Living in a gentrified section of a low income neighborhood
There is a social and economic disconnect that becomes pronounced in such environments. It is a necessary discomfort and a brutal aspect of reality. Truthfully, as unpopular as it is to say out loud, the poor and impoverished have largely created their situation and their environments. Efforts to save them are a waste of time and resources.
When I was young, naive, and impressionable, I was of the opinion that some populations were being held back and oppressed. I no longer hold this position. After traveling throughout the country, I have found common cultural themes that pervade various neighborhoods. In what would be called blue-collar neighborhoods, many households are those of tradesmen or lower level management. These neighborhoods tend to have homes that are in generally good condition, whether renting or owning, with owners sometimes having quirky additions and tasteless modifications to their homes. The neighborhoods are reasonably clean and there are community events going on which involve fun and celebration (i.e. some kind of fruit-based or heritage festival). In low-income neighborhoods, like the one surrounding where I live currently, most homes are rented, many have rental assistance, residents are unemployed and receiving welfare, and there is a general lack of community-hosted events. In fact, most events in the areas are government hosted and aimed at promoting welfare programs, substance abuse programs, and second chance job training.
There is also a common racial divide in how the low income neighborhoods approach business. This is a very unpopular and often unpalatable conversation to have, but I believe it to be a necessary one. In many immigrant neighborhoods, you can find skilled services, from the common carpenter, electrician, painter, or plumber, to the less common seamstress, cobbler, and instrument repair technicians. One very obvious feature is grocery and food stores. These neighborhoods have grocery stores in them that are owned and operated by members of the community. These grocery stores have fresh meats, produce, baked goods, and other essentials of good quality. The prices are also very reasonable. Being from Los Angeles, I can think of larger grocers such as Vallarta, El Super, Super A Foods, Jon's, Super King, etc. I have been to others when I lived in Chicago, such as Cermak, Morelia, and Roger's Park Fruit Market. I would also stop by Tony's Fresh Market in Whiting, Indiana when I would ride my bike along the lakefront. Again, there are many cultural events and festivals ran and hosted by the residents of the community.
In what we can call non-immigrant neighborhoods, those were residents would be considered a generic American, "white" or "black," that also have a lower income, there is a general lack of such amenities. There are grocery and food stores in name, but they are effectively liquor and drug stores. They sell more blunt wraps, cheap alcohol, and "gas station drugs" than food, and the food they do have is often overpriced and prepackaged. We are talking about Honeybuns and Takis, not an apple or a chicken breast. Of course, they are a grocery store, and can accept EBT. The businesses run by neighborhood residents tend to be hair salons, barbershops, and overpriced chicken stores. I observed this when living in Dallas, sections of Arkansas, northern Philadelphia, southside Chicago, northern Atlanta, and ventures into South Central Los Angeles. Not only is it exploitative, but it is self-inflicted and self-perpetuated. There is a narrative about an oppressive overlord existing outside of the community, yet the bogeyman seems to be living within the community.
As a general observation, the residents of a neighborhood mold and shape their neighborhood. It is easy to see in neighborhoods that have decayed and those which are being gentrified. To blame an external boogie man is an irresponsible attempt to dodge accountability. I find it absurd that two populations with access to the same resources and governmental assistance programs can produce such starkly contrasting environments and attitudes with regard to their communities. I am unsure where it comes from. We can't use the convenient, common pathway of blaming American slavery because these features are found in kind within predominantly, and sometimes exclusively, white Appalachian hollers and trailer park towns found across the United States. The issue doesn't seem to be a racial one even though it may appear that way on its surface when acutely observed. Rather, it is a cultural one when examined holistically. Seeking race-based solutions is erroneous and problematic.
There is a memetic feature within American culture contributing to the creation and survival of what can be called, in the pejorative, ghetto or white-trash culture, as it is not obviously found within immigrant communities. Another consideration is that of concentration and segregation. It could be that American culture at large is prevailing throughout the United States and these aforementioned features are concentrated in certain areas and the features are present within immigrant communities, with my perspective being skewed because of perceived frequency of the phenomenon. I am open to this idea. I cannot deny the existence of what can be considered undesirables within immigrant communities, those being the unmotivated or burdensome peoples of the community. Because the populations of individual immigrant communities are smaller than that of the non-immigrant community, there is the illusion of difference with the frequency per-capita measure being similar. I will need to do research to know the answer. These are just my thoughts at the moment.
Approaching treatment of the problem as a racial one, which seems to be the mainstream solution, is ineffective as a result, creating a divide between peoples rather than unity and production within the target population.