Inner City Pressure

Upon watching this film I expected it to be the ol' poor battle, black versus white inner city documentary that you could probably get in any poor city in America. Two young Buffalonians, Addison Henderson and Korey Green, hook up together to explore the crime and poverty in Buffalo after a murder. Their linkage is a bit unique, Addison being a friend of the murdered and Korey who was a friend of the murderer. This sparked the endeavor to really break down as to why murders happen and the crime rate is so high.

I realize that this could be any city. One might argue that it's making Buffalo look worse than it is. But, I think the filmmakers perspectives were to show what really goes on IN BUFFALO. I read a comment on the where I watch the film (http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/the_forgotten_city/) and it read that it could be any city, well yes they're right but Henderson and Greens' vision was to show a reality that the people of Buffalo in the inner city deal with. A reality that many aren't aware of. Every so often we do read in the paper or hear on the news of a murder or shooting on the east side but don't realize that it's a day to day thing.

The film is low budget so you have to expect some of the blunders that were in it. At the beginning of the film Green mutters "I ask myself, what would've happened if the Bills won the Super Bowl? Maybe we wouldn't be considered a cursed city. But we didn't, we lost four straight." I didn't quite understand his linkage at that point on how football would effect the cities poverty and crime level. Is he implying that if the Bills won a Super Bowl that crime, racism and poverty levels would be down? I don't think that the Bills losing any Super Bowl has any major effect on the cities downward spiral. Also, there was a part in the film where Henderson and Green travel to Toronto, Canada to speak with the people about Buffalo there. Their conclusion was that people of Toronto don't really know much about Buffalo crime and poverty issues. And I ask, why should they though? We're a neighboring city but we're in a different country and why should they worry about the problems that Buffalo is facing? I'm sure if we asked Henderson and Green about the crime or poverty issues in Detroit or Cleveland they wouldn't know much about those cities. At least the people of Toronto don't associate Buffalo with just crime and poverty. After asking questions on the street Henderson and Green proceeded to crash a rally that the people of Canada were having about their troops in Afghanistan and shouted about the problems of Buffalo. I mean come on, I care about this city as much as the next Buffalonian but crashing another country while they're rallying about there own political issues and yelling about Buffalo's issues? They're supposed to be representing this city and that just looked ridiculous.

Henderson and Green are kids from the streets with a vision. Being from the neighborhood they have the opportunity to interview people that actually live in the troubled locations and are even invited into some of the homes of drug dealers, addicts and criminals. So despite of the blunders in the film you really get the perspective of how these people live on a daily basis. It is a pretty scary site. Women sitting around the house sharing a crack pipe complaining about the economy and dysfunctional relationships with their families, drug dealers houses where weapons lie around with a naked woman in which the occupant of the house explains "that's for all of us" referring to her, along with people just walking around in the street with guns holstered in the belts on their pants. To my surprise all the people they interview suggested that they wanted a different lifestyle, the addicts, drug dealers and criminals. They want better for themselves and the community they live in. Which is great, turns out they don't have a complete "fuck the man" attitude that I figured most of them did. But the question is what are they doing to change it around? Many of them want it handed to them and play the blame game. They also are so locked in their grooves of routine with the drugs and way of life that it must be hard to get out of. I would suggest since there isn't much money in the community that instead of doing the drugs to feel good or to kill time, maybe use that time to learn a trait or skill that could be bartered between neighbors. The barter of skills could produce a stronger thriving community without the use of money. There are also free resources available that could help the people with learning to read, so they could go to the library, learn a trait from a book. And sad to say it but you really need to question the integrity of the people living in the poor neighborhoods. Dealing drugs is a lot easier to do than taking the time to learn something new. Drugs sell themselves and you don't need to learn sales or marketing for that. They need to take responsibility and start making a change, the city of Buffalo doesn't have much money as it is they can't just start dumping it into somewhere that looks grim and going no where.

Could they live a normal life if giving the opportunity to? Their slogan was "Jobs Not Jails" suggesting more funding should be placed into producing more jobs and not into more jails. But could it possibly be because the people living there leave the city leaders no choice but to put more funding in jails because the people living there put no effort into a better way of life? If the people of the community got off the drugs and started applying themselves, could more jobs be available to them to hire or get hired? So many questions arise from this problem.

The documentary itself is worth watching if you're from or live in Buffalo. It opens your eyes to a world most of us have not witnessed. Despite the lack of writing and good interviewing questions they do have some good insight from scholars, teachers and even the mayor. The footage they show you of the inner city will make you think, is there hope for this part of the city? Will it ever get better?