Well, This Was a Delayed Reaction
I really need to be feverishly reading/writing a reading response right now, but I need to get this down real quick.
So today in Ethnic Studies section we were talking about the consequences of the redlining of Oakland in the 1970s, and there was a discussion going on about whether the persistent blighting and poverty of black neighborhoods were due predominantly to structural (racial) factors or individual behavior.
Long story short, as people threw out views on whether businesses stayed away from those black neighborhoods because they were poor or because they were black, and whether or not those black residents were poor because of this and that...someone pointed out that he thought businesses stayed away because of all the crime in the area. And of the perception of crime.
And then I kind of braced myself, because there were two black students in the section, and pointed out - come on, who do you more readily associate with crime? What do you think of when you think of 'crime-ridden neighborhood'? And which group of people do you immediately suspect of being criminals? Poor whites or poor blacks? Honestly. Couldn't that have anything to do with the dismal property value of certain parts of Oakland?
And one of those black students was sitting across the room from me; I was facing him straight-on. And I saw his face twitch when I said it. Just a little twitch, but I felt like I had stabbed him.
That was over twelve hours ago, and I was reading for Gender just now in a cafe, but now I'm crying and I can't seem to stop.
So today in Ethnic Studies section we were talking about the consequences of the redlining of Oakland in the 1970s, and there was a discussion going on about whether the persistent blighting and poverty of black neighborhoods were due predominantly to structural (racial) factors or individual behavior.
Long story short, as people threw out views on whether businesses stayed away from those black neighborhoods because they were poor or because they were black, and whether or not those black residents were poor because of this and that...someone pointed out that he thought businesses stayed away because of all the crime in the area. And of the perception of crime.
And then I kind of braced myself, because there were two black students in the section, and pointed out - come on, who do you more readily associate with crime? What do you think of when you think of 'crime-ridden neighborhood'? And which group of people do you immediately suspect of being criminals? Poor whites or poor blacks? Honestly. Couldn't that have anything to do with the dismal property value of certain parts of Oakland?
And one of those black students was sitting across the room from me; I was facing him straight-on. And I saw his face twitch when I said it. Just a little twitch, but I felt like I had stabbed him.
That was over twelve hours ago, and I was reading for Gender just now in a cafe, but now I'm crying and I can't seem to stop.