The End of White America

According to Census data, about 50% of Latinos identify themselves as white. How one identifies themselves is shaped by tons of factors both personal and social. This is why some first generation, de-indianized immigrants check off 'white' in the Census when they get the chance. Claiming white was a step closer to being a real American, even if in reality your brown skin and almond eyes signaled non-white and thus non "American."

This is all changing according to The Atlantic's "The End of White America?" by Hua Hsu. In the article Hsu looks at how white is and will be perceived in this new era of Obama-landia. He is very good at identifing the 'real' America of McCain/Palin, who love their NASCAR and how they are a shrinking population; the white America that is reacting in blogs such as Stuff White People Like and how they suffer for being white and need to beat us to the punch line about their idiosyncracies; and mentions how studying whitness in universities is signaling a fear of what it really means to be white in a world that is more and more non-white and the result is whites hating being white. Hip Hop is given a lot of credit for helping to create this world where non-whites can move on up. Diversity and multi-culturalism is examined as well in the usual form of how will we sell junk to people who are not white.

My initial reaction to the article was that it was good, but ofcourse typical in maintaining the black / white paradgimn of looking at the world. Hsu does good research but misses the fact that Latinos have been the majority in 7 of the 10 biggest US cities since the last Census. Those numbers will have increased and will continue to change the US more than hip hop and a black looking but white by culture president. The fear, debates, distribution of resources and legislation that often punishes Latinos are at the center of what is America today. Since 9/11 Brown has been the new Black.

Perceptions of what an American is will change. Hsu wrote how advertising companies herded consumers to the middle, which was white. And that was as we know wrong. What are they now proposing? Will the new center be some 'beige' non identifiable, mestizo, with more whiter features than blacker or browner features? Will that be accurate? As manufactured as the fading white mainstream, will the new multi culti mainstream be as manufactured and false? Will it leave out the jalape~o, the chicharones and banda music? Will Latinos still check off 'white' when white is a minority?

I have little hope. Just turn your t.v. to a Spanish language station. The faces are all white despite having vast Indian and mestizo majorities in all those countries. Obama may be the first step, but we got hundreds of years of slavery and mind f*&^s to get over bending over for whitey.

(for another review of this article go here, thanks Roker)

The Brown Hands of Gentrification

I haven't been blogging much, nor reading blogs as much as before because there has been this conversation in my head and with my peeps about what are we really doing with the blogs and most recently a new magazine/newspaper called Brooklyn and Boyle.

The conversation basically goes like this: What is our point in writing about Boyle Hts or our Eastside in general? To counter the false hipster Eastside? To tell people to come and visit/gentrify/move into our areas because we live here, we can write blogs, went to school and so now it is safe?

It really got me thinking that we are helping to gentrify and alter the fabric of our communities. Ooops there is the buzz word "community."

We live in this community, it has been here before us and we came to be a part of it.

Many have begun to write and think that we need to create a community because it's not here. Only when there are others who write, went to school, like the same art and music and we take up a space and hang out will we have a community. How colonizer is that???!!!

Some of the spaces are like forts, art outposts, so to say where the natives aren't welcome, kept out by big gates or overpriced beer I can get for $2 next door.

I read in the first Brooklyn and Boyle a piece by a woman saying to come 'discover' Boyle Hts. WTF??? DISCOVER!!! We have been here, just cuz you just got here we are discovered? How colonizer is that?

We seem to have a lot of colonizer thinking in us. I know I do.

Even Luis Rodriguez's piece in the same issue struck me as an Ethno tourist map. I love Luis Rodriguez but when you write about a living and breathing place in the past tense as if people can now feel safe and its ok to go there because he was there, it felt like yuck.

BH has been here doing fine without the art spaces, the galleries, the cafes, the hipster-o newspapers, as a community for Raza who work, raise kids, have parties on the weekends, eat at the great restaurants and go to the beautiful parks. Why do we feel we need to let the world know we are here? Do we need their approval? Are we lacking tourist dollars?

I'm at home here. I don't tell peeps what is in my kitchen, the art I have up, the people that visit me. Well maybe in a way that is what this blog has been.

I'm thinking instead of selling our area to fit into some idea of community, what we as writers from areas like BH need to do is start telling the world how we see the world around us. No one ever asks us what we think about Palestine's fight; Obama-landia, or right wing Christians. No one ever asked us if it was now safe to come and visit our home, yet we can't stop selling it.

(I'm going to visit some exotic area like Reseda and write about the cool stuff I discovered like the Vietnamese Vegan Pho spot on Sherman Way and how straight their streets are.)

I guess I'm repenting for writing in this blog about Al and Bea's and other spots I love around here, they are doing just fine without my pimping them.

The other day I went to a spot and the owner's son was chatting with me. I told him about the changes that are coming due to the trains and gentrification. He didn't even blink. He just looked around at his packed restaurant full of families with kids, viejitos and mariachis taking a break and said, "I'm not worried about it. We got our regulars."

Indeed maybe us writers/artists/community builders (more like blind to community) are making this bigger than it needs to be. The regulars will be here, all visitors will come and eventually go.

As Anzaldua wrote: "This land was Mexican once, Indian always and will be again." I guess I can say this land was/is colonized Chuppy once, Raza always and will be again.

It hurts too much....

It hurts too much to think it, to even speak it. I tried the other day and all we could do was nod our heads and change topics. Fast.
It hurts too much to imagine. Chingao!

I learned about Chicano Secret Service there. I fell in love with art, very special women, colors, ideas, hopes, and scents. I tested myself. Grew. Fought with words and ideas. My heart was caressed and enriched in that place.

My daughter knows the routine. EVERY year we are there Nov. 2nd.

Another loss.

Pinche Catholic Church! Chingando for over 500 years our culture, art, homes, and lives. Pinche molesters need to pay for their legal fees for molesting our children, by raping us again and again.

Anger is good, sometimes. Duele un chingo.

Read it for yourself...

LOS ANGELES COMMUNITY DEMANDS ANSWERS

Community is Outraged that Catholic Archdiocese Secretly Sells Self Help Graphics & Arts Historic Building

Los Angeles, July 11, 2008 -- Over the last 24 hours elected officials, community leaders, artists and residents throughout Los Angeles expressed their outrage that the Los Angeles Catholic Archdiocese secretly sold the mosaic building that is home to Self Help Graphics & Art. After its founding by Catholic nun Sister Karen Boccalero more than 35 years ago, non-profit organization Self Help Graphics & Arts was notified that the Catholic Archdiocese sold the building to a private real estate and investment company. The organization had no knowledge of the sale or pending sale. Community leaders including Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina made it abundantly clear that the Archdiocese must explain its actions.

"We need answers," Supervisor Molina said. "The Archdiocese's blatant disrespect for the community is unacceptable. I commit to working with Self Help Graphics & Art to mobilize my elected official colleagues and other community leaders to demand that the archdiocese tell us why they mishandled this situation, and how they plan to correct it."

As long as the organization continued to fulfill the mission of advancing Chicano and Latino art and developing local and emerging artists, the Sisters of St. Francis, Mount Alverno agreed to allow Self Help Graphics & Art to use the building. With record-breaking print fairs, community festivals such as its iconic Dia de los Muertos celebration which draws thousands of attendees and artists, both emerging and veteran, flocking to the organization as a place to cultivate their art, Self Help has been undergoing a renaissance. Last Fall Self Help board members were told that the building was not on the list of sites to be sold as part of the Archdiocese's attempt to raise funds to pay the settlement to individuals who successfully sued the church for sexual abuse.

A spokesperson for the Sisters of St. Francis alleges that Self Help Graphics & Art failed to secure a grant to purchase the building, leading the sisters to transfer title to the archdiocese. They also allege that the organization was struggling financially.

"It is preposterous to believe that one attempt at a grant a year ago should signal the Sisters and Archdiocese to move forward with a sale with no notice whatsoever," said Self Help board of directors president Armando Duron. "Common human decency would have been to give us a deadline for purchase."

After closing its doors for three months in 2005, Self Help has experienced resurgence with the help of an untold number of volunteers and the support of the community at large. With no federal or state subsidies or major private grants, the organization has thrived in its array of programs and services to the community. Sales for prints from some of the nation's leading Latino artists and up-and-coming artists have been booming. The organization is considered by scholars and artists as one of the birthplaces of Chicano art.

"For nearly 40 years, Self-Help Graphics has been one of the major community-based arts centers serving Los Angeles . It has earned international recognition for its contributions to the graphic arts and for being a model of community-based art making and art-based community making. In the last three years, Self Help has reinvented itself as a self-sustaining organization, and it has shown the continued vitality and relevance of its mission by reaching new generations of artists and community members through innovative programs and cutting edge artistic production," said Chon Noriega, professor and director of the Chicano Studies Research Center at UCLA.

The terms of the sale from the new owner allow Self Help to remain in the building rent free until December 31, 2008.

Stephen Saiz, Self Help board vice president said the organization will be working with the community, elected officials, foundations, fellow arts institutions and other community leaders to determine the future for the organization.

"We have had a relationship with the Church for almost 40 years and expected them to value that relationship and more importantly, the service we provide to the community" Saiz said. "We are not going to allow their needs for funds to pay off their debts stop us from that service."

Self Help Graphics & Art is a nationally recognized center for Chicano and Latino arts that develops and nurtures artists and printmaking. Self Help Graphics & Art seeks to advance Chicano and Latino art broadly through programming, exhibitions and outreach to diverse audiences in East Los Angeles and beyond. Self Help Graphics & Art seeks to identify young and emerging artists from the community in all aspects of its activities.

Contact: Valarie De La Garza, 310/435-8578

Happy Anniversary

I got to my apartment in Northridge after a day of learning.

The news was all about the verdict. I felt it in my bones, made my self a sandwich. By the time I was done Reginald Denny was being beat in the streets.

Called home and mom said the cops were all flying down Main St. they could see smoke down south. "Don't worry, it's far away. When I went through the Watts Riots, they were closer."

Called the homies who were going to CSUN. Some had already left back home to L.A.

Got a call from M.E.Ch.A. We were having a meeting with the BSU about what was happening.

Professors and students were mostly calling for peace and patience. One of my boys stood up and yelled "This is what we've been waiting for!!! Let's go take it back!!! Who is with me??" A few other heads stood up and began walking away.

At the dorms we were getting calls that peeps were coming back with lots of beer and booze. The party would start soon. At Club D, my homeboys apartment we got a new TV, couch and more booze and beer.

Some came back saying my neighbor nearly shot them. He was driving around in his black Camero pointing his gun at people on the streets. He thought it was a time to shoot Blacks and Mexicans again. We cheered as the cop car was flipped upside down.

We called around and learned about the borders. You can't get near USC, there is a perimeter with National Guard protecting it. You can't go West of Western. We learned who is protected and served.

When I drove home, I took the 5 south and got off in Boyle Hts. I wanted to see if La Raza had snapped and burned their neighborhood down. I smiled when all was at peace and in one place along Brooklyn and First St.

My folks were bar-b-queing with the neighbors, something they rarely did. All were cool. They had their guns nearby, just in case someone from outside came up and started snapping. We had a good time.

Nothing changed other than having more corporate owned retail and less independent retail. Some think that is progress.

It's going to be hotter this summer. Cops are being acquitted across the nation. More people are out of jobs, losing homes, paying out the nose at the pumps, and fear is a natural state of being since 9/11. Everything seems lined up.

I hope Olmos has his broom ready.

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For another view of the anniversary visit Militant Angeleno

Eastside vs. eastside CHINGAZOS

Throughout bloglandia there has been an upsurge in the battle over what is considered Eastside spurred on by a new rag, which will remain nameless here. This rag claims to reflect the views of 'eastsiders' in neighborhoods such as Hollywood, Los Feliz, Silver Lake, Echo Park and Downtown LA.

One word that all the discussions like here, here, and here have pussy footed around is RACISM/WHITE SUPREMACY.

This re-imagining of LA is fueld by racism/white supremacy. Yes there are and have been Chicanos or hi-spanics also claiming Eastide on the westside of the river, but racism doesn't just come from white toward people of color, in its most insidious form racism/white supremacy manifests in the minds and actions of people of color who agree with the lies and views of reality from a white is always right perspective. Think: dye blonde hair & blue contact lenses on a person of color and feeling safe around white people as opposed to your own people of color.
Blonde Asian?

How is this racist? Well when did the term come up in these areas? When there was enough white people in these areas lower middle class sections to make them feel they had a community. Up until then they were just a few gringos in the middle of brown working class areas. They learned the language shopped in the 'marketas' and blended in. Yes, there have always been white people in the hills high above Echo Park & Silver Lake and Los Feliz is primiarily white, but those folks don't worry about stuff like this, they got theirs. It is the ones who are trying to make a buck by labeling their area into a demographic to sell and to sell to.

Funny how these folks from the rag don't include Thai Town, Little Armenia, Korea Town or Philipino Town in their view of Eastside. uh maybe because there is not enough white people in these areas? Just like the 'Westside' does that include Mar Vista, the brown and black areas of Culver City? What about Palms? NO. Not enough rich white people there.

These terms and attempts to change cultural, social, political and plain old LA history is what racists do.

What about the dang Nayarit bar in Echo Park? Oh yeah we agreed to call it the Echo.

Folks blame immigrants for coming here and not learning the language and culture, but they are only doing what they see others doing. They move into our areas, once they get enough of them in, they start changing names, opening shops that only cater to theirs and stop trying to learn the local vernacular.
So it is.

East of...
...where you use to live?
...where you wish you lived?
...what you know?
...where you are comfortable?
...where you always go to?
...where you feel safe?
...where you always find and take a date?