Constructing Inequality - A Response

As stated in my profile, I am originally from a small town in Missouri. My early experiences in diversity consisted of "black and white". There weren't many Asian and no Latinos in our community during my childhood. During my early adult years, I lived in an urban environment in Texas. This was a great learning experience for me. Learning more about the Latino culture, more exposure to Asian Americans, and new attributes about the black and white communities. Going from a community with only two ethnic groups, with tensions and friction being bi-polar, it was quite different to be thrown into a melting pot of ethnicity. One striking observation that I made was when there are only two “groups” within a community it always appears that one is pitted against the other, which on the surface appears to have racial overtones. Nevertheless, when living within a melting pot of different ethnic groups it becomes evident that community decisions aren’t made along racial lines but more along economical lines. Bickford sited Jane Jacobs observation that, “To any one person, strangers are far more common in big cities than acquaintances. More common not just in places of public assembly, but more common at a man’s own doorstep.” Part of the reason that this is true is because in big cities economic alliances are stronger than ethnic alliances, and therefore trust is lost within ones own ethnic group. This is why we have evolved into a society where many public places are “places of risk, uncertainty, incompleteness.” In addition, “the outside, as Sennett points out, is a realm of exposure.” I think CIDs and PUDs are attempts to gain control of the amount and type of exposure we all receive from each other. Utilizing CIDs, the wealthy can control where, when and who they’re exposed to; while also controlling the “low resource choice takers” by economically corralling them into ghettoes. Thus, also controlling where, when and who that group is exposed to. Actually, the lower income man or woman living in the ghetto isn’t that much different from the wealthy man or woman living in a gated community. They each strive to love, protect and provide for their families the best way they know how. Bickford states that, “gates construct and manifest social relations-in this case, segregation… In older cities, condominiums are a common form of gentrification, the “conversion of economically marginal and working class areas to middle class residential use.” I see this on a daily basis in St. Louis, Missouri, and work with many developers that are actively rehabilitating these areas. My question to them is always, why are you displacing the families that, once rehabilitated, will not be able to afford your elevated purchase prices or rents? I must say that after working with many of them on several projects some have actually began to offer affordable housing for existing residents. Moreover, one group has actually included the existing residents in the decision making process of their neighborhood redevelopment plans. Therefore, by forming alliances with the existing neighborhood the developer is making an existing neighborhood stronger in lieu of attempting to create a neighborhood from the ground up.

In the reading Bickford states, “When citizens are daily and thoroughly separated from those who are “different” from them, it requires an inhuman amount of imagination to have a genuinely democratic public.” Therefore, the longer we have ‘social segregation’ the wider and deeper the gorge between the different economic groups becomes. However, if we begin to bridge those gaps now there is a chance that socially we can tear down the walls and remove the gates. If the gates are removed there will naturally be some ‘cross pollination’, meaning cross-cultural exchange. Does this imply that because one group is wealthy that other groups should adapt and be like the wealthy group? I suggest there would have to be positive attributes pulled from all groups therefore creating a stronger bond within the community.

One key element to increase the odds of success of institutional conscious raising to allow for policies such as democratized regional planning would have to be education. Bickford mentioned that CIDs and PUDs utilizing CC&R’s are implemented by developers. To be successful ideas such as democratic regional planning must involve educating developers of the overall advantages of this approach. Emphasizing the economical rewards would be vital in getting the development community’s attention. I am by no means suggesting that the Black community, or any other ethnic group, be ‘let off the hook’. All ethnic stakeholders would have an equal responsibility in this effort. All involved would have to have open minds, open hearts and positive attitudes towards being educated of the benefits of this drastic social realignment.