In The Folklore of the Freeway: Space, Culture, and Identity in Postwar Los Angeles, Eric Avila discusses the history of the construction of the freeway in Los Angeles and the effects that this transformation had on communities of color. The construction of the freeway further increased the contrast between white space and non whitespace as white people moved toward the suburbs and communities of color were displaced to the inner city metropolitan areas. Avila explains that the impact of the freeways was not only economic, but also physical. The construction entailed immense destruction and displacement among inner-city communities. Boyle Heights, for example, experienced one-tenth of its population being displaced by the freeways. What I found
The western style 2013 Australian feature film Mystery Road centres around indigenous detective Jay Swan as he investigates the murder of indigenous teenager Julie Mason. Swan’s continued struggles to convince the rest of the local police – who all happen to be white males – to help him to solve the case lead him to find a drug ring. Sen represents the idea that indigenous people do not receive justice through the construction of Jay Swan and the unjust way the rest of the Indigenous community are treated by the white community and predominately white police force, encouraging my empathetic response. Sen also explores the police as corrupt and apathetic. In recent years, all over the world, but particularly in Australia in the 1980’s onwards,
“Crazy Horse Boulevard” is a poem by Sherman Alexie. In this poem Alexie goes over a few things like: how many best friends his brother has had and how many he has lost, talks about the loneliest number, he describes how much love he has for his brother, who are the greatest human beings he knows that have ever lived, ironies and lastly he talks about his drafts. What draws me to “Crazy Horse Boulevard” is that it is a really unique poem and different than any other poem I have read for a variety of reasons and not to mention the language in this poem is different than any other poem I have read. For example, it does not rhyme and this it is divided into six different sections, but yet it’s a single poem. Although I have never seen a poem
How has this book advanced the study of urban environments? In “The Origins of the Urban Crisis” we have learned what can happen in a very industrial city when it pertains to one major industry and what the differences are between the way that different races are treated when it comes to the hiring, laying off, and firing differences as the industry changes. I feel that this book has taught us that industries are always changing and that they need to advance and move to keep up with the demands that the industries have to offer. This book focuses on the 1940s through roughly the 1970s, this was a time when equal rights and major racial discrimination were very big issues that not only Michigan faced, but, cities have faced all over the United States. During this time, was also when there was a major rise in the automobile industry. As the automobile industry took off and we learned that as technology advances that there is not as much
Since the beginning of the United States the American people have been on the move. Public transportation has played a major role in the development of this nation and in bringing its citizens together. In the book “Divided Highways”, author Tom Lewis takes the reader on a journey of the building of the Interstates and the consequences(good and bad) that came from them. Lewis believes that the Interstates are a physical characteristic of America and that it shows “all our glory and our meanness; all our vision and our shortsightedness”(xiv).
By the mid 60s and 70s the famous Robert Moses’ created Expressway’s that influenced the Bronx in nothing positive. His imagination to obtain his projects done perfectly is truly fascinating but New Yorkers weren’t thrilled with his plans. It destroyed plenty of neighborhoods with roads that created urban sprawl, (large stores, houses, apartments, etc.). Banks and insurance companies were letting know landowners about mortgage services that were going to be raised which was known for redlining in past decades. In the Southern half of the Bronx there were tons of working class and poor neighborhoods that made this mess a huge impact on them. It even states, “for years, the city’s banks have been categorically refusing to refinance properties
Thousands of migrants in the 1920’s - 1950’s envisioned Compton, California as the perfect place to settle down and ideal center for industrial workers. That vision did come true for white Americans, although it didn’t last long. The problem facing the newly reckoned neighborhood was the impending number of African Americans moving into the area due to: the desire to leave the south, growing population with higher incomes, and ruling of Shelley vs. Kramer, effectively abolished restricting housing through racial discrimination. With the surging movement of African Americans through social and geographical context came the rise in defense of whites. “Keep the negroes north of 130th street” was the slogan by the whites of Compton.
The main interest and objective of these actors were to prevent racial diversity in their neighborhood. Most of their motives were driven by the fact that racial minorities are harmful to the environment of the suburbia. William Levitt “made it an unofficial policy not to sell homes to minorities” (Hales) Ultimately, the goal of the suburbia was to keep the housing cost high and the neighborhoods safe. Sadly, the agents listed above mistakenly realized that racial minorities were the problem to these ...
This paper will discuss the many unique aspects of Oakland, California. Divided into five major parts, Oakland is a very diverse city. The five major parts include: Downtown Oakland which is located in the heart of the city, East Oakland which consists of the majority of the city, West Oakland, North Oakland, and the Oakland hills where the terrain is quite different from other parts of the city. While many may perceive the population to mainly consist of African Americans and Whites, there is a significant growing population of Latinos, and Asians. The topics covered in this paper will shed light on the city of Oakland itself, and discuss the unique city that it is. I will also give my personal experience and perception on the city, after living there for 16 years of my life.
Beyer was built in a field to accommodate for the housing developments that were planned to be built over the next ten years; it is no surprise that those neighborhoods have always been primarily white despite our overall community being a melting pot. Johansen was built to finally give a school to Empire and South Modesto a high school, despite these being long-standing communities known for being very poor areas with gang violence. They also happen to bring together two opposing gang territories. Enochs was built to accommodate new housing developments, despite being only a mile away from Beyer and the older neighborhoods. Gregori was built when Salida was expanding with new developments and certain neighborhoods in Davis district were degrading. These lines are the result of white flight in my own community, and it really saddens me. I saw these stereotypes keep a lot of people from joining together as a community for a lot of my life because even among adults, there was the neighborhood divide symbolized by each
During the 1930’s, the agricultural dominant San Joaquin Valley was being built up by public works programs that brought it new dams and levees that many argued would prevent flooding and subsequently loss of life. However, they weren’t simply built for that reason alone, the valley had been suffering from the effects of the Great Depression, and experiencing a flood of Dust Bowl migrants looking for jobs. Therefore, they were built for economic stimulus and the valley’s residents were not happy about the sudden increase in spending and even tighter job market that came with having to accommodate the new settlers, which also resulted in tensions with the migrants. New Deal programs helped relieve the valley’s economic problems, and address
Jack Kerouac's On The Road is the most uniquely American novel of its time. While it has never fared well with academics, On The Road has come to symbolize for many an entire generation of disaffected young Americans. One can focus on numerous issues wh en addressing the novel, but the two primary reasons which make the book uniquely American are its frantic Romantic search for the great American hero (and ecstasy in general), and Kerouac's "Spontaneous Prose" method of writing.
In the article, “The Disregarded Consequences of Gentrification in This New York City Neighborhood,” Darnell L. Moore states that “the changes in racial demographics and the social economic status of residents tend to be two of the most prominent features of gentrification” (mic.com). Many African American, Latino, and colored communities are being ran out of their houses and neighborhoods to find new homes and are being displaced with ‘higher’ people of society. In San Francisco the Mission district is home to the hispanic community; this district is packed with the hispanic culture through murals and events that happen in the streets, however, many of the generations that have lived there for fifteen years are more and being kicked out of their houses and are being pushed out into the east bay areas like Pittsburg and Antioch. In the article “Gentrification Spreads an Upheaval in San Francisco’s Mission District,” journalist, author, and editor Carol Pogash talks about the increasing rent in the Mission District due to emerging Silicon Valley techies. She mentions a story of a woman currently living in the Mission District who fought her case in court for eighteen months before winning against her eviction, but since the eviction she is in jeopardy of losing her family owned empanada restaurant because the people in her area are being ran out of their homes with no money. Gentrification is literally taking the money under this woman’s feet for the benefit of the government. In Washington D.C., where the president himself lives, the African American community has been targeted for redevelopment due to the deterioration of the community itself and the nature of the environment. In the article, “Beyond Gentrification: Hundreds Of DC Residents Being Forced From Their Homes,” author Sean Nevins speaks for the African
- The federal housing underwriters warn housing developers that the presence of black families in the area would depreciate the value of the property and neighborhood and established a national housing appraisal system that had race play a factor with "real estate assessments". In, Race the House we Live In, a documentary presented by California Newsreel, Melvin Oliver, Sociologist explains because of these characteristics the white suburban neighborhoods (green areas) flourished as properties appreciated in value providing these families net-worth for growing, while the areas that were majority colored or in the process of changing (redlined areas) development
In my experience, I consider the city of Rowland Heights as an ethnic space within Southern California because it corresponds with my interpretation of an ethnic space. To elaborate, an ethnic space is an area, such as a city or town, that has a prevalent culture reflecting the prevalent group of people within that area. During my adolescence, I lived in the city of La Puente, which is primarily Hispanic/Latino, however, as I aged, I began to attend school within Rowland Heights, which is primarily Asian. Having said that, when I experienced the transition into Rowland Heights, there was an unfamiliarity of the environment and therefore, from my perspective, the cultural ambience of the city came across as exceedingly prominent. For this reason,
In this exquisite artwork named, “The Turning Road”, by Andre Derain, there are many elements of art shows many different type of lines, shape, texture, space, light, and color. This artwork has an automatic drawing that looks random and adventurous. I can see that the two-dimensional of the tree trunk and branches which have the outline of a cylinder and rectangle. There are vertical, horizontal, diagonal lines used to emphasize in this drawing like, the curvy tree trunk and the diagonal branches that stick out of the tree. Also the thin short lines are displayed behind the big thick tree trunk to avoid attention and let us in-version that there are many more enormous tree nearby. The lines were used in the picture to create a tonal variation and simulate texture. “The curving road, the tree trunks and branches, and the choreographed forms of villager all sway to an integrated rhythm”, that focus our attention of how the artist utilized lines to create a freeform way which add excitement to the design. He also applied different colors to shimmer in flat shapes in order to make the landscape come more alive and the expressive feeling of the villagers. The shapes of the house and road have a smooth and rounded angle that appears to be distorted. I don’t see any three-dimensional form that was use in this painting, however, the artist tend to portray a different angles that allow the viewer to see certain things like the trees and curved road to stand out and grab the viewer attention. The shapes used in the painting seem to be organic, because of the naturally outdoor environment and authentic of colors. In the representation of peoples, shape lend character to a figure by giving it more of a human-like structure, the human form d...