ST. LOUIS — A walk down the 6-mile city street named for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. yields plenty of images that would surely unsettle the civil rights leader: shuttered storefronts, open-air drug markets and a glut of pawn shops, quickie check-cashing providers and liquor stores.
The urban decay along Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in St. Louis can be found in other major American cities, from Houston and Milwaukee to the nation’s capital.
“It’s a national problem,” said Melvin White, a 46-year-old postal worker in St. Louis and founder of a 3-year-old nonprofit group that is trying to restore King’s legacy on asphalt. “Dr. King would be turning over in his grave.”
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I always figured that if I was on any street that was named ‘MLK Whatever’ in any city I was on the wrong side of town.
MLK Boulevards serve a useful and necessary role in society. This critical resource serves out-of- town travelers with an invaluable tool: Ya always know where ta git yer crack!
It’s better advice than that rumored but never found iPhone app……..
“Avoid the Ghetto.”
To be fair, most of those streets were shitholes BEFORE they renamed them after King…