Examples of how immigrants from Latin America/person of black heritage creates dirtiness/scariness in LOS ANGE

Question

Los Angeles.

Certain people when asked why LA is so dirty/scary/dangerous, say that the reason that Los Angeles is dirty/scary/dangerous is because of immigration from Mexico

and because black people are present in the area, thus making it this way.

(This isn't to say yes it's true or no it isn't, but to just gather facts about the question. This certainly isn't targeted at putting any race down or being unkind to anyone. )

Can someone give specific examples of how this is the case, or specific examples of how an immigrant from Latin America or a person of black heritage would cause the city of Los Angeles to be dilapidated / dirty/ scary, etc?

Answer 1

I'm going to be pretty unscientific here, but let's try a quick and simple comparison of data on a few cities in CA. First, the racial breakdowns:

Races in Los Angeles:

    * Hispanic (46.5%)

    * White Non-Hispanic (29.7%)

    * Other race (25.7%)

    * Black (11.2%)

Races in San Diego:

    * White Non-Hispanic (49.4%)

    * Hispanic (25.4%)

    * Other race (12.4%)

    * Black (7.9%)

Races in San Francisco:

    * White Non-Hispanic (43.6%)

    * Chinese (19.6%)

    * Hispanic (14.1%)

    * Black (7.8%)

Races in Sacramento:

    * White Non-Hispanic (40.5%)

    * Hispanic (21.6%)

    * Black (15.5%)

So of these cities, Los Angeles has highest percentage of the population identifying as Hispanic, by a margin of almost 20%. We don't know from these figures how many are immigrants and how many are born in the US but we'll ignore that. The black portion of the population in LA is also greater then San Diego and San Francisco, although it is lower then Sacramento.

There isn't exactly an object measure of how "dilapidated / dirty/ scary" these cities are, and I don't know if anyone has done a subjective survey of people's opinions but for now, let's look at an index of street crime for each city from 2006 as a measure of how safe they are:

Los Angeles = 383.7

San Diego = 347.3

San Francisco = 519.9

Sacramento = 665.9

The crime rate in Los Angeles was relatively low... So if people are scared of Los Angeles, it's probably just because they are racist. Any objective conditions of dilapidation and dirtiness could also have something to do with discrimination in the housing market and many other variables. Of course, people spend their lives researching this stuff. You could read many books and still not have a full answer to your question, but the simple answer is racism.

Answer 2

You must consider the situation, and must ask why. First, blacks are often poorer then whites. This is regardless of what schooling they have, employers discriminate and pay them poorly. This leads to these people needing to find more affordable housing and living in poor areas of town. Also they work more hours and do not have as much time to clean. Also, in these poorer areas of town the schools are underfunded and their children do not get the education they need to compete for great wages. So they to get low paying jobs and live in the slums.

This cycle can be broken, that is what America is all about. But what percentage of people really break the cycle? Less then 1%! So who's fault is it that they are in this cycle? Well the firs generation of poor black was the generation that they got out of slavery (or the generation that their parents were made slaves).

How do we end the cycle? Get them equal education, pay them what they are worth. Give them the ability to focus without feeling that they need to quit school to help support their families.

How long should it last? One generation (20-25 years)! If we do it right that should level the playing field for the future.