Unequal Opportunities for Equal Human Beings

Both my parents emigrated from El Salvador many decades ago. My dad is particularly dark-skinned, but my mom is rather light-skinned. Despite her lighter complexion, my mom still looks "Latina". When I was a small child, around the age of two or three, my skin color more resembled that of my father. My mom would constantly tell me that I will be discriminated against at one point or another. She would prepare me by telling me to learn English fast and learn it well. Being taught English mostly by my grade school teachers would ensure I do not develop a Hispanic accent. The warning my mom gave me has stuck to me throughout all these years. I made it a mission, even as a child, to learn and speak English as well as I possibly could. The issue with what happened is a few years later, around the time I was seven-years-old, my skin lightened to a complexion even lighter than my mom's. I began to experience, at a young age, the definition and effects of both colorism and racial discrimination, and how these ideologies may affect my opportunities at receiving a proper education and career. After all, statistics show that between the years of 2006 to 2010 only 13% of Latinos over the age of 25 have earned a bachelor's degree, compared to 29.3% of whites. Although my mother most likely did not know these numbers exactly, she knew these statistics existed; and therefore attempted to shield me from them at an early age.

I grew up in South San Francisco, which has a 34% Latino population, as well as a 37.3% white population. Despite the near equal numbers of both groups of people, Latino parents seem to still have a fear that their children will be discriminated against. I went to Spruce Elementary School, in which the majority of students were non-white Latinos. During my fourth grade year, I told other Latino friends of mine what my mother had told me many years prior. It was a complete shock to me that my peers were given similar lessons by their parents. The idea that there are people in the world that will dictate how I am to be treated, as well as what opportunities I should be given, simply by the color of my skin (or even the shade of my skin-tone) frightened me. That being said, it also strengthened me to become as assimilated as possible. I needed to become "white washed", for otherwise, I will not have the same amount of opportunities as I can. These are the feelings I held while I was a small child.

Now at nearly twenty-two years of age, I still have never been discriminated against because of my ethnicity and race. Although I have no certain explanation for this, my guess is that my lighter complexion, as well as my articulate command of the English language has allowed me to pass as someone who is "not really Latino". This may have allowed me to avoid the calamities of being discriminated against. My mother taught me at a young age what could happen if the color of my skin does not appeal to some people. I cannot decide which is more saddening and frightening, the fact that I, along with other young peers at my school, were told how to "blend in" to avoid being treated as anything less than  human, or that I will possibly one day have to teach my children the same scary things my mother told me as a child in order for he or she to have the same human rights we unconditionally deserve.

The idea of racism continues to persist within the United States, despite laws prohibiting it, because there are still not enough people in the world that understand its destructive, harmful nature. Although the United States have taken steps forward in terms of civil rights, the country still needs acres to go. I believe that not enough time has passed for more educated individuals to become the majority in the world, and can therefore help reduce the prevalence of racism and discrimination. I am not sure how long that will take, but the thought that until that moment more individuals will have their lives negatively impacted, ruined, or even taken due to the effects of racism is extremely disheartening.

Our Next Door Neighbors

During my childhood years, I remember moving from one house to another in Central Los Angeles. From what I remember my parents always had a difficult time finding a home near the schools my brother and I attended too. I remember the fights my parents would get into because my mom wanted a stable and better home for me and my brother. To her, she deemed it an important aspect to a brighter future. She dreamed of a nice house with a front lawn, in a friendly neighborhood, where my brother and I could get along and play with the other kids from the block. However, every house we moved into had its problems. In most of the houses, the issue was the condition of the house, whether it had several leaks to being infested with pest. Eventually she saved up enough money to buy herself a house. Off she went house hunting with a friendly real estate agent. I remember on several occasions she would pick us up after school and take us to see the houses. However, all the house were far from where went to school and always had a catch. In one particular time, the real estate agent had taken us to an abandoned house which need a lot of repairs. The house had missing roof pieces, wild animals had made it their home, and there was a bad infection of flees and woodlice. My mother had seen enough, she told the real estate agent that she wanted an affordable, but livable house in a relatively good neighborhood, near our school and that if he couldn't provide her with a house to match that description she would find someone else who can. A couple of days later she was shown a house ten minutes away from our school that matched her criteria. However, the house was next to the 10 East freeway. After a semester of going over and learning the various forms of racism, I now know that what she experienced is environmental racism.
According to Tanya Maria Golash-Boza (2015), environmental racism is when there are "institutional policies and practices that deferentially affect the health outcomes or living conditions of people and communities based on race or color" (pg. 345). In the U.S., people from a low income neighborhood and of color are the most likely to be segregated into neighborhood that contain and expose people to environmental hazards, such as waste facilities, railroads, highways/freeways, etc. My personal story is just one example of many that have to settle down living with these hazards threats nearby because of their socioeconomic status and race. According to Tanya Maria Golash-Boza (2015), "in 2000, neighborhoods with hazardous waste facilities were, on average, 56 percent non-white..." These facilities ensure to not only affect the community's health with medical problems, but also limit the available space for needed resources to improve their health, such as parks and clinics.
I believe that environmental racism is a prevalent form of racism in today's society. Even with policies embedded to help people of color, housing segregation is still a modern day problem because it is now expressed in an invert manner, which makes it hard to pin point as racism. It also doesn't help that because people of color feel their voices will never be heard, they don't normally make a stand for what they know is wrong. These two factors in combination with other factors make it difficult to make a change for the better.

Racially Segregated in Madera South High School

When I was attending Madera South High School, from 2006-2010, I could not help, but to notice there was not much diversity in my school. Before my senior year in high school I thought that it was normal that the majority of people were Latino or Hispanic. According to the census, as of 2013, the population of Madera is approximately 63,105. In 2010, an estimated 77 percent of the population identified as Hispanic or Latino, while 17 percent was non-Hispanic white, and all other racial groups were 3 percent or under. During summer break, after my junior year, I lived around San Jose and was regularly attending Evergreen Valley High School. The first thing I noticed was the amount of white people campus and around the area. It made me feel uncomfortable being around so many white people because in the Central Valley I was used to being around a majority Latino population. I suddenly was surrounded by a diversity of people. When I returned back to Madera for my senior year I realized of how Madera South was heavily concentrated with socioeconomically disadvantaged Latinos. Reflecting back on my high school years I hear from former high school graduates and recognize how racially segregated Madera South was. 

            Each academic year the district of Madera posts the School Accountability Report Card on their website on all schools within the district. These annual reports provide statistics on demography, academic performance, testing scores, graduation rates and other information on a particular school. According to these annual reports, in 2012-2013 Hispanics/ Latinos made up 87 percent of the population at school followed by 7 percent white non-Hispanic, 3 percent African Americans, 1 percent Asian and all other racial groups were under 1 percent. Approximately 89 percent of students at Madera High were socioeconomically disadvantaged. The Academic Performance Index (API), measuring academic performance and progress, indicates that Madera South was given a 3 out of 10 rank statewide in 2013. In that same year, whites were more likely than any other group to perform at a proficient and advanced level on the California State Test across all categories including English, math, science and history/social sciences. Similarly, whites were more likely to perform at an advance level on both English and Mathematics on the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE). Despite being a predominately Latino school, the small numbers of whites still outperform all racial groups. These results are consistent with national statistics indicating the persistence of racial segregation. According to Golash-Boza, a 2001 study reveals that 88 percent of schools that were 90 percent non-white were also a majority-poor schools, with over 50 percent of the student body living below the poverty line.

            My personal story illustrates how white students still outperform their peers within a school with a high level of racial segregation. Some might explain this achievement gap as result of parental socioeconomic status or tracking. According to the census, in Madera only 9 percent of persons aged 25 or above had a bachelor’s degree throughout 2008- 2012. It is possible that parental socioeconomic status explains this achievement gap. Tracking is also another possible explanation for this achievement gap. The annual report claims that only 3 percent of the student body at Madera South was placed in AP courses. In fact, during the 2011-2012 school year only 19 percent of the student who graduated completed the required courses for UC/ CSU admission. The reality is that high levels of racial segregation in schools have devastating impacts for racial minorities.

            Educational inequalities are exacerbated by the policies that nurture exiting racial ideologies. Racial ideologies are inherent in laws because they manifest the legacy of white supremacy. Laws reinforce the existing unequal power structure because they were originally established for a white dominant society. Although laws have ended overt racism, there are still laws that target certain racial groups. Racism is rooted in the exploitation, marginalization, and dehumanization of people of color. This marginalization is justified because those who benefit prefer the status quo and do not see race as an issue. Many are reluctant to discuss the legacy of white supremacy because racism is portrayed as overt acts or practices. However, the most disastrous consequences come from racism that cannot be seen. This type of racism is masked and reinvented as an ideology that manifests the interest and well being of the general public. If racism is recognized as an individual phenomenon then society fails to see how this is a systemic issue.                          

Links

1. http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/06/0645022.html

2.http://www.madera.k12.ca.us/cms/lib04/CA01001210/Centricity/Domain/37/MSHS%20ENGLISH.pdf

Book link: http://www.amazon.com/Race-Racisms-A-Critical-Approach/dp/019992001X

Beyond the Tracks

“Why are they all walking that way?” I would ask my mom in confusion. 

Throughout my childhood I would see young Latino high-schoolers walk home from school past my house towards the east side. My west side neighborhood consisted of predominantly white families. It was rare (and alarming) to see a person of color in that area of Lodi. When I was young I never realized the reality of my living situation, but rather it was “just the way it was”. I figured it was just a coincidence that all my Latino friends happened to live in the same area. But as I have matured, I now see how intentionally segregated my little town is.

Lodi is heavily divided along racial lines. The railroad tracks (the big white blank space between the dots, below) keep one side predominately White, while the other side is Latino. This is startlingly illustrated in the image below from the 2010 census.

Indicated above is the demographic layout of Lodi, with the orange dots representing Latinos and the blue dots representing Whites. It is evident that almost all Latinos live on the compacted east side, while the spacious west side is home to the majority of white people. The segregation is further confirmed by the dissimilarity index of Lodi, which is .59. This indicates that 59% of Latinos (or Whites) would need to move in order to achieve a uniform distribution of population by race. This racial segregation in housing not only restricts contact among the different races, but it also concentrates the poverty.

            Latinos in Lodi are significantly poorer in comparison to the white population of Lodi. Approximately 28% of the Latino residents have an income below the poverty line. This is a shocking statistic when measured against the 8% of the white residents who have an income below the poverty line. Knowing that most Latinos live on the east side, it can be confidently concluded that the east side is riddled with heavily concentrated poverty. All the poor Latinos were funneled into the same area due to the inability to afford moving anywhere else. The housing industry perpetuates this segregation.

            Currently, the average price for a house on the east side of Lodi is between mid-high $200,000. However, on the west side the average house price is between $400,000 - $500,000. This separation of races between the railroad tracks was not something that came out of thin air or was an act of nature; rather this segregated environment arose from policies, or lack of policies. Institutional racism keeps lawmakers from creating more mixed income housing. Furthermore, individual racism from the white population kills the idea that Latinos would be welcome on the west side. Moreover, the real estate industry helps keep that from ever happening. The more west you go in Lodi, the more expensive the houses get. The high prices create a barrier that keeps Latinos on the poverty-stricken east side of town. With this, there is an “us and them” attitude that has formed and the physical barrier of the railroad tracks only reinforces it. Unfortunately, this housing segregation is not confined to Lodi, but it is a national issue.

            Golash-Boza explains that both the past and the present work to keep housing segregation alive through unequal wealth. It is stated that, “historical racial disparities in the U.S., as well as ongoing discriminatory practices, ensure that white families are more likely to accumulate wealth than blacks and Latino families” (pg.287). On average, Latinos in the United States have less than 8% of the wealth of whites.  As a result, these people of color experience a lack of resources in their communities due to the concentrated poverty. Similar to Lodi, the national living inequality is perpetuated by the whites unwillingness to live by people of color. Only less than 1/3 of white respondents expressed willingness to move into a neighborhood that was split evenly between black and white families. 

“Bye Yessica, I’ll see you tomorrow!” I said to my Latina friend as school got let out. I gave her a hug and then we parted ways. She turned and walked toward the East side beyond the tracks, and I made my way home continuing westward. I grew up seeing this divide, and sadly this divide still persists. Racism, despite laws no longer permitting it, continues to linger. At the root of it all, I feel racism is still a part of society because there is a strong belief in race itself and the ideologies that accompany it. Many people see those of color and identify them another as aliens . Though biology says that there is no genetic difference between races, people still view each other as "the Other"; as if we're actually a different species. This thinking serves to justify acts of organized repression and racism, much like the housing market and the funneling of different races into different areas (as illustrated in my hometown). Thus enduring structures of Jim Crow still exist. Though racism persists, there is always hope. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “There’s no east nor west…but one great fellowship of love”. One day…one day our nation will become a nation of love.

The American Dream is Just a Dream

Ever since I can remember, my parents have worked day in and day out for my siblings and I. They emigrated to El Norte from Mexico in the 1980’s with tales of the American Dream alive and well in their minds. They came with the huge illusion of someday owning a home and providing to my siblings and I the greatest of opportunities.

Once in the U.S., my parents worked extremely hard every day, sometimes 10+ hours a day, sometimes 7 days a week, and sometimes they even worked two jobs at a time. Soon enough, they began to adopt the idea that wealthy people were wealthy because they worked hard for it therefore assuming that’s what had to be done. They worked days, nights, weekends, and holidays always with a great vision in mind. The American Dream! However, little did they know that working hard would not ensure their wealth.    

Fast-forward to 27 years later, my parents still continue to work hard today. Holidays and weekends are still spent working. Sooner than later, the American Dream became just that - a dream. We still don't own a home but with my support and that of my siblings we hope to someday be able to fulfill that dream for my parents. 

According to Race & Racism: A Critical Approach, the typical white family has about ten times the amount of wealth than the typical non-white family. These disparities are due to a couple of very significant reasons. First, wealth is based on your assets minus your debts. In America, owning a home is a very valuable asset used to define wealth. However, in America, owning a home has been extremely difficult for people of color since the beginning of time. Between 1933 and 1978, the U.S. government enabled over 35 million families to increase their wealth through housing equity through government subsidies, policy changes, and tax incentives. This new government housing program, however, was created to benefit white families and the consequences of that are still lived today by many Latino families like mine as well as many African-American families. 

Moreover, findings presented in the book also highlight the impact of housing government programs on families of color as residential segregation was created. I was born and raised in the city of Inglewood, in Los Angeles. Growing up it was hard to ignore the fact that the community I lived in was predominantly Latina, however if I walked down a mile south I would come across cities like Manhattan Beach where everyone is a couple shades lighter and the houses look like mansions. In a recent study conducted in March 2014, Los Angeles was found amongst the top 10 most segregated cities in the entire nation. Could the government housing programs created in the 1930's still have an effect on our nation today? Truth is, it does and it will continue to do so. 

The fact remains - racism is alive and well. Through my personal experienced, we can make a direct correlation with institutional racism as the policies, laws, and institutions introduced in the 1930's have reproduced racial inequalities that persist. Today, the median home equity for whites is $80,000 while for Latinos it's $60,000 and $52,000 for blacks. For many years, my family did not reach that median of $60,000 for Latinos. They worked very hard but every month my parents main concern and priority was the bring food to our table. Obtaining a home has been harder than ever imagined. 

I must admit sometimes it is very difficult to wrap my head around the fact that racism persists today, even though the laws no longer permit it. The laws have been written very broadly and not so much with overtly racist terminology as they once were like with the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. However, it is important to understand that racism persists due to the ideologies so strongly embedded in our society. Today, regardless of the fact that laws are not suppose to be targeting one specific group, law enforcement continues to target specific groups typically based on race. Therefore, although laws say one thing, the criminal justice system may exert another. It is then when racism is present - through inequitable outcomes in the implementation of the law.