(from Saturday)
Today I went out to try and win a few votes. It's the last day of early voting and so I figured I'd hit the early voting locations in my district. The Old Courthouse, the the UC on campus, and finally Five Points (Harvest Plaza) in East Knox.
Everything was going rather uneventfully until there. I knew Harvest Plaza was in a rougher neighborhood and that it might be difficult to win many votes, but I felt (and feel) it important to go and ask all of the people who I seek to represent for their support.
This is where I met Keisha.
The story itself isn't that interesting. She came up to talk with me, she seemed a little slow, but nice and so we chatted for a few minutes. then she asked me if I was "hooking for anybody"...
The conversation didn't go very far from there because after asking, "Are you sure you don't hook for nobody", the sky thundered and she took off towards home.
And here is The Pol's question for the day:
How is it that we have individuals like Keisha in our city that apparently have decided that their best/ only option for a making a living is prostitution?
I would ask the same question of the drug dealers as well, but have yet to be offered crack so will leave an introspective analysis on that for a later time.
I'm seeking to represent a district that is full of every type of individual every color, every class, every creed, and I would like to begin a discussion about the Keisha's of our community.
How do we go about addressing these issues? Some would say jobs. But would Keisha be able to get a good paying job if there was one available.? Some say law enforcement will stop this type of behavior. But does that solve the core problem, or simply attack the symptom.
I don't know the answers, I'll quickly admit that, but I want to begin searching for them and I would love input for our readers. The Keisha's of Knoxville are our neighbors and we all need to be concerned for their well being, because real growth and success in Downtown has to be coupled with success in Lonsdale and Burlington or else we're just putting lipstick on a pig.
Write-In John Spellings on August 7th
Monday, August 04, 2008
Today I Met Keisha
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4 comments:
Just this past week it was in the news about a prostitution bust here in Knoxville. But to continue arresting these people isn't going to solve the fact these people have already hit rock bottom. That's when the controversial issue comes out as to whether or not to provide a program to help these people with jobs but then there is the view for each their own responsibility.
You raise an interesting topic. I think Knoxville works hard at ignoring issues like prostitution. I imagine if we could solve the same problems that we have with homelessness, it would solve some problems with prostitution. Of course, I have no idea how that's done.
@ Modern gal...I agree with the ignoring part, for the most part people are to PC. But what problems have we solved with the homeless? If you consider bringing more homeless to Knoxville a solution, than I guess we could bring more hookers to K-town. Probably could open up a non-profit and then litter Broadway too.
Pol, Parents and police...i'm old school.
I guess prostitution is common in any city of any size. But I think Knoxville's issue is that we like to pretend this is a small town with no big city problems. I'm guilty of it- I never thought about prostitutes being here until they started streetwalking in the Old City. It's been a problem all along, but most people just starting to address it.
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