HISTORIC BLACK VEGAS:

What is was USAID?

BY CLAYTEE D. WHITE

The eleven-year period known as Reconstruction (1865-1877) followed the Civil War and was once viewed as a progressive era of Black advancement — especially for the enslaved who had been set free. 

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is was an independent agency of the United States government primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. This was the organization that promoted global health, disaster relief, and socioeconomic development around the world. I can almost say, “around the globe in the world-of-color.” 

For the past few years, except for Ukraine, the world where most of these dollars were spent included the countries of Ethiopia, Jordan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, Yemen, Afghanistan, Nigeria, South Sudan, and Syria. 

We have seen the photographs from Ethiopia, Sudan, and Somalia. What will happen to the children now?

At one time in the Las Vegas Westside, community members knew themselves and controlled their lives socially, politically, economically, and spiritually. In the 1980s, outside forces — including crack cocaine and integration — tore the neighborhoods apart. But families flourished in Berkley Square, Highland Square, Cadillac Arms, Bonanza Village, and the area contained between Owens on the north, Washington on the south, J on the east and N on the west. 

Today, there is generational decay that can be repaired, while some homes are in stellar condition. The businesses felt the brunt of this economic and social downturn and most Jackson Avenue enterprises closed, yet those on the periphery — Owens, Martin Luther King, Lake Mead, and Stella Lake — continued. 

How do we fight this enemy of economic stagnation and increased unemployment? How can every street in Berkley Square, Cadillac Arms, and Highland Square look as beautiful as they did in the early 1960s? How do we continue the new forward trajectory that we see in the Westside today (the new College of Southern Nevada campus, the new library, Legacy Park, the garden and housing work of the Obodo Collective, an expanded Performing Arts Center, and new housing complexes by HUD and Sam Cherry) under the current administration in Washington? 

Since the federal government seems to be tearing apart the mechanisms that many communities have depended upon, let’s think about what the Westside brings to the table that is unique in the country. What do the rulers of our country need that only we have? Can we bring back Jackson Street using technology, architecture, and science in a way that can be modeled around the world? We need entertainment up leveled into the 22nd century; entertainment that goes beyond Disneyland, current museums, national parks, and Strip hotel casinos. We have to find and ride the next wave into a place that looks and feels like Mars while including elements of the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. Let’s go out and party with Sammy Davis while walking from one nightclub on Mars to the next one on Venus.