Free eBooks Show Me A Hero: A Tale Of Murder, Suicide, Race, And Redemption Available To Downloads
In the grand reportorial tradition of J. Anthony Lukass's Common Ground, SHOW ME A HERO is a tale of one city, divided by fear and racism, murder and politics, and notions of home and community. When Nicholas Wasicsko was growing up, he knew he was going to be mayor of Yonkers. The other kids teased him about his dream, calling him "The Mayor" on the basketball court. But on November 3, 1987, when he was only twenty-eight years old, Nick did indeed become mayor - in fact, the country's youngest. It turned out to be less than a dream job. The city had just been slapped with a court order demanding that it build public housing on the white, middle-class side of town in order to right what the judge saw as intentional, decades-long pattern of segregation. Shortly after taking office, and after careful deliberation with the city's lawyers, Nick agreed to comply with the court order. This decision would lead to a virtual civic meltdown, and the shattering of his own hopes and dreams. SHOW ME A HERO is about the battle between the judge and Nick's city, and also about what happens after - after the lawyers have gone, the protesting has stopped, the townhouses have been built, and the newcomers have moved in. It's about Alma Febles, a magnetic young mother desperate to move her three children into a real home. It's about the nearly blind Norma O'Neal, who couldn't get home health care in the projects. It's about Mary Dorman, an activist-first, against housing; then, gradually, for it - for the first time in her life. And it's about Nick Wasicsko and his wife, Nay, trying to build a life amid the political rubble. SHOW ME A HERO is riveting tale, made more urgent by the fact that the hard lessons Nick had to learn are ones that countless cities will face in the future. Across the country, monolithic housing projects are being demolished and replaced by scattered-site public housing built in middle-class neighborhoods. One by one, these cities will learn, as Yonkers did, as Nick did, what this means for a nation whose people preach, diversity but who are most comfortable when surrounded by others like themselves.
Hardcover: 331 pages
Publisher: Little Brown & Co (T); 1 edition (March 1999)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0316088056
ISBN-13: 978-0316088053
Product Dimensions: 1 x 6.2 x 9.8 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #263,405 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #28 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Sociology > Race Relations > General #204 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Public Affairs & Policy > City Planning & Urban Development #208 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Social Sciences > Urban Planning & Development
A well done look at the diversifying of America. Lisa Belkin, a NY Times reporter, gives us this look at the city of Yonkers, NY and the ramifications of a Federal Court Justice requiring said city to provide public housing on it's East Side, the good side of the tracks.Belkin has taken the events in a chronological order from many different views: Nicholas Wasiscko, voted in as the youngest mayor of any major U.S. city; Judge Sand, the Federal Court Justice; Mary Dorman, a citizen from the East Side who joined in with the protestors; Alma Febles, a single mother with young children from the West Side; and Norma O'Neal, a health care provider from the West Side who's eyesight was deteriorating at a rapid rate are some of the main characters in this unfolding crisis.The United States Justice Department filed suit against the city of Yonkers and was soon joined by the Yonkers Branch of the N.A.A.C.P. in claiming that the city had systematically kept the Black citizens down by continuing to provide Public Housing on the West Side of the city only. They claimed this created a ghetto environment that led to a lack of advancement of the population. When Judge Sand issued his 163 page opinion, it quickly became a hot topic within the city residents and the upcoming Mayoral and Council race debates.Nicholas Wasiscko, who had wanted to be the mayor of Yonkers since his early teens, saw this as a means of separating his views from his opponents and declared he would not follow the decision if elected. The election was a very close one, but he won. As he began overseeing new city council meetings, large throngs of citizens began appearing and protesting the ruling.
Show Me a Hero: A Tale of Murder, Suicide, Race, and Redemption Redemption Gift Set: Starter Decks and Booster Packs for Redemption Trading Card Game Counted Cross Stitch Pattern: "Flash Boy Superhero" Comic Book Hero For Kids With 9 Alphabets To Personalize Your Hero (Kids Are Heroes Series) Show Me A Hero The Complete Cook's Country TV Show Cookbook Season 8: Every Recipe, Every Ingredient Testing, Every Equipment Rating from the Hit TV Show Winter Circuit (Show Circuit Series -- Book 2) (The Show Circuit) Forced Exit: The Slippery Slope from Assisted Suicide to Legalized Murder The Perversion of Virtue: Understanding Murder-Suicide Ramayana: India's Immortal Tale of Adventure, Love and Wisdom: India's Immortal Tale of Adventure, Love, and Wisdom Genji & Heike: Selections from The Tale of Genji and The Tale of the Heike Cinderella: A modern adult fairy tale. (Not quite the fairy tale Book 1) Autumn Princess, Dragon Child: Book 2 in the Tale of Shikanoko (The Tale of Shikanoko series) The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents Earth (The Book): A Visitor's Guide to the Human Race The 13th Element: The Sordid Tale of Murder, Fire, and Phosphorus A Mystic Murder: A Witch Cozy Murder Mystery (Witches of Hemlock Cove Book 1) A Sinister Slice of Murder: A Jessie Delacroix Murder Mystery (Whispering Pines Mystery Series Book 1) Hannah Mary Tabbs and the Disembodied Torso: A Tale of Race, Sex, and Violence in America The Melancholy of Race: Psychoanalysis, Assimilation, and Hidden Grief (Race and American Culture) Race and Ethnicity: Taking Sides - Clashing Views in Race and Ethnicity Living Alterities: Phenomenology, Embodiment, and Race (SUNY series, Philosophy and Race)
