Finally, in 1959, the last Mexican-American holdouts in Chavez Ravine were forcibly removed from their homes by police, and the bulldozers were brought in to clear all remaining buildings, according to the PBS report. Los Angeles Times reporter Dan Lai wrote in his blog on April 20, 2010:
"[Chavez Ravine] is a story of broken promises, wicked land deals, slimy business proceedings, highly questionable political wrangling, mayoral lies, forcible evictions, eminent domain, and baseball… the short of the story…is that basically the City of Los Angeles kicked out a huge group of Chicano Americans living self-sufficiently in the Chavez Ravine area…bulldozed their homes and promised to re-house them by building high rise public housing projects…"
Meanwhile, in the book Prismatic Metropolis: Inequality in Los Angeles, essayist Camille Zubrinsky Charles writes that immigrant status "significantly impacts the likelihood of homeownership" (Charles, 2002, p. 172). In fact slightly more than half of Caucasians in Los Angeles own their homes (and 46.2% of Asians own their own homes) but only 27.3% of Latinos own their homes in Los Angeles. Overall, only 21.5% of foreign-born Latinos are homeowners in L.A. while 43.3% of U.S.-born Latinos own their homes. There is a discrepancy between Caucasian monthly mortgage payments and what foreign-born Latinos have to pay. Charles (p. 174) reports that foreign-born Latinos' average monthly mortgage payment is $830; Caucasians' average monthly mortgage payment is $749. Is this unintentional discrimination? That could be true, but one wonders why Latinos would pay higher rent when generally speaking they live in poorer economic communities.
Labor and Job Safety Issues for Latinos in Los Angeles
There have been some blatantly unfair policies that have affected Latinos in Los Angeles in the recent past. Rodolfo Acuna reports on "widespread safety problems facing Latino workers" in the early 1990s, as published in the Los Angeles Times. Close to half of the 875,000 manufacturing jobs in Los Angeles in 1991-92 were held by Latinos, he writes, but apparently the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Cal/OSHA) did not believe that safe working conditions for Latinos was not important. According to Acuna's book, in 1990 Cal/OSHA only inspected 4% of all factories in Los Angeles "…as compared to 10% in San Francisco and 16% in Sacramento" (Acuna, 1996, p. 199).
Acuna claims that 21 Latino workers -- "especially Mexicans and Central Americans" -- were "exposed to highly toxic plastics" in 1991-92; tragically, Acuna reports that "twenty-one workers died as a result of fatal accidents" (Acuna, p. 199).
Education Bias Against Latinos?
In March, 2010, the U.S. Office for Civil Rights announced that it was conducting an investigation of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). The probe is designed to look into "how English learners are identified and when they are judged fluent enough to handle regular course work," according to Howard Blume, writing in the Los Angeles Times. "English learners" in this instance are overwhelmingly Latino students whose ability to use the English language is flawed; and the investigation was prompted by the fact that only "about 3 in 100" English learners "are proficient in math and English at the high school level" (Blume, 2010).
The investigation is not based on charges that the LAUSD has conducted a policy of institutional racism against the Latino community, Blume explains. However, if "qualified, appropriately trained teachers are not teaching Latino students" and if teachers can't make "math and science understandable for students with limited-English skills" then in effect the civil rights of those underserved Latino students are being neglected. Sending Latino high school students out into the workplace with a severely limited grasp of English, math, and science means their chances of economic...
Additionally, the creation of a trust fund for housing could help to alleviate some of the economic burden on developers in Los Angeles. As compared to other major metropolis' such as San Jose, New York, and Chicago, Los Angeles uses the least amount of federal block grant funds on affordable housing on a per person basis, with just $23 per resident (In Short Demand). In addition to adopting an inclusionary
(State law did allow the segregation of black, Asian, and Indian children.)" (Espinosa, 2) In other words, even though the decision would reflect a positive push forward for those involved in the Lemon Grove Incident and for Mexican Americans of the time, it would hinge on a racialist rationalization that maintained the overtones of prejudice enabling the segregation on schools on a more general level. Even for Latinos on the longer timeline, this would prove a
Immigrants Affect the Economy of the United States Whereas in the 19th century, the United States relied on immigration policies that reflected an imminent need for inexpensive labor, in 1920 the Harding administration severely restricted immigration in a way that penalized Southern and Eastern European immigrants. This lead to a humanitarian crisis when ships with Jewish refugees from Europe in the late 1930's were turned away from American ports. In
273). And Vela-Gude's article offers several of the main points of this paper's research; the services must be ready, and the counselors must be thoroughly informed and knowledgeable about the cultural implications as well as the academic realities facing those Latino students (2009). Racism Against Latinos This paper alludes to the high number of Latinos in California and Texas, but according to the Southern Poverty Law Center's research, the South is home
Latino Community Racial discrimination is a term that signifies treating people with different skin tone and cultural heritage and not only different but also as inferior. This feeling or societal approach is not limited to just one area of the world, it is a habit being carried from generation to generation in all the countries of the world. Each skin color whether white, black, pin k or brown all view themselves
Latino's In The Media Latinos make up a large portion of the population of the United States. According to Rodriguez (1997) the rapidly increasing population of Latinos accounts not only for 17% of the people in the U.S., but also 20% of the 18-34 demographics that are the focus of marketing. Thus, it is a key target group in marketing. This ethnic group's dedication to movies and radio has surpassed that
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