Surviving at the crossroads of economic and racial intersectionality: Monique
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By Al Neal

ST. LOUIS - We are now talking about the closing of summer here in St. Louis. For many, the thermometer's gradual shift to cooler temperatures leads to cooler heads and a tempering of violence. It should come as no surprise to anyone that when the heat index creeps over 100 degrees Fahrenheit and the Mississippi River humidity shocks the body into rapid perspiration, patience goes right out the window.

Of course, another vital piece of the equation is economic progress, or lack thereof, in some of the violent crime hot spots spanning cities nationwide. St. Louis is one of the more prominent ones to be featured in crime stat headlines lately, but there's more to the story of why things are this way.

Sadly, St. Louis continues to be a segregated city. Today, it's called the Delmar Divide, a socioeconomic and racial dividing line on the east-west Delmar Boulevard. This hideous mark is just a continuation of Jim Crow-era policies. In 1916, St. Louis city authorities passed a residential segregation ordinance saying that if 75% of residents were of a certain race, no one from another race was legally allowed to move in. The ordinance was eventually overturned in a court challenge, but that did not stop the social aspects of segregation from lingering on up to the present day.

In the working-class neighborhood of Dutchtown, known for its German, specifically Bavarian-influenced structures and designs (courtesy of generations of European immigrants), the 1960s and '70s saw drastic socioeconomic change as white workers left for the typical American suburb-white picket fence and a union-made car in the driveway....

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