 |
 |
|
|
Two centuries after the nation's founding, its seat of government was a city of contrasts. While tourists flocked to see the District of Columbia's fabled cherry blossoms, or the Smithsonian museums, or the stately government buildings, not far away in the poorer neighborhoods nightly gunfire symbolized an entirely different community. Washington was known in the 1980s as the "murder capital" because its homicide rate was higher than that of any other U.S. city. In some areas drug wars imperiled innocent people in their homes and on the streets. Infant mortality was higher than in many Third World countries. Schools struggled against a pathetic dropout rate. more... |
|
