The Hidden Truth

This is day five in Liverpool. Until now, we've seen the pretty parts of the city. We've been shown the dock district, the pretty churches, the city center where a very large shopping mall stands - all of the pleasant parts of the city. Today, however, was quite different.

A fellow named Michael Simon took us 'round the poor/minority sectors, known as Liverpool 8. In the late 1960s, there was a push for gentrification of the city which displaced many a family, neighborhood and even entire communities whose identities were forever changed. Even today, there is a very strong presence of racial divide and racism.

We were "lucky" enough to witness a very unfortunate incident; as we were approaching a mosque, there was a group of three or four young men about fifty feet ahead of us. Suddenly and without warning, one of the black lads took a swing at the white kid (probably around 19 years of age) and connected squarely on the young man's cheek, splitting the skin and causing a rush of blood to stream down his face. A silver Volvo sped to the scene, obviously the white guy's friend, and the injured man said something to the driver that I was unable to make out. Whatever it was, it incensed the black man and he produced a handgun and pointed it directly at the white man who immediately proceeded to flee for his life with the armed assailant giving chase.

I wasn't terribly afraid that we would be fired upon directly, but the possibility of catching a stray round certainly gave me pause. Once the scene cleared and things returned to "normal," our tour guide said that his best idea of what we had witnessed was a drug deal gone awry.

We continued on with our tour - ever vigilant - and saw some of the old, dilapidated buildings in these neighborhoods. There seems to be very little by way of public works in this area. Some properties have been abandoned, some nearly completely destroyed. This doesn't seem to be much of a concern because these are in outlying areas and, of course, "they" live here, so who cares?

If someone had told me that this building had fallen victim to a German bomb during WWII, I would have believed them. The truth is, however, that this building wasn't even built until after the war and is already in this condition.

These links will take you to a couple of very short videos that show a little about what took place in the late '60s.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhjBwU86Xs8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xeuax_s7Of8