So lately I've been driving to visit a close friend of mine who recently relocated to Fort Worth from Dallas to be closer to family. I had never been to Fort Worth, TX until he moved out there. I was disappointed by what I saw. The city is large land-wise, but has a very small town feel to it. Certain areas of the city I have driven through appear to be completely uninhabited and even certain areas of downtown have a "ghost town" quality. A movie director would benefit from having to film a scene in downtown Fort Worth where he would need all the buildings and the streets appearing completely empty and devoid of life.
The other bad thing about Fort Worth, TX is almost everyone I have met out there appear to be either homeless, drunk, drug addicts or straight up perverts. Their is a hopeless feel to the city. It is filled with fast food restaurants, pawn shops, and day labor places. Driving through the city I would see guys hanging out of their windows clearly drunk catcalling at every woman who walked down the street, even the crackheads. Many of the homes are abandoned and there are really no good jobs from what I could see.
Most of the residents are employed in any number of the factories and the black residents have to compete for work with newly arrived Hispanics who can't speak a word of English, yet they find employment quick as opposed to the black residents who can't.
Driving through Fort Worth you get the feeling the city is rapidly deteriorating. The black people aren't really friendly and they don't seem to be very cultured. Many of them lack a high school diploma. 90% of the jobs pay minimum wage. There are a lot of small start-ups such as Mexican restaurants and black hair beauty salons. I've been to Fort Worth now several times and I have yet to see a middle class neighborhood. From my estimation many of the wealthy live far out and the poor live in town and the middle class are "non existent" or maybe they mostly reside in Arlington, TX.
I had the fortune (or misfortune I should say) of visiting a few of the black churches in Fort Worth. The church people didn't even acknowledge my presence. They weren't friendly and the sermons were "blah". Not memorable at all. The church members seemed lifeless. Whatever happened to black folks getting "happy" (as the old folks call it) in church? The members whose churches I attended sat like lifeless rocks, sang like half dead zombies, and frankly I felt the Spirit of God was not in any of them. In one church the preacher got up and talked about being pulled over by the cops and praying they wouldn't find out his license was expired. lol! Honestly.. This happened.
People in Fort Worth are just hanging on...
I had the fortune (or misfortune I should say) of visiting a few of the black churches in Fort Worth. The church people didn't even acknowledge my presence. They weren't friendly and the sermons were "blah". Not memorable at all. The church members seemed lifeless. Whatever happened to black folks getting "happy" (as the old folks call it) in church? The members whose churches I attended sat like lifeless rocks, sang like half dead zombies, and frankly I felt the Spirit of God was not in any of them. In one church the preacher got up and talked about being pulled over by the cops and praying they wouldn't find out his license was expired. lol! Honestly.. This happened.
People in Fort Worth are just hanging on...
In other words, Fort Worth, TX appears to be a dying town devoid of opportunities, culture or any kind of a meaningful existence. The white folks control EVERYTHING. Blacks control NOTHING. And Hispanics are "Highly Preferred" over blacks in employment, which results in many of the blacks in Fort Worth having to either travel to Dallas to work (which most do not as the Bus doesn't go to Dallas and the train costs $10.00 per trip, $20.00 round trip) which most blacks can't afford. So in other words they are STUCK.
However, the apartments out there are very cheap.
Fort Worth also seems to have a disproportionate number of Charities and Homeless shelters. They have one strip called East Lancaster where the homeless can literally go from one shelter to the next within a 5 minute time frame to be served food or find a place to sleep for the night. Many of the homeless live outside in tents or they sleep under the trees. All of the shelters are within walking distance from one another. They even have a place where you can shower even if you are not homeless. They give you coffee and a towel and a bar of soap. You can literally drive up and be able to use their facilities. My friend works in a charity and he has told me about this.
Fort Worth has to be the most depressing place in Texas. Honestly.
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