Separatism of Race
In Cheryll Cashin’s article, “Won’t You Not Be My Neighbor” discusses the sociology behind separatism of race in neighborhoods. Cashin starts off discussing her own experience with buying a home and the neighborhood she chose. Delving further into her own investigation, she realized that there was major separatism between different neighborhoods. These neighborhoods would have correlating traits depending on the percentage of white or black people who lived in that area. Cashin found that when there was a high percentage of white people living in the neighborhood, the housing cost were higher, education was better, socioeconomic status is improved, etc. Cashin then traces the reasons as to why people tend to choose to live in these non-diverse neighborhoods. Cashin argues that it stems from unconscious past racial experiences. White people tend to want to stick to what they find comforting,
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which is other white people.
Black people tend to want the same. Society tends to find danger or a sense of uncomfortableness when dealing a race that is not their own. Therefore, Cashin insinuates that the supposed “segregation” is actually coming from society itself. However, Cashin does provide examples countering the argument that it all stems from the home buyers. She discusses various lawsuits in which the realtor is the guiding hand in perpetuating these non-diverse communities. Cashin also explores integration with African Americans and white neighborhoods. Ultimately, those who try to integrate suffer more struggles and racism than their white counterparts. Lastly, Cashin concludes her findings by providing ways in which cities have tried to integrate neighborhoods. She specifically applauds public works
projects often titled, “urban renewals.” Although I found Cashin’s article quite all over the place, she makes valid points. Especially on her argument regarding the socioeconomic aspects of these neighborhoods in correlation to race, I found super relevant to the city I live in, San Francisco. In San Francisco, although we are quite diverse compared to many other places, there are neighborhoods where you can obviously see a shift in race. This shift in race almost always has a connection with many traits Cashin brought up in her arguments. For example, the population of whites in neighborhoods such as Sunnydale and Tenderloin districts have a distinctively higher amount of colored people as opposed to white people. In this instance, these two neighborhoods often have lower incomes, lower housing cost, etc. However, because I believe that San Francisco is a rather progressive city, we tend to integrate races quicker than other cities. More so, I find Cashin’s points on black people’s difficulty in trying to integrate accurate. I think the reasons as to why it is difficult for blacks to rise in ranks, whether in terms of college, careers,etc., stems from institutionalized racism. America was built on the notion that white men were superior. Through history, society slowly made the efforts to create equality for all. However, because white people still “run the system,” it is no surprise that they tend to give opportunities to who they find familiarity with, other white people. Unless society as a whole, especially white people, try to make a conscious effort to diverse and allow people of color opportunities, we will always be stuck in the vicious cycle of oppression and separatism. Source: http://www.city-data.com/neighborhood/Sunnydale-San-Francisco-CA.html After you have watched the film, review the questions below and choose one question to address in your discussion post. Please make clear which question you are addressing.
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
“Gentrification is a general term for the arrival of wealthier people in an existing urban district, a related increase in rents and property values, and changes in the district's character and culture.” (Grant) In layman’s terms, gentrification is when white people move to a black neighborhood for the sake of cheaper living, and in turn, raise up property values and force black neighbors to leave because of a higher price of living. Commonly, the government supports gentrification with the demolition of public housing in areas that are developing with more white neighbors. This is causing a decreasing amount of African Americans to be able to afford to live in the neighborhood as their homes are taken away from them, forcing them to relocate. Whilst gentrification normally has negative connotations, there are several people who believe gentrification brings about “an upward trend in property values in previously neglected neighborhoods.” (Jerzyk) On the other hand, this new trend in property value and business causes those...
The poetry “Your buildings” was written by Rita Joe who is aboriginal author. She has been describing her feeling about aboriginal people and history. Rita Joe wrote your buildings reflects on the changed landscape of her people, and her homeland area to the most modern building have replaced the natural landscape and destroyed the beauty of her homeland. Now only a memory in her hearts of people. The author tone in to the poetry was sad, hurt and sarcastic by saying “Your Buildings” she was talking to the white man what have you done to her homeland. Also when the author mentioned in her poetry “while skyscrapers hide the heavens, they can fall” Rita joe mean all of those buildings you build high, they hide the beauty of her homeland, and
Older gentrification is issued onto poor black communities to increase white supremacy in the area and improve living conditions in the so called “hood.” After Older proposed his thoughts on Gentrification being an issue in colored low-income neighborhoods, he then turns to criticizing another writer with a different point of view on the issue. The author of “Is Gentrification All Bad?” in an article in the New York Times explains his views on gentrification. Older places emphasis on one of Davidson’s claim on “sweet spots” in the community saying “Davidson talks of a “sweet spot”: some mythical moment of racial, economic harmony where the neighborhood stays perfectly diverse and balanced.” (Older 358) The author does not support this claim as to being logical in his sense. Older’s views represents an opposite approach on the same issue of gentrification. In another quote “The gears are all already in place, the mechanisms of white supremacy and capitalism poised to make their moves.” (Older 358) the author speaks on how white people are over taking the poor colored communities to improve their lives, but not thinking about the consequences of the affected
Charles, Camille (2003). The dynamics of racial residential segregation. Annual Review of Sociology, 167. Retrieved from http://jstor.org/stable/30036965.
She argues that segregation has larger implications than just material goods, so programs that merely redistribute these goods do not fully solve the problem. She discusses three additional effects that only integration can mitigate: “ social/cultural capital inequality, racial stigmatization, and anti-democratic effects” (Anderson 2). Anderson points out that members of isolated communities do not receive similar opportunities, “[undermining] disadvantaged groups’ accumulation of the cultural capital needed for advancement” (2). In addition, she argues that geographic isolation reinforces negative stereotypes, functioning to stigmatize minorities or members of out-groups in general. Racial stigmas do not just occur only with extremist thinking. Anderson points out that, “even people who consciously reject anti-black stereotypes have been found to discriminate against blacks” (17). She finally argues that segregation causes a lack of “both communication and accountability” between political elites and isolated minorities (17). Not only are these three effects byproducts of community separation, but they cannot be fixed simply by moving resources around. Anderson contends that integration is the only answer and is enacted through stages of formal desegregation, spatial integration, and formal social integration. These steps are the only way to ensure that isolated minorities will have equality under law, sharing of public institutions such as schools, and cooperation within those institutions leading to better
The third person omniscient point of view in The Street by Ann Petry helps show Lutie Johnson’s feeling of victimization. A parasitic relation is revealed between herself and the setting. Lutie Johnson’s perception and relationship with the urban environment is established through extremely vivid imagery and personification.
The United States’ government has always had a hand on our country’s housing market. From requiring land ownership to vote, to providing public housing to impoverished families, our government has become an irremovable part of the housing market. The effects of these housing policies can affect American residents in ways they might not even recognize. As several historians have concluded, many housing policies, especially those on public housing, either resulted in or reinforced the racial segregation of neighborhoods.
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.
Michelle Boyd’s article “Defensive Development The Role of Racial Conflict in Gentrification” also focuses on gentrification addressing the failure to explain the relationship between racial conflict and its effect on gentrification. This article adds a new perspective to gentrification while studying the blacks as gentrifiers.
By definition a friend is a person who provides assistance and support. We have different groups of friends for different purposes in our lives. Although there are many different categories of friends, Marion Winik author of “What are Friends For?” mentions that some of the more common groups consist of the faraway, work, family, and former friends (132). We keep our friends because we value their loyalty, communication, support, and dependability.
In contrast to popular assumption, discrimination in public housing is becoming more prevalent than ever before. Testing done by the Fair Housing Center of Greater Boston has found that today people of color are discriminated against in nearly half of their efforts to buy, sell, finance, or rent property (“1968-Present Housing Discrimination). The statistics are even worse when considering colored people who have families as the testing found that they are discriminated against approximately two thirds of the time (“1968-Present Housing Discrimination”) In addition to facing great difficulty in property affairs, people of color are less likely to be offered residence in desirable locations. 86 percent of revitalized
Williamson, Kevin. “The White Ghetto.” National Review Online. 9 January 2014. Web. 05 October 2014.
...r of inequality in America, with so much poverty located within such a close proximity to the White House. That being said, gentrification efforts in DC appear to be focused on removing poor people, or at the very least, the visual image of crime, poverty, and corruption as it relates to the most powerful city in the country. Community activist groups have tried time and time again to stop gentrification from affecting their community, but often times, to no avail. What is truly sad is that while this cycle is continually perpetuated as a matter of “haves versus have nots” the way in which this system seems to always disproportionately marginalize one race of people in favor of another, does raise the question as to whether or not gentrification was orchestrated to operate in such a manner; and if so, what are the affected groups going to do about it.
Prior to this, I had never heard of any benefit of gentrification; rather, I had the typical preconceived notion that Freeman discusses: gentrification is a demonic force that inflicts suffering in all poor people in a gentrified neighborhood. However, reading excerpts from “There Goes the ‘Hood” encourages me to rethink my position. One of my questions from the reading pertains to the “race” part of the author’s argument. Although Clinton Hill and Harlem are both predominantly comprised of African Americans, I wonder how low-income white residents feel about gentrification. I am curious about this because a friend of mine, a white Irish, was displaced from her home in Sunnyside, Queens last summer because of increasing rent. From this experience, I think that seeing low-income whites’ outlooks on white gentry would be interesting. Furthermore, I question the validity of the author’s selection on some of the participants for his interview, particularly those whom he recruited in a conference on gentrification (page 12). One could imagine that community members who attend such a conference would hold strong opinions about gentrification. However, would not this contradict his earlier point that “the most active and vocal residents are not necessarily representative of the entire neighborhood and are likely different” (page 7) and thus undermining the integrity of some of his