George Washington University - Cherry Tree Yearbook (Washington, DC)

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City of Contrasts A t night, before it gets so late that they Washington is a poor city. It is 85 percent turn off the lights, you can see black. The wealthy white minority is huddled spotlighted images of the Lincoln into a ghetto called Northwest. GW is located in Memorial swaying gently in the this ghetto, where few of the majority population A t night, before it gets so late that they turn off the lights, you can see spotlighted images of the Lincoln Memorial swaying gently in the ripples of the Reflecting Pool. Usually not more than a block away, a different mirror reflects a different image. The eyes of the street people see no memorials and reflect no images of national grandeur. Like most Americans and most Washingtonians, the street people live at ground level beneath the Athenian temples. They work each day in the cracks of the monuments, where no tourists ever ventures . , . In this way, the city of Washington, D C. is our nation’s truest Reflecting Pool. The snapshots show only glistening skylines. But look closer. See the faults and crevasses and know that this is what a country truly looks like . Washington is a poor city. It is 85 percent black. The wealthy white minority is huddled into a ghetto called Northwest. GW is located in this ghetto, where few of the majority population are ever seen except as local service employees. For these people, working at GW is the closest they will ever get to a college education. You don’t see blacks on the mall. You don’t see blacks at the 21st Amendment or Odd’s, and these are the only places GW students go. They never see the cracks. ”The city,” that’s why many GW students say they chose to come here. But that’s not true. This heavily guarded ivory tower enclave is not anything remotely resembling ’ the city,” The city is the black population in Northeast, Southeast, and Southwest. White people don’t really go into Washington, D.C., especially well-off white people, and GW students FEATURES 29

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28 FEATURES

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absolutely don ' t go into “those areas unless they’re in a taxi running an errand for the law firm where they work. The point ts that Washington, D C. is not the monuments, it’s not the K St. Yuppies, the Con- gressmen, or any of the other trappings that dis- tinguish this city as the capital of the United States, Like all cities, Washington ' s signifi- cance stems from its plush tapestry of peoples and places. It is unique for the legacies of the anonymous families that call District their home. This planned metropolis, designed to rival and emulate the great capitals of antiquity is, for a vast majority of its residents, a crime and proverty ridden slum. This sprawl across former swampland reveals the tragic Haw in this heroic yet young nation: vanity. We are a Narcissus of nations. And what do we see in our reflecting pool? Like Narcissus, only the monuments. We are saved, however, by the camera which stills all moments into a frame of reality. The art of photography offers us no refuge from the faces and images of the dichotomy of this city. The shiny side of an ebony limousine reflects the trendy sites of Georgetown ' s M Street. The blackened windows offer no evidence as to the occupants of the vehicle. One can envision many scenarios for the people who ride in the air- conditioned comfort of this insular world. It could he the Washington businessmen emerging from their power lunch or the Washington lobbyis t, peddling influence on Capitol Hill. 30 FEATURES