Marin City: I hope this makes a few people uncomfortable

Sherman R. Frederick/Properly Subversive

“(Marin City) is not a community that is willing to accept being treated as a stepchild” – the Rev. Floyd Tompkins, St. Andrew Presbyterian Church.

I take the good reverend at his word when he says Marin City residents do not accept being treated as step-children. 

But it also must be said – whether folks accept it or not – Marin City has, in fact, been treated as an afterthought since the end of WWII to this very day. It is without doubt the most startling example of segregation in California.

There’s been a lot of big talking, but very little fixing – public safety and education come immediately to mind. Not to mention the most startling statistic – if you live in Marin City you are likely to die seven years before your counterpart in the rest of the county.

I’ll probably make some people uncomfortable by saying this out loud, but sometimes that’s what a newspaper needs to do. 

So, here it goes: Marin County supervisors and Marin City community leaders: Stop talking … start fixing. 

(“Properly Subversive” is a commentary written by Sherman R. Frederick for Marinscope Community Newspapers, the “mother ship” of the Novato Advance, San Rafael News-Pointer, Mill Valley Herald, Ross Valley Reporter, Twin City Times and the Sausalito Marin Scope. Mr. Frederick is an award-winning journalist and co-founder of Battle Born Media, a news organization dedicated to the preservation of community newspapers. You can reach him by email at shermfrederick@gmail.com.)