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