Since WWII, this neighborhood has gone
through many dark times and struggles.
From the steps of the synagogue, worshippers watched as the US Army trucks rolled up to
take those neighbors of Japanese descent to ‘concentration camps.’ The Italian
community felt overrun by people moving in next door that the War Department said they had
to work side-by-side with; they were ‘Negro.’ The bulldozers rolled up and spent
30 years destroying trees, streets, homes, and lives in the name of progress (I-90).
‘White’ speculators went door-to-door offering cash for homes, so they could be
turned around and sold to DOT for a healthy profit. The speculators didn’t get rich,
but they did fuel a belief that "they’re trying to move all us black people
out."
When boarded up buildings and drug dealers were the scene on the
streets, the frustrated residents felt that they could get no repsonse from the city to
help them with the blight. In their frustration they formed the "Judkins
Rejected Community Council." Now, with gentrification firmly taking hold, the
establishment of more neighborhood community councils, Judkins has dropped the 'Rejected'
from its name but the feelings and emotions of a neighborhood ignored still linger.
These upheavals have only set firmer the resolve of the people that are here that we must,
and we will, work together to solve our problems as a community.
