I had always believed I was well versed in the racial and social discrepancies of Los Angeles. I grew up as the only white kid in my neighborhood (mostly made up of Mexicans and Salvadorians) and I commuted everyday to Studio City where I went a private school (mostly white and Jewish). I experienced high society Los Angeles and working class Los Angeles on a day to day basis. To me, the city a place that did not embrace reality. It presents itself as glamorous and untouchable, but I viewed it as a giant gentrified plot of land. The areas that are not yet gentrified, like East L.A. and South L.A., lack funds and decent quality of life. I saw that as the city's way of making low income citizens and people of color so uncomfortable that they are forced to leave. Then Los Angeles could live up to its glamorous reputation. Needless to say my outlook on Los Angeles was grim.
Things began to change after I read the article "What is an MC?". The writer, Josh Kun, vocalized everything I felt about Los Angeles, but also added a sense of hopefulness for the future. He references "No Hay Manera", a song that takes two different cultures and presents them in away where they are not fighting each other. The cultures are not blended, but are both present in a harmonious way. The class discussion of this article made me think of the time when my brother and I were being yelled at to "Go home! We were here first. This is our land" by a visibly inebriated young Latino on Halloween. Kun's article did, in a way, rectify that memory. The conflict of cultures in Los Angeles seemed blatantly violent and not fixable. Though the disharmony in Los Angeles is present, there can be found a unity of the multiple cultures, not as one, but as layers.
After reading and experiencing so many negative aspects of Los Angeles I will take away from this class an understanding of what needs to happen. How the cultures do not need to clash or assimilate. High society Los Angeles needs to acknowledge the cultural transition, as well as, history and embrace it.