Zaida Garcia

English 1T

Susie Huerta

Causal Analysis Of Resegregation Essay

A False Sense of Equality

For a long time the U.S. suffered under racial segregation. Until slowly cases like

Brown vs. Board of Education (1954), Plessy vs. Ferguson (1896), Mendez vs.

Westminster (1946), and many more helped turn America into a pool of diversity and

come closer to equality. Soon the U.S. started to draw much attention with freedom

and justice for all and the american dream. Of course we have made it far in history

with more diversity than ever before, with things like samesex marriage becoming legal,

specific churches allowing people to join them regardless of sexual orientation, and

scientific capabilities to clone a cell you would guess that the U.S. is just going to

continue to flourish in a positive way. Unfortunately, it seems like desegregation is

slowing down and re-segregation is beginning. For recent events,as well as other

occurrences that simply werent popular enough in the media, have proven to most that

America has taken a step back in the wrong direction. Consequently, re-segregation is

now an even bigger issue that alarms most libertarian Americans as they realize that

the president for the next four years (starting 2017) is a person that shows nothing more

than a sexist, narcissistic, and racist attitude towards the world, and can seriously affect
the diversity in our nation. As a result of that circumstance many fellow Americans have

had their eyes opened to the segregation that is and has been happening around them.

Presumably re-segregation is a problem that will continue to trigger fear mongering

among the prestigious and ignorant, cause damage to the images of a race or culture

through false stereotypes, and contribute to further gentrification if we do not pay

attention to our surroundings and think about the dangers of tomorrow.

As we all may be aware, the recent events of Donald Trumps fear mongering;

aimed at prestigious whites; has taken full effect in his now presidency. Moreover, Jeff

Chang, the author of We Gon Be Alright: Notes on Race And Resegregation, brought

great attention to the fear mongering Trump did during his candidacy exploiting popular

prejudices, false claims, and promises. In fact in Changs essay,Is diversity For White

People? he spoke of Trump daring to say that Mexican immigrants are criminals,

rapist, and that Islam hates us. As a result, the fears of the prestigious whites losing

what little white power they had among diverse races and cultures were quickly

intensified with Trumps false accusations and slogan Make America Great Again.

Afterwards, hate crimes from whites soon started to appear more rapidly. For example,

Jeff Chang speaks about a particular event that took place in Boston that included two

brothers and a homeless Latino man being assaulted with a pipe and then pissed on by

both men. Chang goes on to illustrate the hateful words said by the two, Donald Trump

was right, all these illegals need to be deported(15). In this case, we can see the effect

that fear mongering instilled by the president caused to the white folk. Through this

recent example we can clearly see the demarcation line between the whites and the
people of color happening as the white folk trust the words of a person with power, who

should by default have a great sense of logic therefore creating a damaging image to

both races and cultures by depicting Mexicans as criminals and rapist to the

prestigious whites, and while equally portraying white folk as ignorant and racist.

With all that in mind, the importance of the manipulative power of fear mongering,

especially from a well known public figure like Trump, has high possibilities of adding to

the fuel of our already re-segregating America.

In a similar yet different case, Rebecca Solnit an American writer, historian, and

activist created an article on Death by Gentrification: The Killing That Shamed San

Francisco, which covers a story of a young 28 year old Latino born in San Francisco by

the name of Alex Nieto, who died at the expense of white newcomers stereotyping him

as an intruder in a place he had spent his whole life. On the evening of the 21st of

March 2014, Nieto died by 14 shots fired at him by SFPD. He was under suspicion after

a couple walking near him at the hilltop park called 911 and said they noticed a young

Latino man wearing a red 49er jacket and a taser in his holster, which they described to

have seen as a black handgun, that automatically screamed to the newcomers gang

affiliated danger. What the couple, who had only been living in San Francisco for a year,

Tim Isgitt and Justin Fritz saw was a nervous looking young hispanic sitting on a park

bench eating chips. Just before that scene happened Nieto had just gotten out of an

argument with an angry inattentive dog owner because the dog had harassed Nieto as

the owner stayed behind distracted by a jogger passing by. Due to the stereotype that

came with being hispanic, male, and carrying a potential weapon of any sort, Nieto was
automatically targetted as being a norteno without clear communication or further

inspection from the SFPD. Would Nieto have been a different race; maybe the couple

would have seen a 49er fan sporting a jacket, someone who was a little distressed from

previous altercations, or a simple guy who had a taser inside his holster enjoying chips

on a bench. For this reason having stereotypes in a world with multiple races, cultures,

and backgrounds is dangerous and sometimes leads to death.

Correspondingly, false stereotypes come hand in hand with gentrification

creating a mental distortion inside white privileged folk towards the identities of the

people whom, they dont yet know even though the newcomers should assimilate to the

living conditions of which the community that they are moving into are already

accustomed to. Furthermore, in the writer Jeff Changs book there is an essay by the

title of Vanilla Cities And Their Chocolate Suburbs, that illustrated an example of the

effects that come from gentrification that always lead back to our re-segregating society.

Hence, the case of these African drummers who had been meeting every week for

decades until Oakland Police Department came to break them up over a noise

complaint from white transplants. Rather the newcomers getting a sense of the new

community they came into, they decided to run the people out of their own culture

customs. Because to them the unfamiliar sound of beating drums was a loud and

obnoxious noise, the African drummers spiritual routine practices were now being

interrupted. At this point, Jeff Chang makes a valid observation when stating,In

subsequent weeks, police were called upon to stop musicians from playing in a historic

African cultural center and worshipers from singing in two West Oakland Black
churches.(69). Even though the African drummers were well in their right to be

practicing their ways of worshipping, the white folk found a way to drive them out using

their privilege that has been established since the beginning of history. Regrettably,

white folk are devaluing the diversity around them creating an issue that leads to

isolation in their case. Because if they were knowledgeable about the cultures that

surround them, people of different backgrounds would not be forced out.

Although we thought we had gotten past segregation, these are just a few

problems in our society that we have neglected, risen due to the re-segregation of

America. If we do not address any of these problems we might be facing a tough time

living comfortably amongst each other. Still people will continue to be victims of

ignorance and give in to the fear mongering of people in power with their own

misleading thoughts about losing their own culture. Meanwhile people of color will

continue to be terrorized by newcomers and police officers who believe in the lies that

stereotypes carry with them. By the same token, communities of color will be driven out

by the wealthy privileged creating a separation in communities once bonded together by

culture and shared values. Re-segregation will damage races and cultures depicting

them in a way they are not, break families apart through distance or life, and isolate

communities coming to us soon.