Gender roles within the Chicano household

        Gender roles within the Chicano household has stayed the same since years ago. Usually within the Chicano household the male always has to catered to even when the women is sitting down eating she has to get up and serve him because within the Latino culture it is necessary. In my opinion I disapprove with the whole idea of how the gender roles in the Latino culture are so demanding and male dominant that as the women we need to stop what we're doing to cater to them which I find really annoying.
     Why can't the male serve himself, cook, or give the women a massage after a long time at work? Personally as the years are passing by this tradition in this generation has switched, especially if you're college educated some women become very independent that doing so much for their husbands becomes a certain limit.
      To some of the male youth and the female youth in the household the female has certain restrictions in which prohibits her into doing things she shouldn't do, like for example having a curfew or not being able to drink at a certain age because she's a female. Rather the male youth who doesn't get the curfew or in which he doesn't get no restrictions on drinking due to his age. Growing up with a half brother I know how annoying it can be from a female point of view to have to put up with different restrictions being put on me just because I'm a female. Most females can't go walking by a dark alley with the conscious that they might get raped, as for a male they can do everything they want without no fear.


-Cristal Canedo

A Third Border

 

Mike Davis The Third Border he talks about that borders Chicanos and Mexicanos are faced with in the United States. The first border is that of Tijuana/ San Ysidro or El Paso/ Juarez, the second border are the checkpoint that are conducted by ICE to catch the coyotes also the Check point at San Clemente, although the first two are physical borders the third is the situations they are faced with.  Davis informs that after the San Clement check point was established undocumented immigrants began crossing ten freeway lanes to avoid going thru the checkpoint which resulted in huge numbers of deaths and instead of removing the checkpoint the United States. government placed up signs which warned the drivers they could encounter people attempting to cross the ten lanes of the freeway. He gives the example of Lacy Park in San Marino where the City Council began to charge a weekend fee to enter the park because Latinos began to go there on the weekends with their families. By imposing a fee it left out the Latino Population from being able to access the park because they did not have the money to pay.

While reading this article other forms of third borders popped into my head for example how in today the media portrays all immigrants as “Mexicans” they just assume that because they speak Spanish they come from Mexico when that is far from the truth is recent years more and more Latinos from Central and South America have been migrating to the United States. Also Latinos do not make up for all of the undocumented people in the United States. Also another third border is the fact that people assume that because some is a certain skin color they do not have documents or do not speak English. The third border consist of all of the issues Latinos are faced with one they have crossed the first two borders.

            This article made me think of the different experiences which my mother and uncle have shared with my siblings and myself growing up. Both my uncle and mother have very light skin color, their hair is very light brown it almost looks golden and they have colored eyes. My uncle has shared that even though he was in this country as a undocumented immigrant for a period of time he was never faced a lot of the discrimination and racism his fellow workers, and classmates did simply because he did not look Mexican, he fit the descriptions of what a United States Citizen should look like.

            What stood out to me the most from this article was how the U.S. felt they solved the problem of deaths in the freeway simply by placing signs up. I could not believe that they do not care for the lives of the hundreds which are killed annually imply because they are undocumented immigrants who are looking for a better life than the one they had in their home countries. The United States treats these people as criminals and excludes them from reaching a better life even though they are the same ones that are responsible for  people not being able to live in their own countries, with NAFTA, and other programs they have created which instead of helping third world countries leaves them with an even worse  economic and social problems.  

- Alejandra Ibarra

Undrawn Boundaries

David R. Diaz and his Barrio Logic and the Consolidation of Chianas/os in the City: 1945-1975, covers the period of time in which the Chicano community along with other minorities fought for their right in equal housing, a cause which was greatly influenced by the Civil Rights movement. He places a great emphasize of the different types of activism which was perform that led to the change in the housing system. Diaz also informs his readers of the conditions in which the current barrios where, he gives the example that some barrios had five different freeway routes which ran through them. Lastly another major point Diaz makes is that the Barrios represented much more than just space, it was a state of mind that represented the Chicano social and political history.  

            As I read this article I felt a sense of appreciation for all those who fought against the unjust system and were able to make a difference. At first all I could think about was how lucky I was to have been born into a time period where those unjust situations where still according and then I realized how wrong I was. Although there are no longer laws which state that Chicanos can only live in certain areas, Chicanos today along with the rest of minorities still live like the lone that Diaz describes in the chapter. Chicanos are still receiving bad quality education, not because their teachers are under qualified but instead because they belong to school districts like LAUSD whose main purpose is to teach students how to pass a test and not actually teach them.

            Growing up in the San Fernando Valley area I remember many of my neighbors and family members who say that we were better off than those who lived in the ghettos and barrios of East LA, South Central, and Boyle Heights. Looking back at the education which was offered to me, where my neighbor hood was located and what surrounded it I realized that we were never really better off. I still formed part of the same messed up school system, freeways still ran very close to where I lived and the schools I attended, my neighborhood was largely Hispanic. There are fast food places like Mc Donald’s, Little Caesars almost at every corner. So it was a bit cleaner than East La but the differences where very few compared to all the similarities.

            Diaz mentions that the barrio was a state of mind, well that hasn’t changed today Latinos are still socially and politically uninvolved, one must no longer live in a barrio but they still do. By the end of the reading my appreciation for those who stood up for equality had not changed but I know left a sense of anger at myself and those around me that were doing nothing with the huge paths which were open to us by those who had reached a change. I feel as if we have taken two steps back to the three steps forward they took. We no longer have private sector discriminatory policies which we are chained with but we are still dealing with the consequences of the barrios in which our ancestors were once forced into, and we have now made them our homes.            

- Alejandra Ibarra 

Is Police violence based upon racism?

     In many cases police violence has been a major part of racial profiling and the different stereotypes that flow into the police's thoughts. Throughout the years the police violence has decreased as for now, 2013, there's still have been a partial  number of police violence occurring in today's society. Why has that still continuing you ask?
    Well in many cases like the Rodney King story and other stories similar to King's, it has been a huge deal now because of the rebellion that started due to the injustice of the Rodney King situation. Most police officers find it okay to just go ahead and shoot a person not knowing what exactly the situation is just because of the color of their skin and the stereotypes that a race has.
    As for one of the articles by University of Denver they stated a similar case to Rodney's where a Hispanic mother calls the police for help due to her son fighting with his dad and leaving the house aggravated with a knife was a huge concerned for the mother. In which later on the mother described him and later he was found and shot Julio in which later he was pronounced dead.
  In my opinion I find it quite interesting how Paulina Valerio (mother) calling the police to help his son had anything to do with the police taking it to the next level and calling all different police units in which the situation wasn't at all that serious. My thing with this situation was that the police officers didn't really have a sense of the story that them just witnessing a hispanic boy with a knife was suspicious and harmful that they had to shoot him just because of his racial profile.
   Julio in the other hand could've had one of those moments where he raged with anger and didn't know what to do so he left his house with a knife just to scare his parents, that not even harming them he was the one falling into the victim and getting shot for no apparent reason.
    In the article of the University of Denver I found quite interesting how the author addressed how a white, middle class youth can be considered to be un-harmful, rather than a Latino youth who are classified as violent, dangerous, and of course to be endangered. "The focus of the racial lens can be measured when their existence, their brown bodies, no matter how young or small, are circumscribed dangerous, prior to any gesture, any raising of the hand to be a source of threat," said the author from the University of Denver. I find that quite racist how a person that is brown gesturing is considered to be "dangerous" but what about if a white youth was to gesture and he was more "dangerous" than the Latino? it makes no sense and it's all up to the color of your skin which is definitely injustice.


-Cristal Canedo

The "Hood" vs. The Suburbs

Have you ever taken a look at what distinguishes different cities/areas? How the populations differ? The buildings?  It’s interesting what you learn by observing and analyzing your surroundings. Why is one area so different from another? How were these differences established? Once you begin to learn about why areas are so different and how you can tell a “bad area” from a “good area”, it’s truly mind blowing. So much is present in front of your eyes and we don’t consciously know it.

The truth is that the suburbs of the LA area are meant for the wealthy. According to Steve Macek, “During the nineteenth century, most suburbs of American cities were enclaves for the nation’s wealthy elite who moved there to avoid the noise, pollution, and crime of the big cities while remaining close enough to the city-based businesses and industries they owned to actively manage them”. This still exists today. As you take a cruise down most of the suburbs of LA, you begin to notice the big million dollar mansions, and you tend to realize that your car is surrounded by extremely expensive cars now. This is where the wealthy citizens of LA reside; mostly white citizens. You won’t see liquor stores or 7-elevens. It’s strictly nice streets, nice signs that let you know exactly what part of the suburb you’re in, big houses, nice cars and expensive boutiques or mainstream grocery stores. The suburbs can even shift your mood in a sense. It wakes you up and you begin to feel overwhelmed by all of the nice things that surround you—it makes you want to live there.

On the other hand, we have the inner-city regions. These regions, for example east LA, vary significantly in the characteristics. There are no nice houses, nice cars, or groomed streets. Instead, there is a large amount of pollution, noise, crime, and liquor stores. This is where some of the working class resides. Why? Inner cities are home to all of the factory jobs and labor jobs. Immigrants began to settle here in the 1920’s to find jobs and as a result this has become a region dominated by Latino and Black citizens. However, why don’t these communities look as well groomed as those of the suburban areas? These residents might live in the “hood”, however, they are still paying taxes.

The differences in these areas have been normalized. No one really asks themselves why the street cleaners don’t come around the bad areas as often. Little things like liquor stores on every corner make a huge difference, however, citizens living there don’t really challenge why there are so many. It’s interesting how the freeways act as barriers to separate these nice and bad areas. The differences one sees while driving down a big street can be overwhelming sometimes. Watching how one side of a street is nice and clean, while 20 minutes later driving down that same street, the difference in the area shifts from nice to uncared for. It is important that we take the time to understand the different characteristics of the suburbs and the inner cities and what these differences mean.

-Jackie 

What really happened during the Los Angeles rebellion?

        According to the article "The Los Angeles Rebellion: A Retrospective View," by James Johnson, Cloyzelle Jones, Walter Farrell, and Melvin Oliver it describes how it was back in 1992 during the rebellion. Not only was it tough times for Los Angles residents but to live in the South Central area during that era was quite frightening for many living there. All three of the professors discussing this particular article discussed every detail that was taking place in the riot by addressing what economic issues were occurring during the rebellion and how hard it was to not get a job due to being of colored. 

Being familiar with this historic event and reading more about it got me to deeply understand the concept of what exactly went on during the riot not just the rebellion itself. Being one of the most historic events having to do with racism has a real impact on me, because knowing that Rodney King got beating to death by four LAPD in April of 1992 due to his color of skin is very intriguing especially after being videotaped while beating Rodney. Not only was race riots occurring at that time but the authors also mentioned that there was a lot of arrests arranged by the ethnicity of the person in which also led to arresting illegal aliens and sending them back to their country. I found it very interesting how many of the immigrants that were being arrested and deported back were mainly Latinos, with a fewer number of other ethnicities, in which in total of deportations were 477. 

       Johnson, Jones, Farrell, and Oliver brought up a really captivating point that caught my eye which was the seeds of the rebellion and how in most parts of the South central area was predominantly Black and Latino. It’s amazing how most of the main facilities were located in the heart of L.A. but as the riots caused to much chaos to the community, the owners of these different employment opportunities and decided to change locations to the Mexico border, San Fernando Valley, San Gabriel Valley, and El Segundo. These areas increased employment rates higher than it was before which was interesting to me because I was born and raised in the San Fernando Valley and to know that it wasn’t how it used to be is very interesting. 

  With all the different turmoil that the city of Los Angeles went through with all kinds of looting, burning, violence, and the numerous of arrests were eye opening to the residents of not only the city but the county that what was happening was a big controversial issue. With the LAPD being on duty wasn't enough at that time that they needed 10,000 National guard and 3,500 military soldiers to be on duty for a huge riot. I found it very interesting how much of property damaged was done that estimated to be about $785 million to $1 Billion, the whole Los Angeles county was definitely affected by it. Education was so bad at that era that the authors mentioned that approximately 63% and 79% was the drop out rates for adolescents in going to high school in South Central due to many students believing they needed a job instead of their education.

-Cristal Canedo 

Are Prisons Still Relevant?

In Angela Y. Davis' "Are Prisons Obsolete?" , she presents a glipmse into the realities of what has become of Americas state of imprisonment. In it she describes how the prisions system is something that we as Americans take for granted, that prison is something just needs to be. Yet Angela Davis proclaims that perhaps prisons in this day and could be obsolete as the the title implies .

While reading this I found myself too questioning the helpfulness of jails. I used to think prisons where a place of reform and where inmates cold beter themselves. Slowly over time I grew to realize this wasn't the case. Reading Davis writings further cemented the ideas that i had about the United State' prison system. From what she says it seems that imprisonment in the long run does not seem to help anthing as it just makes for a cycle of people that keep getting arrested. She goes into an argument that prison is now a revenue stream process where they make more moeny if there are more prisoners which in turn makes incetive to have as many prisoners as possible. This leads to a dishonest approach to justice as perhaps due to these incentives more people are being put to jail. It seems as if the whole structure of prisons is bult upon getting as many americans in there as possible if one were to look at the statistics.

Davis also brings up an interesting point that prisons in essence are racist structures , meant to imprison as many minorities as possible. This can be seen in how there are many laws which make it easy for one to get trapped in prison. She compares the parallels of slavery and imprisonment in America to the point where its hard to differentiate the two. Prisons it seems are a easy way to keep minorities from participating in mainstream society. It seems that since its easier to put minorities away in jail than it is to  help them get out of the socio economic environments which lead to their arrests , our society allows for the former to happen.  People often dont think of it that way but after reading about it in this article it is hard not to look at it from that angle now.

Davis presents a picture of America that is falling to the prison system and urges us to stop taking prison as just another aspect of life. There many things that need to be changed in order for people not to get trapped in prisons such as changing arbitrary laws that land people there for long periods of time. Though at the heart of the matter is that we as people shouldnt let this go on. We should reject the system that prisons have placed upon our country and find a better solution to crimes. Although until the majority of people  start paying attention to whats going on in our country's prison system , it seems that  America is on a path towards increasing incarceration.

-Christian Morales