The Last Robert Taylor Homes High-rise

[cleanarab]

dem apartments remind me of new jack city

[onethousandideas]

Wow. Creepy. You have some fantastic videos man.

[chibanging]

i'm sorry i didn't write a proper essay on a youtube comment box and that i needed to do so to be taken seriously.

[Imerica1]

I just came back to Cali from visiting my hometown, CHicago for 5 days. I had so much fun!I got a chance to visit 47th street and drive around the adjoining areas...King Drive, State, Michigan and see my old high school, DuSable!

[artistmac]

Glad you had a chance to come back and see Chicago. Bronzeville's looking so much better now we have an alderman who's responsive to what needs doing.

You know that shopping center that's just south of your former building? That's where her office is.

[vulture49]

i feel like the state was worng for knockin dow our buildings they should have voted on that and i really wish they bring our shit back man i bet not never get rich they coming back i domy old grammer school bville now i attend dusable low end all day

[ChiTownfool]

This is why they tore them shits down cause it was producing stupid ass people like you who can't speak proper english and that don't know that those buildings were total crap I'm not one whos for destoring all the publuic housing like they are but those shit holes shold have been torn down long long ago

[ladygoonondeck]

hell naw fuck you mean that was home to alot of ppl don't just look at the bad side of it

[ChiTownfool]

Well tell me the good side. Was it good that they had no heat in the winter? was it good that they had no pluming? was it good that there were poor people stacked on top of each other? was it good that there were no through streets so police couldn't access the builings? was it good that they had a higher crime rate than most cities? tell what was good about a ghetto (in the nazi sense of the word) for black people?

[ChiTownfool]

u should see my reply @ the top and learn to read son

[vulture49]

bitches up on here talkin bout the projects half you hoe who talkin bad bout the buildings have not even step foot pass cause yall would got that ass beat but they need to bring our shit back up everybody not the same we now how to survive we knew whats up we love were we from yall here stories bout them and half of them lies like i said say no mo bout it the state and who ever recommend that shit to get knocked down bougus ass hell

[alcoholic40s]

No, the shame is how you all buy into this rhetoric. Projects aren't, how our ill-informed friend put it, "an inner city prison".

I am a product of the projects of Seattle. Park Lake Homes. Projects don't prepetuate poverty. The only thing holding back the upward mobility of project tennants are themselves.

[ChiTownfool]

The ones in chicago are. theyre so isolated from public transportation and jobs and even grocery stores and these paticulary projects had 27,000 poor people stacked in a 2 block by 2 mile area and the whole neighborhood is like that maybe not a prison but a warehouse

[alcoholic40s]

ChiTown, nobody forced them to live there. They chose to do so.

Its time to stop blaming "the man" for our problems, and maybe start taking responsibility for ourselves.

[ChiTownfool]

Actualy they were forced to live there in the late 40's and 50's when the City tore down all the "slums" to build High desity public housein and leaving thousands of people homeless with no other options, but your right it's not just "the man" it's combination of differnt things but you can't honestly belive that these places weren't made as a place for the city to hold thosads of poor in a secluded area away from veiw

[alcoholic40s]

Actually, no, they weren't. They could have taken that as a fire lit under their asses. And started some upword mobility. But they didn't. They chose the easy way out.  If that was a prison, it was a prison of their own making.

Im sick and damn tired of people blaming other people for their own shortcomings.

[ChiTownfool]

I kinda of agree with you but i kinda don't I mean some of these people were so broke the only other choice they had was homlessness but its true that once they had a home that was cheap they could have SHOULD have saved money and got a real job and education also the rob taylor homes had prety much no screening proces for the people who moved in so alot of the first residents were fresh outa prison

[Nytmaer]

You are one that seriously lacks intelligence. People lived there because the rent in other areas was too high. Not everyone could afford better. I never lived there, but I went to Dusable right next to it. I could understand what people went through struggling against a system set up for failure. Nobody forced them to stay there. True, but honestly where else were they going to go. It was a good idea with piss poor execution.

[alcoholic40s]

People are in charge of their own education. They choose whether or not to give a shit. They can pay attention in class, and do their assignments. Actually try.

Or they can screw around, run the streets, and drop out. Thus virtually guaranteeing themselves to continue the cycle of poverty and crime. Like I said, nobody forced this situation on them. They did it to themselves.

[chibanging]

the circumstances wasnt a matter of choice remember just 40 years ago they couldnt go to white schools, bus, waterfountains, bathrooms, and get jobs. they faced socioeconomic inequality and had no legal control of this it wasnt a matter of choice and a lot of people today lived during those time and live a life resulting from this. The living conditions of today is the result of white america's failure to black america you cant understand black pain and the motive of their current lifestyle.

[alcoholic40s]

I might not understand "black pain", but I do understand "black blaming the white man for his own problems and overlooking the shortcomings of his own making".

BTW, I'm a minority too.

[chibanging]

but you dont understand that the white man is the cause of motive for their decision making since white man was politcally overlooking their shortcomings in making choices problematic for black living in america BTW no other minority faces the degree of ineqaulity as much as african americans Only Native americans which are endagered by the cause of white supremacy, again. and i doubt youre either. Not to say white men are bad because theyre biologically white, just that they had a bad history

[alcoholic40s]

The white man is the "cause of motive" for black america's decision making.

So anytime any black american makes a decision, it will really be made by white america. Wow. I don't know what to say.

Also, the white man was using politics to overlook the black's shortcomings. I'm not even sure what you were trying to say there. Must be the white man's substandard education.

Finally you said that only blacks have it the worst in this country, indians come in second.

[alcoholic40s]

That is actually a bigoted comment. But we don't need to go there right now.

You've posted some pretty good nuggets of rhetoric. I can't wait to see what you post next.

[chibanging]

theres no reason to think that it must methodically be the case that the cause of motive was the performance itself (i.e. if a black man sold drugs, its really a white man that sold drugs) all i said was white america CAUSED the motive of it, not white america PERFORMED these decision. & i meant the WHITE MAN overlooked HIS polit. decisions like blacks cant vote which was to prevent equality. and i said noone got it as bad as blacks, ONLY n. americans. NOT ONLY N. AMERIC. WHICH COMES 2ND! READ!

[alcoholic40s]

i did read. and i couldnt understand what you were trying to say. just like right now. i have no idea what youre ideas you are trying to convey.

Maybe instead of telling people to read, you should be learning how to WRITE.

[chibanging]

I didnt say that since the white man is the cause of motive of black decisions, then it really means that the white man PERFORMED the decision. u reasoned it out wrong. i mention the white man causing the motive because black america didnt have a clean slate here and their choices were burdened which were caused by white political negligence such as making blacks cant vote 2 prevent equality. and i LISTED nat. americans second, but not RANKED it second. you are the bigot.

[alcoholic40s]

Seriously chi, in order for anybody to take you or your points seriously, you're going to have to learn to make them with clear and logical statements. These sentence fragments that you sputter out with no regard for basic writing conventions are doing you no favors.

[alcoholic40s]

Anyway, on with the show.

I am copying and pasting your text exactly.

"I didnt say that since the white man is the cause of motive of black decisions" then "i mention the white man causing the motive "

Well, I guess you contradicted yourself there.

[chibanging]

you cut off the sentence. honeslty, a comma isnt a period. So how did you end the sentence there?

[alcoholic40s]

That was my sentence. The fact that you contradicted yourself. I could have worded it differently, but I wanted sound more sarcastic.

Anyway, you contradicted yourself on your key point. That casts doubt on all of your points.

Thanks for joining us chibanging, but I'm afraid you lost. We have some lovely parting gifts for you though.

[saturdayskids]

I agree with you to a point. The new generation of black people have it just as good if not better than the new generations of white people, but a large majority aren't taking advantage of what they could have.

Sorry, I'm guilty of not being born a minority.

[ChiTownfool]

see my reply @ the top

[hibeango]

What a shame.

[jalowe1957]

I heard in the news that Beauty Turner, who once lived in the Robert Taylor Homes projects, now gives "Ghetto Bus Tours" where for $20 a pop, she gives a guided school-bus tour of the old projects and gives you information on the way things were.

[JohnnyStorm2006]

Does anyone know Ernest "Pee-wee" Clayton from the RTH's? He was a good friend of mine, we lost touch.

[coverdale20]

It's crazy..., there were 3 buildings standing the last time I visited in 2004. Being from NY, the pjs I grew up in ain't got shit on any of the pjs in Chitown. I could've phrased it more eloquently, but I meant it how I said it....

[musikfanat]

The Robert Taylor projects was nothing but an inner city prison...

[macdaddy112003]

shit alll projeccts in da chi wuz a inner city prison wit no guardz gangs drugs and gunz REALLL TALKK R.I.P. CABRINI GREENS

[damen74]

where all the GD'Z move too?

[KingJordanD]

on 43rd

[applezboo112]

my grandmama did everything to get us up out there and now we live in some damn wild 100'z wat kind of shit is thatthey tearing them down for nothin i loved it there but u shold always try to get up out the ghetto

[artistmac]

Do you think you might move back into the replacement houses? They've already got a few built on 40th Street just south of the viaduct.

[jakelee16]

Is the stretch of empty land beside the road in the first part of the video once occupied by the now demolished (except for one block) Robert Tayler Homes?

[artistmac]

It was all Robert Taylor Homes, from the beginning to the end. Even the part at the end where the bad pavement and the rock-crushing operation is. The rock-crusher is for debris from the Dan Ryan Expressway rebuilding one block west.

[Aaimah]

Spooky how quiet it is.

[artistmac]

This was about 10A.M. New Year's Day morning.

[swishahouse2006]

That location looks like it's going towards the suburbs. Most Chicago projects are right in the city, off the freeway.

[artistmac]

Oh, it's in the city, all right. The Dan Ryan Expressway is a block west, past the Rock Island Metra tracks to the left as I'm driving. Take a look at my video "The Last Robert Taylor Homes Hi-Rise Demolition" for a view of some of the surrounding neighborhood.

[Imerica1]

Wow, this brings back memories. There's my school!!! Beethoven! The park District pool/ gym..OMG I feel like crying. Firman comunity center. My building was right accross the field from Beethoven. Now that I look at the vid again, I see that the lone white building was part of "The Hole". Nobody wants to know how that area got its name. Eventhough it wasn't the best place to be, I'm blessed to have had that experience because it shaped who I am.

[GRYDE2000]

where do you live now since they knocked all of the buildings now

[Imerica1]

I lived in Robert Taylor from the ages of 4 to 15 and continued to attend DuSable High school which was right across the street from my building. I've been away from Chicago for 13 years now. My husband who also grew up in Robert Taylor, is a Marine and we've lived everywhere. Now we're stationed in California. We'll be moving back to Chicago in 2011. :)