Week 3 - Social difference in Inglewood

This week I replied to James Lee's Blog Post about his bus journey through Inglewood:

http://jimmyinlosangeles.blogspot.com/2012/11/blogging-in-city-of-angels-week-6.html

Hi James

First of all, I agree with you entirely on the safety of public transport. Not having a car, I frequently travel around the city by bus, and the majority of the trips I have taken have been stress-free.

Being unfamiliar with the Inglewood area, I decided to do a bit of research. I soon realised that I had  in fact driven through this area on my way from LAX and was in fact one of the first areas I saw. As it was my first time in California, and it was around 11 o’clock at night, I do remember feeling slightly unsafe. There were several groups of people standing on street corners that seemed to me like groups of gangs guarding their territory. From what I remember they weren’t all of a racial minority, there were in fact groups of white individuals too. In the area, the houses were small and both the houses and buildings seemed very run-down. Inglewood is a stark contrast with areas such as Westwood and Beverly Hills.

Having addressed the 2011 census data for Inglewood, it says that 50.6% of the population are Latino and there is a large white population also. This draws me to the piece written by Elliot and Pais who investigate social differences in response to disaster. They refer to the race-class debate introduced by J. Wilson (1978), and believe that “class-trumps-race”.  From my point of view, I feel that the Inglewood areas, along with many other LA communities are based more around class. Wilson describes the population associated to Inglewood as the “underclass,” which are caused by function of concentrated poverty that operates through a host of non-racial mechanisms. These include under-funded school districts, to ineffective job networks, to inappropriate role models. The area has approximately 18% of the families living below the poverty line and many of these families find it difficult to move away from this area - due to family links and gang affiliation. The area of Inglewood, in my opinion, is an area of lower class, irrespective of race.Race has, and will continue to be, a delicate and uncomfortable subject to discuss. There has been a history with the social standing of blacks in the America and Ta-Nehisi Coates article, ‘fear of a black president,’ he expressed his point of view of the history of racism.  His piece is referred to as being “‘appropriately angry” by the editor of Atlantic Magazine because Coates feels that the stereotypes surrounding blacks of yesteryear have to be changed. Not just blacks, but many minorities and immigrants still face a feeling of hostility towards them. This can forces these groups into lower class communities however they do not therefore pose a threat to society because of their race. From my perspective, I believe that it is not the predominant race of the population that determines the safety and standard of an area/neighbourhood; it is in fact the class level.