White suprematism?

I found this incident a bit disturbing (and not because of the police action that the article is praising).

LA Times article: White Suprematist Rally

Watts

After our discussion about how Charles Burnett's Killer of Sheep was an artistic reaction against the stereotypical "blaxploitation" of African Americans in the media in general, and Watts more specifically, I decided to try to find out how both are received today by American audiences. By and large, the portrayal of African Americans in the media has improved since Burnett made the film in 1977, and we did look at examples in class of movies that seemed to be improvements on movies like Superfly. As the article highlighted above points out, while the depiction of no minority is "perfect" in the media, much has changed in the shows and movies of the 90s and today, with TV shows like "The Cosby Show" and "Fresh Prince of Bel Air" showing middle class black families, challenging the stereotypes of the ghetto.

However, this article also points out that while programs like "The Cosby Show" were progressive for their time, "Critics say that "The Cosby Show" encouraged the idea that people in the ghetto could leave if they would only work hard and that those who were confined to such deplorable conditions were there simply because they were lazy (Gray, 469)." This is certainly an improvement over the usual portrayals of blacks as gang members, or foolish comedians, but it leaves something to be desired. The article mentions that things have improved with shows like "Gray's Anatomy", where several of the main characters are black doctors with power in the hospital, and are portrayed with intelligence and maturity. A very recent example, especially relating to Los Angeles because of Disney and Hollywood, is Disney's The Princess and the Frog, which critics can debate all they want over whether this is a progressive approach or a step backward: the film has a black princess, who marries a Brazilian prince--is it saying that you can't have black couples, or is it applauding interracial couples? In any case, much has changed since the prominently black world of Watts shown in Burnett's film.

For Watts in particular, though, not much seems to have changed. A quick Google search of Watts gives you either the Watts towers or some reference to the riots and further violence. While the Watts Towers are certainly an artistic contradiction to the usual violent representation of the area, they don't counter the image of violence that most people think of when they hear the term. This news article, from 2008, describes a family that had been in Watts for over 25 years, and finally decided to leave because their eldest son was shot for no apparent reason. Another site is devoted to explaining the formation of the Crips gang in Los Angeles, and has links to 8 different factions of the Crips in Watts.

Finally, if you are looking for a pleasant (and cheap) house in Watts, the CA on LA life site gives Watts a 0.5 out of 10 in ratings for both schools and safety, and warns that these figures are much, much worse than most other sections of Los Angeles. The site also has a nostalgic sub-headline: "every address tells a story", and it's clear the story that we are being told about Watts. I am certainly not implying that these figures are wrong, because I have no idea how schools or violence are in Watts currently, but it says a lot about the area and how little has changed in the region and in the minds of Americans. Though Burnett's film attempted to show Watts as a neighborhood, low income but relatively friendly, normal, generally agreeable, the economic and crime status, both in reality and in how we think of them, have either not changed much since the 60s or have gotten worse. It seems to be an unfortunate fact of society that despite the riots in 1965, Watts has not been able to really make a new name for itself.

Chinese American Museum

In his book A World of Its Own, Matt Garcia explores the complex web of interaction present between various immigrant groups and American culture. While he notes the importance of many groups, including the Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino, he focuses on the consistent attraction of Mexican laborers to American opportunities and vice versa. Later on, he discusses the Padua Hills Theatre and offers a cautious praise of the theatre’s intentions to bring Mexican culture into a dialogue with American consciousness through the stories, words, and representations of Mexicans themselves. While Garcia notes the importance the theatre held in offering the Mexican Players opportunities to perform and interact with an artistic community, he reminds readers that the white community failed “to recognize the valid artistry of the Mexican performers” (Garcia, 150). Instead, critics and observers tended to subscribe the talents of the performers to a supposed natural and inherent inclination toward art.

Using Garcia’s focus on the arts, I looked at another immigrant group’s artistic legacy in Los Angeles, the Chinese. The Chinese American Museum in Los Angeles offers visitors a chance to explore the Chinese impact and history within California. At the same time, it aims to give voice to the often- silenced personal experience of Chinese immigrants. In this way, the museum, like the Padua Hills Theatre, seeks to illuminate the different understandings of the American experience in the words of the people themselves. Currently, the museum has an exhibit entitled “Hollywood Chinese.” This exhibit looks at the representation of the Chinese in and the contributions of the Chinese to American films. According to the Executive Director of the museum, “this exhibition will help to inform our communities about the transformative role of race and media and the immense power it continues to have in shaping public perception of Chinese American identity” (Press Release, 2). In this way, the exhibit, like the Padua Hills Theatre, attempts to open up a new understanding of immigrant cultures by exploring artistic representation.

Link to CAM exhibit information page:

http://www.camla.org/exhibit.html#nationalart

Unexpected Places? Union Station, Los Angeles

Matt Garcia’s A World of Its Own exposes readers to the largely “unknown” history of the land the Claremont Colleges occupy. It encouraged me to seek out the history of places I think I know well, such as Union Station in Los Angeles. I should probably note that much more could be said about the history of Los Angeles than what is included in this post, especially because I could not find a large amount of information on the web.

The last time I visited the station, I was surprised to read on a tiny plaque in Patsaouras Plaza a bit of the history of Union Station – not just 20th century history, but specifically the history of the Native American tribes who had once occupied the land in the 19th century.

The little information I found on the web was about the Tongva and Chumash people who occupied most of the now-Los Angeles area. The first Spanish settlers arrived in the area in 1781, and by 1841 had conquered the estimated 5,000 Tongva by building missions (for example, the Mission de San Gabriel in 1771) and destroying one village in particularly, the Yang-na village by the Los Angeles River. By 1841, the remaining Tongva survivors were scattered and living on Mexican land grants. The estimated 20,000 Chumash were attacked as well, and today only a few hundred of the tribes’ descendants remain today.

The cycle of injustice and conquest continues today. I should note the plaque I read did not include the following information – apparently, Union Station was built in 1915 on land once called Old Chinatown, where a significant Chinese population lived because they were strongly discouraged from living in other parts of the city. The residents were given a 45 day notice and ousted from their homes by the government in an (ironic) attempt to move the city’s center from the El Pueblo neighborhood it once occupied because the old area had become too racist and violent. According to the LA Conservancy,“…the city needed the station”.

Links: http://www.laconservancy.org/kids/union_kids_outside.pdf
http://www.laalmanac.com/history/hi05.htm
http://www.colapublib.org/history/eastla/faq.html#q1
http://articles.latimes.com/2009/apr/13/entertainment/et-we-shall-remain13
http://californiawriter.blogspot.com/2004/08/downtown-los-angeles-tour-begins-at.html
http://oldchinatownla.com/history.html

Santa Catalina Island

Despite its close proximity to Los Angeles, I am always surprised by how many people have never visited Santa Catalina Island. Located 22 miles off the coast of San Pedro, Catalina is part of the Channel Islands and is located in Los Angeles County. A census conducted in 2000 places the population at roughly 3,100 permanent residents.

The island has a rich history and has played a key role in Los Angeles history. The indigenous people of Catalina were members of the Southern California Tongva tribe, and archeological digs estimate the first settlement beginning in 7000 BC. The first European to discover Catalina was the Spanish explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, who landed on the island in the mid 1500’s and christened it San Salvdaor after his ship. However, the island was later renamed Santa Catalina in honor of Saint Catherine.
After centuries of private Mexican and American ownership, Catalina was deeded to Los Angeles County ,and has since become a prominent vacation spot for Southern Californian residents. The island offers variety of water sport activities, hiking trails, and historic landmarks, including WWII barracks, the Wrigley Casino and the Zane Grey Pueblo.

Source: Santa Catalina Island, Ca.

Disney: The Tale of Never-Ending Racism

As a typical American girl of Generation Y, I grew up surrounded by representations of life as presented by Disney. Aladdin, Peter Pan, and Pocahontas present three of the most vivid and memorably ethnic characters, and our reading of “Representation: Indian Wars, The Movie” reminded me specifically of Pocahontas and Peter Pan. In his article, Deloria studies portrayals of Indian culture in early American film through The Indian Wars and similar movies from the early 1900s. These representations focused on ideas of “masculine conflict” and “feminine passivity” that seemed to attract filmmakers and viewers of the time period. And though it is easy to read about and see these early films (like we did White Fawn’s Devotion) and laugh at their primitiveness, naïveté and basic racism, it’s interesting that as children we were allowed to see (usually many, many times) things like Pocahontas and Peter Pan without anyone saying boo. The same themes from the early 1900s are acted out by the Indians in Pocahontas’s tribe and the Chief and Tiger Lilly in Neverland, but we’ve allowed them to pass under the radar as less offensive and usually a whole lot more acceptable for the malleable minds of little children. I’m not saying there’s much we can do about this—after all, Disney will probably never change no matter how many years go by (hello, Princess and the Frog)­—but I find it funny how little has changed in our country’s idea of what is and is not politically correct, though we assume we’ve come a long way.

--A great link on the most racist Disney films: http://www.cracked.com/article_15677_the-9-most-racist-disney-characters.html

Searching Japanese-American History

Kristine Kuramitsu’s “Internment and Identity in Japanese American Art” really got me thinking about the different experiences of immigrants thru World War II. On a broader scale, I came to realize that I know very little about Japanese-American history, except for what I learned close to three years ago in the last history course that I took. In addition, I have rarely been present at Japanese or Japanese-American cultural events [with a few minor exceptions]. This ignited my search for exhibits to expand my knowledge and broaden my gaze in terms of the different groups of people that contributed to the United State’s cultural past and steered it to it’s state as modern-day America. However, I wasn’t getting the results I wanted.

I found my search over when I went to one of the centers of the type of information I was looking for. At the Japanese American National Museum in Las Angeles, CA., there is an exhibit that has been there for 11 years: “Common Ground: The Heart of Community”. Including over 100 objects that range from art to artifact, the exhibit chronicles over 130 years of history that I have yet to learn.