Oakland, California is a city with a high crime rate; that is a fact. This fact tends to be the only thing people know about Oakland. People hear “Oakland” and think of the various rappers who are born there and the Fruitvale Station shooting. When I was three years old I moved away from the beautiful city that I had loved living in to what is considered the safest city in America: Newton, MA. As I got older I started to learn how those who had never been to or done any research on Oakland viewed the city that I felt was so great. When heard I had lived there, I got questions such as, “was it scary?” and “isn’t that dangerous?” There is rarely a national news story about something good happening there, so people across the country only heard …show more content…
This view is dangerous for both the people in the city and those who have a single view of Oakland. The people who come from Oakland might have to deal with other people having negative views of their hometown and that could give them a disadvantage. Even if they are not given a disadvantage, they still may end up like me, spending their time trying to correct the negative views people have of Oakland. The people who have a single story view of Oakland may end up never traveling there out of fear or distaste for a city they do not even know. Those people will never get to experience a city that I hold so dearly in my heart because they have a single story that they will most likely never go out of their way to change. Single stories are damaging, however, they unfortunately seem to be a guarantee because people do not and cannot spend their whole lives researching both sides of every place, event, person, thing or idea that they encounter. It is typical that people are presented information and accept that as the whole truth, until they are proven otherwise. As long as this mentality continues, so will single
In the article “Gentrification’s Insidious Violence: The Truth about American Cities” by Daniel Jose Older, Older places emphasis on the neighboring issue of gentrification in minority, low income communities or as better known as being called the “hood” communities. The author is biased on how race is a factor in gentrifying communities by local governments. Older explains his experience as a paramedic aiding a white patient in the “hood” where he was pistol whipped in a home invasion by a black male. This is an example of black on white crime which is found to be a normal occurrence in the residence of his community. But that is not the case in Older’s situation because that was the first time he has
Gentrification makes way for safe neighborhoods that were once considered to be unsafe because of crime. Areas such as Echo Park, East LA, and Bed-Stuy, once notorious for being some of the most dangerous places in the United States are now safer than ever because of the changes brought by gentrification. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, “…gentrification can cause an initial increase in crime because neighborhood change causes destabilization, although in the long run gentrification leads to a decline in crime as neighborhood cohesion increases.” (2016, HUD USER). The arrival of new members of the community and the changes they bring creates unrest in the form of crime.
In contrast to the negatives of gentrification, some people view gentrification as a the only effective way to “revitalize” low-income urban communities. In the article, “Gentrification: A Positive Good For Communities” Turman situates the piece around the opinion that gentrification is not as awful as the negative connotation surrounding it. Furthermore, he attempts to dispel the negative aspects of gentrification by pointing out how some of them are nonexistent. To accomplish this, Turman exemplifies how gentrification could positively impact neighborhoods like Third Ward (a ‘dangerous’ neighborhood in Houston, Texas).Throughout the article, Turman provides copious examples of how gentrification can positively change urban communities, expressing that “gentrification can produce desirable effects upon a community such as a reduced crime rate, investment in the infrastructure of an area and increased economic activity in neighborhoods which gentrify”. Furthermore, he opportunistically uses the Third Ward as an example, which he describes as “the 15th most dangerous neighborhood in the country” and “synonymous with crime”, as an example of an area that could “need the change that gentrification provides”. Consequently, he argues with
The want for money drastically affected the Younger’s and changed their lives for the worst. In Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, A family in 1950s Chicago want for money was putting a negative strain on the family.
Many students who are enrolled in FFA are already heading in the right direction to a bright future. FFA has many career benefits within the program. Any of the career development events (CDE’s) have something that will tie to a career in agriculture or to a career of other sorts. According to the National FFA Organization, “FFA members embrace concepts taught in agricultural science classrooms nationwide, build valuable skills through hands-on experiential learning and each year demonstrate their proficiency in competitions based on real-world agricultural skills”(“Statistics”). There are so many careers that tie into FFA, and many of them have to do with agriculture. Not every career that has to do with agriculture is about farming. There are so many different aspects of the agriculture industry that many people never think twice about. Most people are not interested in agriculture because they think it is just about farming or
There is so much that can be learned from the past. Especially from an event that was as catastrophic as this one. How does one person gain such a grip on so many people? How was he able to influence them to change their entire life’s to conform to what he wanted. Somehow he was able to get them to move to a completely new place and create a world all their (his) own. How does one person convince and force so many people that it was time for their life to end? How does he force them to kill themselves? So many questions that are still being answered to this day. There are plenty of movies and research done on this event but there is still a lot to learn.
It is no news when we hear about recent riots in the city of Baltimore, violence in the streets of New York City, and drug wars in Los Angeles. For many citizens, urban violence does not come as a surprise since many impoverished cities in the United States lack job opportunities, police protection, and in which many citizens feel unwanted. Cities such as Baltimore is the home to 63% of African Americans who live in poor conditioned homes, and are surrounded by drugs and violence within their communities. Many of us do not acknowledge these obstacles that African Americans, Latinos, or unprivileged whites encounter in urban communities where they feel hated, hopeless, and judged. Social unrest in the United Sates has been the result of many
Have you ever felt stuck? Wherever you are, it’s the absolute last place you want to be. In the book Into the Wild, Chris McCandless feels stuck just like the average everyday person may feel. Chris finds his escape plan to the situation and feels he will free himself by going off to the wild. I agree with the author that Chris McCandless wasn’t a crazy person, a sociopath, or an outcast because he got along with many people very well, but he did seem somewhat incompetent, even though he survived for quite some time.
Racism is a problem that the American people have grappled with since colonial times. The 1960's saw the rise of Martin Luther King, Jr and Malcolm X, who not only influenced the civil rights movement but attempted to solve the problem of racism in this country. On February 16, 1965, Malcolm X gave a speech called Not Just An American Problem, but a World Problem. In his speech he provides a theory on the relationship between media and racism called image making which still has validity today. On first reading, Malcolm's tone is angry and his theory on image making sounds absurd. He states: They (racists) use the press to get public opinion on their side. . . this is a science called image making. they hold you in check through this science of imagery. They even make you look down upon yourself, by giving you a bad image of yourself. Some of our own Black people who have eaten this image themselves and digested it -- until they themselves don't want to live in the Black community. Yet, current television programming seems to favor this idea. Local news programs continue to show colored communities as dangerous and gang-infested. They continually rely on the reports of these areas for the bulk of their news and overlook the positive images that residents of these areas try to create. For example, KNTV news continually reports on the thefts and shootings in East San Jose but does not make an effort to show how residents are dealing with these situations.
However ,the hauntings stopped once an old friend of Sethe’s from Sweet Home, Paul D, shows up on her doorstep one afternoon. Paul D plans on a new beginning with Sethe vowing to take care of her saying, “We can make a life” (55). Things do not go as planned when a girl shows up on their doorstep named Beloved. The name Beloved has significant meaning because when Sethe buries her daughter that was all she was able to get on the headstone. The life Paul D has in mind is disrupted as the the ladies begin to put together connections that Beloved just might be the baby who is murdered in the past. Sethe and Denver become attached to Beloved because of her absence from their life for so long. However, Beloved is only obsessed with the thought
I grew up living on the coast of the Pacific Ocean between San Francisco and Half Moon Bay. I was walking distance to Lindamar Beach and a Bart train ride to Union Square in San Francisco. Every weekend, my extended family and I would go to Chinatown. This was one of my favorite activities growing up. Running down the street, looking for Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory, then later getting a bunch of Fun Snaps, miniature novelty fireworks that make a loud noise when thrown on the pavement. A few years later, my family and I relocated to the East Bay, specifically Antioch. With my Grandma, Aunt, and cousins still close by, we would constantly plan family trips to explore. For example, my family would go hiking at Muir Beach or camping at Lake
Lance Freeman tackles the issue of gentrification from the perspectives of residents in the gentrified neighborhood. He criticizes the literature for overlooking the experiences of the victims of gentrification. The author argues that people’s conceptions on the issue are somewhat misinformed in that most people consider it as completely deplorable, whereas in reality, it benefits the community by promoting businesses, different types of stores, and cleaner streets. These benefits are even acknowledged by many residents in the gentrified neighborhood. However, the author admits that gentrification indeed does harm. Although gentrification does not equate to displacement per se, it serves to benefit primarily homeowners and harm the poor. Additionally,
This state is full of more cities besides just Los Angeles and San Francisco, for example, my city Richmond, California. I wasn’t born there, but I have lived there most of my life, and there is a certain appeal is there, but its not the stereotypical beauty you see in any infomercial. This city isn’t celebrated nor is it world recognized for its accomplishments, but it is a small city with hidden treasure. The hidden treasure are the success stories that the community does not expect, and that can create a sense of empowerment for everyone around us. That empowerment is something that should be seen nationally, especially since Richmond is not the only impoverished city in
In many ways, today’s Los Angeles can credit Anglo immigrants of the late 1800s and early 1900s as the driving force behind their communal roots. Their imagined reality of a rural city, the process of creating, leaving and fighting for their neighborhood, have left traces in the city. These traces can be seen in the fragmented infrastructure of Los Angeles. They can be seen in the callous, sometimes violent, social interaction within the community. Yet as youth and minority groups continue to socially interact in increased acceptance, Los Angeles will begin to lose some of its fragmented feel. Each generation will continue to unite Los Angeles through shared social interaction and experiences.
Have you ever had to make a decision in your life? I’m pretty sure we all have, the decision can even be what you ate for breakfast in the morning. Robert Frost wrote a poem about a man who has to make an important decision. In the poem “The Road Not Taken”, by Robert Frost, he states, “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood and I - I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference” (Woods). To me taking the road less traveled by means, doing something on your own. It means not following a crowd, it means doing something unique. It can be hard to go your own way, but that is what Robert Frost is talking about. Everybody should go the path is right for them, not the one that many other people have gone down. There are many examples of people taking the unexpected path, I have gone through a path many people have never seen before, so have