Los Angeles-City of Quartz
Class war and repression are said to have driven the Los Angeles Socialists into the desert. (Pg. 9) Why would anyone want to live in the desert? The once militarized desert, created a place for people to have homes. With the population growing in such large numbers and the land growing scarce they had to begin developing the vacant land. The population needed a place to live. (Pg. 4) Dirt and dollar signs, and advertising homes with lush names appealed to the middle and upper classes. The fact that they could live in the fastest growing metropolis in the advanced industrial world made them excited. The city of Los Angeles was new and still developing. In the meantime, the economic state was changing. The rich got richer, the poor were even more poor and the middle class was cut in half. Everything about the growing city seemed perfect, and I suppose for some it was. However, along with growth and change there comes crime. Several incidents took place in Los Angeles against people of color involving the police. Anglos became a minority in the city and county of Los Angeles during the 1980's. (Pg. 7) The city of Los Angeles was created for the white, urbanized, higher middle and upper classes.
This is Vietnam here. (Pg. 268) The Crips and the Bloods run the south central part of Los Angeles. The gang killings had dropped from 24 to zero in ten years. The gang activity is now said to be a part of the large crack trade. Average gang killings on the east side average one per day. (Pg. 270) An economic force of the gang violence has to do with the money made from crack vs. cocaine. One mayor refers to the gangs as the Viet Cong. I think the use of the reference is not in comparison to the Vietnam war. I see the fact that men are killing each other every day and fighting but the reasons for the War and the reason the gangs are fighting are not justifiable. Some argue that we should not have gotten involved in Vietnam, but I feel that we should let the gangs kill themselves out. They live in their own world in Los Angeles, secluded and stuck in the inner city. I do realize that the gangs stem from youth poverty, but instead of arresting all of the 80, 000 members, why not help them out of poverty and clean up their neighbor hood?! Gated communities, bum proof benches, sprinklers that come on in the middle of the night at all different times, a gated library, warnings not to steal shopping carts, and with the police coming at you from every angle, who could live like that? Even if you are poor and live in the ghetto part of town there is no reason you have to be under surveillance. Or at least that is how it sounds. I do agree with the part about cleaning up the city and not wanting bums hanging around all over the city. So, instead of paying to prevent all of these things why not help? I have the same feeling about the Bay Area. In San Francisco we are building a billion-dollar stadium, but we cannot help the poverty people that are going to live by it? Or how about all the homeless in San Francisco? I know not all homeless or poor are the same, but downtown San Francisco is a mess. I just picture downtown Los Angeles. There are places in San Francisco and Oakland I wouldn't walk through and I don't think there should be places like that. I think a lot of the cities have the mentality that if they want to be that way, then let them without taking any of the blame themselves. The cities I feel are largely responsible for the way things work in the city. If there are not enough jobs, find a way to create them. If there are homeless people, clean them up and get them working. I know those sound like easy, simple solutions but they are. Our society turns their head when they see homeless or poor people. It is just how things are. Davis brings up these points in his book. I guess what I realize reading this book is that our society really hasn't progressed in the way of breaking any social class barriers. I do see how we have changed with technology and with the development of systems. I can see why people would think Los Angeles is all that great. I think Los Angeles is a painted picture of what people want it to
Some common words found in the essay are:
Los Angeles, Angeles County, Lakewood Plan, Francisco Oakland, Owners Association, Angeles Socialists, los angeles, Viet Cong, San Francisco, San Diego, Tokyo Japanese, home owners, lakewood plan, san francisco, owners association, home owners association, inner city, los angeles home, city los, angeles home owners, city los angeles, angeles home, fought hard, population lakewood plan, people color,
Approximate Word count = 1995
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)
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