become a part of the professional class. My concerns the concerns of those who live in Clairton are literally worlds apart. Through employing empathic listening I can hope to accrue knowledge of their problems and perspectives, but I can never hope to truly understand. I have mentioned before that I spent my childhood years in the neighborhood of Homewood. Homewood too has a negative reputation but Homewood, unlike Clairton, is overwhelmingly racially homogenous. Do not misunderstand me. I am not implying that there are not racial issues in Homewood, but to use my experiences in Homewood as a frame of reference for Clairton would be misguided. They are two neighborhoods with two separate histories.

     So I wrestle. I love organization and forming boards and committees. I love formally drafting reports and scheduling planning meetings. Until recently I was ambivalent about functionalist versus grassroots approaches. Now I wonder, could incorporating professional and corporate style approaches to the non-profit world actually be silencing the voices of residents? I ask this question rhetorically, because I know the answer is yes. Once again using the paradigm of intersectional feminism I am reminded of hegemonic femininity’s rejection of a race and class based analysis. This corporatization of non-profit movements effectively bars women who do not have professional backgrounds (class privilege) from participating in

Photo by Richard Rector

raising issues and planning actions. So with this knowledge in mind I step back and ask that the voices of Clairton’s citizens be raised above those of the local government. I ask that their concerns and needs be addressed rather than having dictated to them. I argue that when forming a development committee that the planners seek out the desires of residents. Ask what the people want. They are experts in their needs. Professional attainments are tools to be used to uplift rather than further silence those who are already vulnerable. I see this now and I leave you with this assignment. Whomever you may be whether you are a social worker, community organizer, or facilities manager before planning an action look at who is sitting at the table. Whose literally represented in the room and whose needs and concerns are taking up the most amount of space in the conversation. Consider this information, consider it carefully because you mean well, but well intended actions and words can still cause calamity. For solidarity, listen to Clairton.

A Visitor's Memory

It was a rainy day. The roads were empty. We drove for miles trying to find our destination, a local restaurant that my mother had read about. We drove through McKeesport then Glassport. It felt like a voyage in time. The sky cast that familiar Pittsburgh grey over everything. I sat in the back seat as my mother drove the way to Clairton. Neighborhoods began to blend together. Was I in Braddock or Rankin? Why do so many of these towns weave together? While we drove I closed my eyes and imagined the view from the 1950s. Suddenly I could see it. Buicks and Fords parked outside of the Clairton Works plant. Men dressed in smocks and welders masks walking through the parking lots. I opened my eyes. The view hadn’t changed much. The steel mill still stood as it always did the only thing different were the makes of cars in the parking lot. We drove on.

“Are we there yet?” I began to wonder as the GPS directed us in a three point turn. We’d missed our destination. So we pulled up and entered. Instantly, we got that look. Three African Americans and a Latina walk into a bar sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, but that’s what we were that day. Ignoring the stares we were escorted to a table. But the waitress was rude, slamming glasses on the table. As every now and then people continued to stare at us and sometimes gesture. These were more than micro-aggressions the hostility was salient. Eventually, we finished our meal and left. My friend who is Latina, but could pass for white regaled to me the numerous looks and gestures that she received form people in the restaurant. “What are you doing with them?” They seemed to say. So was my visit to Clairton.

     Believe me when I say that I have not let the covert racism displayed to me that day sway my opinion of Clairton. Pittsburgh is an insular city and surrounding it are even more insulated boroughs. But, as I thought back on my experience at this restaurant I began to wonder about ownership and informal spaces. The majority of Clairton’s residents are white, 57.7% to be exact , but the concentration of African Americans in the city is high in comparison to the percentage of African Americans in Pennsylvania generally. We have discussed white flight, but what about those who want to flee but their economic or social status does not make it possible. The elderly and whites with lower socioeconomic status could be included in this category. Inspired by the rationalizations gleaned from a racist professor I began contemplate their perspective. 

     Imagine for a moment that you are a working class, heterosexual, Christian, white male. After working for years at the steel mill or serving in the military or both you secure enough money to buy a house in Clairton. All is well until the mills close. Suddenly, people are in danger of foreclosing on their homes or they succumb to foreclosure. The bank begins to redline the neighborhood. Property values falls. To secure more income people begin to rent the houses that they cannot sale. Renting cost less than owning so people with fewer economic resources begin to move into the neighborhood. These people are overwhelmingly single women and racial minorities. I suppose that at this point one could begin to become resentful after all the declining property values did correlate with the influx of transient and racial minorities into the neighborhood. You become resentful because you worked hard. You served in the military or you worked all day in the factory in order to purchase your home. No one has explained to you what “correlation does not prove causation”. You are angry and to cope with your anger you seek refuge in an informal private-public gathering space, your local bar/restaurant. Perhaps you go there for years to hang out with the boys and talk about how the (insert expletives) are ruining the neighborhood, then in walks three African Americans. Now imagine this hatred is continuously reinforced by mass media and politician’s rhetoric. Suddenly, it is even easier to see the reasons for the divide in Clairton between lower socioeconomic status and African Americans. Informal methods of segregation included.

Rubber Ducks and the Surplus Population

If you have been staying current with the news then you are aware that Pittsburgh has recently seen the departure of a dearly loved rubber duck. Thousands flocked to the city to see the duck strategically placed at Pittsburgh’s point. This year Pittsburgh also received a yarn bombing of the Andy Warhol Bridge. I will not argue that both of these occurrences were not rewarding or visually stimulating. I, myself was delighted to see the various patterns stretched across the bridge. Yet, I must ask who does these visual displays of installation art benefit? 

Photo by Pittsburgh Magazine.com

     First, those who are able to travel to see the art in the first place. Let us look at where the art was displayed. Downtown Pittsburgh, although formerly covered in smoke and smog is now developing into a self-reported cultural district. Real estate prices are high and to freely travel into Downtown Pittsburgh one must have bus fare, although this may be changing.. If bus fare is unavailable and driving is more desired then there are numerous parking garages but be warned parking in Downtown Pittsburgh is expensive. So how were children and families living in disadvantaged neighborhoods who have limited access to resources to begin with least of all spending it on parking supposed to benefit from having a rubber duck if they couldn’t see it. But, perhaps this duck was not to benefit them. 

     Pittsburgh has been going through a renaissance. Adopting a version of the Rick Florida plan, Pittsburgh is beginning to draw the ‘creative class”, but what about vulnerable populations? The direction of white flight is suddenly changing. Instead of moving further to the suburbs and being forced to deal with nightmarish traffic on route 376 high SES families (who are mostly white) are beginning to flood back into the city. But, they are not blending and adapting to the neighborhoods as they are instead they are slowly pushing local residents out. As property values increase lower SES (mostly women and/or people of color) are being forced to relocate to more affordable housing. This affordable housing is largely located in the suburbs, particularly in the Mon Valley. According to the U. S. Census the median home value of a Clairton house is about $49,200 dollars. This is in comparison of the PA statewide median of $163,200 dollars. City wide the median value of a house is $87, 800 dollars. That is a large difference, suddenly living outside of the city seems to be more affordable so residents with the aid of government programs, such as section 8 vouchers begin to move into suburban neighborhoods. Who can blame them? For half of a century suburban living has been flouted as an important part of the American Dream. Yet, suburban poverty is beginning to rise. A new atmosphere is settling over Pittsburgh, does it have room for neighborhoods like Clairton?

Where Am I Again?

        As I may have mentioned before, I was born and raised in Pittsburgh and I have lived here for most of my life. Pittsburgh is known for its rivers, steel mills, and collection of ninety neighborhoods. Formal boundaries mark where one neighborhood ends and the other begins, but if you stay long enough and talk to enough residents you will begin to notice that the borders are not as clear as depicted on paper. This phenomenon of border subjectivity extends to the suburbs surrounding the city. Imagine for a moment that you are driving through the Liberty Tunnels. You come through heading away from Downtown Pittsburgh and merge onto Route 51 South Uniontown exit. You drive for a while and as you travel you pass through Overbrook, you fly past Brentwood and into Baldwin-Whitehall, Next you look up and you’re told that you are entering “Jaguar Country”? What is “Jaguar Country?” where are you? Well, the answer most likely depends on who you are asking. Some might say that you are in Baldwin, others will say that you’re in Pleasant Hills, drive a little further and the confusion mounts. Wait…did I now enter West Mifflin? 

       This phenomena of neighborhood confusion is not only restricted to the South Hills. Drive towards the East suburbs of Pittsburgh and suddenly you will begin to wonder where exactly is Blackridge? Am I in Wilkins Township or Eastmont? Is there a difference?For clarity I'll sometimes say I am in Monroeville because I know people know where that is. Yet, this privilege of neighborhood blending and unclear delineations is not in the same respect extended to working class and poverty struck neighborhoods.
 I will again use my childhood home neighborhood of Homewood. Homewood is composed of one square mile of land. As soon as one drives across Hamilton Ave towards Penn Ave something instantly begins to change. The houses are bigger and the yards are trimmed. This change has not been lost on the residents nor is it lost when mentioning Homewood. One day I made the mistake of referring to N. Dallas Ave as part of Homewood. Immediately the person I was talking to corrected me and said no that’s Point Breeze. 

     Currently, as East Liberty is being re-developed the new buildings are not said to be part of East Liberty, no they are the East End something new and separate. The same thing has occurred with the North Side and the North Shore. This same occurrence affects Clairton. Jefferson Hills, where I spent a significant part of my life borders Clairton. Going to high school there people always warned me not to go to Clairton for fear of being shot. The borders of Clairton were clearly established. Elizabeth is Elizabeth. Floreffe is Floreffe and even though these boroughs may border Clairton they are not part of it. These delineations are key because reputation is another asset or drawback to a community. Clearly members of surrounding neighborhoods do not want to be associated with or have their real estate values affected by the reputation of Clairton’s name. So now we wait as the cycle of birth, death, and renaissance of neighborhoods moves from the suburbs into the city to see if Clairton too, or at least parts of it, will undergo a name change. To shed a reputation, but also to shed a cultural memory.