Five Points South had some businesses among the city's finest and most distinguished architectural and historical resources, but it did not have a lot of residential areas 20 years ago.
​
Because of Birmingham’s experienced social upheavals during the Civil Rights Movement, the relationships between neighborhoods were constantly affected by races and religions. When Devoris first came to Birmingham Police Department South Precinct, residents lacked for communicating between different races. Also, criminal events showed ethnic conflicts.
Chatting with Jon Lawler
Jon Lawler is a community activist who was involved with Common Thread. He is passionate about living out his faith through serving the “least of these” in Birmingham. Jon has lived in various project neighborhoods in Birmingham, including Titusville, where he first met his godson Jalen. In an effort to get to know the boy better, and understand his situation, Jon moved into government project housing with Jermain and five brothers and sisters and mother for about six months, which cemented their ever-growing relationship. To hear a poignant thoughts from Jon, click play.
History Professor Talks Evolution of Race
Issues in Birmingham
Along with the development of Birmingham, the community has more and more apartments, commercial buildings and population. The growth of businesses and economy brings more jobs and development opportunities and also reduces income inequality. Furthermore, different race of people are committed to building family friendly neighborhoods.
​
Comparing with 20 years ago, citizens pay more attention to the balance between material life and spiritual life than before, such as increasing vibrant nightlife. Thus, criminal events in the South Precinct have increased with the development of the community.
​
“Every city wants economic growth,” Devoris said, “but when you have more businesses in one specific area and a greater population, you get more criminal occurrences.”
Jim Brown was a professor emeritus in the history department at Samford University. He is originally from Tennessee, and moved to Birmingham in 1971 to take a job teaching history at Samford. Dr. Brown retired from that job end of May 2016.
​
Brown remembered that his grandfather had a small farm on the side, with a black family of renters who tended the large garden, took care of the cattle and the mule “Old Joe” that plowed the tobacco patch and garden. He looked upon black people as a race apart, and below, whites.
​
His father totally broke with that and took a firm stand on racial equality. But their church had no black members, and admitting one would probably have split the church permanently. “When I named my son Josh partly because I admired the black blues musician Josh White,” Brown said, “my father was disturbed - the only people he knew named Josh were blacks, and so it was an unsuitable name for any self-respecting white person.”
​
Brown explained there has been a great deal of change about racial segregation, especially in the American workplace. Racial segregation by neighborhood is almost as rigid as ever. For instance, Homewood was a primarily African-American Rosedale in 1926. Samford was Howard College located in East Lake. Today is a mostly black neighborhood. There are examples of “white flight” from increasingly black areas in the inner city.
​
Brown believes culture is learned and shared with people who live or has lived in the same social environment for a long time. Although different races of people have different cultures, they could understand and inclusive with each other in Birmingham or other places.
Birmingham Police Department South Precinct plays a role of helping each neighborhood to connect and communicate with others. As a citizen and a police officer, Devoris witness that Five Points South Birmingham is experiencing a renaissance and a development.
​
Devoris hopes every citizen can learn criminal prevention information and know the services the Police Department offers. Although Five Points South is growing, there are still not perfect and can be changed and improved. The basic trend of the community is pointing in the right direction.
​
For the future, Devoris not only wishes the economy of Five Points South could continue to grow, but she also wants more families and children to live in her community. Devoris said the best scenarios of the community are the people enjoying lunch time with their families and friends outside of coffee shops as well as listening to music and bathing in sunshine.
Five Points South
By Rachel Williams
Get Connected with Birmingham Police Department South Precinct
Get Connected with Jim Brown
Devoris Ragland-Pierce
The Crime prevention officer
Working for the Birmingham Police Department for 21 years
By Dan Zhao
By Dan Zhao