DEINDUSTRIALIZATION AND CRIMINALIZATION

DEINDUSTRIALIZATION

by E.P.

Our class discussions lately center on the most populous urban areas of the country: New York, San Diego, Los Angeles. Especially when talking about New York, and with the majority of the major city centers listed, deindustrialization and the loss of manufacturing jobs happened decades ago stretching from the 50s onward into the 70s. These jobs then shifted to the peripheries and later shifted to the center of the country, where manufacturing was the staple job provider until the turn of the century. I grew up in Binghamton, New York where the effects of deindustrialization are seen every day. On the edge of the Rust Belt (the region where old factories are now rusting away, includes Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania and parts of New York) my area still lingers in a state of nostalgia, wanting the return of steady paying jobs that can support a middle class family. Deindustrialization’s economic, social and psychological effects continue for decades after plants close and across generations, affecting the worldviews of younger people who never worked in steel mills or auto plants (The half-life, 2016). Thus, it was these angers still lingering over the passing of NAFTA and other free trade agreements and union fracturing that led these states to give Donald Trump the presidency and let these grievances be known. However, the Rust Belt is not a homogenous white lower-middle class area, it is filled with decrepit city centers inhabited by Latinos and African Americans so what of them?

Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh, and Scranton are all major Rust Belt city-centers with diverse populations including Latinos. Yet every state of the cities voted for Donald Trump, yet Hillary carried these downtown areas, but why? According to a Slate article, industry has long taken place outside of city centers for decades, but deindustrialization hits both the poor inners cities as well as the better off suburbs of the area (Even in 2016, 2017). Thus as factories shut down, local Latinos and local whites are effected by the economic and psychological strains of deindustrialization. However, as suburbs attain a similar standard of living as before, the inner city is neglected. Gary, Indiana was the industrial heart of the Chicago metropolitan area, and now is home to large vacant buildings, a posterchild of white flight (population has dropped by 100,000 since 1960 and is now 84% African-American) (Effort to preserve, 2017). Without capital coming in these buildings are falling apart, and conservative pundits point to neglect and laziness of welfare ridden minorities as the reason why, while pandering to white voters on the need for a return of manufacturing. These city centers such as Gary, Indiana or Scranton, Pennsylvania voted for Democrats, and were overlooked by political analysis and the parties alike.

The Rust Belt is home to Latinos and African-Americans alike, and they are both hit equally hard and more severely by the effects of deindustrialization. However, time and time again they are left out of the conversation of deindustrialization. NY Senator Chuck Schumer commented on the presidential race with, “For every blue-collar Democrat we lose in Western Pennsylvania, we will pick up two moderate Republicans in the suburbs in Philadelphia”(Even in 2016, 2017). Yet where is the concern of losing minority blue-collar workers in the Rust Belt, or the minorities depending on government assistance while occupying the shells of factories and decaying industrial neighborhoods like in my hometown of Binghamton? Latinos have always been the subject of anti-communist and socialist attacks here in the United States. But if this election cycle shows the evils of nationalist populism bent on attack world capitalism and free trade that has hurt blue-collar white in the Rust Belt, it also showed a case where the good of nationalist populism. As Trump filled stadiums of red hat wearing fans screaming for a wall aimed at stemming the growth of Latinos in our country; a socialist Jew filled stadiums of diverse crowds in the same Rust Belt stricken areas. Bernie Sanders portrayed a side of the Rust Belt that is yearning for more than just a wall to keep more immigrants from stealing jobs, he promised to undue years of neglect by political pundits with the revolutionary idea of socialism. Latinos were among the first to speak up about socialism; it was the Young Lords last point of their plan, a socialist society (13 Point Plan, 1993). Thus, as deindustrialization attacks the heartland of America, and enrages white voters to rally behind a racist populist, progressives in this country need to include Rust Belt minorities in their plans to fight back, and bridge the gap between the urban rusting centers, and the suburbs who once relied on those factories.

Works Cited

13 Point Program and Platform of the Young Lords Party. (n.d.). Retrieved Feburary, 19, 2017, from http://www2.iath.virginia.edu/sixties/HTML_docs/Resources/Primary/Manifestos/Young_Lords_platform.html

Effort to preserve Gary architecture gaining momentum. AJ Latrace. Retrieved February 19, 2017 from http://chicago.curbed.com/2017/2/17/14641904/gary-historic-preservation-architecture-tour

Even in 2016, Democrats Carried Rust Belt Town Centers. Why?. Henry Grabar. Retrieved February 19, 2017 from http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2017/02/17/even_in_2016_democrats_carried_rust_belt_town_centers_why.html

The half-life of deindustrialization: Why Donald Trump is just a symptom. Sherry Linkon. Retrieved Feburary 19, 2017 from http://www.salon.com/2016/08/19/the-half-life-of-deind_partner/

STRUGGLING FOR SPACE, CREATING LATINA/O URBAN CULTURES

New York City is a place where the population of minorities are growing tremendously everyday. Most people forget about the borough of Staten Island or know nothing much about it except the fact that it is considered a “dump site”. I’ve always wondered how the Puerto Ricans living in Staten Island felt. Port Richmond is a neighborhood on the North Shore of Staten Island which contains mostly Hispanics living there. Staten Island is such an ethnic diverse place that many people don’t realize it. According to SILive, the young Hispanic population is booming on Staten Island. How did the space of Port Richmond shape the way for Hispanics living there?

There were many development tactics that were used to make New York City the best it can be. City elites wanted to attract people from all over which was why many immigrants wanted to live and settle there. Focusing back in Staten Island, Port Richmond is seen as a run down place. It has been known to be a neighborhood of high-level crimes. The demographics of this area is 45.7% Hispanic. Despite such high crime rates in the neighborhood, many still are using the space they have in order to create a sense of community. Referring to Deborah Young from SILive she stated that, “they work in such visible fields as restaurants, construction, landscaping and are opening small businesses, even as their presence has triggered backlash from those looking to demonize them as outsiders in these tight fiscal times”. These stores and businesses serve as a mean to unite the community together even if their presence is seen as unwelcomed by others. Also, after an increase in stores there are more families coming and settling in.

In “What’s Yellow and White and Has Land All Around It?: Appropriating Place in Puerto Rican Barrios.”, the “casita” is different from the stores opening up in Staten Island because they are taking what they have and making the best out of their environment. For instance, they’re using their history and limited resources. They are transforming and reshaping their fragmented landscapes into landscapes of hope since they didn’t have much to offer. Looking back to today, Puerto Ricans are in almost every neighborhood in Staten Island. One of the Staten Islanders that works in the College of Staten Island stated how immigration patterns usually work. There are a bunch of people known as “trend-setters” who will settle in an area and find success. This will then be a call for their families and friends to migrate and seek the same success. Sooner or later the entire community will settle in and expand.

Resources:

Wassef, Mira. “Young Hispanic Population Booming on Staten Island.” SILive.com, 3 Apr. 2015.

Young, Deborah. "Staten Island Reshaped by Hispanic Wave." SILive.com. N.p., 22 May 2011. Web. 15 Feb. 2017.

Aponte-Pares, Luis. 1998. “What’s Yellow and White and Has Land All Around It?: Appropriating Place in Puerto Rican Barrios.”

STRUGGLING FOR SPACE, CREATING LATINA/O URBAN CULTURES

BY STUDENT

After the Mexican Revolution, Mexicans were brought into the United States to be part of the Bracero Program. After working a cheap labor job, they would be sent back to Mexico. However, more and more began staying in America. In the early to mid-20th century, boosters proclaimed that the City of Los Angeles would become the next best US city. This entailed, though, that the city would need to be “de-Mexaicanized,” according to the boosters, while retaining some of the Mexican culture. Mexicans were to be assigned a place in the allegorical part of Los Angeles, where they could be controlled to a quaint section of a city made for the enjoyment of tourists and antiquarians. Real Mexicans, and their culture, were out of sight and out of mind, yet still close enough to provide the cheap labor necessary for industry and agriculture. They were put in barrios occupying the least amount of space possible using tactics such as urban renewal and eminent domain by city elites who wanted to make LA a successful tourist town. Areas formed, such as Olvera Street, where true Mexicans are not seen but their culture is used to bring in tourists, which still remains a popular attraction today. It came to be known as “A Mexican Street of Yesterday in a City of Today (Bender).” If you look at pictures of Olvera Street, you can see tons of people walking the street looking at beautiful little shops filled with objects resembling Mexican culture (Chapman). There are many other places like Olvera Street throughout California where Latino people have been pushed away but still used for their culture. If people knew what happened to Mexicans and other Latinos for this California tourist places to arise, would they still be popular?

Latinos in Los Angeles, as well as San Diego, did not have it easy. The Chicano Movement of the 1960s was a civil rights movement extending the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement with the goal of achieving Mexican American empowerment. Artists and activists worked together to build a better community. Women especially felt as if they were a minority in their own land, and often felt characterized by poverty, racism, and sexism within their own culture. This led to a group of Chicana women painting murals of women in Chicano Park. “We wanted to do something about consciousness and women’s part in the revolution and movement,” one of the women said (Perez). The Chicanos were being driven out of the area as industrialization began to occur, and were being moved to smaller areas in barrios. As San Diego continued to expand, the barrios were getting smaller and smaller. Chicano Park was a symbol of empowerment, and through dedication the Chicanos did, however, win a victory, as Chicano Park was extended 3 acres to the waterfront (Barrera & Mulford).

Overall, as the Mexican and Latino population grew in California, they quickly became unwanted and became targets of discrimination and relocations that uprooted their families from their homes in certain parts of California. They were forced to live in polluted areas and crowded homes that often didn’t even have a toilet inside of it. In addition, they have been discriminated against and categorized by their race and culture for years and years, yet we still use their culture to attract tourists to areas in California. In my opinion, knowing what Mexicans have suffered through makes places like Olvera Street, where I would have once loved to visit, much less appealing now knowing the hardships Mexicans faced for that place to be what it is today. I am now much more likely to visit a place like Chicano Park, where the murals and paintings have so much meaning and life behind them, especially after the recent restoration (Perez). So much has been done to drive Latinos out of the country- but through strong will, perseverance, banding together, and standing up for themselves, and while still facing discrimination now, they still take up over a third of the population of California today.


Works Cited

Barrera, M., & Mulford, M. (2013, December 19). Chicano Park Documentary. Retrieved February 14, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXwZLo8hrp4

Bender, S. (2010). Tierra y Libertad: Land, Liberty, and Latino Housing. New York: New York University Press.

Chapman University Program Board | Tags: Activities, Diversity & Equity, Experiences. (n.d.). UPB Goes to Olvera Street! Retrieved February 14, 2017, from https://blogs.chapman.edu/students/event-story/upb-goes-to-olvera-street/

Perez, G. (2012, July 27). Women Hold Up Half of Chicano Park. Retrieved February 13, 2017, from http://laprensa-sandiego.org/featured/women-hold-up-half-of-chicano-park/

STRUGGLING FOR SPACE, CREATING LATINA/O URBAN CULTURES

BY M.S.

I have recently learned how Puerto Ricans were forced to leave their beloved island in order to find better opportunities due to economic reasons. However, they were given so little back in return. They wanted to strive for the “American Dream” as many people like to refer to as where money is a possibility and providing comes easy with putting in effort. But many Puerto Ricans have worked hard and endlessly but have gotten nothing in return to show for it. Once arriving to the mainland of the United States, they were not given the same equal opportunity and abilities as promised and instead were put to the side where the state of their living declined. Instead of being more independent, they obtained a more increased dependence on America. They had a vision but what was their actual outcome from living in America? What kind of struggles did they face and why did they put up with these struggles? In this blogpost, I will expand on how Puerto Ricans were affected by the migration and argue that they would be treated as a problem to the United States instead of a welcomed addition of America.

Many people wanted the same thing, which was to wake up with a better lifestyle and have their people flourish. Pedro Pietri explained it in simple words in his poem called the Puerto Rican Obituary, where he stated they were “dreaming about America waking them up in the middle of the night screaming: Mira Mira your name is on the winning lottery ticket for one hundred thousand dollars”. They wanted to be able to make their family on the island proud but America made it so hard for them to do so. They would be situated in neighborhoods with extreme poverty surrounded with abandoned tenements and unclean streets where others would consider the ghetto. Quoted by Luis Aponte-Pares on page 12 in Appropriating Place in Puerto Rican Barrios; The losses, of course, were not only of buildings and people, but of primary "life spaces," areas people occupied in which their "dreams were made, and their lives unfolded" (Friedmann and Wolff 1982:326).

They left a homeland with its own distinct identity and culture and being in a new area caused many cultural conflicts as well. According to Aponte in Appropriating Place in Puerto Rican Barrios, their casitas made in these neighborhoods were the only source of pride and memory that they had, which validates their Puerto Rican identity in space (8). This was the only place that they felt as a community and as a whole because America did not provide them with any sense of importance, belonging, or opportunity. They were often denied opportunities even if they were able to afford them by some off chance. These opportunities may include affordable housing options and the basic rights of a citizen such as voting. Their actual outcome was nothing compared to what they expected or wished for but they knew that the city was where they may have more opportunity to make a difference than staying home on the island. In Lessons from El Barrio, Luis Aponte-Pares described it perfectly when stating Puerto Ricans began to  “ form community consciousness” and began “representing” themselves on the built environment in earnest. This is how they worked through the struggles they faced and stayed together as a thriving and growing community. These hardships only made them work stronger together.

Works Cited

Pedro Pietri. 1973. "Puerto Rican Obituary" [poem]

Aponte-Parés, Luis. 1998. “Lessons from El Barrio—the East Harlem real great society/irban planning studio: A Puerto Rican chapter in the fight for urban self-determination.” New Political Science [21]

Aponte-Pares, Luis. 1998. “What’s Yellow and White and Has Land All Around It?: Appropriating Place in Puerto Rican Barrios,” [9]

STRUGGLING FOR SPACE, CREATING LATINA/O URBAN CULTURES

CHICANA/O STRUGGLES FOR SPACE

BY STUDENT

Before 1924, Chicanas/os freely crossed from Mexico into the United States because there was no border system to turn them away. Similar to the Puerto Ricans in New York City, many Chicanos/as came to the United States for work in agriculture, canning factories or shipyards. Many Chicanas/os settled into barrio Logan just south of San Diego hoping to better their lives. The Great Depression of 1929 pushed them back across the border, which now was being controlled because there were no jobs left for them and they were often being used as scapegoats during a time of much anxiety. Once World War II began, the job availability increased and only those who were once born in the United States were able to move back into barrio Logan (Chicano Park Documentary, 1988). They came to the United States to better their lives and build up barrio Logan located in a place that was once Mexican land that the United States annexed during the Mexican American War, but as minorities would they be able to remain and keep their spaces? This is often an issue even today that many minorities continue to go through.

Chicanos/as were living together in this Barrio and never seemed to want to leave because they did not know that they were receiving fewer opportunities than others. They had everything they needed right there and it was made up solely of Chicanos/as. This neighborhood was a great place for the Chicanos/as to live together and share their culture but it soon began to be taken from them without any thought of their well being. As San Diego began to flourish, industrialization began to move south eventually moving into barrio Logan. The neighborhood was rezoned allowing junk yards and highways to move in, displacing many families and destroying the barrio. When this first happened many of the people did not know that they could protest against it so they just let it happen leading to the loss of culture in the neighborhood. A bridge for the highway was then built over the barrio and many began to fight for Chicano Park which they wanted to be under that bridge. They fought for three years until they found out that there was going to be a highway patrol station built there. The Chicanos/as began to protest making a circle holding hands under the bridge not allowing the tractors to move until they were finally granted that space for their park. In the film Chicano park one of the men says, “It was the only time we have had a voice or say in something we wanted” (Chicano Park Documentary, 1988). This was an overall achievement for them and it was almost like a rebirth of the Barrio. The tall pillars in the park that led up to the bridge were empty and became a space for murals to bring back the culture that was lost in the industrialization. The park I think symbolizes that minorities can come together and fight for their rights and in some instances get what they so rightfully deserved, things that should never have been taken from them. No one should be displaced without being asked and that is what happened in barrio Logan but the building of this park helped bring back the barrio and the culture that was so important to them.

The murals that were painted on the walls represented heroes and role models in portraits and brought back the culture that began to go missing. The murals were painted by people living in the barrio and people from outside the barrio were brought in to paint their view of Chicana/o culture too. The article, “Women Hold Up Half of Chicano Park,” describes how a few of the artists who came back to the park almost 40 years later to restore their paintings and murals also came to teach people about the hard times like the gender inequalities that were seen when the park was first created and the struggle with gaining the land for the park from the city. “All three women emphasize how gender balance is central to the indigenous culture so richly celebrated in the park” (Perez, 2012). This is so important especially in today’s culture as women are often looked down upon compared to men but in this park the murals were painted by both men and women. The restoration process is to help leave powerful images that show men and women and teach future generations about how women refuse to be devalued in society. Barrio Logan although was somewhat destroyed was fought for by its people and the park symbolizes their fight to gain back their culture they so rightfully deserve to display in America.

References:

Perez, G. (2012) Women Hold Up Half of Chicano Park. Retrieved February 9, 2017, from http://laprensa-sandiego.org/featured/women-hold-up-half-of-chicano-park/

RedBird Films (1988) Chicano Park Documentary. Retrieved February 9, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXwZLo8hrp4