The Legacy Of The Golden State

The neighborhood I have chosen is Watts, California. Before it was known as Watts it was a part of Rancho La Tajuata specializing in livestock grazing and beef production. In the 1870's there was a population boom of White Americans in Southern California. La Tajuata was divided and sold into smaller farms and homes. By the 1900's the development of the railroads brought good things. The town became a city and built it's first station known as Watts Station. In 1926 the city annexed itself to Los Angeles. The railroads brought Mexican and Mexican American workers known as "traqueros" into the community.

While today Los Angeles is prided on being one of the most diverse cities in the United States, there was (and still is) a tremendous amount of resistance that had to be overcome. Society’s inclination to maintain homogeneity along with the testing of loyalties and allegiance through pressures of war have proven great obstacles in the evolution of what is now a majority-minority city. Nina Revoyr’s Southland gives a historic fictional recount of Los Angeles’ most tested times from perspectives looking in to the past, present, and future. The discovery of unpleasant truths through grave social injustices provide a painful reminder of Los Angeles’ history and consequently a warning for future setbacks. Southland is an emotional testament to the inescapability of discrimination within stratified cities and the unspoken necessity of assimilation that occurs as a result.

In 1992 the city of Los Angeles was one of our nation’s largest cities. It had an estimated population of over 9 million.1 The city had been in a deteriorating state for several years. There also had been tension growing between the citizens and the police for nearly the last 30 years. This had a lot to do with riots that occurred in Los Angeles back in the 1960’s.2

In Josh Sides’ Straight Into Compton, a nod to the infamous NWA album, the author described an in depth case study on the polarized history of the geographical and racial divide of the Los Angeles suburb of Compton. He writes about Compton in the early twentieth century, being a predominantly white neighborhood, occupied by blue collar factory works. Racial covenants of the 1920’s prevented the migration of African Americans into Compton until large scale migration occurred in the 1950’s and 60’s. It was discussed that because of the growing black population, racism and other acts were committed in order to prevent and curb this growth. The thriving city, although full of racial division, had faced daunting challenges during the 1960, as a

“Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success” (Henry Ford). In the novel Southland by Nina Revoyr, due to the injustices and struggles that characters face, they are forced to come together in the face of adversity and times of conflict in order to achieve their vision of the American Dream. With Los Angeles set as the stage, we as readers are taken through a series of trials and tribulations during the 1940s to 1990s, which uncover the true characteristics of the city instead of the ideal city that was promised to those who migrated. Los Angeles was depicted as the city of Sunshine, and a new land of opportunity, and although you could find glimpses of the sunshine through the shadows, there was much more negativity than one expected.

Factors like eminent domain, urban renewal, and suburbanization impacted Chicanos because their homes were torn down and they couldn’t do anything about the destruction. Professor Carpio mentioned how the Chavez Ravine study was urban renewal at its finest, where space was taken to create shopping centers, playgrounds, and parking facilities (Carpio, Chicano Studies 10A, 2016). There would be a clear discrepancy of how the Chicano populated town was before the urbanization and how it turned out after, but the memories seared into Chicanos were of their town being torn apart. When Chicanos could do nothing else but accept the modernization of society, they tried to live in the suburban areas that replaced their Latino barrios. Yet again, they faced discrimination by Anglos who did not want them in the suburban space they created to keep them separate from Mexicans and other races. In the case Doss v. Bernal, Chao Romero stated, “the Bernal’s experience of segregation and housing discrimination was unfortunately common throughout California…” which meant at this point in Chicano history they were used to this treatment, but they counteracted it politically, which is why the Bernal’s brought the problem to court (Romero, 1). In this case they experienced a victory where the Anglos living in the suburban could

The assigned readings offered an engaging view of the new suburban life emerging in California during the postwar years of the 1940s and 1950s. During this time, California was becoming heavily populated and was experiencing an increased demand for housing. In Holy Land, D.J. Waldie discussed the rise of the suburbs in Southern California, the creation of tract housing and shopping centers, and the 1950s illusion that everyone could be middle class (Waldie, 4-85). As suburban areas were developing and emerging within Southern California, a neighborhood was challenging the conservative norm of the time by allowing racial diversity within the area. In What 's Good for Boyle Heights is Good for the Jews, George J. Sánchez 's tells the forgotten history of Boyle Heights, a suburb of Los Angeles, praised for being one of America 's first communities to embrace racial diversity. During a time of severe bigotry against African-Americans, Asian-Americans, and Latino-Americas, Jewish residents of Boyle Heights were able to respect and accept minorities of color living within their community (Sánchez, 633-657). The postwar years in California demonstrated the extraordinary power the state had in developing suburbs and how a small district within the Los Angeles area was able to challenge the status quo on racial diversity.

California, along with the rest of the country, has an unfortunate history of racism towards people of Asian ancestry in the twentieth century. In 1906, Asian children

In the 1920’s the city of Boyle Heights a city in which a type of ethnicity such as jews lived in. During this year many Jewish community immigrants and their families move into Los Angeles who made Boyle Heights the biggest Jewish community. Not only them but hispanics also played a big role in the 1920’s. There is two other ethnicities who moved there which were Asians and african americans. By the mid 1930’s, Jews accounted for 35,000 of Boyle Heights population. Who shared their community with increasing numbers of mexican americans, along with pockets of african americans, and Japanese Americans. In Boyle Heights all these different ethnicities is what makes up the different cultures.

The lower region in Loma Linda in California is a bore, a drag, an uneventful livelihood, a calm, a home, a quiet night, an established community, an utter disappointment. Loma linda is the born and raised, wood and glass and flowers and warmth, cracked streets and leaf-coated driveways and dust-covered cars, churches and grocery stores and farmers markets and gas stations and pho restaurants. Its inhabitants are, as many would say, “Racists, poor people, students, and rich old white men.” by which they would mean everyone. Another person’s perspective may have been, “ Proud Americans, humble folks, geniuses, and hardworking retirees.” and they would have meant the same thing.

The Los Angeles Lakers reached a 4 year deal with Timofey Mozgov worth 64 million dollars just hours after the beginning of the NBA Free Agency. To be honest, most of us were shocked with the deal and Twitter without a doubt proved the basketball world's shock. Mozgov however, maybe will live up to such a large deal and here are the reasons. A year ago, Mozgov was one of the Cavaliers leading scorers and a key figure in the NBA Finals. His presence and dominant rebounding forced Steve Kerr to implement to so familiar Warriors " Death Lineup," with Draymond Green at the center spot. One could argue his rise resulted from the absence of the Cavs' players, but nevertheless Mozgov demonstrated he could ball with the best of them.

As a native born Californian, a person would be able to view both sides of how California culture is expressed. They see the good, and the bad. Mostly, you would see the middle. However, the sunny glamour and ghoulish noir is such a powerful dichotomy that expresses California culture because it is gives us an insight of both the good, and the bad in California. Umberto

Victor Hansen, the author of "It's Still a Mad, Mad California," touches on the paradox that has been set forth by the elite in California. A child born and raised in the desert can most relate this to the immigration laws set forth in California. The coastal elites are the first ones to vote for the open borders to Mexico from a liberal perspective, but live far from the crime that goes on in Mecca and Desert Hot Springs.

San francisco is a major city of California and the United States as a whole. A city with this much power generally sets the score for other counties to follow. When San francisco undermines justice with institutional biases, they set a dangerous example for others to follow. While San Francisco has shown great strides to improve itself internally and externally, there are still major issues that need to be addressed, specifically in their incarceration system. San Francisco has created a system where minorities are more susceptible to being imprisoned due to the city’s precarious handling of funds.

Let’s say you’re a Californian who was born and raised in a major city in the Golden State. You just graduated and received your bachelors in one of the many UC schools that the state offers. And now you found a job that fits your career choice. So you decide to move out from your roommates place and into a new home. Well thing is you probably won’t be looking to lease a house but rather rent a house or most likely an apartment. Back then especially before 1978 you could most certainly be able to do this. But thanks to prop 13 stance on capping the states property tax measures, it’s extremely difficult to own a home in California. After 40 years in state law, prop 13 has released some unfortunate effects on the young and lower income. Having to pay more in property taxes than rent, it’s a no brainer why many young Californians are moving out of here.