Primetime DVD Review “East Lake Meadows”

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East Lake Meadows DVD cover

“East Lake Meadows – A Public Housing Story” Review by Suzanne 5/20/20

This is very educational. As someone who grew up in the 70’s, I enjoyed watching their old films and hearing about life in the public housing. I had heard about Cabrini Green and some other public housing places before and always wondered how the residents could let their homes get so filthy and filled with drugs and graffiti. Now after watching this, I know how wrong I was to think that way. The residents had no money, and the city was supposed to be taking care of the grounds and repairs of the houses. They didn’t, so the places went to ruin. That’s just sad, and another disgusting part of our history when it comes to treatment of the poor (especially poor and black).

They did a good job showing what went on back then, with photos, testimony and some videos. It’s too bad that so many people were forced out. This was done by Ken Burns, but it’s not one of his really long documentaries. It’s definitely worth watching.

MORE INFORMATION:

Ken Burns Presents: East Lake Meadows

In 1970, the Atlanta Housing Authority opened East Lake Meadows, a public housing community on the edge of the city. Over the next 25 years, many thousands of low-income Atlantans, mostly African American, would call it home. Shoddy construction and a lack of funding left the project and surrounding landscape in disrepair and led to a rapid decline in the quality of life. As public housing in America became increasingly stigmatized, and a crack epidemic overwhelmed East Lake Meadows, the neighborhood became nearly uninhabitable, but residents nonetheless found ways to overcome violence and neglect, raise kids, find work, and create moments of joy. In the mid-1990s, Atlanta bulldozed East Lake Meadows to make way for new mixed-income housing, as government and philanthropic funds poured into the area in an effort to create a thriving community.

Through the stories of the former residents, East Lake Meadows: A Public Housing Story gives voice to some of the most marginalized people in our society and raises critical questions about how we have created concentrated poverty and limited housing opportunity for African Americans, and what responsibility we have as a people to ensure decent housing for our most vulnerable citizens.

Street Date: Available now
Run Time: 105 min.
SRP: $24.99
Format: DVD, Digital
Genre: Issues/Events: Domestic

Proofread and Edited by Brenda

The opinions in these articles are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of TVMEG.COM or its other volunteers.


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