Cadillac Corning Essay

There have always been statements made about institutional racism and how the system was developed to go against marginalized groups. People have stated how things have gotten better and the days of 1950s and 1960s racism are gone, a product of a bygone era. Ana Muñiz’s book Police, Power, and the Production of Racial Boundaries (Critical Issues in Crime and Society) contradicts this statement, declaring how racism continued, and how the situation of marginalized groups has not gotten significantly better. Her history of Cadillac-Corning and how it was ostracized by the government and transformed from a white neighborhood to a one filled with minorities. The history of Cadillac-Corning is one faced by many communities in the United States,

that was treated negatively and distrust by the local government.

The police had their own part as well, transforming from a community organization to a militant one, filled with suspicion and authoritative control. The story of Cadillac-Corning is tragic, because it was at first a place filled with hope that turned into a one of inequality.

Ana Muñiz did a great job describing the history of Cadillac-Corning. Knowing the history of this neighborhood is necessary because it gives a background to why in the long term gang injunctions were approved. White flight definitely played an issue in Cadillac-Corning as the residents of an upper middle class neighborhood began to fear the up in coming minorities and began to flee from the community taking with them the infrastructure and development of the community. The development of Cadillac-corning was long term development. In the 1950s, it was a predominantly white community that slowly transitioned to Black or minority community. Most of the white residents were not happy about the transition believing it to devalue the neighborhood and they feared their Black neighbors. An example of racial prejudice occurring in the neighborhood was from a newspaper article that stated,” In 1973, the Los Angeles Times issued a five-part

special on Hamilton. The series portrayed Hamilton so negatively that white transfers surged after it was printed, and the Los Angeles Times then issued a statement highlighting Hamilton’s positive attributes and encouraging white parents to keep their kids at the school”. Hamilton was a local school in the community, it was seen as a proficient school until the minorities started replacing White people as the main inhibitors, then it was deemed as a bad school to attend. In class we have discussed privilege and how those with privilege sometimes do not take into account how much they have it. The whites in this case held all the privilege having a higher income, and more respected in the community. Once the White population saw the increase of minorities, they started leaving the community taking their privilege with them. After the white residents left Hamilton was deemed an inner city school and faced all the negative connotations that come with that tag. After the affluent White residents left the community changed and the police reacted different on dealing with the neighborhood.
We have talked about injunctions in class.

Gang injunction is a controversial power that police have that while legal, is often deemed prejudicial on whom it targets. Injunctions are a method of deterring gang members by judging them how they dress, and who they are associated with. In the book Ana Muñez was harsh on gang Injunctions, stating the strain that the injunctions put on many members of the community. Gang injunctions insert a guilty before proven innocent mentality. The gang injunctions affect the life of a community; individuals are judged by what they are wearing and are limited on where they can go. For example, in the book it stresses the effects of mundane acts when individuals are under the threat of gang injunctions, how going to the grocery store can cause grief, when two people cannot be within the same car. When we had the police officers present in class they, also talked about gang injunctions. Compared to the book they seemed to downplay the effects the injunctions had on the community. They stated an example that if there was an injunction in an area where two people have cautiously committed crime, with the same people, who wore similar attire, than that would be a cause for an injunction. What those police officers failed to mention was the scope of injunctions, and how prejudicial they are towards the minority neighborhoods. The slogan stated in the book “We Don’t Need No Gang Injunction! We Just Out Here Tryin’ to Function!” speaks volumes on

the issue of gang injunctions and how much grief people can suffer.
I enjoyed the book Police, Power, and the Production of Racial Boundaries (Critical Issues in Crime and Society) by Ana Muñiz. Out of all the books we have read in class if found this one the most informative. The book read more like a history, or law book than the last books we have read. The facts and data presented and the transition of neighborhoods from white to minority neighborhoods was really informative. To know how to fix troubled neighborhoods know, we have to learn how they came to be that way.