I believe the majority of this week’s readings concerned race and how it affected certain neighborhoods. A lot of the information, I feel, was repetitive and discussed numerous times in class. However what I did find interesting was the parallels between the video clip we watched and what happened in Lefrak. There were some differences one was which racial group was being discriminated. The other and more significant difference is the slant taken by the Black Corona. Gregory focused on Edna, a black woman who tried to stop the discrimination, instead of the white oppressor.
Edna made a real attempt to clean up Lefrak and make it a better neighborhood to live in, similar to the attempt to clean up the Five Points. However because of the interference and the racism of the government, like with white flight and the police pestering the youth in Lefrak, it was hard to make any permanent change. This is part of what confuses me the most. America didn’t necessarily have to segregate it self into slums and filthy rich areas, or black and white. If the government and people together made an effort many of the areas that we consider bad today could have been substantially better. America would also have made more progress in regards to equality.
Anyone able to shade some light on why America would blind itself by purposeless hatred causing its people and itself harm?!
