...If as a culture we
can't imagine a history – any history – if history isn't a
dimension of our quotidian daily lives, if history casts no shadow
across our imagination, it is almost impossible to imagine
consequences.
- Junot Diaz, “At Home In Global America,” Radio Open Source, 14 September 2007
Agree with your adversary
quickly, while you are with him on the way; lest perhaps the
prosecutor deliver you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the
officer, and you be cast into prison. Most certainly I tell you, you
shall by no means get out of there, until you have paid the last
penny.
- Matthew 5:25-26 (World English Bible, a public domain translation)
I was down in Southern
California last week, visiting family. At one point, I was driving
my mom around. She likes making conversation while I tend to be much
quieter (unless you get me on a subject I'm interested in ;) ). I
was a bit sleep-deprived (on account of driving all the way from
Portland to So. Cal. the day before), which made me even quieter. My
mom likes talking a lot about what she sees on television – a
subject which does not interest me at all usually. “Did you hear
about the riots in Anaheim?” she asked. I thought, “What riots?
Did someone get in a fight over a pair of Nike shoes?” Aloud, I
was all, “Nope.” “Wasn't it on the news in Portland?” she
asked. “Mom, Portland is a thousand miles away from here,” I
said. “Well, down here we hear about what goes on in Portland,”
she rejoined. I rubbed a fatigue headache away from my temples and
kept driving.
I have to admit that I was a
bit of a grump during that conversation. But later that night, after
a meal and a chance to chill a bit, I said to myself, “Riots?
What's this about riots?” So I busted out my laptop and Googled,
“Riots in Anaheim.” I came up with things like this.
It seems that the Anaheim
police department has shot a number of Latinos this year. At least
one of these people was unarmed. It seems also that while Latinos
make up over fifty percent of the population, they comprise only 33
percent of the electorate. And it seems that there are some
unhealthy divisions in the city of Anaheim. The most densely
populated parts of the city lie to the west of the 57 freeway. This
region is mainly inhabited by the working-class and the working poor.
Between the 57 and 55 freeways there is a mixture of working-class
housing and light industry., East of the 55, one finds oneself in
Anaheim Hills – the suburban/exurban haunt of sons and daughters of
privilege. The majority of people living in the working-class
sections are people of color. The majority of the people living in
the Hills are white.
In the heart of the
working-class “flatlands” are some of the crown jewels of
Anaheim: Disneyland, Angel Stadium, the Arrowhead Pond, and a row of
very big hotels (including the Disneyland Resort) along Harbor
Boulevard south of Ball Road. Most of the menial jobs that keep
these crown jewels shiny are held by immigrants and people of color.
I can guarantee you that these people don't get paid much for their
labors.
Neither do the inhabitants
of the working-class “flatlands” get to enjoy much of the
benefits bestowed by City Hall. For while most of the population (83
percent) lives in the working-class flatlands, the nicest parks,
schools and libraries are to be found in the Hills. And there is a
disproportionate number of these amenities to be found among the sons
and daughters of privilege, who have the finances required to get
candidates elected to City Hall. Candidates are chosen in city-wide
elections rather than district elections, so one has to campaign
throughout the entire city in order to be elected.
Anaheim sparkles like a
jewel in the American imagination, in much the same way New Orleans
must have sparkled right up until Hurricane Katrina. And as in the
case of New Orleans, Americans are shocked to discover the ugly fault
lines of inequity that run through such a jewel. But Anaheim and New
Orleans are merely part of an American pattern of a privileged
minority capturing a disproportionate share of resources for itself
while waging war against those less privileged (or, in some cases,
trying to sweep the less-privileged under the rug). (You may not
realize this, but the same pattern can be seen in Portland, Oregon.
A disproportionate share of urban renewal money has gone to benefit
wealthy business owners and residents of the affluent West Side,
whereas most of the lower-income households are on the east side of
the river – especially North and East Portland.)
The course now being pursued
by American sons and daughters of privilege cannot last forever,
however much the sons and daughters might wish for it to last. The
resource base required for extravagant, privileged life (namely, material resources and people willing to endure being exploited) is failing –
both here and abroad. And the mechanisms of oppression no longer
work as well as they used to. America is finding this out now in
international affairs. The privileged among Americans are also
likely to find this out on their own home turf. Maybe it's time to
make peace with one's adversaries. (Maybe it's time to stop making
enemies in the first place.) “Can't we all just get along?”
P.S. The Anaheim riots
happened over a month ago, yet I first heard about them last week –
and not via the mainstream news media. It seems that KPOJ and the
Oregonian and Fox News didn't think it was important to let
people in this part of the country know about something happening in
Anaheim – or if they did, I guess I must have been sound asleep. I
know the riots were not given prominent coverage. This seems to be
part of a disturbing pattern in mainstream media coverage of our
country lately. Those who want an accurate picture of what's going
on in our country might want to build and maintain networks of
long-distance friendships.
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