I happened to be in a conversation this past week, and someone said this sentence: “He grew up on the wrong side of the tracks.” It has stuck with me. It has made me wonder what the wrong side of the tracks refers to and what are the conditions on this “wrong side?” Is it “wrong” for the person who lives there, or could it be “wrong” that we let those areas persist?
It seems to me that it can refer to a myriad of things like race, culture, or economic condition to name a few. Since we were talking about Neighborhood Economics and local economies, I want to follow that thread a bit.
My thoughts are varied, but, if you were born on the wrong side of the tracks, economically perhaps that means you grew up within a challenged condition as it relates to money. Maybe your parents worked but made little income so things were tight; perhaps work was hard to find and your family counted on government assistance, or the neighborhood had elements like sub-standard housing, struggling small businesses, and predatory practices like check-cashing places, instead of banks.
These seem to be at least some elements of the side you don’t want to be from. And if you were, getting out was the goal.
Here is my dilemma: while I understand the term, there seems to be an underlying tone about who is wrong on the wrong side of the tracks. As if the wrong side of tracks occur naturally. You were just born there, so tough luck.
I believe the wrong side of the tracks is a created place. And maybe the “wrong” in this phrase should reference the fact that we have created these spaces and allowed them to multiply when there are more than enough resources on the other side of the tracks.
While we can’t help where our parents lived, we can make better conditions. We know the history of redlining, of predatory lending, and of making it hard for people who don’t have money to get money and easy for those who already have it. It’s not pretty, yet we know there are intentional decisions to support certain places and not others.
The wrong side of the tracks can be made right. There are ways and resources available to us that can make equal sides of the tracks or even perhaps get rid of the tracks that separate all together.
Jobs that pay well can be established, affordable housing built, health care improved, and local business supported. Vibrant local economies exist and can be established. The intentionality can be reversed to create instead of destroy. We can sow seeds for prosperity instead of feeding the poverty cycle.
Creating is a lot more fun and natural in my opinion. We are created beings with the ability and imagination within.
Neighborhood Economics is the movement getting rid of the wrong sides of the track, repairing local economies. This work starts by getting everyone in the room, making deep connections, and seeing one another as humans created to be in beloved community. A society where all people thrive.
My faith journey pushes me to this place. If I now live on the so-called other side of the tracks, my conviction as a person of faith doesn’t allow me to settle for just getting myself out. My faith calls me to create ways and places where wrong sides no longer exist.
This conversation is imperative if we are to reverse the wrongs that created that side of the tracks. And you are essential to the conversation. Commit now to join us in San Antonio. I would love to see you there.