I hate liars. Especially those that try to deny where they come from. Lots of people that grow up on the Eastside can’t wait to move out to some shitty suburb so they can claim to be from West Covina, Montebello, or Chino Hills, anything but the working class and possibly dangerous neighborhoods they grew up in. They’re all fucking stupid, self-hating pendejos more concerned with erasing their histories rather than understanding what that upbringing meant. Good riddance. But I find it even more asinine when a company or restaurant tries to obfuscate the world around them. Take a look at this sign for some San Antonio Winery owned lofts in Lincoln Heights, touted as “downtown living.” Whatever. Yer in LH fools, not downtown, get used to it.
Even worse is La Serenata de Garibaldi; they started out in Boyle Heights and still have a restaurant there, but their website describes the site as being in Downtown L.A. Mamones. You don’t have to be proud of where yer from, but being ashamed or trying to deny that fact is just plain wrong and useless.
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We have a condo development in Pedro that keeps advertising itself as on the “Palos Verdes Peninsula” and says on its website that residents kids will go to PV schools, but they won’t. Every now and again they change the wording due to pressure, but when no one’s looking they go back to lying about where they’re located.
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My parents grew up in Boyle Heights and moved out to one of those so-called “shitty suburbs.” I don’t understand the hate (unless it’s confounded with your hate for people who deny where they’re from) for the suburbs and raza who chose to move there. They’re not that bad, and there’s only so much room in East LA.
On another point, are my parents still from East LA even though they lived there 15-20 yrs tops and have lived in Hacienda Heights nearly 30 years? Is “where you’re from” always where you’re raised? Or is it more like what Mos Def says, “it ain’t where you’re from, it’s where you’re at.”
I totally thought the “liar” part was going to be in reference to the “affordable” part of the sign, since we all know that actual Downtown LA lofts are mentirosos when they call themselves that.
We (my family and I) used to live in SilverLake back in the 1980’s (working class Latin@ neighborhood, south of Sunset Blvd). A lot of people in our neighborhood were moving inland at that time because it was cheaper and that is what we did to (to Riverside).
Some people just move out to the burbs because it is waaaaay cheaper.
lol, i like how you use the word pendejo…
Cindylu,
I know people that have lived or are currently living in W. Covina, Chino, Hacienda Heights, Montebello, Rialto, Riverside, Fontana, and places in between. I visit every so often, and I stand by my claim that some of those suburbs are shitty: you have to drive down to the local markets, and then they’re just corporate parks. Though I understand why people move out there, they’re still badly designed communities that are unsustainable and boring. But despite that, many that move out there think it’s a step up in the social ladder, perpetrating the notion that you have to move out of the inner city as soon as you can, rather than stay and contribute in improving the neighborhoods.
Urban Memo,
Yeah, pretty much all my extended family moved out to the IE in the 90’s for cheaper housing. From the looks of their new neighborhoods, they made a really bad decision.
Ha, looks like LH is also being called Chinatown North! Somebody stop the insanity!
http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lac/apa/559141833.html
My grandparents raised my parents in El Sereno. But housing was too expensive and too small and my tios were getting into alot of fights with white and asian guys in alhambra. So my grandfather had the huevos to relocate his family (seven kids) to what was basically a dairy farm community in Riverside. He was able to buy a full acre of land, custom build his home and add cows and horses and pigs and all that good stuff. I know they still hold East L.A. close to their hearts but when it’s time to move on, it’s time to move on.
I agree with you on your point to cindylu that the IE is poorly designed. All those money hungry mensos just kept building and building when the real estate market exploded. And now we are stuck with a starbucks and a pick up stix on every freakin corner, houses so close together you can practically hear your neighbor fart and traffic and congestion everywhere. So now where do we go? Hemet? San Jacinto? Yucaipa?
Not unless you love the heat, dust, flies and crystal meth.
The gringos are coming, again.
Enjoy the cheap huevos rancheros in da Hts. once they move into those lofts, condos, work spaces and crawl out of the Brewery, its over.
Hang on to your casitas.
Wait them out. They will get bored or broke eventually. They will want the suburbs for their kids and then they can have the IE back!
Its all cycles, as tia Gloria said, “This land was Mexican once, was Indian always and is, and will be again.”
“…Perpetrating the notion that you have to move out of the inner city as soon as you can, rather than stay and contribute in improving the neighborhoods.”
That’s interesting that you mention the need to improve the neighborhoods. It seems many want this, yet this is the most controversy-ridden thing for Latina/os amongst these circles to discuss openly. Don’t let a Chicana/o mention he/she wants a coffee shop in their neighborhood porque se suelta el desmadre…”Yuppie!” or the desire for a bar a la Eastside Luv porque apparently its precluding something else…G-E-N. “Don’t get a drink there because they support..G-e-n-..”
No se, maybe those other ones that leave (besides affordability) do so because they feel there’s nothing for them? I know that’s one thing I see around in my neighborhood. My homie calls it Latino “brain drain” (See Michael Mendez New Latino Urbanism work).
“….Don’t let a Chicana/o mention he/she wants a coffee shop in their neighborhood porque se suelta el desmadre…â€Yuppie!†or the desire for a bar a la Eastside Luv porque apparently its precluding something else…G-E-N. “Don’t get a drink there because they support..G-e-n-..â€
I don’t think it is totally like that. We already have great coffee, most of it with ca~ela in it already, in our neighborhood. Cafe de olla, with pan dulce etc. I wouldn’t want a Starbuck’s or other corporate coffee shop in my neighborhood, because it would destroy the little independent panaderias. I am a constant customer at Antigua in El Sereno and enjoy the space for allowing us to work and meet new people there. So we want a coffee shop but on our terms. Not to feel like we deserve to recognized by Starbucks and thus we need one to feel better about ourselves. Antigua and the panaderias offer more than that.
I recently visited Eastside Luv. I had heard they wanted a yuppied clientele and thus had ridiculous prices. That is not what I found, but I went recently after its earlier incarnation, it might have been other owners then.
The point is gentrification is about moving out the old for the new and monied. Screw that but we still like good coffee, a good place to relax, work and meet, and a place to drink that is from us, about us and for us, not some place in our neighborhood where we are made to feel unwelcomed.
Improvement and gentrification are not the same thing.
They’re all fucking stupid, self-hating pendejos more concerned with erasing their histories rather than understanding what that upbringing meant.
I’m curious as to what your opinion is of Mexicans who immigrated to the United States…are they too, ” fucking stupid, self-hating pendejos more concerned with erasing their histories rather than understanding what that upbringing meant”? After all, what they did is the same just on a larger scale.
I grew up in Compton, California from the age of 11ish to the age of 24, and I cannot think of anybody who, given the choice, would choose it over a safe neighborhood. The race wars, the constant violence, the run down stores, the nightly shootings, the innocent deaths (my neighbor, a recent immigrant from Mexico, was accidentally shot through the neck and killed starting his car on his way to work – so bad my mom moved my sister to live with her father), the horrible schools, the dangerous peer group, the wandering crack addicts, the constant sounds of helicopters and on and on. That is not to say everything in the ghetto is bad, it certainly is not. But I could never understand how anybody, given the choice, would continue to live there. Especially those who are parents and want a better future for their children. And experience bares this out, as the overwhelming amount of people who have the option move out, whether it is new college graduates or immigrants from Mexico – the drive to bring a better future to your children seems almost universal.
It has been my experience that those who argue the contrary typically fall into one of two categories: they have little to no experience with the ghetto yet romanticize it (think many Chicano Studies students), and/or they cannot themselves afford to move out (related to Chicano Studies) resulting in a typical Eric Hoffer, True Believer resentment against those who do….because to the clear thinker the choice seems obvious – and it’s a choice my parents (thankfully!) also made.
HP,
The problem with your solution: it assumes everyone can ‘move on up’, it assumes that people don’t have a connection to their community, and it assumes that the quick fix for the individual family is the answer to a social problem. If you moved out, for whatever reason, hooray for you. But don’t assume that people only stay in your so-called ghettos because we have no other options, some of us have our own reasons for not wanting the meaningless suburban life.
Not so, I have a strong connection to my hometown, most immigrants that came to the United States do too…to move to a better neighborhood is not the same as forgetting where you came from.
With that said, I have nothing against those who wish to stay in their neighborhood for whatever reason. I certainly did not mean to imply that everybody who has a choice to move out does – most, yes, but not everybody. There are many valid reasons, IMHO, why someone might decide to stay (rental price, family connections, location) and I can certainly respect that.
In other words, I am not the one making the blanket statements here…you are. I do not believe that everyone who stays are “all fucking stupid, self-hating pendejos more concerned with erasing their histories rather than understanding what that upbringing meant”, I was only addressing the blanket statement made in the opposite direction.
HP,
My “blanket statement” was targeted at people that “can’t wait to move out to some shitty suburb so they can claim to be from West Covina, Montebello, or Chino Hills, anything but the working class and possibly dangerous neighborhoods they grew up in.” They usually turn around and trash talk their old neighborhood (as you so aptly did) and think that just cuz they’re closer to corporate chains and can now make payments on an SUV, they’ve somehow made it. The personal “success” story is a common (and boring) theme amongst Latinos, it needs to be challenged.
I didn’t ‘trash talk’ my neighborhood, I just stated facts – that really is the way Compton is. It’s certainly not a place someone would want to raise kids in. I learned alot growing up there and cherish the memories, but I think anybody who makes it their objective (for no compelling reason) to live there has read too many Chicano Studies books. I really do.
Maybe it’s my ESL education affecting me again, but when I first read your post the emphasis seemed to be more on those that left, period…not on how they viewed their old neighborhoods. If you now claim your primary purpose was on how they viewed their old home, then I tend to agree with your distaste…
Could it be that you two are talking about two different groups of people? There is some arrogant idiots that move out and claim to be something that they never were. However, there’s people that want to improve their lives, and raise their kids in a better neighborhood, you cant blame them for that. If i had the chance to move to a better place, i would, but that doesn’t mean that I’ve forgotten about my roots.
HP what happend to you? Did some MEChista rape you? Take your girlfriend away? Ran over your dog? Kicked your ass in high school?
Why do you hate on Chicano/a Studies so much?
Without Chicano/a studies, and the work those that came out of it, you most likely would never had gotten the chance at college, ESL, your so precious corporate job or so many other opportunities.
But of course you will think you did it all by yourself. Just like Ward Connerly.
And you probably would take that as a compliment.
Hispanic Pundit:
FYI …They opened a Fresh N’ Easy Market in the CPT yesterday. Not sure if you know about it, or care.
http://www2.presstelegram.com/news/ci_8202220
“”Now we won’t have to drive to get to Whole Foods,” said Jalom Raney of Compton, adding that it was about a 20-minute drive.”
P/S Chill on the Chicana/o Studies.
lol yeah i saw that Fresh N’ Easy, i go to the starbucks next door. Compton is stepping up to the game. Im happy to see changes like that.
Asking HP to chill on Chicana/o Studies is like um… well. I don’t know, but it’s basically useless. He’s never taken any classes on the subject, but he knows all about it’s evils.
Oh, and yeah. I didn’t even go to ESL classes (yes, they did have them in the suburbs), but I misread El Chavo’s statement about those who move out of the East Los to the suburbs being stupid, etc. It did hit me personally. I guess being the child of a couple who chose to do that, I see it much differently. I also didn’t see my life in the suburbs as “meaningless,” but hey we all have different points of view, no?
Rolo,
It certainly seems so. When I first read Chanfles post it seemed like he was ragging on people that left…period. Now he seems to be saying his post had more to do with how they viewed their prior home after moving out, not on moving out per se (it could certainly have been my bad reading skills, I’m not implying otherwise). If his position is that, then I certainly agree with his overall assessment. Nobody likes an “arrogant idiots that move out and claim to be something that they never were”.
Your response reminds of a close first generation Mexican friend of mine that grew up in a trailer home in a poor gang ridden neighborhood. Luckily for her though, she was given a scholarship and admitted to a very prestigious university…and now, years later, she tells me she no longer dates Mexicans, her reason? She says all the ones she met at her University had a huge chip on their shoulder, this huge ego like they are somehow better than everyone else. After many bad encounters, she said she is over dating Mexicans.
That unhealthy mixture of too much ego combined with success can certainly turn people off, myself included…but that does not mean that it’s only the successful ones that do it. I’ve also met more than my fair share of unsuccessful Mexicans who would like nothing better than to bring down successful Mexicans – again, to feel better about themselves (I’ll refrain from making a Chicano Studies jab…this time).
P-3000,
What happened to me? I think the more apt question is what happened to you, and the lefties like you. If I had to speculate on why I am different than your typical leftie, I would rank why as follows: First, I got lucky to have chosen a non-political field – engineering. So I wasn’t indoctrinated at a young age. Second, I got into politics (and economics) bias free…and was able to more fairly evaluate both sides (my parents were also a-political, so that helped). Third, I have no guilt, or lack of self-esteem when it comes ‘being brown enough’.
It has been my experience that every leftie I meet lacks one of the above categories. The typical story goes that they entered college with a somewhat (though not completely) clean slate…somewhere along the line (alot of times even pre-college) they decided what major to take. They are either pushed by a counselor (or worse, Chicano Studies student) to take a dumbed down version of education – you know the majors, Chicano Studies, Sociology, basket weaving, whatever, with the conviction to “do something for their community” or to “learn about where they came from”. Given their impressionable young minds they are quickly directed (through their major, professors, peer group) to a leftist mentality. Then you add in the low self-esteem chicano/a, you know the one, the young adolescent who is trying to define himself with his peers only to find out that his white complexion, or the fact that she grew up a little more ‘middle-class’, or their inability to speak spanish, or being a ‘fifth-generation mexican’, makes her somehow ‘less brown’, more suspect, and not as down for ‘la causa’ as the others, and you get a multiplier effect. That lack of a sense of ‘being brown enough’ mixed in with the lefts method of conversion (peer pressure and status as opposed to logic – ‘sellout’, ‘forgetting where you came from’, ‘acting white’) drives that chicano to do more to prove himself, which is why the more radical of the Chicanos tend to be the ones who had a lower sense of self esteem to begin with (as Eric Hoffer would have predicted).
This is the background story of the vast majority of Chicanos (though not all). They likely go on to work in some low paying industry – either primary school teacher, counselor, or social worker, all with a dream to one day open up their own youth center for troubled kids in the ghetto. They compensate for the low pay with an overwhelming sense of pride in that they shunned ‘corporate America’, care more about the community than ‘greed’, and have the problems of the poor primarily in mind. Their economic and political views are so sheltered from opposition that even white liberals don’t take them seriously…of course they get invited over for dinner and indulged in their self-pitty, but they are always seen as children who still need the proper nurturing of uncle white libie to get them to ‘maturity’.
With time they become so convinced of their political views that everybody else who disagrees with them is not ‘enlightened’, ‘as smart as them’, or is ‘racist’, ‘greedy’, and not as ‘caring’ as they obviously are. Arguing with them is like arguing with a communist, so entrenched in their new found religion that not even the fall of the Berlin Wall will convince them otherwise. They consider themselves well balanced because they have read Richard Rodriguez and seen a couple episodes of Carlos Mencia (though arguments continue as to whether either is ‘brown’ enough).
You write, Without Chicano/a studies, and the work those that came out of it, you most likely would never had gotten the chance at college, ESL, your so precious corporate job or so many other opportunities. I strongly disagree. Not only do I think Chicano Studies does not help but I believe it hurts minority progress. Explaining why would lead me on another long winded response, the energy or the time of which I currently do not have. But if you are sincere in knowing what I base this on, much of it can be found under the “Articles” section of my blog.
Btw, contrary to what you may think, no, I do not believe I “did it all by yourself”…what got me from Compton to where I am now is not something I freely discuss on blogs (though over beers, maybe) but it was certainly not “on my own”. I attribute it to my grandmas constant prayers and dumb luck.
Metro_Vaquero,
I must admit that when I read your post about a new Market in Compton, I automatically assumed it was on Compton Blvd near the rail road tracks. You know, where all the stores are concentrated, the ‘safety zone’. But when I googled the location and found that it was on Rosecrans and Alondra, I was impressed! Though not the worst part of Compton, it is far from a safety zone. The fifth and the nellas both claim that hood with the Flats and B13’s wanting a piece of it as well. It also has its fair share of race problems, too. I grew up not too far from there…
HP,
When I write my posts, they’re mostly never some well thought out bits of writing, just some random observations. I guess I could be more pedantic, outlining every idea and defining all the terms, but you might be able to guess I’m kinda not into that. But yeah, my beef is with those that deny where they are from, thus the following pic of a winery in LH claiming to be in downtown, and a link to a restaurant in BH claiming to be in downtown. I thought it was obvious, but that’s what happens at 1:30 on a Saturday night. But for the record, I don’t mind when those people leave. I wish my neighbor (the one you can tell just hates every day spent here) would get up and go, he’s too good for this area, and his successful kids don’t seem to visit as often either.
Pa’ que sepas, you keep labeling me as some sort of Chicano Studies advocate, when I’ve always been opposed to the idea of going to college. Find another peg for me. Like a chump, I did a year in a higher learning institute, but that was enough to learn me it sucked. Some college educated people read this here page, but I know they’re smart enough to not be offended if I decided to take a different route.
I’m an Anarchist so you have to expect that my values are going to be different from the average Latino that still thinks acquiring stuff is the pathway to meaning. Entendido?
I hear you brother, like I said above, it probably had more to do with my bad reading skills than anything on your end. You have to keep in mind that I was an ESL student for many years, so I have to work really hard to overcome the damage that caused. 😉
I must admit, you do leave me lacking on stereotypes to classify you under when you disassociate yourself with Chicano Studies yet continue to advocate anarchy (they usually come in pairs, from my experience). For the sake of improving my generalities, I am curious, what do you think of anarcho-capitalism? What about David Friedman? Are you a Robert Nozick fan? I have Friedmans book, The Machinery of Freedom though have not read it yet. As you can probably guess, I am a big admirer of his father, Milton Friedman.
I don’t know what to say to a true anarchist (as opposed to a false one, you know, the Chicano Studies anarchists…). I instinctively find that view of the world utopian, elitist and unworkable…but I have to admit I have not given it the deeper investigation it deserves. The few anarchists I have met have all been extremely smart though, and I have found it very difficult to answer their objections (Being on the anti-government end with liberals, its very difficult to switch and somehow be pro-minimal government with anarchists). It’s an area that has always intrigued my curiosity but one I have not delved much into…though I certainly have it on my list.
I don’t know if you follow Cato much, but Cato Unbound does a monthly discussion forum on controversial topics. Each month gets a new topic. People from various backgrounds chime in and the discussion usually gets interesting. Their topic for August was anarchy, see here, and given that many of their members are anarchist, it was sure to get a fair representation. You might be interested.
You have to be open minded when you read this shity blogs, just kidding Chavo, I love your blog!!! My point: you cannot get offended by what other people say or think, you have to respect that. Looks like you two are friends again, right?
Well, very interesting discussion. Count me as one of the stupid ones that left the Eastside, I think. I was born and raised in Highland Park. Does HLP classify as Eastside? Technically, its “Northeast LA”. Location is all relative I suppose.
Chavo, I really don’t think that anyone can “erase their history” no matter how hard they might try. The place where you were raised will always be inside of you, a part of you, if you will, that you can never deny. My parents left Mexico decades ago (dad in ’54, mom in ’66), but Mexico is still very much a part of their “beings” even though they have lived most of their lives in Los Angeles.
I’m the first to admit that I don’t have all the answers. I don’t know if leaving the Eastside for points east (or any other direction for that matter) is good or bad. I think that neighborhoods in major cities like Los Angeles are always constantly changing (Brooklyn and ELA was once heavily Jewish), with people moving in and out. Just a fact to which I don’t attach any negative or positive connotation.
I don’t ever deny that I was raised in Highland Park. But, I’m not from Highland Park anymore. As many a wise person has said, “you can’t wear another person’s hat.” I left in 1995 but still return frequently because my parents still live there.
My thinking is that people leave places for various reasons. Its individual choice to migrate to another neighborhood. I don’t know too much about anarchy, but I understood that one of its tenets is an absence of government, laws, authority, etc. giving the individual complete liberty. So I guess a person should have complete liberty to pick up and move to a new neighborhood for whatever reason. Chavo, maybe you can enlighten me on how Anarchists view migration. I’m just curious about it.
I agree with HP on some points, but wow! I had no idea Chicano Studies pressed so many buttons. I’m happy when any person goes to college, no matter what subject they study. We need teachers, counselors, social workers, which by the way are not all “low wage”. We can’t all be engineers!!
There is room for all professions and all viewpoints in this world of ours. Viva the Eastside!!! (wherever its boundaries are nowadays)
que viva!
QUOTE HP: “First, I got lucky to have chosen a non-political field – engineering. So I wasn’t indoctrinated at a young age. Second, I got into politics (and economics) bias free…and was able to more fairly evaluate both sides (my parents were also a-political, so that helped). Third, I have no guilt, or lack of self-esteem when it comes ‘being brown enough’.”
-Your field is political, some engineers make bombs, maybe not you, but their work is often used for political or economic reasons. Whether you care what your work is used for is your business.
-You were indoctrinated, but into being a-political and into the American world view. I bet you have red, white and blue pom poms.
-Maybe not about being brown enough, but based on your seemingly constant need to quote, you seem to have a lack of self esteem in your ideas and beliefs or at least writing them in your own words. You aren’t a pundit so much as someone who quotes his idols.
Many of us did grow up politcal. Family members in a union, marching in the streets, getting beat by police, in a prison, deported, eminent domain, in a gang, in the police force, sometimes both. Many of us grew up knowing the good and bad of world and with the ideal of fighting to make it better.
Many of us believe in the social contract. Many of us feel for others and it does not make us feel better or superior, it is just how we are. If you see it as a weakness or the wrong thing to be doing on this planet, that is fine too. But it shows your feelings of superiority. If I see you stranded on the freeway I hope a Friedman is behind me to stop and help you.
Couple of ending comments before I end this conversation,
In case it wasn’t obvious, when I wrote “a non-political field – engineering”, what I meant was that it is a field where a professor would have a harder time inserting political views without looking political. It’s alot easier to indoctrinate the students when teaching Chicano Studies than, say, introduction to circuits. 1+1 will always equal 2, regardless of the political affiliation. Same goes for the students…the political views are more diverse and varying.
As far as political upbringing – I should have been clearer, I was not completely absent from political influences. For one, my family is not completely a-political. My dad and family have been (forced) members of a union for sometimes longer than I have been alive. So I have some experience with unions, and hearing my dads constant rants about how useless unions are did predispose me towards the anti-union side (which is at odds with immigration too, remember Cesar Chavez). Second, being raised in Compton and living in a Mexican household and family gave me experience with the liberal side and some of its views.
My primary point in saying I was raised a-political was that I was not predisposed to write off certain political beliefs as ‘racist’, greedy’, and evil’. I entered the topic of politics with an open mind to reading books on both sides of the political aisle. I didn’t just assume that the only real debate in politics is between the left and the extreme left.
P-3000 writes, based on your seemingly constant need to quote, you seem to have a lack of self esteem in your ideas and beliefs or at least writing them in your own words. You aren’t a pundit so much as someone who quotes his idols.
As I’ve said many times before, I quote often because it is easier for me – being a former ESL student – than to write a post saying basically the same thing.
But, please, don’t take that to mean that I am unwilling to engage in discourse. This old discussion between me and you, P-3000, is still open to comments. Consider this a form invitation, if you ever feel like you would like to read something other than the Chomsky or Michael Moore perspective, do stop by and comment as you see fit. Unlike your blog, you can be assured that I do not moderate comments with opposing views.
Well there is hope for you then, if you can openly, and apparently “said many times,” that your ESL studies has limited your writing abilities, hey you got to also see how ESL, going to school in Compton, environmental pollution, etc and so forth might have also affected your logic, heart and sense of the world. Maybe you just need to de-toxify yourself?
I can help.
I have hope, you might still become a leftie after all!
LOL
I know that in the early 1900’s Mexicans and Jews cooperated socially and politically in Lincoln Heights. Both were subject to the same discriminatory practices. The Jews moved out completely and little or nothing of their legacy is left. For a time Lincoln Heights was known as being part of Little Italy, now China Town. Interesting that LH was named by a Confederate Officer who bought the land and sub-divided it to his wealthy white friends, I guess he was playing up to the winning side then. A great number of middle-class Chicanos moved to the suburbs after WWII but no one talks about Brown Flight. Even though LH remains a Mexican American stronghold, there is still a large immigrant population with a constant flux of nationalities.
It is easy, and frequently justified, to criticize the vision of outsiders to one’s community. What I am missing in this particular discussion is the vision of what Lincoln Heights could be for it’s existing and future residents. If there is poor quality retail and we don’t want big box chains, what do we want? Is Tesco an option? What can this community look like in terms of culture and diversity, socially, economically and politically? Or, maybe this is as good as it can get.
As a Jew who has taken Chicano Studies, I believe that Los Angeles is only as good as it’s Latino communities. The truth is that communities that have variety of CLASS differences are the strongest. The suburbs are all about class homogeneity. The city should be about class diversity. How do we encourage that and stay true to ourselves and our communities?