Recycling Wealth in the Inner City INTRODUCTION The modern story of developed areas is a move from the inner city to the suburbs. This decentralization of metropolitan areas has left urban areas neglected. Such a transformation has had negative consequences, because it has inherently meant the abandonment of those left behind in urban centers. Furthermore, the issue is complicated by the fact that the distinction between those moving to the suburbs and those left behind has been defined largely by race. As Kain notes, “the means by which racial segregation in housing has been maintained are amply documented. They are both legal and extra-legal; for example: racial covenants; racial zoning; violence or threats of violence; preemptive purchase; various petty harassments; implicit or explicit collusion by realtors, banks, mortgage lenders, and other lending agencies; and, in the not-so-distant past, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and other Federal agencies” (Kain, pp289). Thus, a major issue exists in that not only is economic activity shifting from urban areas to suburbia, but minorities are being systematically left behind and delegated to the neglected inner cities. The repercussions of the increasing suburbanization go beyond merely restricted access to choice housing for minorities. Just as important as the housing market shift have been the movements of prime job markets and choice schooling to the suburbs (Jenks and Mayer). The combined loss of these three elements (housing, jobs, and schooling) has ensured a comprehensive disadvantage for minorities left in the inner city. Especially with regard to the black community, the result has been concentrated urban areas of black Americans livin... ... middle of paper ... ...y in the United States, Washington, D.C., National Academy Press, 1990, pp187-222 Kain, John F., “Housing Segregation, Negro Employment and Metropolitan Decentralization” Mathew Edel and Jerome Rothenberg, pp288-307. Light, Ivan and Gold, Steven J. Ethnic Economies. San Diego: Academic Press. 2000 McFadden, Areaka (Department of Commerce) and Childs, Stephanie, (MBDA). “President Bush Announces Historic FY ’05 Funding Increase for Minority Business.” MBDA News. Tuesday, February 3rd, 2004. http://www.mbda.gov Sturdivant, Frederick D. (ed.). The Ghetto Marketplace. New York: The Free Press. 1969 Vietorisz, Thomas and Harrison, Bennet. The Economic Development of Harlem. New York: Praeger Publishers. 1970 www.blackwallstreet.org Yancy, Robert J. Federal Government Policy and Black Business Enterprise. Cambridge, MA: Ballinger Publishing Company.1974
In the book, Dark Ghettos: Injustice, Dissent, and Reform, Shelby discusses self-segregation and integration of different neighborhoods. He proposes that blacks prefer to live amongst themselves and segregate themselves due to their cultural ties. Shelby urges the government to not force racial integration on society as whites would not instantly help the less financially advantaged blacks and that “this practice [self segregation] is not incompatible with justice” (67). However, this claim can be questioned because during the New Deal era of the 30’s and 40’s, the government pursued an active role in segregating neighborhoods and demolishing integrated neighborhoods. This revelation brings about an important question: Is self-segregation still “just” even with evidence that the government has actively segregated
More than Just Race: Being Black and Poor in the Inner City (Issues of Our Time)
Charles, Camille (2003). The dynamics of racial residential segregation. Annual Review of Sociology, 167. Retrieved from http://jstor.org/stable/30036965.
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”.
Newark began to deteriorate and the white residents blamed the rising African-American population for Newark's downfall. However, one of the real culprits of this decline in Newark was do to poor housing, lack of employment, and discrimination. Twenty-five percent of the cities housing was substandard according to the Model C...
Oral tradition may have been the sole root as to why Africans would sing the way they did, however, there were many other deeply rooted aspects of their music culture. For one, music was a way of praising their God or Gods. A ballad may be describing a struggle between gods, or how grateful they were to their rain god for this year’s harvest. “Why?” may elude to some confusing unanswered questions, but the Africans had many centuries to change and morph their music to give its’ defined features that are so much different from today’s music.
...le that Nora expects and the miracle that actually happens are entirely different. Nora dreams of the day that her husband will sympathize with her and cease to be the dominating figure with the "upper hand" in their relationship. She expects him to understand her struggles with the law and to be willing to take some of the blame himself. However, when he reacts to Krogstad's letter by exhibiting more dominance and control than ever before, Nora becomes more aware of her own individual needs as a woman in society. She understands that in order to be free, she must develop her own view of the world, by setting herself apart from the control and determinism that males have over her life. Therefore, Nora's decision to leave her husband and family is ironic because it proves to be the "miracle" she is waiting for, rather than the one she originally expected. Nora becomes a feminist heroine in the play by showing what women can achieve, but rarely attempt. The determinism that many men force on their women partners in society (in forms of control, dominance, and power) restricts the women's ability to strengthen as individuals, and gain their own self-determinism.
Housing segregation is as the taken for granted to any feature of urban life in the United States (Squires, Friedman, & Siadat, 2001). It is the application of denying minority groups, especially African Americans, equal access to housing through misinterpretation, which denies people of color finance services and opportunities to afford decent housing. Caucasians usually live in areas that are mostly white communities. However, African Americans are most likely lives in areas that are racially combines with African Americans and Hispanics. A miscommunication of property owners not giving African American groups gives an accurate description of available housing for a decent area. This book focuses on various concepts that relates to housing segregation and minority groups living apart for the majority group.
In the early 1900s, “restrictive covenants” more specifically racially restrictive covenants were legally enforceable agreements that prohibited landowners from leasing or selling property to minority groups, at that time namely African Americans. The practice of the covenants, private, racially restrictive covenants, originated as a reaction to a court ruling in 1917 “which declared municipally mandated racial zoning unconstitutional . . . leaving the door open for private agreements, such as restrictive covenants, to continue to perpetuate residential segregation” (Boston, n.d.). It was more of a symbolic act than attacking the “discriminatory nature” (Schaefer, 2012, p. 184) of the restrictive covenants, when the Supreme Court found in the 1948 case of Shelley v Kraemer that racially restrictive covenants were unconstitutional. In this particular case, a white couple, the Kraemers lived in a neighborhood in Missouri that was governed by a restrictive covenant. When a black couple moved into their neighborhood, the Kraemers went to the court asking that the covenant be enforced. In a unanimous decision, it was decided, “state courts could not constitutionally prevent the sale of real property to blacks even if that property is covered by a racially restrictive covenant. Standing alone, racially restrictive covenants violate no rights. However, their enforcement by state court injunctions constitutes state action in violation of the 14th Amendment” (Shelley v. Kraemer, 1948). Even though the Supreme Court ruled that the covenants were unenforceable, it was not until 1968 when the Fair Housing Act was passed that it become illegal (Latshaw, 2010). Even though today it is illegal, it might appear that we still have an unspoken...
Though Houtondji and many musicians share the common goal of improving society, or at least highlighting its flaws, the parties focus on different aspects of society, and probably garner different results. To a Western reader, Houtondji and his writings may seem more serious, scholarly, and even competent, even for such a simple reason as a societal bias towards the written word over the spoken. On the other hand, taking into account the low literacy rates in much of Africa, as well as the aural language, the situation may be the opposite in Africa. The spoken, or sung, word should prove highly effective in addressing social wrongs, suggesting societal change, or calling people to action. Using words as weapons is not uncommon, and they are effective both set to music and written.
An important observation regarding African music comes from Richard Jobson in The Golden Trade or a Discovery of the River Gambra [Gambia] and the Golden Trade of the Aethiopians. Although published in 1623, we learn a lot about the nature of African music when we read: "There is without a doubt, no people on the earth more naturally affected to the sound of musicke than these people; which the principal persons [that is, the kings and chiefs] do hold as an ornament of their state, so as when wee come to see them their musicke will seldome be wanting" (qtd. in Southern 4).
Ya Salaam, Kalamu. “It Didn't Jes Grew: The Social and Aesthetic Significance of African American Music.” African American Review 29.2 (1995): 351-375.
The legacy of slavery is seen today as a type of music, different cuisine, language and slang or festivals. As slaves came from different parts of the world, they brought their different food and music with them. Colonialists would bring instruments from their countries so that they could have music for enjoyment. Slaves who could play musical instruments were valuable. Music from colonialists’ countries e.g. Dutch folk songs was adapted by slaves. Other music that developed was from the Malay and Afrikaans. Instruments such as the “ghomma”, a small drum held between the knees, were created. Denis-Constant Martin said that the Governor of the Cape had a slave orchestra from 1676. The first Capetonian song was in 1707 which was a song that was half Malay and half Dutch. Th...
Monson, I. (2010).Freedom sounds : civil rights call out to jazz and Africa. New York Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Steingo, G. (2005). South african music after apartheid: Kwaito , the “Party politic,” and the