Contract sellers would try everything to get them evicted and put the house back up on the market. When the year 1993 hit, it was believed that African Americans were more likely to hold a subprime loan than Caucasians. Black communities have definitely been obliterated by the industry for years now. Due to this, it is hard for African Americans to get a decent job and move up on the economical class
I would not move to an area where I was different than everyone else, in fear of not being accepted. Another example would be to move into a neighborhood that is too expensive and classy. Would they accept me for who I am or would they look down at me? We tend to feel more comfortable with our same ethnic, religious and social groups. Some examples would be, to move to a place where you didn't speak the language; this would make it hard to communicate with your neighbors or your community.
The setting of A Raisin in the Sun is a ghetto in Chicago, where most blacks lived. Colas goes on to explain how these districts consisted of over priced, over crowded and poorly maintained apartments and homes; and that in the ghettos the crime rates were high and public services were limited. Colas also lets us know that most blacks living in the ghetto had hopes of leaving to move to better suburban neighborhoods, but segregated housing kept them stuck in the ghetto. An interesting fact that Colas brought out was that the housing industry was the greatest cause of segregated housing in Chicago; within the housing industry many social scientist observed that real estate agencies play the largest role in maintaining segregated communities. He also revealed that real estate agents made enormous profits manipulating whites with the fears of integration.
African Americans and Puerto Ricans started to move into and take precedence over the North and South sides of Hartford. The white middle class would eventually migrate to the suburbs. They had nicer schools, lower home prices and crime rates. The Food Gap includes being food insecure (ie don’t know when/where food will come from) and the overconsumption of unhealthy foods.
Fighting for equal rights in the 1950’s was a job all in itself for coloreds in Monroe, North Carolina. Whether defending themselves from white supremacists or trying to fight for what’s right against racist law enforcers, life was not easy for colored peoples. In the first reading section of the book Negros With Guns by Robert F. Williams, I see that society definitely matters more then law. In the readings, society takes up a large portion of the scenario we read about. We see that the black community in Monroe takes up at least a quarter of the population, yet coloreds are still heckled by a large portion of the community.
Successful African American homebuyers find that they receive less for their homes. Controlling for a variety of factors except race of neighborhood, Black homeowners received 18 percent less value for their homes than White homeowners. The Brookings Institution has called this “the segregation tax,” the price Blacks pay for living in all-Black neighborhoods. The concept of redlining is now being applied to areas other than home buying. People living in predominantly minority neighborhoods have found that service deliverers refuse to go to their area.
When we turn on the 6 o’ clock evening news, we see high crime rate in surrounding lower class neighborhoods; crime that involves minorities mostly of African American descent. Since the Civil Right Act passed in 1964 and 50 years later, race plays a very large role when it comes down to the way the public is treated. In some cases for example, some businesses will refuse to hire another person that differs from their own race. Another example of this is the use of racial jokes, comments and names. Even though there have been laws passed in order to help control racist acts, it has not changed the thoughts of many people today that still remain racist.
When ethnocentrism is present, it has the affect of having people sort out members of society by group lines, usually by using an easily identifiable characteristic (skin tone) into "us" and "them". But Noel cautions that ethnocentrism by itself is not enough to cause ethnic stratification. There exist historical examples of groups with ethnocentric beliefs that lived side by side in peace. A second condition cited by Noel that is needed for ethnic stratification is competition. Competition is where there is a struggle for scare resources which could include anything from land, labor, jobs, and housing to educational opportunities.
The physical characteristic of the neighborhood consist of run down duplex properties and trash filled street and yards. The community lacks a sense of unity and pride to state the least. I found it interesting that no more than a neighborhood block away was a working middle class neighborhood with manicured lawns and colorful flower beds. The difference was like night and day; however, children from both areas play and go to school together, for the most part. There is a high crime rate for the area and when the police are called to the area they wait five minutes before responding in hopes of the crowd dispersing.
The 1950’s are considered beginning of the Civil Rights Movement, but in reality blacks began fighting for equal rights after the early abolition of slavery in the early 1900’s. In the 1950’s the economy was booming for the white working class man, and made it a luxury to have African American employees considered “The Help”. During this time segregation was in effect, and in the north it was custom to be segregated, unlike the south where it was the law that black had to be separated from whites. This largest form of segregation was housing African Americans were forced to live on other parts of towns, and Whites usually lived in the newer suburban homes that were rising. Civil rights and equality between blacks and whites was being fought for since the early 1900’s, but they achieved very little until the 1950’s.