'Life, Liberty and the pursuit of a chicken in every pothole…' When it comes to eulogizing the capital of a free world, we think our slogan fits. As powerful as it is dysfunctional, as rich as it is poor, as shabby as it is chic, in a way DC is the American dream. But if there's one lesson the world's toughest superpower learned in the 21st century, it's the American dream doesn't always live up to its promises. Perhaps nowhere is this more obvious than the capital city, with its numerous potholes and lack of chickens to fill them.
DC, like the political parties shaping her, is a city with spilt personalities: one lighthearted, the other darker.
There's the globetrotting, sexy vixen - all feminine marble curves, with a head of grassy green parks, mighty Potomac vistas and inky pools for eyes - laughing with the handsome Senator over Cosmopolitans at the Georgetown bar. The daughter of democracy, the purveyor of liberty and justice, she's an intoxicating heartbreaker heady with power and glitz - be warned you may get so high inhaling her raw energy you'll be empowered to fix the world. In fact, even the most jaded of Washingtonians admit a sense of awe upon seeing the presidential motorcade of black sedans awash in the lights and thunder of police escorts, screaming down Pennsylvania Ave between Capitol Hill and the White House.
But as much as she's a success, DC is also a hard knock. Dig beneath the vixen's shiny marble surface and you'll find a grittier core - boarded up buildings, graffiti filled walls, crack pipes and poor people. In this part of the city, the federal government and its machinery are merely backdrops to life, not the primetime drama. This is the city where people - ordinary and extraordinary - live, work and play.
In DC, minorities are the majority. Sixty percent of them are Black, the highest percentage in the country, and the city thumps to a vibrant African American beat. Despite this diverse population, DC is also one of the most segregated towns in America, with the 39% White population living (and playing) almost exclusively in the smallest and ritziest quadrant, Northwest. Twenty percent of the population falls below the poverty line (and most of this segment is Black) - 8% above the national average.
In a city with the second-highest per capita income in the country, this makes for one pretty messed-up economic disparity.
Last updated: Nov 13, 2008
