Telephone Pole Memorials: A mourning of black lives taken too soon
Narrator and SEEED Community Engagement Speacialist Wando Stacey take viewers on a foreboding tour of a few telephone pole memorials and their origin.
The point being made is clear. The lack of job opportunities in East and Northwest Knoxville neighborhoods, underfunded schools, the challenges and time constraints to get to a job and many other factors are a mental and emotional toll.
I must add that the lack of recreational facilities in these communities is also a major problem. Black communities are underfunded. This includes the schools, parks/playgrounds, and the lack of recreational facilities for youth and young adults. If not totally destroyed by urban removal, they are cut off from easy access from the interstate and major streets.
So where do the young people go, what can they do? Many of them are forced to connect to what’s available – welcomed into a gang or other illicit activities.
