STRUGGLES FOR SPACE, CREATING LATINA/O URBAN CULTURES

SEGREGATION BY NEIGHBORHOOD

Even post-desegregation it seems as if it is the norm for neighborhoods to be segregated by SES, but also race plays a huge rule in this neighborhood segregation. According to the US2010 Project journal, the most recent census data show that on average, black and Hispanic households live in neighborhoods where poverty rate is one and a half times higher than the average neighborhoods where whites live. It further explains that it is even unequal for successful blacks and Hispanics, meaning, the average affluent Black or Hispanic household lives in a poorer neighborhood than the average lower-income white resident. These neighborhood inequalities also mean more inequalities in public schools, less safety, lower environmental quality, and poorer public health. As a result of this, these neighborhoods are the least desirable. That Being said, the purpose of this post is to bring awareness of this segregation, and raise the question: is neighborhood segregation a positive thing? And if not, do you support gentrification?

The question raised above is an extremely hard question to answer as I assume most people do not necessarily agree with neighborhood segregation because of the lack of resources that these neighborhoods are provided with, however, most would hesitate to say gentrification is a positive thing. In a perfect world, people would be able to mobilize easier and low income people would be able to afford decent housing, however that is not the case, low income earners are being segregated by race and SES and devalued but, when these neighborhoods that were previously considered “bad” or undesirable become a place of easy access between two important points, e.g. the cross Bronx., these people are displaced and these previously unwanted neighborhoods raise in value and the whole population inhabiting it shifts, which is what we call gentrification. Of course not every single person in these neighborhoods are displaced, which is why some people in these situations do actually support gentrification, because to those who are able to keep their housing, the neighborhood gains value and desirability.

A recent study published in the New York Times, calls Long Island the most segregated suburb. Some believe that this started when discrimination in Long Island was openly accepted, e.g., Levittown, the post-World War II suburb, where they publicly announced that this space was exclusively for those of the Caucasian race. And although, this was no longer legal in 1948, the town still continued to discriminate and still till this day, Levittown has a Black/Hispanic population that makes up less than 1 percent of the town’s population. On top of that, places in Long Island were people of color were basically forced to live, such as Wyandanch, where the population is predominately black and Hispanic are now being gentrified as well in the name of “diversity”. This problem can be compared with Latinos/as and African Americans throughout most major cities, and especially the suburbs now. We have the Mexican population in Los Angeles, Puerto Rican and African American population in New York City, Cuban population in Miami, Salvadorian population in central Long Island, Colombian population in Queens, and many more.