The Praxis of Conflict Transformation in Los Angeles – Page 3 – A 2015 field course organized by the Center for Conflict Studies at Middlebury Institute, California

Anomalous Trichromacy

Color blind does not describe the absence of color; it describes seeing color in a different palette. My brain and eyes work together to see a varying depth of color, from bold to muted. With automaticity, I perceive colors of objects and discriminate between the ones that intrigue me with their sharpness and ones that repel me. Some of my favorite colors are chocolate browns and deep purples or the color of blue when it resembles a robin’s egg. I abhor chartreuse and pale peach and cacophonies of color that overlap without matching.

In LA, I joined my fellow students in walks throughout the city. At times, we were moving directly from a bus stop to a building’s entrance, but other times… we wandered in search of something less specific. During those journeys, I became acutely aware of my surroundings. Colors that sang, colors that roared, colors that screamed, and colors that cried. They were on bicycles, shirts, and facades. The colors blew down the street when the cars sped past. Colors lay interspersed between waste that was tossed in garbage cans. Eyes that looked back at me held me entranced with white, yellow, and red perfectly matched with speckles of color within the iris. Hands that grasped mine or gave me change had colors I have never seen in a box of crayons.

The class in LA allowed me to visualize color with my senses –to see color without blindness. I heard color in the accents of voices and smelled color on the roses. I tasted color on my slice of pizza and I touched color when I pulled my shirt over my head. Returning home to Monterey, I have noticed that color permeates my life with flowers, filth, and friendships.

Back to Reno

Reading the Reno news online today was interesting. A local reporter spent 48 hours living under a bridge near the Truckee River and Union Pacific train tracks. The reporter noted that 4000 people are considered ‘homeless’ in Washoe Country (Reno area). He wrote that 4:30 am is rousting time because local police officers ‘sweep’ areas with threats of arrest if the transients do not move. During the time the reporter was ‘homeless’, daytime temperatures hovered in the 60s while temps at night dipped to below freezing.

Comments from the article ranged from ‘Load them on busses and send them to LA where it is warmer.’ to a pastor sharing comments about his experience living among the ‘homeless’ for more than two weeks almost 20 years ago. Redevelopment in Reno has razed most of the weekly motels used by families and individuals while the average monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment remains at $800. The few shelters in town do not allow pets and have a combined occupancy of 400 people. All shelters close their doors at 8:00 am regardless of weather conditions.

Earlier in this blog I wrote about Housing for All, the action plan developed by city leaders to address the issue of affordable housing and homelessness in Reno. The long-term goals make sense and are achievable as long as the entire community continues to work together. The problem with the plan is that it overlooks the immediate need of individuals living in the encampments near the river or train tracks. When shelter space is unavailable or unattainable, the next option is a jail cell.

Violence is an Empty Lot

Los Angeles is famous for its empty spaces that accumulate garbage, wind blown trash, weeds and broken concrete. It creates a dialogue of neglect, despair and caged space, purposefully cordoned off from the sidewalks. But how can I call it violence?

These lots are one of the most visual examples in the city’s urban design that the space available in this city is only meant for certain people. In Boyle Heights we saw lots that were bought by the private metro company that used to contain laundromats, gas stations and groceries that have since been vacated and stayed that way up to 15 years now. These lots contribute to the look of urban decay that drives down house prices and adds to the food desert in that area. The fact that land prices were driven down, gives developers a chance to put in bids to develop that land. The metro claimed a community driven process that was literally just lip service, the people that were informed were in 500 foot radius that contains mostly freeway that cuts the neighborhood in half. Now that metro has built the gold line, these empty lots have risen in price, raising the price of surrounding property that pressures the home owners (not the renters) to sell to more developers thus driving out the people who can barely afford the rents they pay now.

Structural violence enters in specific points. The metro, not including the community, their voices are not heard, while their lives and livelihoods hang in the balance. The empty lots, cordoned off, attract garbage and devalue the space visually, a poverty of color and life. The city that has named Mariachi Plaza an “arts district” that has literally and ironically displaced the actual Mariachi dudes that hang out in that plaza.

Space (especially in L.A.) is intentional. The look of disrepair and neglect is intentional. The look of gentrification is intentional. People are either excluded or included intentionally. L.A has over and over proved to be insensitive and callus to the needs of its residents. It’s trying to re-invent itself but where do the people go after their buildings are torn down, their murals destroyed and their housing priced out of reach? Displacement and disenfranchisement is violence. The people today will fight back,one empty lot at a time.

Post Research Reflection

As I sit in my rented out room in Monterey, CA, I marvel that just yesterday I was 321 miles south in downtown Los Angeles. We truly live in a globalized world where we can travel great distances within a matter of hours. The world is more interconnected than ever before. But now that I am back in Monterey and distanced from everything that I have witnessed this past week, am I done with LA and can I move on with the next chapter in my life? I reflect back on my research last week where I visited Central, South, and East LA. I walked around LA Live where the Staples Center is located, Skid Row where homeless and mentally ill men and women reside, and East LA where communities are being gentrified. All these vastly different places are not exempt from interconnection. Policies in one district affect another. Development in another district can be initiated in a separate district and positively/negatively influence a neighboring district. This cause and effect relationship applies to my life as well. I have been connected to certain parts of LA and my actions here in LA will have an effect on the people we met. Being back in Monterey, I can’t stop thinking about Boyle Heights and the structural violence occurring there.

As you can see from this map, essentially all of LA proper is connected. Work and development on one line or even the creation of a new line will affect the entire network, causing variations in traffic throughout the system. These variations have large implications, impacting vehicle traffic, local businesses who lose or gain customers, or crime rates and health of communities. As I shared in my Day Six Blog, our team experienced the economic impact that the LA Metro can have on a community. Empty Metro owned lots in Boyle Heights has caused social unrest in this neighborhood because residents have been ignored during the development process. The development of this neighborhood by the LA Metro has uprooted local businesses and caused private companies and businesses to take their place, inviting outsiders to come in and take advantage of the low income housing. This is the beginning of gentrification.

I do not wish to repeat what I already blogged about, but I want to ensure that the story of Boyle Heights’ residents is told. I have finished my fieldwork in LA, but my work is not done. I have a responsibility to those who took time out of their busy lives to speak with us and share their stories and regardless of the depth and strength, I feel connected with these people. My focus on Boyle Heights is out of personal interest and respect for the individuals we met. They spoke to raise awareness and I hope that I can amplify their voice through my work here in Monterey.

I Hope You’re Hungry

Hunger affects 1 out of every 6 people according to dosomething.org. Food insecurity and access to nutrient dense foods remain a struggle in the US. Many urban centers offer a large variety of fast food that is expensive –financially and long-term as a health risk. Local markets offer consumers payment options such as debit or EBT (formally food stamps), but lack a supply of attractive produce. Markets in the LA area were filled with an assortment of processed foods that were familiar to immigrant families and had a few brown bananas or soft red apples. Back home in Monterey, the neighborhood market has more produce options, but the fruit is overripe (and many of the dairy products have surpassed their expiration dates). Reno markets have a larger variety of produce that is more firm to the touch and fresher in appearance.

Today, I worked at a local event center as a server where over 35 different types of food and sauces were offered in a span of 6 hours. There were 100 guests in attendance at the event and their food waste (uneaten food) filled a 44-gallon container twice. The weight of food waste was approximately 350 pounds. Because work policy and county health department codes require disposal of food waste, staff was not able to repurpose any of the leftover food from plates. Some of the food tossed into the garbage included whole filet beef tenderloin, macadamia nut & panko crusted mahi mahi, and wedding cake.

I did not realize the extent of culture shock which I experienced after arriving home from the LA trip until I sat down to write this blog entry. I am mortified and appalled at the extreme waste collected from one event held in a small town. The cost of the food waste totaled hundreds of dollars and the amount of waste was duplicated all over the US in much larger quantities during that 6-hour period. I hope that following statistic from the USDA appalls you, too: In the United States, 31 percent—or 133 billion pounds—of the 430 billion pounds of the available food supply at the retail and consumer levels in 2010 went uneaten.

This is the End…

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 20150316_170946 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.

Youth Empowerment

“This age group is under siege.” – Mentor from Fair Chance

As an educator I was particularly moved by the organizations we visited who are working to empower the local youth. There are many ways to tackle the roots of violence and reaching out to youth – who are often the most vulnerable – is a proven and powerful way to disrupt the cycle. At the Youth Justice Coalition we spoke with youth leaders who have been directly impacted by incarceration. Through the initiatives of the YJC, they are using their first hand experiences and knowledge to actively change the policies that adversely effect them and their communities. Listening to their stories was intensely moving and I am grateful for their willingness to share them to a bunch of note-taking strangers.

Most of us, at least those with at least a smidgen of national awareness and compassion, understand that our system of mass incarceration is deeply deeply flawed. The school to prison pipeline is documented and real. The youth – particularly those of color from poor neighborhoods – are not given an equitable chance to succeed. In the Boyle Heights neighborhood we were told that the local public high school, Roosevelt, has only about a 50% graduation rate. This is deplorable. Furthermore, the lack of developmental support manifests into disruptive behaviors. The gangs become a place to release their young, undirected anger at the world. It is an anger that stems from being neglected, being belittled, and from being oppressed. It is an alternative to suicide or hurting others. Instead, as Alex from Homies Unidos explained, “we agree to take our anger our on each other because we are both part of the same bullshit.” This is a simplified, yet deeply poignant, description of what transpires.

The education and incarceration systems still have a long way to go in order to reach something that resembles justice, but the programs we witnessed are making dents in the offensive structures. From restorative justice circles to community radio – they are each employing a variety of creative tools to engage and empower youth. As Omar, a mural artist, educator, and civil rights activist in the Boyle Heights neighborhood, reminded us, there is something about the process of creation that is really important for change. The process of research, history building, design, discussion, and collaborative action leads to a discovery of meaning. The transformation of the person, and the community, becomes an “unintended consequence of the aesthetic.”

Gentrification vs Isolation

I am currently sitting in the LAX airport waiting for my flight to San Jose, CA. Yesterday was our last day of work in downtown LA. We visited organizations that worked on rape in prisons, refugee and immigrant torture victims, community education and development, and violence prevention. Although these organizations did great work to help vulnerable populations, I was most impressed with our last stop of the day in Boyle Heights, where we met with local residents and leaders in the fight against the gentrification of their city. These residents/leaders were aware, educated, outspoken, passionate, and frustrated. I could tell that they were fed up with being constantly taken advantage of. They eagerly met with our group to share their life stories and share how their mere existence was a testament of their rebellion against structural violence. I understood their frustration with being exploited and not involved in community development projects.

Example of housing downtown LA near Staples Center

In all my MIIS classes, whenever we talk about development, we discuss the importance of involving stakeholders and we learn examples of state-sponsored projects coming in to develop various communities without their consent or input. It hit home for me last night that this disregard for human life via disregarding a community’s voice, occurs everywhere in the United States…and on a regular basis. Minority (non-white) populations are uprooted and pushed out of the way in the name of development. Their communities are replaced by housing or public spaces that benefit white populations. Although, this is not absolute, it happens regularly enough where I’m concerned and want to do something about it.
However, I am a graduate student about to graduate in May. I will be entering the job market with around $60,000 worth of debt and will be getting married in the Fall. I am planning on living in the Bay Area, but as I look for housing, I will be looking for affordable housing. Not surprisingly, my choices will be slim and I’ll choose the nicest and most affordable option I can find. This will mean I’ll be living in a diverse community, possibly a Latin American one due to the demographics in the Bay Area. Yesterday’s and this past week’s work in Boyle Heights and makes me wonder if I will be part of the gentrification problem since I will be moving into a lower income area. Soon I will rent in these areas, but soon I will most likely purchase a home. As a white male, will my economic decision displace a Latin American person or family and prevent a minority community from expanding and thriving?
My professor has a policy of owning who you are and being transparent about you as a person. This resonates with me because I wouldn’t be moving into to the areas in order to change them, but rather it will be an economic reason. I will be living in that community and will appreciate the diversity and uniqueness of it. To my credit, I won’t be moving in to change the neighborhood to reflect my interests and my values. However, what happens 10 years down the road when my wife and I have saved up to afford a home together? Will we stay in an underdeveloped area that might have higher crime rates and not as competitive/quality schools? If we do, we’ll advocate for better social services which will raise living expenses and displace those who cannot afford it. Assuming (making gross assumptions) that the minority community are still predominantly poor, they will be the ones displaced and I have gentrified them.
On the other hand, if my wife and I have enough money to move elsewhere for a better living area, we will most likely live in a predominantly white neighborhood, thereby isolating ourselves and living in an ignorant bubble. Neither of these options thrill me. Is it wrong to want the best for my future potential children? If I stay, I gentrify. If I move, I isolate myself and others. I’ll be thinking about this for a while to make sense of it, but feel free to comment if you have an opinion on this.

Living in Hypocra-City

The last day of our trip to LA was very interesting as all other days were, but for the first time I started thinking about where all the non-profits fit into the big picture of how America is in the world. We welcome asylum seekers and refugees, but our foreign policies are the things that created them. We penalize other countries for human rights abuses as there are sexual assaults and rape in our own prisons. Human rights is something for international studies students, they don’t apply to us or the USA (oosah).

We all occupy this space together, the city, the state the country and this world. We all have to live with a certain amount of ambiguity in our lives. We sacrifice certain principles to be in a relationship with someone else, to have a job, to participate in the market economy. For some reason when the contrast hit me, that even the organisations that does the good work, that sings for their supper that endures financial insecurity to help others has to live in this world of strings and limitations was jolting. The realization that even the people who are heroes have some point in their lives done something shameful, embarrassing or something that goes against their values makes us HUMAN and not hypocrites.

It’s easy to criticize the non-profit world because they are the ones with the money, the vision and the structure to make wonderful, non-market based solutions happen for the most marginalized, the forgotten, the people who slipped through the cracks. As they circulate the fringes of the capitalist machine they endure scrutiny, oversight and constant questioning. Why do we feel the need to pressure, to criticize and to question them? The agro-medical pharmaceutical industry continues on its merry way, destroying the environment, health and then provided the synthetic band-aid pills to make people live a little longer so they can continue to feed the system through their consumption. But the organisations that work with gangs, the prisoners, the victims of violence and injustice are ones who get the scraps of the giant capitalist machine that we have build to exponentially grow and destroy everything that live in its path.

So that’s how i feel. We scrutinize the few while the massive machine continues to turn out the violence, build the violence into our lives. Isolates us from human connections. Channels the relationships in our lives through the capitalist relationship to goods we purchase, the media we consume.

Disparities…

There was a diversity in non-profit (NGO) agencies visited during the past week. LA CAN advocated at a grassroots level with a very limited budget. Peace Over Violence was housed in a beautiful building with even more beautiful employees. Why the disparity? Trendy causes attract the superstars that light up our TVs and movie screens, but scare away anyone who wants to avoid conflict. A Butterfly Ball means that designer gowns must be worn, but what does one wear when traversing the human waste of Skid Row?

Funding a mission statement requires a strong Board of Directors with connections to the deep pockets itching for the next big thing. Tax incentives encourage one to donate assets or cash to agencies with glossy Annual Reports and outreach personnel with short skirts. But… what if the cause is relevant to human rights, but housed in a dirty warehouse with a dirtier executive director? Do I donate? Do I listen? Do I hear?

If I empower the homeless of Skid Row and give them a voice, yet I opt to leave them unwashed and baked in the California sunshine, can they tell the donors a story that opens a wallet? If the woman without teeth and talking to the wall shows up at the red carpet event, will she be welcomed with open arms or avoidance? What makes Alzheimer’s attractive to your finances while schizo-affective disorder scares you?