DEINDUSTRIALIZATION AND CRIMINALIZATION

DEINDUSTRIALIZATION AND DECRIMINALIZATION
BY STUDENT




There has been a long history and trend of marginalizing minorities throughout the United States’ history, especially within the Criminal Justice System. Blacks and Latinx alike have lived side by side experiencing oppression within the Criminal Justice System. Throughout the Country's history, there has been slavery, leasing, mass incarceration, black codes, Jim Crow Laws, police brutality, and the war on drugs - unfortunately, the list doesn’t end there. With all these different ways to oppress the minority within the United States, where and from what did our current, modern Criminal Justice System stem from? Let's focus our attention on the Civil War Era, from 1861-1865, and the consequences that came about in the Southern United States. I want to demonstrate how the repercussions of yesterday's civil war, is still affecting the south and the overall United States today.


The New York Times writes a post about the picture shown above. A dug up gravesite buried with African Americans post-emancipation slaves from the post-Civil War Era, where I argue started our modern Criminal Justice System. From the Civil War, the 13th Amendment abolished slavery within the United States and in many Southern states, except as a punishment for crime. As James Baldwin wrote, "the black man has functioned in the white man's world as a fixed star, as an immovable pillar, and as he moves out of his place, heaven and earth are shaken to their foundations” (Baldwin, A Letter to My Nephew, para. 9). Well, the 13th Amendment shook white men to their foundations. Social life and infrastructure in the South, all based around slavery, was destroyed. To counteract these changes, the government made new policies made it illegal to be unemployed in Texas and other states. At the time, many recently freed black slaves were unemployed. Blacks and Whites were forced to struggle for space. Instead of arriving from another country and looking for employment opportunities, freed slaves had been released from a form of oppression trying to find placement within a new, devastated society. As author Henri Lefebvre argues, space is vital to the reproduction of capital and power relations within a community. White men had the power relations to create the first wave of people of color being arrested in masses. Instead of imprisonment, a convict- leasing system was implored. In Texas, black prisoners were leased out to private companies to live and work on plantations for their prison sentence. Here, with southern black codes and leasing, starts the institutional criminalization of African Americans in U.S. history.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/18/us/grave-convict-lease-texas.html

What used to be grounds to bury poorly treated leased prisoners in Texas was supposed to be the site for a new school. The remains left the district in a year-long debate on whether to remove the remains to a new location, suggested by the school district or rebury the remains in the same place, as much of the black community wanted. Once again, power relations in Texas come into play as the majority in power tries to remove important history. Fortunately, the County finally chose to honor those unknown individuals who lost their lives to government, policy, and the Criminal Justice system. But still, with all the debates about what to do with the remains, convict leasing has just turned into mass incarceration and police brutality affecting Texas and all other places within the United States. What started in the 19th Century continues to plague our "justice" system as a massive amount of black and brown individuals are filtered in and out of the system daily.

Bibliography

Henri Lefebvre, The Production of Space, Boston: Blackwell Publishing, 1991. https://blackboard.albany.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-3851231-dt-content-rid-85578376_1/courses/2199-ALCS-283-9322/2199-ALCS-283-9322_ImportedContent_20190827075812/lefebvre_productiospace.pdf

James Baldwin, “A Letter to My Nephew,” The Progressive, December 16, 1962, https://progressive.org/magazine/letter-nephew/

John Savage, “How A Chilling Discovery In Texas Led To A Battle Over One of the Worst Chapters in U.S. History,” Splinter News, February 26, 2019, https://splinternews.com/how-a-chilling-discovery-in-texas-led-to-a-battle-over-1832790201

Sarah Mervosh, “Remains of Black People Forced Into Labor After Slavery are Discovered in Texas,” New York Times,July 18, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/18/us/grave-convict-lease-texas.html

STRUGGLING FOR SPACE, CREATING LATINA/O/X URBAN CULTURES

BY STUDENT

Hip-hop, in my opinion, has always been an outlet for people who essentially have no voice in the United States. Hip-hop is used to tell a story, but more importantly it is used to represent a group of people who have nothing and are trying to make something out of their lives, they are trying to provoke change. Hip-hop originated from a time in the South Bronx when no one in the United States cared what happened to this borough. The people who lived there had to fight for themselves because no one else would fight for them. Buildings were being burnt to the ground for insurance money, unemployment rates were at an all-time high, the streets were ridden with filth and more. During the 1970s the South Bronx was filled with people who had nothing else to do but sit around, and what do people do when they have nothing but time on their hands? 

During the 1970s the South Bronx was mainly inhabited by African-Americans and Latinos who were jobless, lived in uninhabitable buildings, and were essentially broke. All these things led up to the birth of hip-hop and a new era. Dj Kool Herc, in Jeff Chang’s ‘Can’t Stop Won’t stop, stated, “To me, hip-hop says, “Come as you are.” We are a family. It ain’t about security. It ain’t about bling-bling. It ain’t about how much your gun can shoot. It ain’t about $200 sneakers. It is not about me being better than you or you being better than me. It’s about you and me, connecting one to one. That’s why it has universal appeal. It has given young people a way to understand their world, whether they are from the suburbs or the city or wherever”. [LJ1] I feel that this quote represents exactly what I am trying to explain in this blog post. Hip-hop was born because the United States did not care about what happened to the South Bronx or the people who lived there, hip-hop was born to connect people with one another. Not only did it connect people from all over the world but it created jobs for the people in this borough at the time when they needed a job the most. Hip-hop inspired change locally and nationally. 

As a South Bronx native I have been surrounded by hip-hop and the effects it has had in my community. At home an old hip-hop song will play and my parents become immediately nostalgic and tell me about a time when hip-hop was just starting out. My father has told me about playing in the ruins of an old building as a kid and hearing the sounds of what would be known as hip-hop today. Hip-hop came from a place of despair and ruin and became one of the biggest genres of music known to man. Even though hip-hop was created during a bad time in the South Bronx it became something good and helped millions escape the realities of everyday life. 

https://medium.com/@wanyikuli/the-insidious-forms-of-hip-hop-snobbery-e990e4c48ffb

STRUGGLING FOR SPACE, CREATING LATINA/O/X URBAN CULTURES

BY STUDENT

Located 60 miles north of New York City, New York and neighboring Danbury, Connecticut, one of the largest cities in the state, Brewster, New York is the place I called home for most of my upbringing. Brewster is statistically more diverse than Danbury since the ​racial makeup of the town is about 36.6% ​Non-Hispanic White​, 56% ​Hispanic​ or ​Latino​ 2.6% ​African American​, 0.42% ​Native American​, 3.22% ​Asian​, 0.04% from ​other races​, and 1.13% from two or more races (Brewster, NY 10509) while​ the racial makeup of the city of Danbury is about 68.2% Non-Hispanic White, 25.0% Hispanic or Latino, 7.2% African American, 0.40% Native American, 6.8% Asian, less than 0.10% Pacific Islander, 7.6% from other races, and 4.5% from two or more races (Danbury, Connecticut 06810). These statistics​ felt odd considering that Danbury was perceivably more diverse and inclusive of minorities than Brewster. I think the main reason for this perceivable difference was the public spaces and cultural centers available to Danbury residents that were not present in Brewster. How does the creation of public spaces for cultural gatherings in places like Danbury create a sense of community, cultural pride, and minority visibility as opposed to the lack of public spaces seen in Brewster? Even though Danbury is a city with a larger population and more resources, I think the only way Brewster and many other smaller towns can work toward inclusivity is by looking at the models larger towns and cities have left behind.

The production of space and the politics that inform this production is significant because it crafts who belongs and who is excluded from the community. In Danbury, there is a substantially large Brazilian and Dominican population. One example of minority inclusivity is through the countless Brazilian bakeries, Brazilian and Portuguese community centers, Brazilian churches, and Brazilian restaurants that serve the city. These are all spaces available for the Brazilian community to come together and relate with one another; these spaces also welcome non-Brazilians to enjoy the food, culture, and language. Another example of minority inclusivity is the huge gatherings that happen on Saturdays and Sundays at Rogers Park, which is a public park and recreational facility which hosts various baseball and softball fields, several volleyball and tennis courts, several handball-paddleball courts, an outdoor ice rink during the cold weather, and a playground (​Parks and Recreation in Danbury)​. Many Dominicans come to the baseball fields to watch the baseball tournaments while playing dominoes, listening to typical music, and smoking hookah. This particular public space allows for Dominicans to partake in the cultural activities they enjoy back on the island. These public spaces have benefitted the Danbury community in many ways like helping to preserve cultural pride and encouraging the community to practice and maintain their foreign language. Although I have no direct data to back up my observation, over the years of living in Brewster and visiting Danbury, I noticed that the younger generation in Danbury was more likely to be bilingual and speak a foreign language as opposed to the younger generation in Brewster who tended to not be bilingual. Having public spaces to hear and practice another language is important because you get real world emersion and conversational practice you otherwise wouldn’t get in a classroom. Brewster, on the other hand, only had Main Street as its main public location for Latinos to congregate. On main street there were a few Latino delis and the public library in which Latinos in the community could go to eat, socialize, and do work.

Throughout history, the use of public spaces has been used for community formation to create a movement. For example, in the ​documentary​ E​ l Pueblo Se Levanta​ it focuses on the poverty and oppression of New York City's East Harlem and Puerto Rican community. Narrated by the people it portrays, the film captures the dual compassion and urgency of the activist group the Young Lords as they began to take direct action to improve the conditions of their community (El Pueblo Se Levanta, 1970). In the film, the Young Lords occupied churches in the community as a place to hold gatherings and discuss ways to fight back against the city in order to gain liberation (El Pueblo Se Levanta, 1970). The Young Lords were able to host such successful public demonstrations, like when they barricaded and blocked the street with their trash because the city refused to collect their trash during the summer months, due to their ability to gather and plan their strategic protests. Apart from using public spaces as a way to organize a movement, public spaces also brings pride to a community. According to Luis Aponte-Paré, “...r​eshaping and appropriating the otherwise ordinary industrial city landscapes by building and claiming enclaves that looked like them, what Lefebvre calls representational spaces...las colonias were the essential building blocks for the development of the community: the places where they could build identity in the urban milieu...” (Aponte-Parés, 1998). In other words, to be able to mold a neighborhood so that it represents the residents that are living there is essential for the success and harmony of the community. I hope smaller towns like Brewster can see the benefit of establishing cultural centers and public spaces for its minorities so that it too can have harmony amongst all its residents.

SOURCES
Aponte-Parés, Luis (1998). “Lessons FromEl Barrio—the East Harlem Real Great Society/Urban Planning Studio: A Puerto Rican Chapter in the Fight for Urban Self-Determination∗.” ​New Political Science​, vol. 20, no. 4, 1998, pp. 399–420., doi:10.1080/07393149808429838.

“Brewster, New York.” ​Brewster, New York 10509 Profile: Population, Maps, Real Estate, Averages, Homes, Statistics, Relocation, Travel, Jobs, Hospitals, Schools, Crime, Moving, Houses, News, Sex Offenders​, http://www.city-data.com/city/Brewster-New-York.html.

“Danbury, Connecticut.” ​Danbury, Connecticut 06810 Profile: Population, Maps, Real Estate, Averages, Homes, Statistics, Relocation, Travel, Jobs, Hospitals, Schools, Crime, Moving, Houses, News, Sex Offenders​, http://www.city-data.com/city/Danbury-Connecticut.html.

“El Pueblo Se Levanta.” Production Company Third World Newsreel Film Collective, 1970.

“Parks and Recreation in Danbury.” ​City Of Danbury​, https://www.danbury-ct.gov/government/departments/parks/.

DEINDUSTRIALIZATION AND CRIMINALIZATION

THE CRIMINALIZATION OF LATINA/O/XS

BY C.A.G.M

Moving from the Dominican Republic to the United States was big cultural shock, but mostly a dream, as me and my family were seeking for the “American Dream”, yet soon enough I will be realized that my dreams, were criminalize and oppressed by upper class. The criminalization of Latinos is something that we have seen often in the last three years, as the current president of the United States are severely oppressed to them. In our class so far, we have discussed about Latinx most common urban areas and places to live, which are New York, California, and Chicago. Being from New York city, we can see how there is several Latinos, and Hispanic communities  that live in new York city in areas such as, Washington Heights, The Bronx, Lower East side, and Spanish Harlem. According to The Marshall Project, “An estimated Half-Million New Yorkers are undocumented”, not only there is big population of Latinos in New York City, but also there are several undocumented, but How does the Mexican Population is Criminalize in New York? How are Latinos and minority groups criminalize for being undocumented?

Criminalization of undocumented Latinos and Latinos in general have started in the early 1960’s, where there was a huge migration to the United States, where people were running away from their country. Yet, the topic of criminalization of undocumented Latinos have been more, and more mentioned as Donald Trump post-election TV interview where he stated “"They're sending people that have a lot of problems, and they're bringing those problems with us. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people."(Mark, 2018),here we can see how the President of the United states criminalize the Mexican population by calling them several names, and assuming that they are bringing several crimes to the country.  One of the example, is in the class reading $800 Million in Taxpayer Money Went to Private Prisons Where Migrants Work for Pennies, by Spencer Ackerman and Adam Ronsley, “Yesica, 23, fled her native El Salvador after MS-13 persecuted her for being a lesbian. The brutal gang, which the Trump administration uses to demonize immigrants like her, murdered her father, and she came to the United States to seek the safety of rejoining family here. She has instead spent the last two years locked inside ICE’s prisons.”, this an example of how people come here trying to achieve the American dream or safety, but because they are undocumented, they are sent to Immigration and Customs enforcement (ICE) offices.  

  

Yet, in reality studies have found that immigration that is lets than 10% of undocumented immigrant population in the united states have criminal record. The report by Migration Policy Institute stated that  7 percent of the 11 million undocumented individuals in the United States have criminal records, (The Center for Migration Studies of New York).In others words, we can notice how even though immigrants have tried to do the right things, such as paying taxes and work in the places other won’t work, we can see how the Trump Administration have criminalize those that don’t have legal paper the most, los indocumentados con un sueno. 

Bibliography:

The Marshall Project. “How Donald Trump's War on Immigrants Is Playing Out in NYC.” The Marshall Project, The Marshall Project, 23 July 2018, https://www.themarshallproject.org/2018/07/23/new-york-on-ice.

Ink, Social. “Making Immigrants into Criminals: Legal Processes of Criminalization in the Post-IIRIRA Era.” The Center for Migration Studies of New York (CMS), Leisy Abrego, Mat Coleman, Daniel E. Martínez, Cecilia Menjívar, Jeremy Slack, https://cmsny.org/publications/jmhs-legal-process-criminalization/.

Spencer Ackerman, Adam Rawnsley. “$800 Million in Taxpayer Money Went to Private Prisons Where Migrants Work for Pennies.” The Daily Beast, The Daily Beast Company, 27 Dec. 2018, https://www.thedailybeast.com/dollar800-million-in-taxpayer-money-went-to-private-prisons-where-migrants-work-for-pennies.

Mark, Michelle. “Trump Just Referred to One of His Most Infamous Campaign Comments: Calling Mexicans 'Rapists'.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 5 Apr. 2018, https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-mexicans-rapists-remark-reference-2018-4.

https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-mexicans-rapists-remark-reference-2018-4

Photo 1: https://www.jewishpublicaffairs.org/jewish-council-of-public-affairs-opposes-executive-orders-targeting-immigrants-and-refugees/

Photo 2: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/will-trump-energize-latino-vote

Photo 3:https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-mexicans-rapists-remark-reference-2018-4

URBAN MIGRATIONS AND EARLY 20TH CENTURY BARRIOS

EARLY PUERTO RICAN NEW YORK 

BY STUDENT

The words immigration and migration have become synonymous with the latin/o/x community and in many ways highlights our past challenges and experiences. Out of all the groups that were relocating and migrating I want to focus in on the Puerto Rican community which at the time was shifting toward massive migration to the New York City area. In this blog post I will talk about the migration of Puerto Ricans in the early to mid 1900’s. How does Puerto Rican population landscape of the early to mid 20^thcentury?

Latino progress and migration were not a fast and booming endeavor, if anything it was a gradual and slow process that spanned from the early 1900 and has gradually increased to the early 2,000’s and even today. Before the initiation of the Jones Act there were less than 7,000 migrants from Puerto Rico to the united states and since then the number had steadily increased to 10,000 o the early 1900.The people of Puerto Rico today enjoy a level of living which, while substantially short of that achieved by the more industrially advanced nations, is comparable to that of the richest no industrialized areas. Thus, for example, estimates of per capita income in i949 indicate that Puerto Ricans had an average income (in terms of roughly equivalent purchasing power) larger by far than the majority of the people of the world and greater than all but four of the Latin American and Caribbean countries. Puerto Rico's per capita income of $295 was 5% per cent less than the top Latin American income of Argentina but almost exactly equal to that of Cuba, which is very much richer in natural resources; two and a half times that of Mexico; four times as large as that of the Dominican Republic; and over seven times as great as that of Haiti

 Latino groups were in a constantly growing and evolving environment that had grown from less than 2,000 Puerto Ricans in 1910 to 13,000 in 1945, to over 700,000 in 1955 to ultimately the first million around the mid 1960’s. By 2010, Latinos numbered 2.4 million, 29% of the city’s population. In 1990, by contrast, they were 1.7 million representing 24%. Puerto Ricans were the largest single group during the last century. But the numbers appear to be rapidly changing. The projections of the demographers indicate that the next decennial census will register Dominicans as the largest group (some observers think they already are). Some years later, Mexicans are expected to attain that distinction.

This picture is from about a study conducted in 2007 about the growing and evolving network of Latinos. This picture shows the influence and impact these countries have on New York City and how these nations stack up to each other. 

Today, Puerto Ricans serve New York in the city, state, and federal governments; in 1992, New Yorker Nydia Velázquez became the first woman of Puerto Rican descent to be elected to the U.S. Congress. The Puerto Rican Day parade has become the largest parade for any national or ethnic group in the city. Puerto Ricans have an ever expanding network and culture that expands to all aspect of life including media, sports, politics etc. this growing and dynamically expanding culture has influenced New York city as a staple for the city for it has embedded the roots of its history from the early 19^thcentury until today. 

SOURCES

Torres, Andres. “Latino New York: An Introduction.” NACLA, 23 Jan. 2014, nacla.org/news/2014/1/23/latino-new-york-introduction.

Sanchez Korrol, Virginia E. 1994. From Colonia to Community: The History of Puerto Ricans in New York City. Ch. 2 [31] Suggested: Bender, 

The Library of Congress, immigration home/in Spanish harlem, Migrating to a New Land

https://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/immigration/cuban3.html

Harvey S. Perloff, Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Economic History Association, The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 12, No. 1 (Winter, 1952), pp. 45-59, https://www.jstor.org/stable/2112904

Laird W. Bergad, November 2007, NEW YORK CITY’S LATINO POPULATION IN 2006, LATINO DATA PROJECT

https://clacls.gc.cuny.edu/files/2013/10/The-Latino-Population-of-New-York-City-in-2006.pdf

DEINDUSTRIALIZATION AND CRIMINALIZATION

BY STUDENT

I grew up in Elmont, Long Island. A city that sits [LJ1] right at the border of Queens which many people don’t know. Elmont is famous for being the home of the Belmont Race Track in which we host the Belmont Stakes every summer. When many think of Long Island, they think of wealthy white people who have it all made out for them but in reality, Long Island is much more. Long Island even though extremely diverse remains one of the most segregated places in America. Towns like Garden City which is just 10 minutes away from where I live is 88% white whilst other towns like Hempstead which is just south of Garden City is 92% black and Latino (Schubach, Brick Underground, 2017). Though all these towns are so close to each other the livelihood of the members of each community is starkly different. The segregation of these communities has led to policing in black and Latino areas, lack of funding for schools and proper transportation, poor living conditions, etc. What are the negative effects that deindustrialization and criminalization has had on these primarily black and latinx areas? How will this issue continue to shape the face of Long Island? And how do we tackle this issue moving forward?  

Buffet, Neil P. "Blockbusting on Long Island: The Case of Gerald Kutler and the 1962 Legal Battle against Real Estate Bias in North Bellport, New York." Long Island History Journal. 

The lack of proper funding to predominantly black and latinx areas has had many negative effects on the people that reside in these communities. The members of these communities must endure school systems that aren’t as properly funded as the wealthier neighborhoods which leads to the overcrowding of classrooms, underpaid teachers, lack of proper attention to students, lack of opportunities for students, etc. This has a ripple effect, as the poorer neighborhoods continue to have little funding and majority of black and brown bodies occupy the school they are perceived as bad schools and not desirable for white affluent families furthermore, white families don’t move into these neighborhoods or send their children to these schools. In fact, Garden City High School even though being in such close proximity to the school district I went to is not a part of the school district because of how much money the people in that neighborhood make and to avoid having to give funding to these poorer schools they instead created their own district with just them in it. Black and Latinx people also often live in worse conditions than their white counterparts and many live on what people refer to as “renter blocks”. These renter blocks are streets and neighborhoods in which a majority of the people who reside there rent houses that are often not in the best condition because property tax is too high for them to afford and wages are too low. These blocks have been stigmatized and are usually quickly assumed to be bad neighborhoods with bad people. The criminalization of Elmont and the neighboring black and brown neighborhoods is also extremely prevalent. In neighborhoods like the one I grew up the police often patrol the streets and are quick to harass black and brown people for simply existing.

Segregation in Long Island has been prevalent throughout its history. Overtime, it has gotten worse and the push for black and brown bodies out of the island is very much alive. The lack of proper resources to advance us in society as well as the overwhelming brutality of police may drive people out of the island in upcoming years. The loss of black and Latinx people from the island which will be a huge loss for a culture that has helped shaped the island but with such high prices of living and such low value placed on black and brown lives the removal of us from these areas may be a tactic for survival. In regards to tackling the issue huge reform must take place so that we can move forward. Policies must be implemented so that the betterment of black and brown people can be enacted. We simply cannot allow the current conditions to continue to exist in the upcoming years. There must be an immediate and effective reform of schools, housing, infrastructure, the police, etc. if we are going to improve the lives of the black and Latinx people that currently reside in Long Island.  These patterns of segregation must be eliminated so that equitable resources can be provided for those who for so long have been robbed of it. 

Works Cited

Schubach, Alanna. "How did Long Island become so segregated—and what can be done about it?" Brick Underground, 13 June 2017.

Muhammad, Khalil G. The Condemnation of Blackness. Cambridge, Harvard University Press.

URBAN MIGRATIONS AND EARLY 20TH CENTURY BARRIOS

BY STUDENT

Coming from a small city near a famous borough , not a lot of people know that it is divided by ethnicity. The community that I grew up was nothing but other people like me who identified as Mexicans. As far as I can remember (and the stories that my dearest madre would tell me), it was very difficult for our people to settle in: either they arrived to the United States or they’ve been here for a while, they always struggled when it came to financials, housings, and even socializing. But as a barrio, we all tended to be united as one and support those who shared the same roots as me. One can tend to ask what’s the difference/similarities between the Mexican migrants who live within Los Angeles, California and the city that I am from.

            The growth of Mexican migrants, in both locations, were both similar. Mexican residence in east/central Los Angeles from the 1920-140 and the largest concentration of Mexicans were in the Plaza area (Sanchez 1993, 73-73). In my city, there is a central place where majority of mexican migrants live. As shown in the maps, Mexicans were spread widely but majority of them focused on a certain area, which now people call it the center of the Mexican population. In my city, there is a “center point” where the majority of the Mexican population lives/work. But also with living in tight community, housing is always concerning when discussing with families. As early as 1912, one group of Mexican homeowners at East Seventh and Utah were evicted to make way for railroad development. (Sanchez 1993, 81) Between 1906 and 1912, the Housing Commission had 400 units demolished and fifty other vacated. This can be a prime example of how the mezican population tended to live in a small, and sometimes crowded, living space area. The city I’m from, is always constructing new buildings and businesses but in order to do so, they tend to kick people out of their small apartments in order to create “more housing”... but the thing about that is that it's mostly privileged people who get the renovated building while leaving those whose homes were demolished to create something that they can't even live in. 

            Comparing from the 20th and 21st century, it can be seen that actions keep on repeating themselves. It is important to show those that don’t think that Mexicans, or any minority group, did not give up their things for other stuff to be created but not receiving the accreditations that they should get. I find this topic to be important because it also shows the audience the purpose of what Mexicans have gone through. They left their home country to live and start in a place where they just want to live the “American Dream.” But infprtunaelty, with all the sacrifices they have gone through, it’s just not enough to others with different perspective in having other people live in a place that “don't belong to them”; which is ironic because this land was built by minorities while going through years of hard labor. 

Sanchez, George. “Newcomers in the City of Angels.” In Becoming Mexican American: Ethnicity, Culture, and Identity in Chicano Los Angeles (Oxford University Press, 1995), 73.

Citation:

Sanchez, George. “Newcomers in the City of Angels.” In Becoming Mexican American: Ethnicity, Culture, and Identity in Chicano Los Angeles, n.d.

STRUGGLING FOR SPACE, CREATING LATINA/O/X URBAN CULTURES

BY STUDENT

We are taught at a young age to be proud of who we are. Boriqua and proud as we play with the dominoes that have our bontia bandera engraved in the backs of them-in front of the bodega. People of all races come to America- the so called “land of the free and home of the brave” to chase their American Dreams but why do we have to fight and struggle so hard to be treated equally? Working all the jobs that no one else wants, janitors, maids, lavaplatos at minimum wage with no days off struggling to make ends meet. Why are we judged by the color of our skin and the language we speak? Constantly being told “go back where you came from,” but miss, I was born here. Growing up as a Latina in the Bronx, I have no choice but to accept that when I walk the streets of lower Manhattan I’m viewed as less than. Currently having my country being run by a white man who describes my culture and people as “undocumented immigrants” and “illegal aliens” makes our fight for equality harder and more dangerous as more and more racially motivated mass shootings occur.

Our parents made us aware of our nationality before we even knew what nationality was, purposely going out our way to say “Dios Bendiga” after every conversation or right before we left our homes and walked the streets with the people that hate our kind but still shared an awkward smile with us as we passed each other on the sidewalk. People who stereotypically play the song “Suavemente” at a party because they know that’s every Latinx’s favorite song. So many years have passed where Latinos and people of Hispanic decent were targeted and treated unfairly and ostracized because of the color of their skin. Being too dark to be classified white and too bilingual to be accepted by blacks, struggling with identity and space are just some of the conflicts Latinx’s face. We’re left and stuck lost, in the middle, not being accepted by either race though we embody both races and more, losing a sense of identity and culture. The only people we have are each other.

The Young Lords Party formed to represent the Latinx community as the influx of Latinos grew in NYC. Fighting for rights such as fair and affordable housing and decent healthcare became more of a priority. What inspired me to write this blog was a poem read during their 1969 rally titled “Puerto Rican Obituary.” It’s a strongly worded poem and is significant when describing how life was for Latinx’s. Living their lives and working hard only to die before they get the chance to fulfill the impossible goal of achieving their American Dream despite the barriers-purposely placed in their way. We may never be treated or seen as equal, but we do have Latinx pride and will never stop fighting for our voices to be heard. Unlike “Juan, Miguel, Milagros, Olga, and Manuel”(Pietri 2004), I am proud to live in a place where the ‘sacred phrase’: “Que Pasa” is a short distance away.



Citation

Pietri, P. (2004). Puerto Rican Obituary. Monthly Review, 56(2), 48. doi: 10.14452/mr-056-02-2004-06_6


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