The Southmost Area

Essay by PaperNerd ContributorCollege, Undergraduate November 2001

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The Southmost Area Recently the Brownsville Herald had an article in which Peter Goodman, Brownsville's historical downtown manager, wrote on how Brownsville had become the All-American City. Then he started to talk about the Southmost area. On this article Goodman wrote: "Southmost was once the great wasteland of Brownsville, a city within a city, one that was once the overcrowded, gang run, and so crime-infested even the police couldn't go there." Many people were outraged with what Goodman had written.

There were some from the Southmost area who wrote back to the newspaper to complain about the article. How was it that a man who had never lived in this area be able to talk so negative about it. Goodman is not even from Brownsville. Never even lived in the Southmost area and has probably never even witnessed a crime being committed in this area. And to top it all of Goodman isn't even from Texas.

Goodman was somehow hired by the City of Brownsville so that he could take care of the restoration of some of the sites in Brownsville.

He was brought over from Weslaco.

This hasn't been the only time that someone has stereotyped the Southmost area. As long as I can remember whenever someone heard that you were from one of the Southmost area. People would compare the neighborhoods to something out of an East L.A. movie in which you would see gangs walking around the streets. There are more than 50,000 people right now that call the Southmost area their home. It is also made up mostly of a large Hispanic population. Some of them, like myself, were brought up there.

I have yet to hear about a crime that has happened in one of our neighborhoods that hasn't happened in the Brownsville Country Club.

You can even ask a Brownsville Police Officer, on how they have controlled the gang problems in our neighborhoods, and more than likely they will not even know what you are talking about. Most of the crime that has happened here is not as bad as many people think.

I am not saying that the Southmost area is the best place to live, but I am saying that if you are going to talk about our neighborhoods, do the research. All you need to do is hear what statistics the Brownsville Police Department has for the crime rate. Also, you can check all of the Brownsville Herald archives in which you will find, like I did, hundreds of articles on how the Southmost area community works together on numerous projects. In other words what I am trying to say is ", if you are going to talk bad about my neighborhood, do the research and base it on facts. Especially when it is something that is going to be published on a newspaper."