Blog 11: Allan Tibbels Lecture

This past Tuesday, April 17, 2007, I attended a lecture held by Allan Tibbels. Tibbels is the co-executive director of the sandtown habitat. This sandtown neighborhood is located just a few miles outside of the Loyola College campus and is mostly comprised of African-Americans. Also, the community contains a lower class of residents and, as Tibbels explained, this makes it hard for the citizens in the area to make a forward move out of the neighborhood. Tibbels stated that when he had moved into the community almost twenty years ago, he was the only white resident within one mile of his house.

Tibbels began his lecture by explaining why it is so difficult for those who live in this community to make a move out. He explained that the majority of those who live in the sandtown community are forced to rent their houses. Since they have poor credit and not enough money to buy a house, they eventually pay so much rent for the houses that they have basically paid for the house almost three times. It continues to snowball because eventually the tenants run out of money, cannot pay their rent and finally are evicted.

The problems continue for the tenants in this neighborhood because while they are forced to pay ridiculous amounts of rent fairs, they lack the money to get out. They continue living in the community where they have an extremely hard time attempting to find a better job in order to make more money. Without money, their chances of leading a successful and fulfilling life are extremely low. The opportunities available for all of those who live in the community are scarce if they are even existent. The neighborhood almost gains the idea of a black hole, where the members, once in, have no feasible way out.

As Tibbels continued his lecture I began thinking about some of the works that we read this year that reminded me of the poverty and the tough conditions that surround Loyola College. One that came to mind right away was “Thank You, M’am” by Langston Hughes. In this story a young boy attempts to steal a woman’s purse in order to get money. In Tibbels lecture, he spoke about how crime in the community is a problem and that something needs to be done about it. In the short story the boy learns his lesson after the elderly woman teaches him many lessons. Despite all the problems and difficulties that this community is faced with, Tibbels and others are attempting to revitalize this neighborhood.

Tibbels and the others who work as directors for the sandtown community have not yet lost faith on the area. While others feel as though it is a lost cause to use resources to help the neighborhood, Tibbels still feels as though the community can be saved. Through him, new schools are being built in the community as well as recreational parks. This is extremely important for the children of the community because in school, they learn, which is the stepping stone to make it out of this poor community. Also, the recreational parks give the children a place to go after school to keep them out of trouble on a day to day basis. In addition, art centers are being constructed to help motivate those who live in the community to strive for something better in their lives.