So I have completed the portion of the class in LA. Leaving was kind of an intense process because I felt so immersed in the course, the participants, and in the process of moving around the city. Reflecting on how I feel about conflict and the organisations that work in, on and around conflict, I still feel, well….very conflicted.
If we look at LA as an intentional process, the policies, practices and structures that reflect a vision of the people in charge politically and economically you have to conclude that it exists to promote uniquely the reproduction of capital off the backs of the black and brown residents. The poor have always borne most of the cost to make others rich. In the case of LA, you can see the abject poverty in the shadow of a hipster bar that keeps cheese the size of birthday cakes in a revolving display case with ceramic dancing goats. Saying this is “ironic” is forgetting the fact that these places are pushing out the open air mental asylum that is Skid Row. In Boyle Heights the metro has painted a golden line to the center of the city, leading the downtown directly to the latino enclave that watches their housing prices rise as their neighbors move out. South LA is much as it has always been, negl
ected crowded food desert that houses bad schools and out of touch teachers.
Like LA, I too am at a crossroads. The path that i take will only determine my future and that of my family’s, while LA moves millions of people with it in the direction that it chooses. The process that this transition is conducted with is sensitive. Who gets to determine their own path? Does metro get to determine how Boyle Heigts develops? Do the hipster bars and their clientele get to take over the warehouse district of Skid Row? Who gets to speak and who gets listened to is determined by power. The power of organized community and the power of entrenched money and influence are facing off with each other in the city council chambers and in the streets of LA. I would argue that this dichotomy exists to the detriment of all. Money and influence have a lot to offer the organized communities of LA, and the organized communities of LA have a lot to offer the money and influence. If I learned nothing else on this trip it is the power of relationships. The power of human networks, authentic communication, it is real human capital that has value and not the buildings or the stores.
