As of … The 'hoods around St. Louis that are really hoods. TakePart is the digital news and lifestyle magazine from Participant Media, the company behind such acclaimed documentaries as CITIZENFOUR, An Inconvenient Truth and Food, Inc. and feature films including  Lincoln and Spotlight. click to enlarge. The other parts of the city are okay though but St. Louis is full of crime anywhere. “Poverty does not stay contained. One of the biggest reasons most Americans, including the media, ignore the ills of towns like East St. Louis is that they believe the crime, hopelessness, and despair of such places doesn’t affect them. Why isn’t anybody listening?”. “On one hand, I want people to be absolutely selfish about this and say, ‘It does impact me.’ And on the other, I want them to be absolutely altruistic and say, ‘These people don’t deserve to live like this.’ ”. In St Louis, there are large sections of poverty, but in East St Louis, the whole city is like that. We still have to put one foot in front of the other and navigate this road. East St. Louis ranks right up there with Flint, Newark, Oakland, Patterson, Gary. East St. Louis used to be a thriving place; now however it is where all the violence is at. “Is the responsibility ours and ours alone? As the tax base shrunk, the local government struggled more. But that's just the way E. St. L is. No one hears their call for help. While some may wonder what a documentary like The Other Side of Grace can do to help impoverished communities, Taylor’s goal is to give the city’s residents a voice and inspire the rest of us to action. In addition, the city of St. Louis consistently has been ranked among the most dangerous cities in the United States. East St. Louis is not somewhere you want to find yourself after dark. Another day, another list shoring up St. Louis' reputation as a crime-ridden hellhole. “We invest ourselves in full-on segregation, locking people into communities, stripping away jobs, letting the tax base fall away, and creating generational poverty,” she says, explaining the factors that led to East St. Louis’ downfall. It looked like a terrible place to live. “I call it ‘American apartheid,’ ” Taylor says. If we do know, it’s easy to turn a blind eye to the problems. (Has to be in the city, not Clayton, Webster Groves, etc...). Investors who supported a thriving business community prior to about 1968 pulled out, property values went into freefall, whites suddenly faced with the prospect of living next door to non-whites (due to civil rights laws) left in droves, further depressing the real estate market, and reducing the potential market for area businesses, and the city government, always somewhat of a den of corruption and a place where people went because they could do things that were illegal in Missouri, became even more so when that became virtually the only way to make a buck. I was there last month and all we did was drive through the north part it was a terrible dump and it looked very rough. We’ve got a city fighting to survive, cope, and make it every day, and no one hears their cries. East St. Louis has a population of 26,000. My father was taking a load of cattle to the old stockyards in E. St.L & his truck was attacked by a group of kids they threw bricks at his truck and smashed in the windows, my dad was lucky he did not get hurt. Many people flocked from E St. Louis and downtown St. Louis to the suburbs. Unfortunately a lot of that industry has left the region. The history of east St. Louis is really interesting. In 1950, East St. Louis was the fourth-largest city in Illinois when its population peaked at 82,366. At the end of 2017, St. Louis metropolitan had 205 murders,159 of which were within the city limits. How do you think about the answers? Taylor disagrees: “You can’t trap people and then blame them for being trapped,” she says. OTH, East St Louis has great athletic teams. On Missouri ave is the old high school. Only 8.9 percent of residents have a college degree, and 43.5 percent live under the poverty line. I found a leaked photo of Chris Wray investigating the Bubba Wallace Noose ? Hi/Low, RealFeel®, precip, radar, & everything you need to be ready for the day, commute, and weekend! The city eventually had to eliminate all but basic city services, and even those were cut. Politicians, pundits, and intellectuals blame the problems facing places like East St. Louis on the “culture of poverty” of urban communities. Once a bustling industrial center, like many cities in the Rust Belt, East St. Louis was severely affected by loss of jobs due to industrial restructuring during the second half of the 20th century. “W e Googled the worst place in America to live, and St Louis came up,” says Johnel Langerston, the president of Urban Born, a nonprofit youth organization. “Going back home was tough for a number of reasons,” says Taylor, who’s attempting to raise $55,000 on Kickstarter to finish the film. East St. Louis slipped into a downward spiral that has been tough to stop. On the east side of the freeway are the "have-nots." East St. Louis used to be a thriving place; now however it is where all the violence is at. I was born and raised in the St. Louis area and after leaving for four years to go to college, I realized a few things about St. Louis that aren’t very appealing. Yet most people living outside these areas have no clue how bad the extreme poverty, alarming violence, and egregious environmental conditions are for residents of many American cities. The other factors you mention are certainly major reasons for E. STL's decline, but I doubt the highway had a neutral effect. Will I be causing a disturbance? East St. Louis would be a third-world country no matter what, because the community doesn't have the capital to change it. St. Louis was recently ranked one of the worst cities to live in by 24/7 Wall Street. Only 8.9 percent of residents have a college degree, and 43.5 percent live under the poverty line. “Seeing my old block and just how broken down it has become. East St. Louis may be a city that has a bad reputation, but it helps the students here manage life better and help us dream for change more than those may expect. The Liberals love to … You can sign in to vote the answer. The national homicide rate is around 5 murders for 100,000 people; in East St. Louis, … With Crime Down, New Collaborative Video Debunks Misleading Rankings. What is your favorite, not well known restaurant in the city? In 1950, 82,000 people called it home. I'm … Our work has already started. As of April 2017, St. Louis has the highest murder rate in the nation.The violence in the city is escalating at alarming rates. My father was taking a load of cattle to the old stockyards in E. St.L & his truck was attacked by a group of kids they threw bricks at his truck and smashed in the windows, my dad was lucky he did not get hurt. In the absence of law, violence rules. High unemloyment, poor community services, lack of good housing, low family incomes. I hate the way the Cardinals are the only sports team we are known for, or even the only team we actually care about. But why is that? Ninety-five percent are black. As businesses left and the local government struggled, the tax base shrunk. East Saint Louis, city, St. Clair county, southwestern Illinois, U.S. Another, more nefarious reason that stories of such communities rarely make it to the evening news is the issue of race. Despite its name, East St. Louis, IL, is a separate city from St. Louis, in an adjacent state. “We can’t wait until we have clear equanimity in the justice system, until we have equal public education,” she says. Shaw takes the cake as the best place to live in St. Louis. It's pretty bad, it might be ok to go during the day but I deff wouldn't recommend going at night and don't go making a documentary about it or the people that live there. In the 60s it used to be a thriving industrial city. Britni Danielle is a regular contributor to TakePart. There isn't much crime and there are nationally recognized schools. Of course, most of the sights and attractions of St. Louis are not in East Saint Louis, so unless you have a specific reason to visit, this likely isn’t a spot you’ll be checking out. In East St. Louis, I have to imagine I-64 dropping down from I-70 was extremely damaging to the neighborhood. The Truth About Crime in St. Louis. “That’s got to concern us as a nation. With her feature-length documentary The Other Side of Grace, veteran journalist Goldie Taylor hopes to shine a spotlight on America’s forgotten communities and shock us into action. All of this leads to a high crime rate. I am proud to be from East St. Louis because now I have the ability to face the world head on with all of me. Many people, such as U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, insist on blaming poor people for living in such dire situations. Taylor calls her birthplace a “war zone.”. But as Taylor points out, this couldn’t be further from the truth. You never know how much longer East St. Louis will be around before they decommission the city and tear everything down, so might as well see the museum of ruins now before it's all empty and boring. i am in sprigfiled ill and they take your Temperatue would be mad if they take your Temerature? “We can’t wait until we have the necessary reforms in health care. Here Are The 13 Most Dangerous Places In St. Louis After Dark. I never understood when I was a kid dad would run every stop light in East St. L on the way to the stockyards & would never let me go to the McDonald's. The most surprising thing about east St. Louis is how quickly buildings get run down. With the loss of the region’s major employers and half of the residents in East St. Louis fleeing for the suburbs, the Metro East community began to fall into state and federal debt, while crime and corruption within the local police departments and among the local public officials began to … But that's just the way E. St. L is. Anyone with the means or the money to get out does, no matter if they're white, black, or polka dotted. East St. Louis is the murder capital of the USA, greatly impoverished, and about 97% African American. Join Yahoo Answers and get 100 points today. East St. Louis is in the Metro-East region of Southern Illinois. hajario November 9, 2004, 4:46am In the film, Taylor shares the story of her hometown, East St. Louis, Ill. Its murder rate is 83 per 100000 ppl. Those kinds of pathologies—gun violence, illicit drug use—they move to the suburbs. But between outsourcing of solidly middle-class jobs, the decline in manufacturing, policies that encouraged segregation, and the availability of cheap guns, the city is now one of America’s dirty little secrets. My grandfather grew up there, and it sounds like it used to be a pretty decent area. It lies along the Mississippi River opposite St. Louis, Missouri. Whatever economic bridge to whatever version of the American dream that could have been had was bombed.”. Anyway, a lot of the problems in St. Louis are related to poverty, which in turn breeds crime and leads to under-education. Now I realize he did it for my own safety. It is directly across the Mississippi River from Downtown St. Louis and the Gateway Arch National Park. More than two-thirds of the city’s children live in poverty. And even if you don't know East Palo Alto, you might know the story of eastside disparity, whether it's the separation of the railroad tracks in East Pittsburgh or the Grosse Pointe Gate in East Detroit or East St. Louis, East Oakland, East Philly. Photo courtesy of Flickr/Paul Sableman O'Fallon, Missouri, is no St. Louis — it's one of the best places in the nation for young families. “All the things we would consider wrong about America—gun violence, poverty, lack of access to meaningful health care, environmental justice—all of them are wrong in East St. Louis,” she says. According to U.S. Census data, East St. Louis is 98 percent black. As of April 2017, St. Louis has the highest murder rate in America. East St Louis is economically miserable. 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We see the headlines about the rampant violence in Chicago and the catastrophic bankruptcy of Detroit. East St. Louis was bad too. About 1797 a ferry station was established on the site by Captain James Piggott, a pioneer and Illinois territorial judge, and in 1818 a village was laid out. Still have questions? “We invest ourselves in full-on segregation, locking people into communities, stripping away jobs, letting the tax base fall away, and creating generational poverty,” she says, explaining the factors that led to East St. Louis’ downfall. It affects everybody’s quality of life,” she says. The median household annual income is less than $20,000. According to U.S. Census data, East St. Louis is 98 percent black. If you are in the county of Saint Louis, you seriously cannot say that it is a bad area. “Is there some greater calling upon us to rebuild our communities? I plan on getting protestors and storm into a Jack in the Box with signs chanting their food is no good. We’ve also conditioned ourselves, Taylor says, to believe that “black men will kill each other, and we’ve perpetuated that myth over and over again until most of us have become immune to when another black man dies.” As a result, we’re more likely to hear of a mall shooting in a small town than of a murder in East St. Louis. ST. LOUIS • On Jan. 16, 1919, the Prohibition amendment was passed, making St. Louis and all cities officially dry despite widespread flouting of the law. I've been to St. Louis and much of it is quite nice. The FBI has dubbed it “the nation’s most dangerous city”; the homicide rate is an alarming 17 times the national average. Cities with good schools, a strong local economy and job market and a safe environment … Hell no.”. Get your answers by asking now. The whole city is economically depressed. It's high school football team won the class 7 Illinois state championship last year. Yes,” she says. As for long-term fixes for America’s troubled communities, Taylor advocates a holistic approach that includes self-determination by those affected coupled with targeted government policies on health care, education, and jobs. how can law suit be file in St. Louis County when you stay in St. Louis city? And although part of the reason for its troubles have to do with "white flight" -- the irrational fear on the part of whites that they might have to live next door to someone who is of a different ethnicity, the answer isn't as simple as race. Get the forecast for today, tonight & tomorrow's weather for St. Louis, MO. and Compton as the worst cities in America. They are all war torn countries. Fourteen square miles and home to nearly 27,000 residents, East St. Louis was once a boomtown. The chances of being murdered in East St. Louis are 19 times greater than the national average. They have done so in other years too. However I did see some downright dangerous ghettoes (East St. Louis) that rival south Chicago and south-central and east Los Angeles. She writes on a variety of subjects for, TakePart is the digital news and lifestyle magazine from. 06-13-2014, 05:24 PM Passing by schools that have been abandoned for 10 or 15 years and no one has the money or the resources to scrape them away. However, local government agencies are working with the governor of Missouri to clean up our streets and restore peace to our beautiful city. A lot of the people that live there now either unemployed or have low paying jobs. Yet, Taylor points out, “government policies have cut off the bridge in and out of East St. Louis. Iraqs murder rate is 89 and somalias and liberias is 33. It is ranked #1 for crime. EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. – East St. Louis was named the most dangerous city in the country, according to a home safety trade group. As we mentioned earlier, the neighborhoods in St. Louis aren't all bad. 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