Week 3 Readings

AMERICAN ALBUM

cate ca lcul ations necessary ( 0 direc t the explosiolll and drilling wllh pinpoint aecura cy. Anoth er, Ann, runs the gift shop, J adw iga Zio lko ws ki is the ope ration's busiflftl manag ", and a lJlird silt"" Dawn, handles mailings. Brolher Muk builds roads and mana ges timbe r, while brother Adam By STEPI-IEN BRAUN ta kes care of the monument property and lI"" ES 5 TM'I' "" IT(M nearby farm, Th ey are aided by :l cre w of 13 workers. woo LACK HIL LS, S.D.- For so long, il was a are paid by:l fund · raising errort tNt is nearing simple mountaintop. But there is no S6 million. but lUll ......ells and diminishes each mista king the human fig ure now sUring out year. Delplle several offers. Koraak Ziolk~~ fro m the peak of Thunderhe:ld Mountain. It is ki re fiJ5ed any government :lid. :I deo»on his th e gran ite taee of the Siowl warTfor Crny f:lmily has stlJCk to during years when dwinHo rse , (jnany emerging atter almost a halfdling funds rceeed temporary suspension of ce ntu ry' s wor k by a long-dead sculpto r and work. Working when th e money comes In, the , th e persis tent fam ily who survived him, crew s have bJ:asted nc.trly 8.5 million lOns of Nine storles ta ll and large enou gh to gra nite off me top al thc mounlai n. contain all four of th e pres iden tial heads looming from l1C!ighboring ML Rushmore. the The l1lOfIumen t was :I 5UCCessful loomt nea rly completed race of em)' Hot'Se is the a u raction even when the peak of T hunder· fin t milest ol1C! in a pro;ec t expecte
Gu ided by their father's vision, the Ziolkowskis are nearinga milestone in thei r efforts to sculpt a mountain . into the image of Crazy Horse.

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Vrsitors examine the nine-story-tall face of Crazy HOfSe at Thunderhead Mount ain, Th e sculptor', family has gen era lly wo n plaudill from the state's Nauve American g roups for their wor k. Later th is month. the Ziolkowsk is will open a Nauve American Education and Cultura l Center, a facility walled wilh g ra nite blast fragments , The ce nter will be lIlarfed by Indians , hos Ung loca l stu denlll and dtsp laying works by Native American artists. - On a recen t day whe n Casimir Ziolkowski blas ted more rock frag menlS on the mounta in , a busload o r visiting Indian students from the Canadian prov ince o r Manitoba were so awed by the face of Crazy Horse that lJley broke Into an impro mptu tri ba l cha nt of pra ise on th e lodge's obse rv atio n dec k. The detonations proceeded , as lhey always have on Th underh ead Mou nU-in, with work man like precision. After sec uri ng explosive cords in rock furr ows well beMath Crazy Horse 's cnggy face , Casi mir Ziolkowski re o trea ted to a prot ee t.ve cage atop the moun - , Ialn. "Fire ill the hole!" he shout ed, • Thunderh ead Mou nta in rumbled , ilS elifFs d usty with falli ng rock s, one clay close r lo its transforma tion into a moun ted Indian war rio<.

LAND AND SPIRITUALITY AND THE DESCANSOS byAmnlia Af('lIr-Bmi/oJ

Territorialization. annexation, forced migration. reservation s, colonization and relocation have characterized the history and ancestry of Mexicans in the"United States. Su ch a history has forged a resiliency marked in a landsca pe of che ris hed sites. In this sense the re latio nship be tween faith . land an d self determination has also been one of spirit. land and self representation . It is within the se connections of nature and history that a politicizing spirituality establishes its (lI~nrtJ tk[ IUIUrYJo in the words of Zamudio-

Taylor. F rom a lugnr, a p lace ou tside of Western trad ition , and th rough critical negativity, a reconstruc tion of a qualitatively different relationship to nature can be pos ited and acted upon . The ceremony of memory recogn izes in ou r epirituality and tradition a'reconci liation with na ture and the so matic. We hav e been throw n into conditions we have not made and are obl iged from necessity and reality to evercome constraints and pai n,' Wi thi n thi s fra mework the Chica no issues ofland and culture stand as vital points in the constructi on of identity. Often the issues ofidentily pre valent in the contempo rary art di scourse

have described cultural specificity as otherness. This othe rn ess has been presented through the critique of th e body and po litical relations. but on ly re cently through land and spirituality. Memory and history inspi re a sp ir itua l identity forged in struggle against d omination. For the Mexica n descend ed Chicano this domination is evidenced in the ongoing relationship with th e U.S. bo rd er and a subjectivity med iated by th is rupture . Iron ically, the approp ria tion of "Bord ers" in the poet mcdem debate has bee n used to erase diffe rence and socio-geogra phic rea lity. Terminology which arose from real s ituations and social issues at th e U.S.lMexico border and in other parts of Latinamerica has been dccontextualieed and applied to a variety of critical in tellect ual enterprises with little acknowledge- , ment of th e drastic cultural emerge ncies tak ing place in the Ameri cas. In reclaiming the discourse of a very real phenomenon of borden, geographies a nd cultural displacements we can begin to clarify the issues of our complex identities. The understanding of place or /ugnr as a cr itical aspect of cult ural se lf desc ription is foun dational. Anchor ing ourselves in a gee-spatial context allows us to see th e relat ion s between place and name, history and ide ntity.

LAND AND HISTORY In the context of history and identity, land serves as an organizing agent for ar tistic cultural p rodu ct ion. It is pa rt of a complex se t of designations that are at the same lime a geographic rea lity. a bisto -pcl iticel experience, a sp iritual foundation and a familiar s ignpost.

a proroun d sense th e luc.: lliity .....re mod ern day Chi can o or M exican Ameri can arises from 1I10se Mexicans who remained north of the border aft er th e 1848 annexation in which Mexico ced ed 51.2 pe rce nt or its territory to the Un ited St at es. Becau se of the annexation, people of Mex ican descent entered th e United St ates as a co nque red peo ple and w ere defined as an "ethnic g ro up".' Yet the ancestral lega cy of homeplace and landright is founded in a Meso American world. For Mexican descended people thi s continent has be en a-true site of beginning in ~ an Amer-Indian world . t1 Chicanos have suffered a long history of \ separation and displacement th at has brought w ith it both a connect ion with Mexico and a sense of homeland in th e United State s. Thus. lan d acts as a s ubject and text con tinu ally rec laimed thro ugh th e imagination. In an atte mpt to retrieve a lost pa st many Chicano artists and activists renewed the con cepts of the N ahuatl spiritual worldview still held by many indigenou s peoples across the Americas. This cosmology is hued on the bel ief that we live as visitors upon the land. This attitude toward time and land i through temporal and spatial ideas was best described in philosophic writings of the Nahuatl world.

EVt It tS leo ~ . · dit· ks : Even if it is made of tJlldu[ feeehera it is torn N ot to be on earth forever; only for a shor t wh ile

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I, Nezahualcoyoll ask th is questi on: Is it true that on e lives with roots on eartb? Not to remain on earth forever' only a sho rt while

The constructi on of land relati on s is based on a process of naming or distinsu ishing land that on e occupies. For the C hicano who springs from a Mexican meetiaaje, land conti nues to be marked with an overlapping linsuistic map. part English. pa rt Spanish. pa rt Nahuatl . The colonizers b ro ught with th em a geographic memory ! th at they imposed on M exico through acts of pes- : session and nomination. The transposing of Spanish topographic language of place names ont o a Mexican terrain occ urred through a series of,renaming processes. The land was marked with the map of anot her language as the inva ders took possession of nora and fauna . Despite th e 1821 independence from Spain the Mexican memory of the first place/name had been forever marked by the recasting of Spain's reality within Ihe new world . The 1848 annexa tion in turn set adrift a Spanish language mapping that survives today in th e American Southwest . Spanish city and state names sta nd as a melancholy reminder of tbis complex pa st. For Chi canos and Mex icans in the Southwest there is a con ti nual tensio n between the s hado w of an ea rlier central presence and their co nte mpora ry marginalization in a hom eland. This mapping and remapping adds to the disguised issues of history and identity embedded in the we stern landscape for M exican s. But for Chi canos th e most lasting aspect of their re lation to land hal been the after math of . '.

th e U.S. annexatio n of North ern Mexico an d tile ex ploitat ion of the G uadalupe Hidalgo Treaty of 1848. To underst and th e human impact of th e annex ation it is significa nt to rea lize tltat th e Treaty of G uadalupe H idalgo. execu ted on February 2, 1848, Mexico ceded to the Uni ted States one- half of the territory whi ch it possessed. This enormous land included California, Arizona, N ew Mexico and also approved the earlier a nnexation of Texas. Th e Mexican nat ionals of th e annexed ter ritory had one year to ret urn to M exico or bec ome pa r t of th e U.S. Wi th few exce ptions the internally colonized remained un der a treaty th at promised the safeguarding of th eir cult ura l auton omy. th at is, they were given th e r ight to retain the ir language, religion and culture. While initial figur es indicate only a pop-ulati on of 100,000 or more, th e impact hislori cally and cultura lly wa s immeasurable. These inequities of land and property resulted in false and arbitrary boundari es. borders and de marcations that cruelly di vided families and commu nities. While the annex atio n divided th e land it eleo left those Me xican s encap sulated and internally colonized defenseless against already escalating violence, especially in Texas. Despite the Guadalupe H ida lgo treaty the protecti on of M exicans in the U.S. was largely ignored by the , governmen t. Abu se of rights. land loss and d iscrimination was pa rt of th e everyday life o f Mexicans in their new cou ntry. Attempts by Mexican co nsulates in the U.S. to assis t th e remaining Mexican s were only slightly effect ive and in many areas Chicanos or Mexica ns begin to ba nd toge ther to defend and resist these cc nd i-

tio ns. The Mexican Ind ependence Movemen t and M exi can Revoll1tion remain profound historical influe nces in Chica no a.rlistic vision. As foundations for conce pts of " u:.Jliznje or mixed race ident ity of Indian a nd Spanish descent. these two events provided both an imagined and remembered pa st. Many Chicanos ca n trace their families presen ce in th e United States from th e 1848 annexatio n or th e 1910 revolu tion. In each instance land wa s reconfigu red and new bo rde rs provoked family tales of resistance which mark th e hist oric power of th ese origins. The critical Chi cano reclamat ion was ba sed in part on models of cultural ad vocacy from th e 1910 revolution w hich attempted land reform and es tablished a positive meetieeje a nd social reform. The issue of the border remains from 1848until present time one of th e most formative realities for Chicano/Mexicans. As a dis course employed currently by cultural critics an d art historians to refer to a variety of subjects. it is for the Chicano artistic vision a ve ry real ecc ial co ndition. In his paper "T his is not a Border ", Chon Noriega relates a family narrative of political and multiple experiences. It is an old family joke that th e Noriegas never crossed the border. it crossed th em. setdi ng some eishty miles to th e south between El Paso and J uare z..S

In this way the history of Ch icano. as internal colonials has created a complex set of geographic and po litical boundaries w hich cannot be easily s ubsumed unde r te rms like "immigrant." This co ntinuing struggl e for land rights and economic survival was no more evid ent than in th e for ced repat riati on O f Mexican s a nd Mexican American s by the U.S. government. During th e Depression of th e 1930 's a hal f mil. lion Mex ican s in tile U .S. (the majority were Mexican -Ameri can s) we re sent bac k to Mexi co. Once again th e Un ited States treatment of Mexican-Americans wa s on e of di spla cem ent. Migrati on and displacem ent were a recurrent paue m for Mex ican s and Chica nos relegat ed to lower paying jobs in agricultu re. Following the crops these migran t workers ancho red th eir reality in a geographic memory. Their social relations we re di ctated by cro ps. harves ting, interma rriage. 1'(I"'I'(,~razgD and camp life. Eve n th ose a ge neration beyond the camps recall th ose rural traces. The exp loitatio n of Mexican la borers was a characteristic patt ern in U.S. agribusiness. The attempts at union organiz ing for impro ved condition s was an ongoing strugg le resorting in the profound Hltt!ga or strike movement of Ce sar Chavez and the United Farmwcrkers in th e 1960's .

CH ICANO AZT LAN The d ra matic pull of land as a sym bol for bo th th e resistance to an occ up ied reality and the spiritual vision of a homeland have been two of the strongest orga nizing concepts of meaning am ong Chi canos. Aztlan has become a geopclitica l signpost for bo th of th ese concepts:

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The earliest Chicano idcntily was bo rn of a resistance to the deb ilitating, racist and limited values of th e do mina nt culture. Chicanos affirmed a mUlu,rje culture based on a complex system o f ances try. territory an d mythology founded in the continent. The term Aztlan , derived from th e Nahuatl. Aztitlan (meaning place of th e heron s), was inter preted by Chi can os as the lands 10 th e north. Thus th e Chicano view g rew to mean Mexico's northern em pire or th e So uthwest. Film scho la r Chon A. Noriega de scribes the con cept of th e Aztlan as the mythical homel and of th e Azte cs and the reclaimed nationhood of Chicanos in th e 1960 's: By I%5, d iver se socia l pro tests in the Southwest had coalesced into a nati onal civil rights movem ent known as th e Chi cano Moveme nt. Aztlan now consi dered ils fun damen tal ideo. log ical construc t or living myth -provided an alternative geography for th ese effor ts to reclaim. reform . or redefine social space - land , government , sc hools. a nd the urban barrio. Aztlan also helped se t in motion a cultural

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reclamation project in literature. the arts, scho lars hips and everyday culture and in its current sense. Aztlan now refers to th ose pla ces wh ere Chicano cultu re

Ilcuriehes.' This sy mbolic term. Aztlan, reflected the importance of a cultural reclamation upon which a Chi cano idenlity could be founded. Despite a Mexican history layered by con quests and muliut resista nces..... Aztlan now re fers to "a complex geo po litical space ", accordi ng to N oriega. This colonial appro priation of land inten sified the already historic memories of invasion and loss and marked the Chi cano psy che with an ab iding needJor a place of their own making and a point of origin in that Southwestern territory. . Aztlan was mytholog;zed beyond its origina l M eso- American meaning into th is territorial poi nt of re birth. During th e most act ive days of the Chicano Mo vement such figure s u Reies Lopez T ijeri na and his Fede ra l Alliance of Land Grants attempted to reclaim their Sp ani sh land grants in New Mexico. Th~se efforts, however failed. are indicat ive of the social reali ty of land reclamation. Homeland. return , decoloniz.ation - however impossible as a social goal - rem ained an imaginary sile of meaning. Aztlan as an imagined space ca rr ied with it the ca ll to uni ly. This Chi cano memory of a fragm ented geography structures the call to self th at drives much of th e

Chi cano artistic vision. In this sense lan d ccnti nued to act as a san ctuary of treas ured memories with particul ar sites ope rating as rest ing places of meaning and historic ex perience. Even when official histories have erased the popular remembran ce of he longing the landscape succeeds in restoring to us the po wer of our presen ce.

TIERRA INCOGN ITA La nd, pla ce. space. terrain; geography, topography. lan dscape, are all re fere nces to the "liu ra i"ell!jllila " of contemporary Chi cano life. Often th e frame of the pa st is memorialized th rough the present. The spirit of th e land remains as a topography of our history. Stories are told . re lived in a pres ent day w here so ngs of the cor~fields haunt th e urban setting. M""lntTaJ an d ctrt'OJ, de sert an d ""pal are remembered and symbolized as icon s of th e other Mexico. Pueblos and tIJt,/"iaJ in New Mexico are part of th e record of th e old ways. The cottonwood trees. th e Rio Grande. and Chaco ~ nyon live as nature 's wi tnesses to history. They are th e visible presence of a spiritual lan dsca pe fore ver tied 10 cul tural beliefs. In California the ald er trees, the river beds. the spacious valleys of Baja Califas are the traces of another way of life in the backd rop of a mode rn Los Angeles. It is often in our expe riences w ith na tu re th at we seek a contex t for ide ntity th rough memory. For many tr. dit ional peoples the ho meland is marked by where our dead are buried. Then the top ography is naturally demarcated with our lived experience. Land is the site of cere monies. the a bu nd ance of agricuhure and feas ting. th e place of po pular spectacle and th e site of loss.

Nature sta n('s as a witness to hist ories of slr uS. glc, beal·ing the silellt mem ory of th e bones of our a nces to rs. Alth ou gh a n ea rly generation of Mexican! Chica nos ex~riences a more rural life on r,u,clm." a nd in colomnJ throughout the Western Uni ted States, th e more current gen eration experiences c uh ural life in a largely urban setting. Yet th e rural tra ces Ila ve pe netra red th e rea lity of urban life throu gh tales and mu sic. Th e co ntinuo us flow of immigra nts brings the as sociations, refer. e nces, a nd customs of Mexico 's rural wo rld to enca mpmen ts in th e heart of th e metropolis. On any given day in th e ce nters of Los Angeles. San Di ego, Chicago and even N ew York, one ca n see the displaced ca mpesino living in a suspe nded rurality, hybridized and polarized within the dominating technologies of th e city. But th e !Mr. no., of ou r cities are truly th e contemporary sites of our co mplex identities. H ere between free . ways a nd industrial warehouses, displaced by urban ren ewal a nd exiled by economics. large Mexi can communities continue th eir day to day . lives . [J" rritJ,r filled with Spanish speaking bu st. neeses a nd the vibra nt cultura l activ ities a re also touched by th e aliena tio n and poverty of city life. Many of these hist ori c "tlly-iDol are the earliest landmarks of Mex ican culture in the United St at es. predat ing th e a nnexa tion. H ere th e car replaces the horse a nd charm, ha ve long ago g iven way to C~,ft" and pn.,~tJJ are now distant memories as th e lowriding cruise is the social pastime. Communities strugg le wid. the violen ce of gan g warfare as y oung men die for a false a nd te mporary sen se of digni ty amidst a dehumaniz. ing exclusion .

and 2 c hild re n. largely from the laboring:c1ass. . 'ty o f Mexico fro .ntier, I 111e maJon . 's North. western . peditic n's racial compos ition demy st ifics l ie colonial image th at is still p ropagat ed in film and literature. Of tile 23 founders: 8 w ere I dian s 10 were of African descent (2 being 8 bei ng mulatto) , I was Filipino, .J was mestizo (S panis h and Ind ian) , 1 was of Indi an and mulatto descent, I was of Spanish de sc ~nt born in Mexico a nd I was of blac k .an~ In~lan de scent. Their ra cial complexity is t ?d ,.catl~e of th e dynam ic racial mixtu res or mulu.lIje so ~nt e ­ grel to the destiny of Los Angeles. Es ta bl ~s~ed on, Se ptem ber 4• 1781 • this small pu eblo orlgmal. La Iy named "rn Pueblo de Nuestra Sen~ra dCI Anplcs" remained a small pueblo amidst a majority of Ind ians. T he first mayor of Los Angel es was J ose Vanegas, an Ind ian from Ourango. T he M exican ce nsus of 1793hdocu-. ments only 32 European Spania~s in t ~ e?tlre , region mos t of whom were Franciscan . . mlsslonariee accord ing to Rios-Bustamante In""hls "Illustra ted History of Los Angeles. Although th e E uropea n myth of Spanish d esc~nde? cy has been cultivated to describe Aha Cehforniae found ing families , it is largely erroneous.

~~panish" b~ack a~d

The 1848 Annexation IDd tbe pu ~bJQ . During th e brutal and rac ist occupanon of U.S. Captain Archibald Gillespi, ~erbul o Varela and Leonardo Cola and 300 MeXican men rose , )°' 6 under the "Pro nunciamjeDto Contra up. In 0"'1 • • • 1 Loa Norte Americanos • decl an ng them se ves loyal to Mexico . Los Angeles was reca.ptured at . the Battle of Rio Chino. Fighting con h n u~ ~nt,l MeJricanos were outnumbered and an armistice

TI-IE CASE OF LOS ANGEL ES Th ese urban l"gnIY,1 Je nl'tu rdo are most apparent in the metropolis of los Ang eles. The longstanding history of Los Ang eles as a Mexican city is pa rt of both its myth and its reali ty. Fu eled by ma sses of Chi cano. Mexican o and Latino workers. the Los Angeles struc tu res of bu siness and entertainment are Supported by this silent and unempowered presence. Yet t he inv isi. Me s ites of this c ultura l community ca n be traced back to the late J700's .

From the founde re of El ~: Lo, I de Porciuncula. to the Chic.no Movement. to the 1992 Uprising the submap of Los Angeles is a cultura l chron icle of Latinos. These events arc situated in memorial sites that a re at once collee, rive, public a nd personal. To name the se sights/si tes is 10 describe a sp iritual and c uh ural landscape th a t i. the resting pla ce of the dead. Here in unm a rked territory a re the pla ces of struggle and ca tas trophic loss. In these resting places, or DesCjIDSOI'. the hidden a nd un eJrcavat. ed terrain of Los Angeles is one of geography, economics. rac ism and social a pa rt heid . Like the road side signs of tragic events they remind U8 of the familiar but unstated hist ories of the Mexican and Latino presence in Los Angeles.

Nue.lra Senora La ReID' de

SITES The Foyndinc of Lol Ancel" In 1781• • t th e time of the founding of Los Angeles. th e inh abitants were Gabrielino
was decla red du ring w hich M cxicanoe of ~h a Ca lifornia awai ted th e out come of the M eXican Amencan ' w ar. In February of 1848 th e . tre a ty of G uadalupe Hid algo ced ed Ah a Ca lifor nia to th e United Stales.

The Mexican Revolution and th e Macon Brothers . Rica rdo and Enrique Mason were major figures in th e 1910 Me.xican Revolution. As writers and pol itical orgaDlzers, they led the . opposition to th e M exican president. Porfirio 0 ,l a %. Th ey were forced int o exile; in 1914 were publishing th eir radi cal new spaper,. . . Rqencracioo, in Los Angeles. ThIS publication ontributed to the role Spanish language newspa; ers play ed in creat ingcultural identity and so lidarity. . Because of their association With th e . Mexican Liberal Party in Los Angeles a~d their popularity (RepocracioD had a circulation of 30.000). they were constantly harasse~ by ~th Mexican and U.S . governments. Th~,r po~ l hcal aClivities were an inspiration to Me~t cans 10 t.he labor movement but they were con~t c t e~ of VI Olating th e U. S . neutrality laws and imprisoned. The Magon brothers remain ed in Lea~en~orth Federal Penitentiary where Rica rdo died 10 1922 from a possible assassination. Commynity Celebrationl . Community organizations pro vided MeJr icans a n impo rta nt link wi th the ir cultura l identity and soc ial history. Many groups were mullidliJlnJ, wh ich were at their basis eelf-defe nee organizations providing health insurance and

finan cial supports. The Alianza Hi spanoAmericano was aimed at the growing middle class, while groups like EI Club Anahauc served more as a social club for cultural and charitabl e activ ities. La Sociedad Moctczuma, La Socjedad MUlualjsta Mexj eana - all brought an emphasis on Mexican nationalism and Mexican holid ays , with parades, dances and political rallies. From th e early 1900's to the 1920's. musical groups and theater and dance compani es sought to preserve cultural ties to Mexico while increasing their presence in the U. S. The Mexican Removal Project and New Barrios Sonoretown, near the central plaza . was the originalbnrrit' for Mexicans. The government bulldozed it to make way for commercial buildings. Mexicans were forced into the eastside. and the historic Chicano enclaves of Belvedere (La Maravilla). Doyle Heights. and Lincoln Park were born . Prior to World War I housing discr imination through the use of restrictive mortgage contractswas prevalent. This housing pattern wa s accompanied by discrimina tion in labor hiring. and Chicanos were relegated to lowpaying agricultural and heavy industry jobs. The myth of Mexicanos as a transient lab or force allowed their exploitation in housing and work conditions. Repatriation or Depor tation The massive Mexican deportation proje ct during the Great Depression was known as Repatriation. Nationally. some 500,000 Mexican s and Chicanos were forced to return to Mexi co. Los Anseleslocal government officials helped

li ousioK D iscri mination ami Wilshire UQuleYJWl The continuation of hou sing discr imination wa s expe rienced by Mexican s attempting to move into Anglo dominated areas. My parents were among the thousands of Mexi can s facing incidences of prejudice. They were forced out of a rental by an Anglo neighborhood petiti on··while they were trying to move on the other side of the invisible dividing line. Wilshire Boulevard. Lawrence and Marina Mesa, like countless other newlyweds. were denied fair housing simply because of their ethnicity. Chavcz Ravine The 1949 Housing Act promoted massiv e urban renewal programs at the expense of displacing Mexicans under the guise of redeveloping blighted areas. By the 1950's the Mexican population had rea ched 272,000 of Los Angeles' 1,970,368 inhabitants. yet this communi M ty had little protection from a history of relocation . The historic barrio of Chavez ravine was the site of bulldozing as land designated for . public housing was developed for the Dodger Stadium. Mex ican communities with little political representation were vulnerable to freeway projects and commerc ial development as they be came further and further marginalized in tile landscape of a city th ey once founded. The Blowouts, the Chi cano Moratorium and the Death of Ruben Salazar The Chicano Movement wh ich began in the late 1960's had brought to Mexican descended people a new se nse of identity as Chi canos. Political organizing in support of a wide variety

immigration authorities to ship 100.000 Mexicans back to M~xico by train . Many raids took place at th e Placita a popular Mexican meeting place. A majority of those were U:S. citizens and the deportation s disrupted th e sense of plac e as well as Ih.c pot ential political power of th e commu nity. Ironically, after much hardship and in some inst ance considerabl e time most deportees returned to th e U.S.

The Zoot Suit Riols .

In the 1940's the most blatant racist pracM trees were commonplace. including racial segregation in movie theate rs and repression of the Spanish language in public sc hoo ling. This domination took obvious forms such as wage inequities and housing discrimination, but it also took more subtle forms. Access to cultural and recreational institutions such as the Hollywood Bowl, the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, perks and public libraries was restricted. both by d istance and by institutional attitudes toward Mexicans. In this setting Chi cano Youth simply had few outlets for thei r ow n cultural expressions. The striking zoot suit dress of Mexican youth in the 1940's bec ame a magnet for Marine personnel on wartime leave. In the hysteria of patriotism the long simmering racism toward Mexicans eru pted in beatings and stripping of zootsuited youth. Amidst this the Sleepy Lagoon murder case became a revelation of Mexi can baiting as II y outh were convicted of a murder in a climate of discrimination and sensationalism. They were acquitted after eweyears imprisonment on false charges.

of issue s including far m work ers rights. bilingual education. land and water rights. Tiley we re part of a complex undertaking of awakening ccnsciou eneae and de veloping political action. In 1968 thousands of Chi cano students walked out of th eir classrooms in five L.A. high schools in protest of discrimination and inferior educational conditions. These Blowouts. as they were called. ignited other aspects of resentment and by 1970 Chicanos were galvanized by the intensity of issues facing the co mmunity. These activities resulted in the Chicano Moratorium. The Silver Dollar Cafe was the scene of the shooting of journalist Ruben Salazar during the massive anti-war demonstration by Chi ca nos known as the Chi cano Moratorium. Immicratjon a nd Goyernment Policies From th e demonstrations in 1977 against the Carter Immigration Plan to M .A.L.D.E.F.'s defense against the SimpsonMRodino Law of 1986 Chi canos have battled for themselves and other Latinos to protect the rights of the immigrant. Despite th e long embedded underclass of immigrants that provides domestic help, childcare, restaurant service. janitorial. hospital and ot her institutional support throughout th e infrastructure of Los Angeles, times of scarcity fuel growing anti-immigration fever, especially as Latinos rea ch numerical majority in the region. Th e sites of these invisibl e services are part of the urban terrain. These are only some of the memorial Lupees that describe the burial of sentiment. spirit, and passion that is recalled through the lJe.Jcm",ev. In the construction of a group life

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, Ped ro ~s l illo, Illu strated liiltQO' pr Mexican Los AOlel ca, (Los Angles: Chicano Stud ies. Resea rch Cente r Publications. UCLA. Mon ograph no, 12.

th ese places of resilien cy demarcate by th eir histcrical ex iste nce the meaning an d co he siveness of a c ulture . The landsca pe of Latinos in th is reg ion is a (re) c1aiming of place a nd a (re) me mbe ri ng of th e spirit ual. T his vision of history and gcogri phy is a testing of ou r ow n remembran ces . thro ug h the social imaginat io n.'

1986)

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Amalia Mesa-Bains is an installation artist, critic a nd scholar. She ha s se rved a s Commisicner of Art for the City of San Fra ncisco. Sh e received a

MacArthur fellowship in 1992.

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I Za mudio-Taylo r. Vict or. <&n:moQ1 of S,pi61 (San Fra ncisco: cata losue elsay. The Me xiCAn Mu seum. San Fra ncisco. 1993) 2Ma rio Barrer... Ik.,yond Azdan; Ethnic Autgnomy in Comparatiye Pc Clpccljye ( Londo n: Univen ily or

Notre Dame. 1990), p. 9. 3Chon Nori ega. -rbis is not a Border." ~ Speclp,!Qr, 1993. " Ch Qn N o r iege,

ibid..

5 Roa dsid e shrines, a trad itional popular response ie accidental de ath ,

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6AnlQnio Riol.Bustamante a nd Pedro ystillo. IIIustraled H jltQO' of MexiCAn Los AOIele•• ( Los Angeles: Chicano Studies. Research Center Publica tions. UCLA•• Mon osra ph no. 12. 1986).

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7 Althou gh they hav e nol bee n specifically cited • •he following w Qrk s have infQrmed the discu ssion put fort h in tllis essay: J udi lh F. Oaca, Watkinl Tour and G u jde IQ lhe G rCit Wall of WI AOle1ea. (I.os Angeles: Social Public Resou rce u nler, 1983); Carlos Navarro an J Rcdolfc Anay a. In Search of Com mu nity: A Compa rat ive Essay on Mexican s in Los Angeles a nd San Anto nio, Th rou gho ut this essay I am endepeed to Anton io RiOl-Uusllmanle a nd

v y '-i1tL ~ Th. Real Multiculturalism : A Struggle ~o r Authority and Power Amilia

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for the lU I six or so year' a numbtr o f us have bee n involved In con fer' ences in the United Statu and abroad. tal1dns about twrythl ns from the polltkJ of culture to the center and m.lJlin, and I' m almost exhliusted with the tmn "",/Iiev/llmll, So I' m SOinS to try to plrt the Yell Ii little bit. I grew up in the sixties, fint In the blKk·power movement with my hus· bind, thm in the Chiano rDO'Iftl'ICDt, and lat~, liS lin eduatOf In th at golden ft'lI of mw ticultunl educatio n in the public schoots; so I've heard Ii lot of jlirson come lind go. Mlllliculh,,./ism see ms to be Ii tenn tha t we lire romfottable with lit p~nt, possi bly beause 01 its euphemis tic nliture. (t .allows u, to Kknowledge our 0Wl'l eth rtid ty, bu t not the Cltcsorkal dillereras In race, d us. and gender that lirt below the Surt'lice and need to be ad dmHd in order to d eal ln an JiPPfOPrilite lind mponslve WJIy with the d ivenlty we're talldng abou t.

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In this pos tcolon ial. po,,-dyi! rig hts era we are faced . in many \VIiys for the fin t time, not simply with iss ues o f quanl lflCiltkln. liffinnalive aercn. quotas, parity, access. and representatio n, but with the qUli litative aspects of the diwne experi ences of uniqueness , the poIysemic voice th"t we spea k of so often. These are the issues th at I belieYe on some level hlive pt'* trated you r Institu tions and with which you aft StnlggUnS. ConceplS like plitrimony, Whose Is II? Stewards of a commonwealth. Whose wea lth? How was it gained?

We o ften speak of style, cu ltunl styie, 1saw a photognph in which Ii young blond white boy was _ aring drelidlocks; I also saw • full-plige lid in

, •

Whit we're reliUy tlilldns libout Is a kind of pos trolonial dlupora. Murh of lirt his tory and our kfeas abou t lirt, the museum, lind c:oI1«ting have come out of the ~niaI IiSts. We are now dea ling with the generations eeseendlint from those coIonilil experimres .and occupatio ns, but they have ro me hometo the color\in. In the me of indigenous MnoameriCilns, these eem munitles represent an expe rieece of ln~mli l roloniutlon . You are now mee ting their gnndctukfrtn, deaUnS with those of us lind ou r children who rome from thlit ellPftienre of the pos tcolonililliV.

ConseqUlently. " II of the institutional ilnd theoretical d~'C lopmenls from "'hkh you r institu tions spring cOflfiict with ,...hlit we, loS people of color, reprts~nt, The rontemporary expressions of individuals.nd com munities who uve between tradlnc n and in novation simply do n'l fit Westem earegories: Mul ticultu ralism has lillowed the mainstrelim " rts community to grow somewh at com plKent. II hIS draw n" lillIe closer pe rh aps. bu t on some levels still main tliins a di stance- ii dlst"ore from the issues of racism and lingu istics.

GllrmOllr showlnS a Ugh t.s kin ned black wom an ~I ri ns blue lenses, Style hu lilways bee n style. but the issues of real aoss-cuJturaI Of tnnscu ltu ral exchange And, more importlin t, the cu ltunlly specific: YaNes th at people " brins to those tnnscultural encounters are w hat we hliye had the most difficul ty [KinS'

Cultul'lil Plotrimony I come from Ii fl mily that im mipl~ from Mexico. lincl l gre w up in Ii community with other undocummted families. I'm the first in my flimily to receive I highe r educa tion I nd , to som e d egre e, the first to encounter I lu ger institutional life; consequently, my family yalues haw been put Into question time and time apin. Th is goes beyond ecde switc:hins-leliming w hat kind of clothes to weI;[ o r wh at voice to spelik in-to fund amenu l questions of rellitionshlp.

It is in the areas of plitrimony, cultural values, lind somet hing that C~ rl05 More calls · lnteret h nic intimJiCY" that we are presentl y stnl UlinS' By inter87

AMA LIA M ESA- I AIH S

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I would like to share with YOU a quote ho m Trinh T. Minh-H• • whom many of YQII mlY know as an artist, critic. and 61m~ker. She says: "You who understa.rd the dehumanization of fceced removal·re1oca.tion-rerducatlon· redefi nition. the humiliation of having to f.llsify !'OUr reality. your voiceyou know. And etten YOU cilnnot say it. You try 10 keep on 10 unsay it, but please-we must say it. You tTy;:and keep on trying to uns.ay it, for if you . donl , thev will not fail to liUIn the blanks on your behalf, and you will. be sa.id:'1 I ~I~ Trinh is speaking of the wry Issue Wlf are concerned with today. which is. How do we reflect pt'tYlous history? It m~ seem that the art historicalsitu..tion is Ht .part from such other contexts, but no ut is ~d its soml. political• • nd historial context. How do these issues of power, cultural democracy, . nd self-definltion pertain to exhibitions, ..udiences..nd resources?

ethnic. or intelTKi.ll, I n rim~·. we are not ~ Iki ns abol.!t that fearful thing called WI, which K eminsIY is one of the driving fOf(M in racism. We're s"eakins of something much more Intimate than that; that Is respect. understanding. .and r.«hanse. In many respects, piltrimonial values and Intnethnic intimacy constitute the Nllieground In which we will worit out the twent:,"first century: and In

this luge-sc
Our In·stitutions are ensconced in coRCq)ts of history based, as I stated earlier. in a coklnialage . Anthropology. psychology, and archa.eoJosy oriJin ated in those times. The first typologies. which measured the dislance betwten ptopWs ~ 10 determine thrir intdlectu.! capacities. included terms like plrkprmic. dtoln ic, and melmdtdic. Those were the beglnninp of psychology. Such coloni.l-age tools h.w set the st.ge for the historical understanding with which the pa.radigms of art hLstory haw been placed.

I define power.as the abiUty to ceae Kif-definitions upon which OM can act. Adlon Is deuly the Issue at h.nd. Dialogut: hl5 been going on fot quite. long time. From your point of view, the questions may now be: How should we do this. and whalt will h.ppen if we do? How far do we have to 10 with It? Must I giw up the type of stewardship my institution repre-

iwas owrjowd to hear Irene Winter refer to james OUford, bec.use

OUford's ~k is wry slpillant ln helping us to understand why we find OIJlSdws in confusion and disorder 0Yft" the .rts and culture of people of c:oIor. I can't rem to them as il minority, beeeuse numt rlcally they're not. I could I'ROTt .ccuratetv c.n them . dlstlncllTUljoritv, or mulliracill communities. We are t. lking prim.rily ..bout Issues of 111~. Tosome degree, race is also a euphemism of the colonialage. one that w.as designed 10 divide resources from IInsuistic groups. Nonetheless. we deal with these notions of race. a.nd it Is Oifford and others lib him who compel us 10 quesucn these origin.1 paradigms.

seats? Wh.t h.ppm. when people from mulHnciaI and multicultural communities corne Into the museum-when we bepn to change our cur' atorial focus and 10 dew:'op other kinds of exhibition and acqulslUon polkin? The ability to self·define-. complex task In • postcolonl.lage-Is at the he.rt of the str\lgsle. lam. Chiana, which means Ihat my parents were born In Moico. I was born in the UrUted States. and I came to my own sense of poo.wr-stIf-dt6nition foUowtd by action-during the dyil rishts mowmtnt. The Chicano moV'tmenl was piYOlalto me and my K ifdefinition. Chicana, after .lI thest ye. rs, is an kimtity based on the . bilitr to.act upon a sense of who lam.nd what 1come from . Ewn within mr own community I haw been SUlded by that sense of klentity. But we're talldns .bout something probablyew:n ~ complex than that because It Invotvts many identities and mlnr str\lgglts. 88

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Whm O ltfO«l talb a.boutthe wa.y In whkh coUectinS tw grown out of co\onial-age ICquisltions. he emphulzes how this chaoticcoUectinl resulted in an order burd on a kind of Western sublKlivity. From this early dale the cultural expressions of the non·Western world were reordered I nd misapprehended.

tI9 ... M A LI ... waU.-.."INS

lEAL M U LT I CULTuaALl SioC

What Clifford points out is that we haw dmsed . dual system in which Western art, construed within the parameters of the museum u masterpieces created br Individual artists. is posed aglinst ethnog:TJphy, that is. the hili of man. the artifact. the ccuure in which II WiIS created. the anonymousartisan.

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Our dilemma is that after wars of such 3 dichotomY, there have emerged in works by artists of CQk)r ~presentations that blur a'nd erase such c.tegorid 15 folk art and fine "rt . In manr resp«ts. this blurring .nows us to see thoe contrad!dion between the dual standards of a Western subj«t lvit~ and those stand.rds assigned to otherness. Onlr now are mURum s .lttempting 10 de.l with the misunderstandings and misrepresentations of the postcOlonialage.

Resources, Audiitnct. and Exhibitions

Durinl tht courw of the day we haw talked about the notion that art should be transctndmt. ~rt from the body politicand certainly apart from economic reI.tIonl (power.nd r~ relation$~ But. we ..Iso know that we're In a marketplace dilemma wilh regard to those very same piecesof art.nd th.t the artifact hl5 joined the masterpiece In th.t marketplilCe. So, to some deglft, the contusion overcategorin is.n KOnonUc circumst.lnce

.. won.

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the lAtin American market is finlndaUy mort accessible with those mas' ters of Latin AmeriCi. such 15RiwrI, K.l.hlo, Matta, and Lam, having these f.miUarcousins in America (Amaldo Roche. Carlos Almaraz. and Luis Cruz Azaceta to name but a few). then wt must begin to dul with their workas well. ~. lhe confusion. ambiguity, .nd disorder OYl!r resources. .uditnct, and exhibitions. Tot. 1k about the work. one must talk about the experience: so I'm going to talk first about·rtSOiJrcn. It is preds e!y benust we oflen forus first on exhibitions, I1Ither than resources, th.t we halve had confounding experitnees. We try to determine the I.rt without underst.nding the cultunl expressiVeness of particular groups.

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Resources: HistoricalResponsibility

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U the European masters .Ire priced out. U Christie's and Solheby's find that

au.L )f UlTI CULTu aAU SM

I don't haw to Sly much a.bout the exhibition Hisprlllic Art ill lht Unitrd Sf.," : !/.irty Conttmponrry Pttillttrs . lId Sculptors, as I'm sure many of you art familiar with the controVtrsy surround ing it. That was an instance where to some degree the cUrlItorill perspectives startrd with mditlonal approaches to exhibitions. rather than an understa.nding of the resources of the Latino communit~ When It.llk ilbout resocrces, I am refming to those aspeets tha.t are within the wocldview of the dlvene cultures we are beg;nning 10 serw and respond to-thrir patrimony. v.lllues• .lI nd sense of an Inteff!lhnk or inteTTXial intimacy. As • psychologist I have to think first of the resource of cultural memory. b«.use it is memocy th.t allows us to assert our smse of connnuit~ against all odds. Cultural memory allows spiritual and familial practices to be maintained. often through oral lradinons. Milny of the womng-class people: of color h.ve not . Iwa.ys had a~s to a fom'l.1 eduation; )"ttlt. ming is pasHd from gtntnUon to gerwration in other w. ys. It Is irom that cultural memory that much of the work of contemporary artists of color springs.

The historical responsibility that is an element in those rtSOUTCl!:S Is a re· sponsibillty for both the past .nd the prtStnt. one th.t must be shared by culturalle.dtrs. HIstorical ruponsibility tnvoIvts the kind of history that critic W. lter Benjllmin speaks of: '"Only th.t historian will haw the gift of f. nning the spark of hope in the put who is firmly convinced that ew:n the dud wiUnot be sale from the entmy if he wins: ! This quote has to do with the concept of origin .nd the redemption of the put. What we se\!: In the Mric;:an American, LaUno, and cert. inly Asian American "nd Native America.n communities is a movingback 10000rd the mtlTlOl')' of origin. The African Kholarship of people Ub Dr. Ben Yusef and Dr. Asa HilUa.rd. who question the relationship of Kehmt. or bid Egypt, to the Greco-Roman world. of books such .as Martin BerNIl's BI«t Atlltn' . and ew:n such works as Cornel Wes!'s PropIIttic Frdgmtll,s-all a.re beginning to question the Eurocentric myth of origin. It was wilt! an awarenessof historical rnponsibility that books like George 'ames's 5tolm Ltp:y (19,.,,)and Ch.~lIor WilU.ms's llIt Deslrvctio" of 11ft Bud: CiviliZll'ion (1914) W'tre written, years before they were acces..sible ex91

AM AU " MUA-IAINS

cept in the most clandes tine ways. The deeenterteg oi the hum a nities relies, 10 some deg re e. 1'101 jusl on cultural memory passed thr ough. cornmun ities. but o n the hist orical resp on sibilil y of scholars, critics, artl.sts. and institutional leaders who see themselves in th is transitional generauon as ready and able to move inlo a nother sys tem oi knowledge and thou sht.

Aud iences : Aesthe tic S ~ n s i bi l i t '! An extension of ancestra l legacy is reflected in family values and a worldview, eve n in the cul tu ral styles of the aud ience. Thes e issues a re ra rely addressed in major ins titutio ns. I've pa rticipa ted in several outreach pa nels in Califomia a nd in
Resou rces: Communi ty Practices Com mu nitv pr actices are also pa rt of the resources of th e com mun ity. Such practices h~ve g reatly influenced the developm ent of aest~e~ic fo~s. F~r in stance, the preponde ranc e of the ceremoni al and the spl~ ~a ll n parnorlar commu n ities is a n aspec t of the cotlective hist or y of re h ~ o n, . sp iritu ality, and spectacle. O ther prac tices reflect ~ he d~ na m lc and U\t e~ a~. ttve proce sses of excha nge and learni ng. the relationsh ip between tradlbcn and innova tio n. an d the layering of expe rience that creates new measur es of meani ng. At the core of man y of the aes thetic repr esen tations tha t are a part o f the con tempo rary school is anc estral legacy. In Tht ~"~~ Show: FrlIm:;1.:s of Idtntity in tht 19805. concepts of h istori cal responslbih ty and ances . many 0 f tile " art ~ rxs. ._. Ances tTill lega.-v allows us to legacy are reflected 10

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co ns i'de r more tha n one view of the up coming qUincent~nn.lal. For ~a ny . of us the an cestr allegacv su rround in g the quincenten nlal rs not a fivehu nd red-veer phenome~on. not a tabula rasa. or a fertile g round where cu ltu re w~ dropped. The a nces tral legacy of wh ich we speak - a spl~ndor of thirty centu ries even in Mesoamerica, wh ich is only one part of this continent-is a verv, verv lon g one. It certainly outmarks a ha lf a century. If we are 10 un d erstand a ncestra llegacy, we have 10 loo k at th e fonn~ in w hich we find it in ou r ow n institutions. The quincentenary celebratio n. which emphasizes h istorica l a nd cultu ra l Euro-SP.a nish develo.p.ment s, has to be questioned no t only by those w ithin. the nativ e .~ ,:"mUOl!leS, but also bv the large r ins titutions tha t w ill determine the exh lb,tlo ns, the outreach, and the act ivities related to tha t very market. For our na tive brother.s and . ,15 a m ar....ng ._, 0 f gen odde, h ardlv. som ethmg tha i ststers. the qu incente nOIat shou ld be called a celebration. Nonetheless, it is one as pect o f ancestral legacy.

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One reason that outreach has no t be en more successfu l is the lack o f recogn ition of ccmmunitv resources. Even th e com position of the aud iences themselves is an issue. 1do n't have to cite the de mograp hic information. Mos t of you know th at the ma jor cities in Ame rica are incr easingly made up o f peo ple o f color. In California. for ins tance. by Ihe yea r 2010 people o f color wi ll ma ke up 50 pe rcent of th e sta te. These people are disri ntt, they are uniq ue. and they have h ist orical d ifferences; but they also share certain aspec ts of a cultural worldview, a nd these have to be ad d ressed in the audi e nces that we de velop. So. composition reflects dive rsity in aesthe tic pe rceptio n an d valu ing. The progra m mi ng of cur ins titu tion s h as to con . slde r th is diverslty o f aes theti c pe rceptions and valuin g in d eeper educational app roaches, A n um ber 01you ar e famili ar with the Ge tly model. the di scip line-based app roach to educatio n. Those o f us in ed ucational institu tion s, particularly pub lic education in the primar y grades, have reall y begu n to question these models and examine how we ca n expand th eir limited vocab u lary. Simply p utting Marian ne Anderson o n th e cover o f yoW' boo klet and listin g a num be r of artists of color as exa mp les of those calego ries is not eno ug h. Unless you actu allv d eal with aes the tic per ception and values as bei ng as d iverse'as the experiences from w hich they sp ring, you will find yourself going in circles. Th e Latino o r Chicano se nsibili ty is a per fect example o f d iversity; wi th its combi natio n of the colonial ba roqu e age and the domi nance of the tndlgenous. The mixtu re of the Mexican hea ling woeldview, rllsquachismo (Ihe aest hetics of the do wntrodden), and pop u lar bar rio styles is cha racte ristic of this bicultural sensibility. Ceremonia l p ractices that have be en anchored and mai ntai ned In home altars and hea ling ritua ls cons titute an aesthetic dcrnein in which we per ceive and value th ou : thi ng s around us. Beaut y an d pow er ar e concep ts Iha t a re embe d ded in cu ltu ral expe rience. The y can no t be red uced to a sing le se t of fonnal elements across all g rou ps. 93

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Aesthetic value and pe rcept ion have a great dea l to do with socioeconomic class . I lived in a ru ral valley and di d not ente r a mu seu m un til I was twe nty years old . My parents did n't have access to those experi ences. I was an artist. and they su pported me in the forms that were ~ndemic to my community. ~fy u ncles were ca rvers and welders and made thi ngs with their hands. I was privileged from the first d ay r shewed my aptitude because I was mar ked with J spi rit th at was \'iltued by everyo ne in my commu nity and my neighborhood. From the agl! oj six o r seven I was refe rred 10 as Nthe anls t" a nd given il kind oi passport to experience, Within the reality of wha t my fami ly could p rovide for me. my artis try was singu larly important to them and valued. yel access to the in stih.l tion s of Western artis try was not available . Consequently. my on ly exp eriences of mast erwo rk in the Western trad ilion were with in the Catholic chu rch. The tremendous influ ence of bricol age, d isplay, and abu ndance is clearly ma rked in the work ot many Latino ar tists an d comes. to' some degree, from the CathoUc experience an d lih.lrgical spectacle. Whe n we talk abou t a n aes thetic pe rceptio n or value. we are not ta lkin g abo ut superfidal categori es. We are talking about expe rience layered through time and aest hetic catego ries Ihat are dee p in their mea nin g and rooted in region al, topograph ica l, and material realities. For exampl e, w hat ebout the Japanese American se nsibili ty, which springs (rom the insu lar is. land eul h.l re of Japan. What do suc h origins imply about the way one looks al things? Wha t d o they imp ly abou t th e preference for a domina nce of ' units. significance of nature, an d spiritua lity in design ? The Kimo no Mind is a term Iha t relers to the ma ny Japanese Ame rican wome n who st ill walk as thoug h their bod ies were wra pped in that garmen t. An aes the tic mental. ity is certainly pa rt of o ne's cu ltu re. Th e many hist ories of a cultu ral aesthe tic are the in herit anc es tha t we bring 10 a n ational patrimony. The capaci ty to respond to a d iverse national patrimony is both an opportunity an d a resp onSibility for our major ins titutions.

Audie nces: Communicatio n St yle and learni ng Sty le lNhen we talk a/x)ut aud iences. we have to talk abou t commu nicatio n slvles and lan gu age, Sur ely we know muhili ngua lism is an tssce in signage, . tours. docents, volun teers. Catalogues. and broch ures. To dea l with th is. we have to cultivate the resources of mu ltilingual comm unities. <14

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Co·'llnunic;l,lion stvle is olnother uu tholl must be conside~ in oludience cleYelopmmt. The ~ommunia.tion styln of utin Ammc~ns. Arricll,n Ammans. and Asian Anwrians. just to name three, ere very dlsllner. Comel West aUs the Afrian Americiln style OOkinetic orality," or the ft'lO'Im\mt of the body with Iilngua~e in iI Yfty specific Willy. Innovation in Iingul ~e retlects lin Afria n u\Cestry within Afdan American speech ,

Oi ffe~ncn in time lind SpICe, physiclliity, la ngua ~. olnd communication i1ffm the w.y people enter our institutions, the ,....v thf" a~ recewed in our institutions. i1nd the wa!' in which they learn ~ our·institutions. How we l'Kf:ivt diverse communities end how we Ieilm from thtm olre elements we have Iilrgely ip ored because we have come to think or audience as a problem. not as a resource.

The Iinsuistic tladltlons ot Africiln American speech have survived the

tlelMndous intluences of mass media and education. African based, the language is one with its own niles for plurals, possessives, tenses. word endings••md coUoqulalisms. That don not mean that ·s landard· English should not be leamed , but we' have to recognlze that our children come to us language-rich.. If we U~ not capable of interactingwith them, understanding them, ~nc1 communiCi1tins with tMm, it is our problem. not thein.

Exhibitions My elIperience with exhibitions Is both as an ani st and' cur,llor. l e rgan1z~d a show called umnony 0{ Mtmory, which has been touring the United States. I did thilt show to put the ceremonial work of Chicano/Latino Ind C<1ribbean people in the same place al the same time so we coulcl consider aspects of met!'lOrY, spirituillity, teTnpot&lity, and s?,tiality. I wanted to Iook.t what these dements mean 'nd how they i1re simUar Of distinct u used by contemporary ilrtists.

We: should brinS to the issue of audience, then. a pater understanding of communication style and cultural style. One aspect of cultu~1 style Ihat we have begun to klok. at is the way in which people intetaet even in someIhinS &$ simple as eleswe, the act of ending something. I often give the loUowing ~mple. Shortfr after I married my husband. who by the Wil~ is Atrialn American, we were going to my mother's house for dinner. I said to him. -Now look, when we leave. puU the car out slowly and keep the windows down: He said. "Is something going to happen?" And I answered, -No. lhey just li}r.e to Siy goodbye for il while!" My husband soon learned that closure in a community that vollues rel.1tionshlps Is nol alwilys dalrable. All the nuances and manlfes' ations of the highly prized commu· nication is around extendinS the relationship. not around the end product. In such I. value system. closure milyorten be in conflict with the .4.merican prefermce for dosure. Attitudestowards dos ure musl be taken into ac· count when gf'fttinsand cIosinS wilh an audlence.

It's important 10 remember that we are the first generation to haw: had ethnic-studies depa rtments on university campuses. Weare thffefort both 'rtists ilnd activists, We developed in many ways rathn rapidly, not unlike the kind of fut·forward photography in which you see a little pllnt grow very quickly. Beginning with the seed, the bun goes up. the little Iea ~ come OUI, and then there's <1 newer. In many WAYS, that'S what hlppened to us. Milny of us we~ raised in rural communities or newlv urban communities: we hold horne prKtices of alternative spiritualitv a ~ traditions of healing; we had folk tilles and. ","idos, or ballads; we'had wavsof knowing the world that were from another generation, another time, a~ another culture.

We moved rapidly through the canon and through the academy, and that ptodUCftf In us a very dense tayeting: For ~ mple, J was raised with Walt Disney and norlmo music, with the concept of the Motyan ruins and blac1c rhythm and blues. This is.typical of the interpenetrations and fusions that charlCterize the not-so--easy-to-c.tegorize work of artists of mv generation. particularly lhose of color. It Is Ihe Inability 10 distinguish folk from fine art. the canon from the other. thlt hIS confounded the development of particular ellhibition practices olmons malnstr1!am institutions,

We have much to ~am about the ways in which communication and eu l. tural style affeet copition. apprehension. and learning. aU of which are Intertwined. Culture is a window on the world. , nd our processes of recelvin" dlstrlbutina. and processlnslnformation must pass through Ihilt window. The dqree 10 which we Westerners don't understand this relates dlf1!(:tly to the degru to which we hilve nol been successful In our metnstream institutions. even those that deal specifially with education.

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In IRo1nv wavs, we are still stnJssllng with the notion oi quality or sundards. As I'~ said berore. quality is a euphemism I1U rhe familiar. It is a fAmilv oi Artists and Idu s to which many have grown qutte ICCUslomed: but \~ are Anew extended family. We are new artisls, with new Ideas th..t you hilve not had as much ecperience with. The question is not simply one of crileria or standards : these a n be amended or expanded. We hilw only to look i1t the history of scientific resurch In this countl y 10 understand that ' nythlng an be i1djuSled to encompass those things that we choose to prize, As curators in this tlansitional ti me our work. is partly 10 milke ourselvesfamiliar with the new American canon.

In manv wavs. whAt we've come to undetstand about exhibitions is that it , Isn.'t ~sh for us to s et into the museums; man!' of us haw befl\ in. Access is not the only issue. Interpretation is the new forefront. Sometimes wry simple things Wte the translations of the signage a.n &fleet the u~r­ standins of the art. One o ample has to do with the exhibition His,.ulIc Art ht lite Unittd St.,es: Thirty Conttmponrry Plilttm.rId Sal/pIon . Induded was Cesar Martina's pa1nMSof a ~ large man with a tattoo of the V'llgin de Guadalupe andlatttlos 01a sood woman and iI bad woman on his shouJden. The painting is called El hombrr If'It mvjtm (The Man Who Ukes Women). The title was mnslited as 11K WOrIIlImur. but that is not what it meansl This is I. mi n who lows women. • miln to whom women are so cenm l thAt he marks his bodv with them. The profOllnd meaning of this wor1c.1s redUC1ld, Umlted. my~ ti fled. and misappropriAled when . simple Ihing like a translation cannot be done with understanding, knowledge, and respect.

,1tW

Wflve also been into mllWUms WMrt the sheer placement of our workMl r klbbies or bathroom.s. In rotundas or smaU rooms-has indicated the inferior value t~ institution illtKhes to the work. So a.tteSS Is not lhe only Issue.

A M ALIA M I! SA- ' A' N S

The ellpanded sense oi I n American aesthetic is oln important part of whAt we are aUstnl~li n ~ with. In many WilyS the dialo!'Je is best understood when we look allhe artists of this generallon and the kinds or work thev do: emblematic mythoklgy In the hands of people like LUian"" fbrtet. . Roberto Gil de Montes. Carlos Almaraz. Cecili, Ve
quisi.tiO~. programs, educational models, curatorial expertise. stilffing.

EUUbitions have to be fonnulilled with expertise. and that ku 10 be shared . Powet'-the ability to self-de6ne in, wrf upon which we can aetmust entad shared dedsJon-ma!dn& Ieadmtdp. empowuntm t. scholarship. and curatorial opertise be tween the diverse communities and mainstream institutions.

publiahons. and criticism within the mainstream institutions in order to respond ~ ef~ectiwly to diverse cultum ? Change has already bqun in milny of our tnstttutions. but tMre is much much more 10do. I like to rtfe r 10 Rex Nettleford. who reminds us that there Is such a thing.as a -urtgdom of lhe mind'" S• _. .. iI nd an emandpiltory art th, t will set ,-.s10naIe O't.tiYlty. us f~e 10 understand the world relltions 01 which we are a part.

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REA L MULT IC ULTURALI SM

AMA LIA M U A· .... I N S

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Ou r p rinciple in th is m aner sho uld be ab solutely siml'le. In the fir ~ p lace we sho u ld insi st tha t i( the im m igr;)nl who co mes here in gOl fa ith, becomes an American and assimilates himsel f 10 u s he sh illl treated en an exac t eq ualit y w ilh everyone else, (or it is a n outrage discriminate aga inst any suc h man becaus e o f creed o r b irth place I origi n .

pc n.od of Illtrospccllon, a n..lysis. OInJ act ion . Blacks. Chica nos Nati ve

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Pro~~ls uf rc~l'mp(jon, sc!l·Jclinilion, a nd cultura l rl'd., mil lio~ llni~~ .mJ ~SIvt' COllsllt ucnl s, Cord nl; those in powe r to ret h in k the profound Jim.lal1on$ of a co nsens ual a nd co llusive libe ral se nse of comm unit y Eth nl &, ro~PS, wo me n" and gilys asserted thdr cu ltu ra l and poli tk., 1 idC~li lil'sl~n I Ie stato o f ..lter lty .. nd d iU·. W' I ' . vrcn cc. Il l.mperltllellt represl:nt.lt ion s in ",. ilrt il ' " I

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I]ut this is predica ted upo n the man's becoming in very f;:ad an Am and nothing bUI a n Am erican . If he trie s to keep segregated with n hi s ow n origin a nd separa ted from th e rest uf Ame rica, th en he lsn

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d d. •l nd 10 Iacc the e no rmou sly rewarding lask of adilpting ou r artistic, Itel lcctua l, a nd scholarly pract ices, and our mu seums themselves, to the 10001and vastly heter ogen eous wo rld we inhabit.

Chicano Art : Text a n d Context

Tomb YOOrr
? uiJJermo GOmez.-Pt!flil, "The Muilicullural Paradigm; unpubtished (drafl) manu'pt, 1989, unpa ginaled. ;ylvia Pask i~, cited in Isaac Julien and KObena Mcrcer, Hlnlroduction: De Margin I De Centre, ScrUIl (Aulumn 1988. "The Last 'Special Issue' on Race?H): 7. l$,lac Julien and Kobt,on,\ Mercer, Hlnlroduction: De Margin and De Cenlre HS(T~I Itumn 1988, "The Last 'Spt'Ciar Issue' on Racer):,. . , I ,Ian/(or. ~r0nov.:ilZ a nd Henr y Giroux, PosImodml Edlla rioll; PoIilirs , Cuflurt, 111111 '/11 CrlllOS", (Minneapolis: Un i ~rs ily of Minnesola Press, 199 1~ 117.

In th e cpcnrng pages of . . . y 110 st 10 l rog6 1D t ierra, Tom as Rivera sla tes th e (ollowing:

lit CrrfY'J:'O'I ~"IlUA' FilJr: MuUi(llllllml Liltracy_ nit: Oprtri".'~ of " It AllItricnlJ M illtf, cd by RICk Simonso n and Stoll W,\lker {Saini P.:lul, Minnesota: Graywoll Press, IL 117.

Siem pr e empe zaba todo cu ando e ra q ue alg u ien Ie llamaba por su nom brc per c w ando vclt ea ba Ia cabeea aver q u ic!n e ra 1.'1 que le lI ~m ..ba, daba una vuclta emera y as! quedaba donde m tsmo. Por eso nunca podia ace-ta r n i quic n le Itamaba ni po r que. y luego ha sta se le olvld aba 1.'1 no mb re qu e le hnbfun llam ed o. Perc sabra que c!l era a quien Ha mnban .

inc Deloria, 'The American Indian Image in North America,Hin T/rr Prrrrrrd / t;: /lIIl1gN of Nlllillt AmrriclIIIS illl/ rt MOI1;rs, edited by Grt lchen M. Balaille and' rk-s L. Po Stllll (Ames, Iowa: Iowa State Univel"$ily Press, ' 980), 50. .·in. Cemil Schick, H R~'p resen li nb Middle Eastern Women: Feminism a nd CuiDlscou rse,~ FrmilliSI SIt/dirs 16, no. 2 (Summer 11}9O): 349. 'mez-Pena, unpsglnated. .lnowi!z and Giroux,

Una vel. 51.' detuvo an tes de d ar I.. vuelta entera y le entr6 mic do. Se d io cuent.. de que cl m ismo sc habiil llam ado.1

11 5 -)) .

ronowitz and Giroux, 116.

O u r p rinci piI:! in thi s m att er shou ld be ab solutely sim ple. In t ~e first place we sho u ld in sist th tlt if Ihe immigr ant wh o co mes here In go od fait h , becomes an America n a nd assi m ilates h imself 10 us he sha ll be trei\led on an exact eq ua lity w ith eve ryone else , for it is a n out rage to di scrimina te again st
The sa me Ijues tion ing occurs with in groups of IX'ople ill par ticul.u mo meni S in their hist or icill trajectory. In the United Stales, the u)60s \\I,lS su ch iI peri od of introspe ~t i on, analysiS, and acti on. Blacks, Chica nos , Nativ e American s, and olhe r d isenfranchis ed groups con st iluted themselves as historical s ubjec ts. a nd struggled for self-d eterm inatio n :lnd rold ically dccentered views of an l'Ssentially homogeneous nationa l cu ltu re. Eth nic projects of redem ption, self-definition . and cuhu ral reclamation un ited massive co nstHuenls, forcing thosc in prnver to rethink thc profou nd limit.ations of a co ns ensual and collu sive libcral sen sc o f co m mu nity. Ethnic groups, \Vomen, and Gays aSSl'rtl'
origin . But th is is p redicat ed upon the man's becoming in ve ry fact a n. American .lnd nOlh ing but i\n Am erican . If he Iril'S to h ep scg n.'f;a ted WII~ ~en o f his tlwn u ri"i n a nJ sepMall" '~ 1 fro m IhL' rlost tlf J\ me rk ;'l , lhen hL' Isn t d uin6 his pMt as an AmL'rican. There can be no d ivid ed allegia nce here, Any ma n w ho SilYS he is an Amer ican, but so me th ing else also, isn'l a n America n at all. We havc room (or but one n :lg, the Amer ic;)n [lilg,.and th is exclud es the red flag, w h ich sym boli zes all wilrs agains t libert y and d viliz;:ation , just.as m uch as it exclud es a ny foreign flag of a na tio n to w h ich we a re hosltl e. We ha ve roo m for but o ne la nguage he re, ilM th at is the Engli sh language, for we int end to see thilt the crucible turns our ~ple ou t as Americans o f A me rican natio na lity, and not as d welle rs m a polyglot board ing house; and we have roo m for but one soul loya lly, and Ihat is a loyally to thl:! America n pe ople. 2

The COl'lrep t of quality was also seen as ;:ambiv
For bilingual Mex ica n A me rica ns, w hose bicu ltu ra l presence in th e U.nit.ed Sta tes antecedes Plym ou th Rock , s uc h re strictive, narrow, a nd ~onohHlI~ views o f being American negated their ve ry being and way of hfe. Re a~lIll g to th e exclus ion and forced ab sorption inherent in su ch sc he mes o f nati onal des tiny, Chic!lnos articulated a co un terheg emonic move ment of soc ial and

III th e United Sta tes, legitimacy comes w ith Aml'ricanizillion . The ritu als of citize ns hi p retain th e d ose sy n\me try of ab sorpt ion and sa nitiza tio n from ancest ra l cu lture and language, T heodore Roo se velt. writing in 1919, se ts th~ lone eX
culluml resonance.

EI Mov imiento: The Chicano Cultural Projeci

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C Il IC A NO "itT: TE XT " NO CO NTE XT

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Although the s tru ggle for soci al, political. a nd economic equa~ity. has bee n a ce ntra llene t o f Chica no h istory since 18.. the efforts to Ulllo lllze Cillifornia farm workers launch ed by Ces.u Chavez in u)65 signa led a nati ona l mo biliz,1lio n among Mexk a n-d escen dcd pt:!ople known as EI

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Mike Davis LA Was Just The Beginning Urban Revolt in the United States, A Thousand Points of Ught Mike Davis is the author of PrUoner. of 1M Alfteriaul Drum and City of QUlZrtz: £r.anJatinr the Future in LA .. He presently teaches at the Southern California Institute of Atchitecture.

C Mike Davis, 1992; 0 The Nation, 1992

Sections of this pamphlet are revised versions of articles that originally appeared. in 1M Nation; "Urban America Sees Its Future:

In LA., Burning All IDusions,'"n.e Nation, 1 June 92; " Bla cks are Dealt Out: Racial Caldron ln Las Vegas: Th< NAt""', 6 July92

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L. Ross &: M. Fried Rosalyn Baxandall Reproductive: Freedom Pamphlet Sui. Future Pam~dl0

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LOS ANGELES . The armored personnel carri e r squats on the comer like lUi ,rn upo /e-"a big ugly tead...-ac:axding to 9-year-old Emerio. His parents ulk anxiously, almost in a whisper, about the dft4p4recido. : Raul from Tepic. big MArio, the younger Flores girl and the CDUSin. from Ahwu:h.lpu\. Like all Salvadorans, they know about thote who "disa ppear." they remember the headless corpses and the man whose tongue had been pulled through the hole in his throat like a necktie. That rs why they ame here-to ZIP code 90057, Lot AngeMs-. ColiIcmiL Now they are counting their friends and neighbors, s.1vadocan and Me:ldcan.. who are suddenly gene. Some aft still in the Cowtty jail on Baur:het Street. lib alOf'e than brown grains of sand lof t &InOnS the l2..5'S othe1' alleged ~ra (looters) and i1luWrto. {ancxUNs) detau.J. after the molt 1'ioIent American ciTiI disturbanr:e since 1M lriIh poor bwned Manhattan in 1863. 'JhoM without p.pen .. re probably already back in TJjU&NI, broke and. disconsolate, cut off from their families and _Iiva V _ S city poJit tho poopIe 1Ingaod"- on tho _ ud __

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e::eoept the finU-c:ne; Yet there was a new mei.Inddy in ·the air. . Too ....l'poopIe haft -'Iooing thoU their ,nxdw $S.2S-an-haur joba as tea.tMtI , 1Ulonn,. bus.boys and facto ry worken. In two )'Un of receMion, unegl> ......... op<.-I"'lfy'''s _ dle looting crowds were penoed by a Yitible moral economy. A. one Iftidd1e..4pd lady apbined to me. -s-tin& is a but thiI.lib a KIe,iaio:. pIM thaw where weryone in the ..udieIlce sets to~" UnHb the kJoten in HoUywood (1IClIne ClI\ skaMboerds) who . - Madoona', ud.oD dleClO4<:hloooJlO'"* _ _.. tho _

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INFORMATION LEADS TO ACTION

Seymour Melman

One week later,.Mac:Atthur Park entered a sta te of siege. A special-vir: Tap" hodine invites peop4e II) infonn on naghbcmJ or' ~taneeI suspected of looting. Elite L.A.P.D. Metro Squad unilS, . upponed. by the N.tional Guard.. swept thtoush the tI!neInI!nIS in seuch of stolen goods.. while Border Patrol:nwn &om.. far away 15 Tcas prowl the streetL Frantic parents IeUdl. for missinI kids, like mentaDy retarded 14-yeat-old ZuJy £stracLa" who is beiiritd to have been. deponed to Mexico. M-nwtWe. thousands of M/ffUlJ4ora, many oI lhem pMhetic .cannpn e:aptund in the d\arred ruins the day after the Jootipg, languiIh in County Jail, unable to meet at.wdly high bails. One man, caupt with a packet of sun80wa :seedsand two c:u1ons of milk. is being hdd en S15,(XX) bail; hundreds of othen face felony indictments and poeaible two-year prison tenns. Prosecutors deII'Iand thitty-day jail SEntences for cwfew violalOrl. despite the faet that many of those ..re eithu homeless street people or Sp&nish-speaken who were unaware of the curfew. are the "weai.· that George Bush says we Inutt pull from the soil of our cities before it an be KJWn with the regenerating ·seeds · of enterprise zones and tax blabixpriv... apitaL There. rising apprehmsion tNt the «'lbre community will becomE a scapegoaL An ugly, xaI-~ natmsm. has been growing like crabtra- in Southern Califomia sinat the start of the .e .Cl"'i. A lync:h mobof Omnge Co
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walb of their tenements (Ma cA rth ur Park is L.A: s SpmiIh Harlan), ta1Ulg ..bout their new burden of trou-ble. In .. neighborhood far more crowded than mid Manhattan and more dangeous than downtoWn Detroit.

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Lovato of MacArthur Park'. Central American Refugee Center, -We are becotning the guineI pigs, the Jews, in the militarized laboratufy where George 8uIh it inventing his new urban order."

A BlACK INIlFADA? 1Jttle Canpte:r" Tak can't get 0ft1 his amu.ement tNt he is actu.aDy -.nding in the lame i'OOdl oIllroth!r Aziz'. IDClIqUe: with • bunch of Inglewood Cripe. The .........., 22-yoor_ Tak. a '-st't up" Inglewood lIIood who Ioob .... lib a bIad< angel by lo6cIloIonpIo .... cae 01 tho Boyz 'N dle Hood. ..m Itu two Ctlp hulleD in tu. body, aDd..they still CIt:ty .. jew oIl1line.· Soaie cI tho Cdpa ud 0< no! gang .coIon ·

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D1UIa of MacAtthur Park C'DnClmtrated OIl the ~ties 01 life lib cod::tc:«1. tpny and

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bne t.n nttaal tribIl8lp, ~cneaDDllber'froIn p1a,gtOWd daya. boa -.It """ ..... _ .... thE bure1a of automatics in a Wat that hat diYided JngIo.ood-
3

,lick m«l,. we neverwilL"

" AJthou8h Imam AziZ and the Nation of. IsLam have rorided the fcnD&1 auspc. foe psc:emaltinS,. the rea1

wds tNt have ..tied the red and blue rap IlJSdher into • -black thI:n(.. ate D Simi V..,.. Wilhin a few bouts of M fiDt aaack on white motorists,. whichstadIlld in EJshtl'ray (83rd Stzeet) c.nptet Crip t:e:nitory n-r Florence lnd Nonnandie. the insatiab'" war between the C:rips and 1&oods,. fueled by a thouund neighborhood vendettas ..t doodlooo>oboy>. was'put an hold' ~ Loo

~ -.d ..... odja<m' bid . . - . . of Caatptan "'"

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Unlike the 1965 rebeD.iao. which broke out south of Watts and remainsI primarily ~ on the poorer east ~ of the ghetto. the 1992riot ~ its maximum 1eIn>enture along Crenshaw Boulevatd--the very heart of ."Iack t.e:. Angeles's more afBuent westside. Despite the illusion of full·iaunerSion -actuality'" proYided by the tninicaJn and the helicopter, telerisicn's cowrage of the riot's atlFY Idse wu even more twiNed than the melted s_1 of CRnshaw's devastated shopping centers. M05t tepCClI!I5--....unage looters' as they &Ie now being called .. _ ConttoJ....
·_·Even

of the pnp (and their poets la\I.fUte; the gangster ra~ pen like JceCube and N.WA) as the heroesoi an outlaw geMidon.

Yet if the riot had a breed mcial base, it was the par. ,;apotianofthep_,-' _ _ tian--a• gave it const.Int momentum and directiCAL If the 1965 rebellion WD a hurric:3nt, 1eveIing one hundred bk:cb of Central Avenue from Vernon to lrnperia1 Highway, the 1992 riot w_ a tornado, no . . destruc:ti.ve but snakinga z;pe aNne tIuouSh ..... .........,.;al ..... of the ghdto and beyond. MeA of the media saw no patlilm in its path. just blind, nihiliJtk dstruc:tian- In fae:t. the anon was NthlMsIy systematic:. By Friday morning 90 percentof the myriad J(oreanooWned liquor stores. markets and swapmeets in South Central L.A. had been wiped ouL Desertec:l by the LA.P.D. which In&de no attempt to defend small busir • the Korean5 suffered damage or destruction to almost 2,000 storn from Compton to the he art of Ko~town itself. One of the first to be attacked (although. ironically, it survived) was the grocery store where 15year~ Latasha Harlins was shot in the baa of the had last yeu by Korun gt'l)CE Soon Ja Du in a dtsput:e over a 51.19 bottle of orange juicl!. The girl died with the morwy

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IIJng juot the trigger.' At the same time, those who prmic:ted tNt the next L.A . riot would be a literal Armageddon have been

5

proved wrong. 1lelIpitea tI......-.d Day..CJo ahartatlans em the-waOs ·of South Central to "'KW the Polic:e,- the ......._ ""'ainod &om ..... doodIy guoailla ........ "tNt thq are so formidably equipped to conduc:t. As in 1%5, ..... hat not been a '"'sIe I.A.PD . fatality, "'" ........ few _ _ poIIoo D1jurioo 01any kind. In this fOW"ld, at Ieat. the brmt of gang power was _ lOWud the looting "'" deotnxtian of ..... ""'-n seees, U Latasha JUrlins . the im~ PftII!ld, there may be other agendas a. well. I saw g:raf:6ti in South Central that ad voca ted ' o.y one: bum them. out. Day two: we rebuild.' The only natianalleadet whom DQt Crlps and Bloods see m. to take seriously i . Louis Fmakhan, "'" his p i 01black""""""'" aoIf.detonnlnation is broadIy ...- . (Fmakhan, it oltoWd beattploasized.. has never advoc.ated violenor as a means to this ond.l A ...... lngIowood _"""""" _ _ place on May5, ti'left were repeated tefen!nc:es eo a rmais5ance of black capitalism. out of the ashes of Korean busineues. ..After alL' an ex-Crip told me lam, ' we didn't bum our coau:nunity, just their .....' In the meantime. the poUae and military oa:upien of Los Angeles give no ae:Ience 10 any pmcefuI.. let aIane entrepreneurial, ~tion of L.A.'. black gang c:ultwa. The'«utnenkaI InOYement 01 the CripI and. Bloods is their want i.Jnapning: yiaJenr::::ie no lanpr tatdam but paHtidzed into a b&ac:k kl.ti&dL Tbe I-A.P.D. mnmtben a"lIy too· well that a senentian aso the Watts Nbellion produced a gang p-ce out of which the Los AngeIeI branch of the BIacltPanther Party. M if to prove their suspidons. the police have citculated • copy of an anonymoua ond pOIaibly WIing " " _ unity and 'an ~ for an eye~_ If L.A.P.D. hurt a black wt:'U kill two." For its Jl'i&t\. the Bush AdmirUtIatian has fedaaliz:ed the repression in L.A.-the OlOSt sweeping since the Nixoo era-with an eye 10 the spec1Ide of the President m.a.rdting in triumph.. lib a Roman emperor, with captured Crips and Bloods in chains. ThUll, the Justice Department has dispatched to L.A. the same elite tIltk force of fedenlln&tlhals who c:apturw:i Manatl Nor.ieg.a in PanAIN, a. well as ptoteeuter WIlliam Hogan from. Chicago, who led the fedentl tnkfarce that aushecl the Windy Qly'. ....... EI Rulon __ Tho FIll. wItich hat aMiped 100 agentlto down the suppc.ed inIti&a- 01 the riot. _1odpo .... ·tItla .... frankly,

sana:

snw

_Ioollet

tria

sans

.....b;ggtsteltOrt ....., fodonIIy.' Crudal to the lastic. Dep artment's s trategy in Soulhcon"" l-A- ;. the application of RICO, ..... - . J anti-rac:bteering; "w, that aUo1n: the government to indict . treet gangs a. ttiminal organiutions. U.S. Attomey Lowdos _ hat promiood that RICO Will be ..-I onaporingIy ......_ _- _ _

L.A.'s street gangs. But as a veteran of the 1965 riot saKI. while watefUfta SWAT teams arrest some of the hUi'\dteds of riva l ganS members trying to meet peacefull y at Watts' s Jordan Downs Housing Pro;e:ct: '"That ole fool Bush think we u dumb as s.dda.m.. t.nd. Marines in Campton and get hiself re-ele:ctecI. But this atn 't Iraq . This is VIetrWn. Jad::.'

THE GREAT FEAR A cone pievance fueling the Watts rebellian and the sabsequent urbut insurrections of 1967-68 was rising black unanplayment in the midst of a boom C!ICOnOIny. What CDl\temporuy journalistsfelrfully desaibed as the beginning of the -Second Civil War"" was as much a protest against bIAc:k America's exclusion from. the aUlitary.K.eynesian expansion of tht 1960s as it was an uprisinS asawt police raciscn and de facto segregation in Jc:hoob; and housing . The 1992 riot and. its fC*loiepropro. must likewise beunderstood as inst1rftaions against an intolerable: politia.l«:onoatic oider. As even the Lo. AIIZtlu Titna, aWn c:heerIeader for -World City LA..now .s..itorially acknow ledges, the " globalization of Los

Anples- has produced -devastating poverty for thole wak in skills and. ~' Although the 51 billion worth of liquor stores and mini·malls destroyed. in L.A. may seem like chump cha1p nat to the S2.6 trillion recmdy alU\ihilated on tht Tokyo Stocl< Exdw>p. ... bunting of 0. ptobably 615 into the same Hegelian niche with the bUf$litlg of the Bubble Ecmamy: not the "end of histoty" at the seac:aat of Malibu but the beginning 01-an ominous dialedil= on the rim of the Pacifie. It was a haUuc:inatian in the &m piKe to ~ that the whet'l 01 the world economy coWd be _ lnde6ni"'Y by a Himalaya 01U.s. ..... deficits md a 6ditiaul )'8\This - . I aisis of ..... Japon-e.- . _ perity tpheft,- however, threatens to b'anI1IIte dus cantradid:ionl into intemhnk conflict on both the national

ond IocaIIoftI.CullWa11ydistinct ............ _ _

etbnic' mtrq:meneuts and the like--risk beins 11m as the persan.a1 repraentatiV8 of the invisible hand that has laoBi laca1 coaununities of ecDnClIiI'Uc: autonomy. In the c:ase of t.e:. Angeles. it wu tragicaUy the nei.ghborhacxt - . tiquo< _ - the okyoaap... downtown.. that became the symbol of a ~ new

""P""''''-

_oodo<. en _ _ ..... baIf

..

Iheir lips ovt:r' the appetWng eIecloJaI fallout of a trig federal \i
L.A. haw bem piTdri .po a»y aca.ted by the failure of the . . . to praIed themapiNt blKk Pge-Indeed. IeVeJ>. " _ " " - ' - _ " " that they wae"'f"riaJIy _ that the South Central shopping malls ~trolled by AIeoa_ Haason- a - J t h y . . . - to local pOO.... ,.... qukkIy do&,..oed by police and National Guud. whiletheirstclreI WIft JeisureIy ransac:bd and burnedto the ground. ~ thiI is what ~ get.... a u.c.LA. stu-

,

7

suppc::cba5, memw~ &Ie.5INddng

, hundred Cript and Bloods, ignomg the stann wanUnp. were marUy bubequing potk ribs and passing around ~ botdes of beet_ Eartie:t in the day, do:z.ens of fo nnedy hostile sets with na mes like Anybody'. Mwds"en (AIIM). Donna _ Cripo and North T..... BloocB had joined at a ,.n,y c:o:neemy to INJ'k a sana truce and place Bowen 00. the pftS of their homeboys (there were twenty-seven local gang-related deaths in 1991). Now _ .-.tWe ......,. and thei< aIrlfrionda were swapping pbs and new rap 1yrir::s. But gathainp of tv. or .more people.. however amicable. haw been t.nned since: May 17 by Sbaiff"s orGer throushout 1M V. . . . WId We!ItIide as weD as in the neighboring btue-mUar suburb of Noeth Las Vegas. To odkt. Metro Polke puIIod up In front of Valley V'II!'W Park in ttu- V-100 al"l:hOr*i ~ net C2rrien borrowed froa\ a nearby Air Forc.1r baae. WhIn defiant p;adcle "'P' oponod up with teat sa. and concUllion grenades. The Las Vegas -riots- Md resumed for the fourth weekend in a row aln<e tl>e Ilodrey l
dent said,. "for' uncritically buying- into the white nUdcUe

caws.ttitude toWUd. bUcband its faith in bpolice."

The ~ foe. multicultural rea:aciliaticn in 1.05 Angel.. depend much leu. OR whi~ knight Peter Uebe .cAh', emnmittee ofaxponte rebuiJderf than upon • gmera1 economic nxovery in Southem Calilomia. M the 1M AllIe/a Bu iMS' Jo."u' COIl\P1ained (after noting that LA. had loet 100,000 manufacturing jobs over the p"" _ yIaed to a sid. ~tient." Recznt forecuts &om the Southern CAlifornia Auociation of GovenuIlmti p&int a da rk future lo< tl>e Land ofSunslUne." job powth. oIowodby thedecline of ~ . weD as manufac:tutingshifts to Mexico, lags far behlnd population increase. Unmtploymlnt ra-.......aot alIUnq the estUnated 4J.aJO jobs Ioct from the riot" and the uprising's impect on the business cllinate---&re predkted to remain at 10 to 13 percent (and 40 to SO percent for minority youth) for the next generation.. while the hou .ing crisis, already the most acute in the nation. will spill over into new waves of hoJne1eun,eu. Thus, the "widening divide" of incotne inequality in t..os Angeles County, desaibed in I; landmark 1988 sNdy by V.c.LA. ptofes5ot' PlIuJ Ong.. w ill become an unbridgellble chaS1D- Southern ~·s erw:ne.1UINRC!I' is finalty 0Ya'. Af8uent AngeIeno& inItindiveIy.enMd this as ttwy patrolkd their Hancock Park ..... w ith Ihotpn:& or boIt8::l in thIir BMW. rot while anctuarieI in Oranp and. Ventura counties. From Pa1Dl Sprinp poolsidea tb!y anxiously a"';tod MWa of tl>e bunUn8 0I 1levor1yHills by tl>e ~ and Bloods,. and fr-.d 0ftI' the ectra :8 of house ..,.. tl>ey had looI;ahIy ........... ., tl>e La_ man W.. the now an ineePdiarist? Althoup their fun were hyaterically magni6td. tentacles of disorder did pmetnltll such sane:twn5 of white life as the Beverly Cm_ and Westwood. VlDap, as well as the MehaIe and Fmfu ~. Moot aJamtinIlY, tl>e L.A.P.D.'. "thin blue line,.... which. had protllcBi than in 1965,. was now tittle more tNn . defunet metaphor, the last 01 0Uef Gates's bad jobs.

I I

I

!, ,

_ thia""""""" bladan-va-

ntI RUUS HAW CHANGED, N _ I caught up with some of the C2SUalt* in the pulcine lot of a bumecklut n wket an bola atl!r. M a fHc:ina.t. aowd watdled. Yolanda. who said IbewM17, exhibi-.:l tl>e bloody pah in her I<s- while her boyfrlon
hopped around oxcitodly wi" a mDlIplod oIIva-pm caniseer in his hand. -Check thit; o ut!- he coaunanded. _what....-..,. .. he _ tl>e ulfedlrc pIOjootile in JAY face. I reK the label out Iow1: -Model m, llu............ sa.nCnNde.· -We ·were just holYtng a piaUc. a zoddamn peaoefuI pimic, - David repeated. SeYeral kid• • tared hard, unblink.ing, in my dirw:tkJn,. Someone lobbed an empty Colt 45 botde into the ~ Then a tall

fisure: .in a CeoIgetown .-1Shirt gnbbsi my ann. -You'd better 1pUt. man. U you want an interview, come Nc:k tomottoW. I'll tIdl you anythinl you want 10 Jcnaw about t..e:.t fue anOp<>de" tl>e ptoooo...oIckM.1IoWn and the Strip. Grit without pltW, no hoeek, caIinclI. ~keu. b.nb lX ft'8\ ~ bus ........ YO\.Iib Sooth Cenbal LA. • ........,.-the m-tbelt ..d i PS of a petto.. It1 c:Ietaclwi homes lack th e verdant.. A.t:roturf~Ub lawn' and backyard awUamlrl3 pooIa of the white ~ bu. they "",,",., bekwinllY"'-' with grana ofWde_ ., _ apinat tl>e _ _ . - . J-l Ewn tl>e

V-..1_

LA. IGNITES LAS VEGAS Lu Vegas's frenzied Me'D'lorial Day weekend wa s wmdlng down with tl>e promiae 01 a b;g atonIL Spring lightning danced in the dark douds abow 0Ladest0n Pookand tl>e Valley 01_ M raine_0I.un. doUus intermittently tplattered the sidewalb outside, weary' ~ IeUen counted a q1lUtll!:t..billkm doDars in ho8day. ~ue.. ~ tt. Mo;a"o 5O)XX) homebound .............. _ " " ' ' - buInper " baDlpa", &om iTaoplh D
dot"""

it'"

I

_

~ how>ing unIta in

ambimce that belies1hei:r PJ.at,. I met up with 0 .. who is 20, near the ruilwofNudeus

,.

, I

c.ncn Park have a 6dy

:

J'la»--the cI<*It thing on the Westside to a shopping center. He reca1IId the nigh t 01 April 30, the day afta' the LA. TBdict,. when protest tumed. to riot and sans mem-

cae who could confir:m either of these lurid sIorieI,. which the city'. two daily ~ dialmUnated uncritic&Uy to a hcuified white pubUc. Nor were there fOUow·up reports 01 . uspects in such crimes from among the I I1 people

bers-looted and firebo mbed buildings, including the _ Supe<1 Marl>at in the middle of tl>e plaza. · A young . """'" (high adwoI """'" Iaalah Owlea Jr-l went in to reec:ue a little girl. She managed.10 get out, b ut he was trapped when the roof coUiIpeed. The fire dIparteeoe h¥l alteady run away, 10 the fire ju5t burned for a IonS time... He showed. me the charred remains of an adjaant N.A.A.c.P. office and AIDS cIiN<. Although the sale of arson damage in West ta. Vega (15 million) was minute c:ompand with lhat 01 Los Angels (about II biIlioa), the thaer fwy of c:on&cntation was, if anything. D'lOl'e intense. Accounts of that first day' s events have a Rasho mon -like ambiguity, only here no third pa rt y eme rges to resolve the contradic tio ns. Everyone a~ tha t rioting did not begin until about 7:30 m the evening oj the 30th. after police UItd ... gas to tum back several hund.n!d young blads trying to tn.I.«h from the Westside to dowhb:Wrn.. From that JXHnt the .tories dnllnatiaJty diYage': the 1oc:-1 rwwspIpe:rs' versaxt.almost totally reliant en polic2 reports. wma the street~el paspective of )'OWII African Americ:ans I:i.b" D. According to Metro Polic:e UeuL 5m'e Franb (who would shoot • teenager during the eecond. \o'..eebnd 01 disturNnces), "Ow' inteWsence was that if that group had reKhed downlO'Wl\. they Weft rMdy to Rt fire to the hotels. &d it not been fat our officIFs dUs town would h.ve gene up in Sames.- D. ..,.. .."... is Ida!: bu1lIhit. We were only trying 10 demCI.,.te Ilpinst the Rodnl!y le _ tl>e paID ""dorwd off trIOSt of W.t t.. Vegas and drew weapons IX!. anyone who ap proached their barricades. Hunciredl 01 young people, manwhlle. had "'S'O"I"'d ..... tl>e Ganan Pall: pro;eets.. ",here the local Kir\pmm Gang was hoatins an impto...p tu. petty foethe vuiou& Crtp mel Blood. . who had a~ tl>e _ _ day-oJ'l'U"nlly...._ by new. from LA.- to stop fighting . Acmrdlng to D., nth Y"""8 _ ....... _ and then opontd fire ... poIico.can.. _ f"llb apok-man _ that

gang members tried. to kidnap an infant from a white

-.

I

.1

--you.... D. thinks these now-ritual confrontations will only grow more viol ent over the summer. Lib other b lack )"DUdw with whom I tpOke, he beUev. that Clark County _ john Moton "wIIJ do anything. _ ..........

t,

\.

r ".

family 1Mng!Xl a pndominantIy _ . . . - 1 loon! no

10

1O break up the [gang] unification pl'OC'eM-- Indeed. D. the others are (U,.ilad that . Rant cfrive.byshoot· qthatwoundod fow .......... of the ·RcIIin'600 (a loal brandt of the funou. LA. Clip set) wa actua1Jy orpftiud by the poU<e. lhoy abo apeak deriAnly 01 the -reverse bUy- program. in which undaO)'\l'eI cops poseas drug clalera to entnp aac.k addicts whom they then «Ift'D! into becoming police infonrwlts.: D. warned me that Las Veg:a is on.the verge of what he ails -an underI"""'d holoca...... Why? ~

MISSISSIPPI WI$I' Although.Las V...... mythoglaphers (moM: nlCIIndy, Wunn &.tty in Bupy) typically elide race,. Wack eu.s and Iabonn pla,-l decisi:, e roles in the trarllformation of a .leepy d esert railroad town into a Slf...biDion+,.. tourist oais. Bat the sensational rile of the modem QIino eoQl:KlOI}' went hand. in had with the dopda_ of black righta. Cli_ C"""_buiIt by]Un Crow. As exi led. LA. gamble,. began to buy up the old Fn:mont Street c:astno. in downeown 1.-. Ves-in the latll! 193Os,. local blade. reaidents lftft banCo&om the black;ad tabla and alat _ When TOD1 Hun ope>Dd hla fJ. R.mcho III lY'tl-cM StDp'i ptooeer CIIIn) and. reKlrt hotd---rett:rice CXJ't'enants wue being used to nkt bid:. funilies &em downtown and fcJrte than aa\W the

_tier.

,. ... 9

At the same time, the media. a. in t.os Angeles, studiously avoided any reference to police misconduct d uring the disturbcnca. 0 .. however, has vivid ftIt'OlJecrion5. ~ and my friends left after the shooting Rarted..- he said. -Our car was puUed over a few bklcb Illtl!'r. When we asked what we had done wrong. a big redneclc cop Mid,. "'lM rules haft c:Nnged. nigger' and hit me in the face w ith his pistol. I wa. held 6ve days in jail for -obItrudioa.' The cops threw away my LD. and health c:ud,.10I loamy job . t Carl' s ]urtiot.D. got out of jaUjust in time 110 witness the renewa) of violence on Sunda y, May 10. Once again kids gathered nell' Gerson Park to play softball and party. Metro Police alJed in an annored personnel carrier' and began shooting wooden bullets at the crowd. The following w-':end. wa. a virtual rerun, as a gang picnic at the Doolittle Community Centu disintegrated into a wild. aU-nigh t eelee between cops in their V-l00s and hundreds of

11

IMb_ ..-s.mm,.

Iy-'- _ " " " " _ _

tain, like Lena Home and Dlris Jr but they could not wed:. • deUft or bu• ..., stay a hotel.

lift in a whilll! neigbbomood CIt &0 10 a white daool. M aU.white p:>Iice ~~ with a national reputation for brutality, enIon:ed the cdor line in a lDWn that A,fril:an-AJl'Iericans began to caD MiMioippi Waf. When in 1944 black G.l.s guardingt*tby BoWdet Dun tried. 10 d .... bpt _ out 01-..-., .... and euino&, they Weft attad:ed by pollee. In the full· Bedged riot that erupted, one toldin' was killed. A quar.-a:n.twy later, in October 1969. heavy-handed police tactics. together with disg\m OYer CU\tinuing job discrim·

ination, again ignited a riot. Two people died and

eovemoc Paul Laxalt calledin the Nal:ioMJ Guard to_I

off the Westside. .FOt neatly a yur dterward, Clark

CoW>ty'. >ehoob, only p"rtiaUy ",_ted, ..... """"" by battles betweat white and blade students. WhUe r.osm was buiIdins in the prmUer' city of the Sta-. thole with power could ignore its usIY featureI, but now raciIl turmoil ta.rniIbing its iInaJe-

w.

saver

The majo< """'" .... thoU """'I'ticit ....... - . J y toiJlWd a conseftt dec:ree in 1m luaranteei1\l open aaplo)"menL In the MIDe year the N....ada leplature ~ .Ions......yod fair houains law. Cluk County tchociI roDowed a ye.r lata widt an .,. .'alb, Khmie that cwetlode white resistance to busin&- After thirty 01 wanderin& in the ~ black La Vepns 1Ioou8l" they a>uId ... oquaIity ahood. Uke 10 much. else in the deItert. du. has tumed out 10 be a awl minge. Akhoush tokm integD:tion • the naIe.. the majority ol blatb are Iocbd out ol Las Vegas'. boom economy. In teeent r-n.. .. the teM ol the Sunbelt h.. aUpped into recession. Clark County'. population h.. . - at warp opeod (1))00 . - ' - I I ! ' " ' ....). and Nevada, the ·ma.t mrtuNte .tate 1ft the nation,,· 1CCOrdina' to thI! k:IClll A.F.L-C.LO... hal ,..,..uy lid in job .,.Iion (8 """". annually _ 1!187 and 1990). &np&oyment on the Strip hal - - . i with the a:1...t11iC_ 01 mop-hoooIa Woe ohe 4,OOlkoocn ~ 10 be followed by the S,.ooo..room M-C-M Crand" the ~ in the wwld while the .....Ded SoaIh Nenda ""'_ R _ ha oedoxed _0I1tigh-_

LTNCHI_, 900 STTU

I'

,..rs

_ milituy--_....

• in the new .aenc:e J*b. Although ll'IinDritif» mab tip lD ........ 01 Nonda·.labor ""'" (2S """"'" in CIaxk

man,. ,...,

AoxmIIn& to Kendrickand """"
MImtics"

~

_ _ .. ...u

Owl Kendrick is a aa:agy. anguLu Southerner with a Pw-line beud w~ loob lib he might haw .-pped out ola Ciril W a r ~A WteDil cirillibertis actiYiIt. he J.drd the V'uginia A.C.LU. fer before mavin&: to Lu Vegas to run the orpniution's Nevada chaptI!r. He makes no bones about which ana is morally farthest below the Mason-Dixon line: -Police Abu. heft • wane than. anywhere in the contemponIy urban South.. In an avenge month I get InOre axnplaints about police Illiscmduct in Lu Vega than I..eved altogether during tweIve)W1'S in IUdunond. The lituation is

Juot_-

But anJy. handfuJ 01 bIadt _ haft found thoU ny into affluent nnr-growth subufbI; lib WmcbeAer ad e-n Valley. Doapne the _ t y_yoor-dd .....,. ~ b1lcb remain Yudy undeI'-repraenled. in. the ~I",,_joboand

d ow then broke down her &ont door. While her fifth~ grandoon""""" "' 1enOr. they alIod bee -tUgger- and ~idl," tore off her nightgown. k:nocbd. her to the Boor and kil:k8i her betweet. the legs. Afte:t tI:lI5hing the _and finding _ they _-..so<>", "'" and left. Melvin was not charged with any ~ She filed a cocnplaiftt with the police.. but it was dismined with a fonn letter. Aa:ording m the RnVw-Jolmw. the "'I" aIao kop.$4,OOl ol ... a>nfiK>ted """"'Y. The cue ~ t most haunts West Las Vegas today, however, is the killing of asino 800nnan O\ades Bush in July 1990. Bush was asleep when three plaindothes police.. wanting to question him about the aliSt of his pregnmtt girlfriend for prostitution" broke into hl5 apertment without a warrant and choked him. to death. The of6cial polke explanation was that Bush,. surprised in his sleep, had fought with them . At the coroners' inquest,. attorneys 11!presenting Bush's family were prevented from asking questi ons, and the strlinguJation wu ruled "jl.lStifiable"the forty-fourth tUne in a row since 1976 that the police had been exonerated in the death ola suspect. Despite a storm d criticism over the coroner's vetdict. the Clark County D.A. would. not indict the ecee cops. Six months later the Nevada Attorney General 's office brought them to tria.! fat manslwgh_. but the all-white j ury dudtocked 11 to 1 for acqui ttal and thlt case was dropped. The kxa1 u.s. Attorney iJnored the A.Cl-U: , petition for prosecution under fedeml civi.I rights statutes.. As Xmdrick points out. '"The M!pcy ol the Bush caM: is even more d.isastrous than the Rodney Kin, verdict. It shows that the Las Vegas police ate allowed.. on the 8iJnsie5t of pretexts,. 10 bnU mlO black peopW. homes and kill them when they resist.. For D. and his friends,. meanwhile. the Bush ease · is j.... anooherlyndUng. Laa Vogaa-atyIo.- They poin.to the hypooisy ol a new state law that doubles amtenol!S for gang-related felonies while kxa1 law enfotament "plays patty
County). they hold anJy I< """". ol puhlk-"'< i<>'" and Covemor Robert MWer recently acknowledged the bankruptcy of the sta te'. a ffirm ative action efforts. Concurrmtly, the growth in the metropolitan area', Latino populatiCln--frorn S78 in 1960 to 82,.9(U in 1990and a huge inBux ol job. . whites from nearby _ _ have ~y crimped traditional blKk employment in the low-wage serviceindUIIrieL Not 5UIprisingJy, blKk Lu Vegans of all daues wocry about creeping "Miamiution.. with their commUl\ity, dospile impnsiw pclilia1 gaU-o. """"""'s .... oociaJIy and eccnooUca1ly periphenJ. Fat 100 many ·Ntive IOnS· like D... the recent boom. has been an embittering . prilcJn.. en ' dilemma,· offer ing equally futureless choices between meni.1l t.bor and the wdeiground ec:onomy. As in Los Angeles, the shortfall between the spectacle of pn>f1igale """""'ption and the ...uty 01ghetu> life haa been made up by street gangs and ro::k cocaine. The lim Crip set,. transplanted from Watts. took root in CArson Park.in 19?8-79; aac:k hit the streets of West Las Vegas in 1984, shoitly aitet its anin I in South Central L.A. Now an estimated ~ Crip and Bloods (together with 3.000 Latino and Asian gang members) are locked in • grim twilight ItiUggJe with police a '-' dozen blocks hom the Uberatr Mu.um and Caesar', Pa1ac:e.

Unioa P.cific tnw into W.t Lu Vegas, a wasteland witbDut: p.wd -et... utili_ or fin: pR*Ction. 1lwI, by the _ ...... lAnokY. ""'""" _ .Bupy ......, pxlioob in 1947,... egaticn in 1M Veps-. . Wtual-

But lhdi binmst feelings ate rese:rved for the politicians who think black Las Vegu·. grievances can be swept under the rug with a few InOft Ioken pstureI. lib

V_

Rn;n,.J....... ... 1""_ J'ft'UIMbIyIool
..

the ...... 01 ss,...-<>ld IlaJbaa They....,unced their arrival by - . two

D.-wnofoda ohe anJy p"'p1e"toIIIng ohe truth.bout

iIIegaI...-., -

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CASTING THE FIRST STONE LOSANcnEs 1ht BIac:k man is an irUeBigenoe IIl!5t the: white man is taking.. The: R.nerend Albert QQge, a Detroit civil rights . . . .. Mid this in the walu! of the ghetto UP_llgs of 1967. Ii the testltill.ppIies. the thtee whillt pys in the boothnext 10 1M are Bunlcing badly. I.IIft.ting braldast in " tetro-fifties diner favored by mD::Ir'writl!:rsand ltnerant Eun:Hrash. Ever sinc.'e the lootin8 d a nMIby camen shop, the entire neighborhood has

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suffered from incteuingly bizarre hallucinations. Although thi. is the edge of Beverly Hills and not Sarljevo, the locals complain abot.lt "'po6Hiot stre5$'" And greet: each other u · felIow survivors..· My neighbon are discuuing the beating of wh ite truckdriver Reginald Dmny near the C'Ol"ner of Florenct and Nonnandie on April 29. KCOP-Channel 13', lurid newscoptu view ol Denny being dngged from hi5 rig Uld hammeied senseIesa has bea:xne !he definitive image d tte u. Angeles rebeJDcn. me an achina IOOthac:he in the the e.:tronic: YOid. it has t.n shownand teShown a hunc:I:red times Clrt kx::all8evisior$. The trio are particularly riveted by the vision of a young powetfW Blaa man unuhina: Denny over the t-d with • lOCk Ol' piIIoe ol conmtI!. With M:range familiarity. th=y m hie _ "Food:d.. "1 i'at boupt ,a pittaL- I oveebear cne guy ~ "'no 1ioodJ.n". gonna come. thiwgh my &ont door.· "'You'd haw: been IINR!'r to have bought a shotgun,· says the second . "Or a _ .- adda ohe thInl There is II new- telf-righteol.llir'leS& on this side of the buri
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MOlHEIl COIllIA(M AND HEll CHILDIlIN Mast aI the tim::llitde bungalows en 1lst 5tieet e.st 01

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tihoral Mayo< jan lAwny Jo<W' graodlIoquont """""" of farty-two new ;x:.. in the casino.-. 01' Sheriff Mcnn's offet 01 ~ CXJCNnuniation- with the W~ For

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Th!' time for lies is put. We built Las Veg.u fat thecn, and without equality. we will tear this motherlucker down...

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Narmandie coukI 1IIIe • NIp of &.h pU'It.. but the lawns an tidy and well-tended. Thirtr yean "SO' the last whites IOIIle of them with Okie dnw....urrendere:I lbla put ol bIuoIlu. _ LA. to iliad: immi_ .... ohe Soutb. Now. aging iliad< ~"" wa:h with a INSiQlt: aI irony • young Mexican families aappIant them. n tum. Coorg;ana WllIiama has"- lou
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weighty new obligation. Working w ith his older brother out of the family «acage. he sa~ped • living togethar installing car a1ann& and A!ftOS,. In an aging neipworhoocl with few}'OUCll BlKb left ., Ivxno. ~ ..... guageocplay"'g p;d
Loui5iana, but Georgiana is gra~ Mi._ippL She grew up with twd¥e btodoersand si*n on a hardsaabhie tenant £ann a~ Highway 61 &om the ViCksburg Civil War ~ Her people were poorbut resoura:fu1 and. Ielf-suffirient. "'Debe I w.s ... J knew how to • weD • leW. 1CDUId ch:lp cottew\" harni!-. a mule,. evm aWce mocmhine. We wore homeInade cn.es and wmt

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Although she speaks proudly of ber mother and ~ (......utiful. """"g !adios"). Ge
... """l' _ _ ..",.... " " - tluoughout ... - "He runs to kJftIy, like:one of thole African d.:r. like a «azelle.- Through sports, Damian has also built many frimdthips outside the nlighborbood. including: whites and lAtinoL "'I ta.t him always to look b" the good in people,to judge everyone equoIIy.' Da.xnian's oldersiblinp went 10 neighborhood Khools. but he was sent to privl:12 schoois as Georgiana struggled to keep him out of harm's way. As he was entering Junior high school in'l985, crack waa 800dlng the streets of Southcentral and 'Crippin' at the height of its populuity. The Eight Tray GanptetCripl. klCked. ina spiraling blood feud with the RoWng 5I,xti,. CUP.. had become the invisible government in the Williams' neig.hbortoxl. Mlr Fknnceand Ncxmandie. UJ-..IyGeorgiana _ that the could"" pro" " Damion by InO¥ing bock to Vdaboag. The boy &om the 'hood adapted with psto the hardy routine of his runlldnlolk. "My Cod how ~ _ ~L He ~ ... _ _ ., h",' and 6oh,..ad up lore fmm 1he. older mm.ll'1e9a' saw han h.appeL' But eventu.lly, wrad:ed by financial difficulties. ecorp..a had 10 IhOft bad: to 71. Stn& To her distress

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Duni... 1ib monyofhlo friends,-"'_ and·dropped out of school Although h. proaUsed 10 6n1sh h# dip~ he fathered. a child and acquinld a

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Unllke many of her neighbcn glued to their tv sets, Georgiana paid scant attention to the triaJ of Rodney King's assailants.. "Why raise my blood pnssure? I knew those cops would never be cawicted.. I knew ptntmADy." Georgiana recalls her own eocooaeer with suburban bigotry. In the 1910sshe had been tent to Simi Valley by a private nuning lftVice to tend a terD\inally ill cancer patient. His irate neighbors complained. to the agency about her pl"l!llenCe. "'They wanted a white nwse for their lilly-whil2 ~ghbochood. I didn't fit into the dec:oc-." 1lu» Ceorpna was hardly surprised when the radio ~ the King case .cquittals while she was driving home from the beauty shop lal2 in the aftemoon of April 29. But • she apprt*hed the' comer of Nonnanctie an::I Fbau: a block from her house she was shocbcl by the scene of cNQI.. Police: can with siren. screaming dwgod down wIille _ _ knots of youth ~ and ~ M Ihe pWJed Wo her driwway, excited neighbors told. of • ronfrontatioo earlier tNt after-

noon. As word. of the vedict sptMd. • Wge crowd of kx:al kids and. unempk)yecl young adults had gathered It the comer. Some began to throw rocks at paging white motoristL (L.A.P.D.lop record that the initial anerzmcy caU from the vicinity of Florence and Nonnandie was teeeived a 4::17 pm.) As the 6tst patJQI units from the 17th Division arrived on the toene they too were pelted with___ and bricb. Q\e of the rock-throwers. sixteen-)"Uold. Shanda.l rate who Uva aaos.s the street from the Williams', wascomeie:l by a group of piaed-off «IpL Ceorpna'. ne;gIlbon deocribed how'" poI;ce_ him ~ a ~ twi:ABd. his arms and t.t him. When Damian's older half-brother. Mark Jackson (age 30), ,aJed at the ~ to stop, he too .as pWlUlllltled.. then amsted fOr "inciq a ~ -.d "ISistillg au.t.' At th:is poirn. ShandarslnOther, ADem Tate (known aBecticna. . ly to netyone_CD the block as 'Baby') arrlftd OIl the tcene. "Don't take DlY chlId..' the shrieked before:. cop ptoiiipdj put a cbolcehold Q'l her::

FcIb an 1lat_ger....ny 'I'"" thalpotice btu1aIity toward the TalIS was lib thnnring gasoline on a &re. SUmnoring _ _ woo ....bWe. on
p.D\., .. the policesuddenly began 10 wittdraw fnxn the neighborhood, tM inflamed crowd resumed . ttad:s on pusin.s whites. The: L.A..P.D. made no effort to wam un suspecting motorists of the dangerous situation at NonNndie and Florence. and. at 6~ Clw1nell3's havering twiiW»COptI!l' began brow;lo astinS liYe ronnge of the ....ting of Reg;naId Although the Lo. A.,d~. TiJJU. knew from the beg:iming about the earlier roughing-up of the TaleS, the stoly w. not n:por~ until 15 May (In an.tm.iring piece about the rank-.nd-6le CI:JI» of the 71th Street DiviIion), ud was depicted without c:laaal caulJ8d:ior. to lhean.clcs on Denny and others. Yet Georgiana and IM&t of her nei&hb<Jn are ron:rincc that It is lm)X*ible to understand what happened at 6~ ex£ePt as .. ~ of the arlier incident. She believes the media have deliber.atety disguised the logic of events and emotials in order to conjwe an ilnage of irrational BIacl: male violence. And she is IIOnnented. that her ICC\. out of the I2N of thousands of participants in the rebellion.. has been arraigned before the entire warid as the incarnation of that male violence.. She temeInben Damian's outrage: at the police on WedneIday, but equ.aDy the recalls how he spent the next day (3D April) helpin& neighbors watl!r their roofs with garden hoIe$ • flam. _psi menacingly dote &atn. burning ....EfI""ts on FIonnI:e. She had no inkling; that he: would be arraeed or charpd with any
tactic:aI alert a I!'IOft that seemed to impiy that Dunian was .. ~ as ManaeI Noriega or Pablo Escobar. Then the Judge set the: bail at a staggetirtg $195,000, or 1165.000 more than Roclney King's LAP.D. assailants. When GeotgWY heroiol1Jy . . - ... ..,.." the US. AttomI!)' promptly p&ac.1. fedaal-oold· on the c.ase P"="enting n-dan'a m..e. While de:fenIe lawyers were COilbestiilg this, District AItcmey In. Reiner filed 37 new fdany dmges against tluNan ...,fhiotwo pdncipoJ a>
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g. Williams, Mille:r and Watmn wen:: eICh charp:i with . - . - ............... _ ..10<1 mart-and mbbuy. th:t- additicN1 su.peda KpaRtely ~ of attempted robbely, misdemeanor battery (apittina on Denny), and ...wt with • a.dly ..-pon wae ... ft'I!I"ltuaJly Wi a ltd. ""'"" ....... by Geocg;ana. .... famIIy a n d _ era to atricate DI:adIIIl haw cWy rautted In the judicial 'riIebems tamed tipIer. Thealdtaitiwbaftac klEs.t-

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THE HATE FAcroRT Thesystan is5tiU fi.surin3 out new cha1p 10 hmg on 0u:Uan Wdliams. At time 01 writing (1 August). he f.::es poaibie lifie imptiloiwtent for nineteI!rl. feklny mmtL In the prosecution's soena:rio, he: has been ptoallOled from oiIIlpIy boohing Reg;nakl Dumy ..... hood to bang ... gnnl condUdiDl' of the entbt whirlwind 01 violence that enp1fed the corner or FloRnCe and Nonnandie on 29 April He is accuIeCl of havinl ·directed· the beating of nearly a dozen whites and Asians. While the District Attomer weighs further assault aNnts, the FBI tepcx ted~ Iy i. investigating violations of federal racketeering statutes (RICO), presumably tnembership in the Eight Tny <:rips. (Damim's attorneys, meanwhile, have filed a $10 miIlicn lawsuit c:IaiJnlng that "WilliaD1S was charged with the panoply of crUnes to at to become the focus 01

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theriotL· like hundreds of other young Blacks and Latinos d\arpd with ftionies for their puticipation in the L.A. uprising, Damian waits for trial a t the PeterPftl::hess Bono< R.ndoo _ _ ... SIx FIago Map: Moun....

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L.A. County. The Ranchostill kmwn to inma_ .wid their families by-* old name 01 -W.,....-wu ntlbUIhed in ·tbe·l93k by Sheriff Eupne ·rewtXutioroaryapa~ in reMbilitating minor offenden:. BiscaDuz.;.a·1egePduy outcioanman with -an inborn diIlike of ccnfiliement.· ran Wayside as a working ranch where pr6tces c:cWd e:-petioDoe ... "'IS"'! lile of cowboyo and _ .. ....

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"""'J"hing . . luos clw>pd Co< the ....... The benign "'honorrancho"' has nolved into a giant prisat with 9,(1X1 inmatea.1hoehomed inllO £Militiel·designed fat . . than 6.000. Only .. handful of sentenced. inmAteI still enjoy Bilcaih&%'a outdooclife, mCll!It of the popula&n it daUltrOpboblaIly ~day .. ~ like donnJtories. Fotmedy Wayside rai8ed alfalfa. now its main product is hate. During the last,.r hundreds of inmate& have been seriously injured. in virtually constant racial wufare. Although most of the twenty.five major zneiees have broken out . ... result of an intractable power s truggle between Blacks and Latinos (since 1989 the new majority ,at W..yside). there baYealso been brutal clashes heM... whites and Blacb. Indeed" it can be ugued that the t.A. Rebellion actually began at Wayside, where,. within minutes of the original announcement of the King case veedict,. Blackinmates were fighting whites. The whites, in tum. retaliated. in late July when thirty Black inmates were ambushed and sIuhed with jaiJ-made ahmka. Although racial vioience is now epideJnic throughout Wayside's five winJS, the mO$t suttained conftict has occurred in the high-security facility where Damian WilliamI, AnIlOnine Miller and Henry Watsm are i:mpriscoed ooget!oeo" with """" h........ other Blackand lAtIno youth dwged with mUJder. Bitler intrla_ compLain that the Sherlfft take grim deUght in fanning the Samet of racial hatnd. One Crip, o.e., who abno8t had hit eU' cut off in the latest clash with while pttsonen.. tokl me that guards had ignored Black prowsts about shank knives being made and CI:lIlCeU!d by white priaocera: 1hen when the Blacb were ambushed. the guards ftIuIed 10 interveneuntil thewhites had finished their hancUwork. Ceotgiana says that Damian has 10 far .void8i being sucked into the maelstrom of the hate factory. "He ........ proud and gme<>IIy _ .. thoush we had to get .. court order to ensu:re that he would be fed regularly and allowed to bathe. And of cnune he misees 1pOttL" I asked Georgiana what she talb about with Damim during her tegu.Iar visits to Wayside. ~ we talk .bout MissiIsippi,. and fam.i}y memorioo. ""I"'ci'IIy",y ~ who died loot lleoanbe>c at ap 100. She was Damian', favorile. He really loved that old lady. A lout loot ..... Inch.......ehe wON long oldrlashiclned. drn6ea and wu CQn~ ltantly sing ing. She'd go from room to room in the aJweaoppen' ahac:b putting the kids to sleep with a prII)"'IeI' and. • tClI'Ig. I can hIw her sweet voice always." Ceorpana Nniles and. softly singe • few emphatic JineI.: 11ba11 ~ I IhIJ1 not be mc:wed.•• just like • tift -.ding by the waw, I ohal1 not be.....cL·.

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More Information

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• INSIDEnIE L.A. RJar5 PooliQa: utides frQQ1 U. WcdIy, ViILrp' Voi«. 'TIlt ~

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BLACK AMERICA MULTICULTURAL DEMOCRACt IN THE: AGE: OF CURE:NCE: THOMAS, DAVID DUKE, AND THE: LA

UPRISING5

...If we listen carefully to young African Americans in the streets, this generation is I:eWng us mol'\'! than just its dissatis-faction with the King vt'rdict. The violence was not directly generated by reactions to courtroom. dec:isiorlS. What our young people painfully realize ia dull the enlire "system"- tbe govem.ment and its poUtidans, the courts and the police, the c:orporaticns and the Jnedia--hM, written theIn oif. They '"""S""" that Buoh Nd vUtuaIIy no lIDho<ent poUdeIli addre.ing urban problems.. until he ,."...con&mted. by street YioIence. They r-1 irwtincti:YeIy that AInerican businel:les hive .no intention ofhirlng them at r-l-Uving wages," that the courts refuse to treat them as human behlp. and tN' the poI1_ tab thelt """'" and ignore the" needs. By talting to the ........ tho)' are crying out to . aodety: '"We will be heard'" We wiD not be ignored.. and we will not go away quietly. And U the_and _ ........ to to us,. we inlend to bum it to the ground." That is the _ 01L<»AngeIeo...

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OPEN MAGAZINE pAMPHLET SERIES MAIN'OffICE P.O. Box:m6 W _ New jeney01091 USA T. (908) _ _ Fox: (9Otl) 65f.J829

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f~&Iy~Mdotha'~pr.-~ llUiU T.V L.A . Rio,. is !he ant book out oa the 'IIfdRrl3t in LA... L.V.,. and oth8r Americ:m do.. Edited by Don Huon and. pubtished by the Imtitute fur AkemItlw JourmliIm. s&.95 pstpGd.&cm: tOO EaR 15th St..New Yodc.NY1OO2S

.. THE FIREnus TIME

~ with Mike Davil about lederaHud

,ltp..... in t.c. Angelel. the upn.mp. UId u.. an.Jina: 01 the Amaialn poU<:e stale. hahnd in the SUlNMr 1992 iaoe of Cocen A.diJn ~ BadltfiIL Send $610 e-t A.ctiIx 1500M_ An.., NW WiMhinpa.DC 2OllO5

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• CIVILUBERTIES IN CRlSJS: LOS ANCELES DURING THE EMERGENCY Thr fim compl'thtnsiV't report on "assembly-line" juStice (sic) in the aften:nath 01 LA. RbdJiorL Details widespreId abo.aa of ttw righb 01 ~ Ilnll hoaMI-. A vUJabl.l from American Civil u"bwties Union 01. SoutNm Ca1ifomia. Formore info write: 1616 Bevuly Blvd .. toe Anplu"CA 9OO2S

• STRATEGY ONTER. REPORT ON RECONSTRucrING LOS ANGELES ..A ~Ye ~ to the UebaToth. C'OCJ'O"Itist vision of inner ri ty redoD'liNltion." Written by Cynthia Hamilton. Eric Mana,. Anthony ThJ.spenn. and other ~ of the Urb.n Sb . . . . Croup. send SS pCIItpIid. to;

14S40HaynuSt..,SaU.2OD. Van Nuya.CA 9un

.nUGALDEPORTAnON OFIMMlCRANTS CARECEN is the UJ\ofBcial civic C~ for ·Los Anseles' s Cnr.l-Ammican population. k provideIlepi $UfPCJIt for faIni. tie5 victimized by INS Rids during the LA. I"Ibellion. Contact CentnJ AJnericanRefup Center: 661 South BoNUeBraeStnet"Lo. AnpIU.CA to057

• THE BUSH CASE,. POUCE ABUSEIN LASVEGAS

a.n Kendrick of Uw ACLU ICnJ38Ies a1moIt JinIle-handedJy to

defaod civil. Hba'ties inside tt. llitte'clolne. For rmre normation CXJl'Itac1Ihe ADwrican Clvil1..ila'ta. Union of Nevada a t: 325 South Th1rd Strnt,. SaN 25, t.. Vep.. NcY"tnOl

.111£ DEFENSBFUND FOR DAMIAN WILLIAMS The case 01 Damian WiDiaIns will let • uu.;or prec;:edmt in the SOWs ~llocriminlHze . . . ~ ~antt-~ -.ing~Suppcwtlol'. fair kW for o.au.n WOU-h • crucial stIrp tow.-d jus&e for .u f"'OPAe Adfains frwn continu..l po!b bruld.ty, ee:onmnic deprivation.m poIitbl diMnfr.adIiIemenL do htMI AME Cliardt,. 790 South W..... An, LA.CA !IOOC3

• NATIONAL ALUANCE AGAlNSTRACST AND POLIT1CAL REPKESSION sw. 1m thB NA.AJWR" orpnized • nMiorlM multkulbnl co.lltioIl of I.bor, dntrch. educational,. .atvist" and WOII'len's poup.. Con&onI:ing nK:isI:n. ri-Sanitism,. poIke crime. andthe ~ of political prisoners in. the us and. South'Africa are ewira.I :ancng !he A1Iimae's ~ Send m SAS2 6cr. compllmmairycopyclthe~,the~.~.

U Jolul k,1l_ 7DZ,. NYC 1OO:JlI

•

The ca refulty manicu red lawns of Los Angeles's westside sprout forests of ominous lIu le signs warning: 'Armed Responsel' Even richer neighborh oods In the canyons and hrllstdes Isolate themse lves beh ind walls guarded by gun~ toting private police and state-of-the-art electronic su rvelllance. Down. town, a publicly-subsidized 'u rban ren aissance' has raised the nation's largest corpo rate citadel, segregated from the poor neighborhoods around It by a monumental architectura l glaciS. In Hollywood, celebrity architect Frank Gehry, re nowned for his 'humanism', apotheoslzes the siege look In a library designed to resemble a forelgn.leglon fort. In the Westlake district and the San Fernando Valley the los Angele. Pollee barr icade streets and seal off poor neighborh oods as part of their 'war on dnlgs '. In Watts. developer Alexande r Haagen demonst rates his strategy for recolonizing Inner-cny retail markets: a panoptlcan shop ping mall surro unded by neked metal fences and a substatfon of the LAPD In a ce ntra l surveillance towe r. Finally on the horizon of the next mlllenn lum, en ex-chref of police crusades for an ann-crim e 'giant eye' - a gec-syncbrc ncu s law enforce ment sate llite - while othe r cops disc reet ly tend versions of 'Garde n Plot' , a hoary hut sttll viable 1960s plan for a law-and-order armageddo n. Welcome to post-liberal Los Angeles, where the defense of luxury lI f~tyles Is translat ed Into a proliferation of new repressions In space and move ment. und ergirded by the ubiquitous 'armed respon se'. This obsession with physical secur ity systems, and . collate rally, with the architectura l " policing of social bound aries, has beco me a zeitgeist of urban restruct uring, a master narrati ve In the emerging built e nvironment of the 1990s. Yet conte mporary urban theory, whether deballng the role of elect ronic techn ologies In precipitating 'pou mcdem space', or discu ssing the dispers ion of urban functions ac ross poly-cen tered metr opo litan 'galaxies', has been stnmgely silent about the militarization of city life so grimly visible at the st reet level. Hollywood 's pop apocalypses and pulp science Ilcuon have been more realistic. and politically perce ptive, In representin g the programmed hardening of the urha n sur face In the wake of the social polarlzallons of the Reagan e ra. Images of carcen l Inner cities (EsCDpe l from New Yor., Runninn Man), high-tech police death squads (8faJe Runner). ,. sentient bUildings (Die Hard), urban bant ustans (They l.ive ~, Vietnam-like street wan (Colors) , and so on, only extrapolate from actually existing trends.

22 4

C I TY OF

~UA R T Z

F O R T Ress

Such dystoplan visions grasp the exte nt to which today's pharaonic scales of resldenttal and commerclal secur ity supplant residual hopes for urban reform and social Integration . The dire predictions of Richard Nlxoo's 1969 National Commission on Ihe Causes anri l'revenn cn of ~ Violence have been tragically fulllllcd: we live In 'fortress cities' hrutally divided between 'fornged cells' of amuent so<:lclY and 'places of terror' where the police battle the c rtmlnaltzed poo r.' The 'Second Civil War' that began In the long hot summers of the 1960s has been hu titution alll.ed Into the very structure of urban space. The old libera l paradigm of social control, ': attemptlng to balance eepresston with reform , has long been superseded by : a rhetoric of social warfare that calculates the Interests of the urban poor ~ and the middle classes as a zero-sum game. In cltfesllke Lo s Angeles, on the bad edge of postmodemny, one observes an unp recedented tendency to mcrge urban design, architecture and the police appuatus Into a single, comprehensive sccurny cffort . This epochal coalescence has far-reaching consequences for the social relations of the built environment. 111 the Ilrst place. the market provision of 'sec urity" generat C3 Its own paranold demand . 'Security' becomes a positio nal good dcflnedby Income access to private 'protective seolees' and membership In some hardened residenti al enclave or restricted suburb . Iu a prestige symbol - and sc meumes as the declslye borderline between the merely well-off and the.'t ruly rich' - '. eeurlty· has leu 10 (10 with personal safety than wnh the degree of personal Insulation, In residen tial, wo rk, consumpuo n and travel . environme nts, from 'u nsavory' groups and tndtvtdnals, even crowds In gene ral. Secondly, as Wllllal.n Whyte has observed of soclaltmercourae In New York , 'fear proves Itselr. The social perception of thr eat becomes a function of the security mobmeaucn Itself, not crime rates. Where there Is an actual rising afc of street Violence, as In Southcent rallos AngclCJ or Downto wn Washington D.C., most of the carnage Is self-contained within ethnic or class boundaries. Yet white middle-class Imagination, abse nt from any nnthand knowlcdge of lnncr -clty conditions, magnlnes the perceived Ihreat through a dcmcnctogrcel tens. Surveys show that Milwaukee suburban ites arc Just as worr lcd about violent cr ime as Inner -clty Walhlnglonlans, despite a twenty-fold difference In rclatlvc levels of mayhem. The mcdla, whose Iuneuo n In Ihls are na Is to bury and obscure the dally economic

L .A.

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227 violence of the city, ceasele ssly throw up spectres of crlmlnal und erclasses and psychotic stalke rs. Sensatio nalized acco u nts of killer youth gangs high on crac k and sh rllly racist evoc ations o f marauding Willie Honora foment the moral panic s that reinforce and Justify u rban apart heid . Moreover, the neo·mlllt ary synt u of co nte mpo rary architectu re Inslnuatu violence and conjures Imaginary dangers. In many Instances the semio tics of so-called 'de fensible spac e' are just about as sub tle as a swaggeri ng whit e cop. Today's up scale, pseudo-public space s - sumptuary malls, office ce nters, cu lt ure acropol ises, and so o n - are futl of Invisible signs warning ofl'the undeicless 'O the r'. Although archit ectural critics are

Fred erick Law 0 1 d msre , It will be recalled, was Nort h America'. Hau umann, as well as the Falh er of Ce ntral Park In th k f Manh It ''C ' e wa e 0 I: an s o mmune' of 186 ) , the great Draft Riot , he conce ived ubllc landscapes and parks as soc ial safely-valyes, m;l;na classes and ethnlcl~les In co mmo n (bourgeo is) recreation s and enJoyme nts. As Manfredo Tafurl hu shown In his well-known study o f Rock efeller Cente r, the same prinCiple .nlmated Ihe co nSlructlon o f the cano nical u rban spaces of the La Gua rdl... Roosevelt era . I If

usually oblivious to how the built enviro nment co ntribute. to . egregatl on, par iah group. - whether poor latino families, young Black men, o r elderly hornelen white fema le. - read the meaning Immediately.

T H E

nost rums o f full employment . In rega rd to the ' mixing' of classes,

contemp~rary urban America Is more like Victo rian England than Walt Whitm an s or La Gua rdia's New York In Los A 1 d . nge ea, c nce -upcn-e-um e a eml 'paradlse of free beaches, luxu riou s parks, and ' 'crUising st rl s' geeutnely democratic spa ce Is all but exunct. The Oz. llke arc hlpela : o~ WestSide pleasur e dom es - a co nllnuum of tony " g rna s, arts centers and g:urm et sl rlps -Is recipr ocally dependent upo n the socia l Imprison ment of t e thlrd·world service pro letariat who live In Inc reasingly re resnve ghettoes and barrios. In a city ofseve ral million yearning Imm igrant; publl ame nities are rad ically shrinking, p arks are becoming derelict and beach e: mo re segre gated, IIbrarle. and playgrounds are closing youth C I f d ' , ongregat on s o or Inary kinds are banned, and the "reet. are becoming more desclar and d angerous . e

DESTR UC T ION OF PUBL IC SPACE

The un iversal and Ineluctable cons eque nce of this crusade to secure the city Is the destruct ion ofacceul.ble public space . The contempor ary opprobrium attached to the term 'street perso n' Is In Itself a harrowing Index o f the devalu ation of public s pac~s . To reduce co ntact with untouchabl es, urban rede velopment hu convened o nce " Ital ped estri an atreet s Into tramc sewe rs and transformed public parks Into temporary recept acles for the homeless and wre tched. . The Amer ican cit y. as many critic. have recognized. Is being sy.temat lcally turned Inside ou t - or, rathe r, outs ide In. The valorlzed spaces of the new meg"'truct ur es and super.malls are co ncent rated In the center, street fron tage Is denud ed , public actlYlty Is sorted Into strlctly func tional compart ments, and circulation Is Internalized In ccmdore u nder the gaie of private pollee,"

Unsurprtslngly, IS In other Amerlcan cltles , mu nicipal policy has taken Its lead from the securit y o fTe nslye and the mlddle -c1us demand for In~leased spatial and soc ial Insulation . De facto d isinvestment In tra dit ion al pu Ic space and recreation has supponed the sh,. f n 1 It 0 sea resource. to corporlte·denned red eVelopm ent pri orit ies A pilant It thl I II . c y government - In s case ronlca y pr ofessing to represent a bl-ractal co alition of hbe I white s and Blacks _ hIlS II b ed ra co a oret In the messlve p rivatization of ubUc :pace and the .subsldlzallo n of new. racist enclaves (be nignly descrl~ed as urba n villages ). Yet most cu rre nt, giddy dlscusllon~ of the 'POstmodern' Ic~ne In los Angeles neglect entirely these overbearing aspec ts of counter. ur an lzatlo~ , and counter.lnsurgency. A triu mph al glon _ 'u rban ren aissance , city of the future', and so on _ Is laid over the bruta llzaUon of Inner .c Uy neighborhoods and the Increasing Soulh Afrlcanlzallon of

The prlvatlzatlon of the architect ural public real m, moreover , II shado wed by pa rallel rettructurlngs of elect ronic space, as heavily policed, pey-accese 'Inform atio n o rders' , elite data-bases and subsc ription cable services appropr iate parts ~ f the Invisible agora . Both processes, of course, mirro r the deregulation of the eco no my and the recession of non -marker entitlements. The decline of u rba n liberalism has been accompanied by the death o~ what might be called the 'Olmsredlan vision' of pubUc space,

220

Th~s reformist vision of public space - as the emolllem o f class struggl e not t e bedr ock o f the Ameri can polis -Is now as obsolete as Keynealen

cr r v OF UU"'RT4:

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Its spatial relations. Even IS the walls have co me down In Eastern Europe, :' th ey are being erected all over los Angeles . . The observations that follow take as their thesis the existen ce of this { new class war (sometimes a continu atio n of the race war of the I96Os) at

t

the level of the bu ilt enviro nme nt. Allhough this Is not a co mprehensive ! account, which wo uld require a thorough ana lysis of eco nomic and political .~ dynamics, these Images and Instances are mean t to co nvince the reader that ': lIrban form Is Indeed follOWi ng a repr essive function In the political fur rows o h he Reagan-Bush era . Los Angeles, In Its usual preflgoreuve mode , offers an especia lly d isquieting cata logue of the em ergent liaison s be tween arch itect ure and the American police state.

THE FORBIDDEN CITY

The Iirst militarist of space In Los Angeles was General Otis of the nmes. Declarlng himself at war with labor, he Infused his su rroundings with an unrelentingl y bellicose air :

, He caned hll home In Los A~lel the BtvoulC. Anolher houle was known as the Outpost. The TImfJ .;.. known as the Fortress. Th e mIT of the paper was the Phalanx. The TImfJ building Itsclfwas more fon re" than newsp.ilper pl.ilnt, there were turrell, battleme nts, tentry boxes. Inside he stored firt )' rifles.· A great . menaci ng bronze eagle was the TImes's c rown; a small, .functlonal c annon was Installed o n the hood of Otis'. to uring car to Intimidate onlooke rs. Not surprisingly, this overwrought display of aggrenlon produ ced a respons~ In kind . O n I Oc tobe r 1910 the heavily foru fled nmt s headquarters - citadel of the open shop on the West Coa st - was destroyed . In a catastrophic tlIp loslon blamed on u nion saboteurs. Eighty years later, the spIrit of General Ot is has returned to subtly pervade los Angeles's new 'postmod ern ' Downtown : the eme rging Padflc Rim nnanclal complex which cascades, In rows of skyscrapers, from Bunker Hili southward I.long the Figueroa co rridor. Redeveloped with public tu Increments unde r the aegll of the powerful and largely un acco unt able Co mmu nity Redevelopment Agency, the Downtown pro ject Is one of the

I. . ... .

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largC'st postwa r urb an deSigns In No rth Ame rica. Site assemblage and clea ring o n a vast scale, with little mobilized opposition, h ave resur rected lan$l values, upon which big developers and off-shore capftal (Inc reasingly . Japan ese) have plant ed a series of blllion-dcller, block-square mega· stru ctu res: C roc ke r Center, the Bonaventu re Hotel and Shopping Mall, the World Trade Cente r, th e Broadway Plaza, Arco Cen ter, CltiCo rp Plaza, Califor nia Plaza, and so on . Wit h historical land scapes era sed, with mega· . tructures and supe rblocks as primary co mpo nents, and wtth an Increasingly dense and self-co ntafned circulation system, the new Anand al district Is best co nceived as a single, demonically self·re ferentlal hype r. struc ture, a Mleslan skyscape raised to dementla. LIke slmllar megalom aniac co mplexes, tet he red to fragme nted and desolated Downtowns (fo r Instance , the Ren aissan ce Center In Detroit , the Peachtree and O mnl Ce nters In Atlanta, and so on), Bunker Hili and the Figueroa corrldor have provoked I. storm of liberal objection s against th eir abuse o f scale and co mposition, their denigration of street land scape, and their connscatlon o f so much o f the vital life aetMty of the center, now sequestered within subterranean co ncou rses or prteatteed malls. Sam Hall Kaplan, the crus ty urban critic of the TImes, h.. bee n Indefatigable In denouncing th e anti -pedest rian bias of the new corporale citadel, with Its fascist obllteratlo n of street frontage. In his vtew the superi mpositi on of 'he nnetlcally sea led fo rtresses' and air-dropped 'pieces of subu rbia' has 'dammed the rivers of life' Dow ntow n, I Yet Kaplan' s l'lgo rous defen se of pedeunen democra cy rema ins groun ded In hackneyed liberal co mplaints abou t 'bland design' and 'elitist plannin g pract ices' . LIke most architectural c ritics, he ralls against the oversights of urban design withou t recognIz ing the dimension of foresight, of explici t repressive Intenti on, wh ich has Its roots In los Angeles's ancie nt ' . history of class and race warfare. Indeed, whe n Downtown's new 'Gold Coast ' Is viewed en bloc from the standpOint of Its Interactions with other soc ial nus and landscapes In the central city, the 'fort ress effect' eme rges, not as an Inadvertent failure of design, but as deliberate soc lo-spatlal strategy. Th e goals of this strategy may be summariz ed as a doub le represncn: to raze 1.11 association with Do wntown's past an'd to prevent any art iculati on with the non -Anglo urbanity of Its future. Everywh ere on the perimet er of

• 230

CI T Y OF QUARTZ I

redevelopment lhb strategy tah l th e form of a bruni arcbttecnnal edge or

glacis that denn es the new Downtown

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th e framework of gentrlllcaHon or recolonlzatlo n.1 Although a few whiteco llan vent ure Into the Grand Central Mark~t - a popu lar emporium of

a citadel vls·i-vls the test of the

central city. Los Angeles Is unusua l amo ngst major urban renewal centers .

In presf! t'Ylng. however negligently. most of lis circa 1900-30 Beaux Arts ; comm ercial co re. At Immense public cos t, the co rpo ra te he adquarters and " financia l dist rict WIS shined from the old Broadway-Sprlng co rridor six

blocks west 10 the greenfield sue created by destroying the Bunker Hili ' . residential neighborhood. To emph asize the 'security' of the new . Downtown, virtua lly all the tndUlo nal pedestrian links to the old cent er, Incl udi ng th e famous Angels ' Flight funicul ar rail road. we re removed . Th e logic of Ihls en ti re operatio n Is rev~alJng. In ethe r ci ties developers

tropical prod uce and fresh roods - latlno . hoppe n or Saturday stroll~rs never circula te In the Guccl precin cts abcve Hili St r~t. The Ott&5lonal appearance or a destitute street nomad In Broadw",y Plm or in front or the Museum of Contem porary Art sets off a quiet panic; video cameras tum on their mou nts and security guard. adjUst their belli . . Phot ographs of th e old Downtow n In lit prime sho w mixed cro wds of Anglo, Black and latino pedestrians of dlfTerent age. and c1ass ~s . The contem po ra ry Downtown ' renaissance ' Is design ed to make suc h heter o-

m ight have au empte d to articulate th e new skjscepe an d rhe old, ex ploiti ng (

geneit y virtu ally Impossible. It Is Intended not Just to 'klll th e street' as Klplan f~a tl, but to 'kill the c ro wd ', to eliminate that democratic admi xtu re

th e latter 's extraordinary Invent ory of theaters and historic bUildings to .

on the pavements and In the parks th at Olmsted believ ed was America's

create a gentrtned hlstory - a gadlght distr ict , Faneuil Mark et o r Ghlnrdelll :

antidote to Europeln c1,u polarizati on•. The Downtown bjpersrructure _

Square - as a su ppo rt to mlddle-.elass residential colon izatio n . But Los .

like so me Buckmlruter Fuller post·Holocaust rantasy - Is programmed to

Angeles' s redevelope rs viewed property values In the old Broadway co re u Irreversibly eroded by the ar u's 'Iery ce ntrality to publi c transport, and : especially by Its hea vy use by Black and Mexican poor. In th e w~ke o f the WaUS Rebellion , and the pe rceived Black threat to c rucial nodes of whi te power (spelled out In lurid detail In the McCone Co mmission Report).

~

resegregated spatial security became the paramount concern.' Th e Lo. Angeles Pollee Department abetted the mght of business from Broadway to

,

th e foruned redoubts oreunker Hili by spread ing scare literat ur e typify ing .

.

Black teenagers as dangerous gang members. As a result, redevelop ment maulvely rep rodu ced spatial apan held. The . moat of the Ha rbor Preewey and the ~aded paltsades of Bunker Hili cut off .

ensure a seamleu continuum of mlddle-.elau work, co nsumption and recreeuce. without unwonted ex posu re to Dow ntown's working-cl ass st reet enviro nments.' Indeed the toUlltarlan sem iotics or ramparts and baulem en ts , reflecnve glass and elevated pedways, rebukes any affinit y o r sympat hy bet ween different ar ch itectural or human o rders. As In Otis's fortress nmeJ bu ilding . th is Is the archlsemlotlet of class war. lest this see m too extreme, conside r Urban uJnd magazine's re ce nt desc ription of the pront-drl'len fo rm ula that across the U nited Stat e. has linked toge ther clustered developmen t, soc ial hom ogeneity, and a secu re ' Downtow n Image':

the new financial co re from the poo r Immigran t neighborhoods that surround ;. II on every side. Along the base of California Plaza, Hili Street became

a local :

Berlin Wall separenng the publicly subsidized luxury of Bunker Hili from the IIfeworld of Broadway,' now reclaimed by latino Immigrants as th eir prim ary ". shopp ing and entertalnmen t street. Because politically con nected specubtc n are now redeveloping the northern en d of the Broadway co rridor (sometimes ; known as ' Bunker Hili Ell!'), the CRA Is promising to restor e pedest rten linkages to the Hillin the 199Os, Including the Angels' fli ght Incline railroad. Thll, . of course, only d ramatlz~s the curre nt bias against accessibility - that Is to say, '. against ony spatial Inter action berween old and new. poor and rich, exce pt In ~

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232

SADISTIC STREET ENVIRONMENTS

Th is conscious ' hu denlng' of the city su rface ag. lnst th e poor Is especially . brazen In the Manl ch aean tr eatment of Downtown microcosm •. In his famous study of the 'social life o f small urban spaces '. William Wh yte maket th e po int th at the qUlllty of any urban enviro nme nt can be measured, nrst : of all, by wheth er th er e are conve nient, co mfortab le places for pedestrllnt , to sit. II This maxim h as been warml y taken to heart by designers of the

1I0 W TO OVERCOME fEA" OF CPJME IN OOWNTOWNS

( realt a Of'nJt. Compact, Multifunctional COTtArta. Adowntow n cln be dengned and developed 10 make visitors fte l th.t II- or a . Ignlncanr ponl on of It - Is attractlv~ Ind the type of place thar 'r espectable people' like thernsel'1e' lend to frequent. . . . Acore downtown Irea th.l\t Is compl ct, densely developed I nd mulllfunctlonal will concenfrate people, giving them more Ic llvltlu. , . . The Icllvttle. oITered In thl. core nel will derermlne what 'type' of people will be strolling III sidewalks; loelling offices and housing (or middle. Ind upper-I ncome te. ldent. In or nel r the core Irel cl n assure I high percentage cr 'respectable' , I, w" bldlng pedenrl an•. Such In .tl nctlv~ rede~lo~ed core . rel would .110 be lu ge: enough to . fTect the downtown'. over.lIlmage. I) • I

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' housing, o fficial poli cy has tran sformed Skid Row Into proba bly the most dangerous ten squ ar e block s In th e world - rul ed by a gris ly succession of ; 'Slu hers '. 'Night Stalkers ' and more ord ina ry predarees." Every night o n Skid Row Is Frtday the t 3th, and, un su rp rlslngly, many o ft he homeless leek to esc ape th e 'N ickle' durtng th e night at . 11 COSU, se arc hing safer niches In ' other p ans of Downtown. Th e city In turn tight ens the noos e with Increased police harassm ent and Ingenious d~slgn det erren ts. One o f th e most com mo n, but mlnd,numblng, o f these deterrents Is the

hlgh-eo tponte preci nct s or Bunk er Hili and the em erging ' urban ~ llIa ge ' or Sout h Park. As part o f th e city's polley o f subs idizJng whit e-collar r~slden tl ll co lo nizatio n In Do wn to wn, It hu spe nt, or plans to spend , ten. of millions ..

kapld T ransit Distri ct 's new barrelshaped bus be nch that ofTers I minimal • .urfl ce for un comfortable utung. while m aking s l~p l n g uuerl y Impossible. Such 'bump roo f' benches are being Widely Introduced on the pe riphery of

of dollars of di verted tax revenue o n ~ ntld n g, 'so ft' enviro nme nts In these :

· Skid Row. Another Invention. worthy of the Grand GUignol, Is the

area s. Plann ers en'lls\on an opulent co mplex or squltes. fountalnkworld· ~ class public art , exotic shubbery, and avanr·garde street furniture along I :

• aggressive deployment of outdoor spr inklers . Several years ago the city ;' opened a 'Skid Row Par k' along lower FlAh Stre et, o n a co rner of H ell. To

Hope Street pedest rIan co rr ido r, In th e p ropaganda of offici al boosters, nothing Is tak en u a better Index of Downtown's 'IIv~ahlllty' th an th e Idyll ~

· ensure tha t the park was not used for slee ping - that Is to say, to guarantee

of o ffice wo rkers and up scale tour ists loun glng or napping In th e terraced "' garden. of Cillfo rnla' Plua, th e 'Spanish Steps' or Gra nd H ope Park . In stark co ntrast, II few blocks away, th e city Is engaged In a mer cllell ) . troggle to m ake public facilities and spaces as 'un.llveabl e' as possible for the homeless and the poo r. The persistence of th ousands o r stree t people on the fringes of Bunker Hili and the Civic Center sours the Image o f designer : Downtown living and betrays the laboriously co nstr ucted illusion of a .~ Downtown 'ren aissance'. City H all th en ret aliat es wit h III ow n variant or . r

. U

low-lntenalty wan are . Although c ity lea ders peri odically essay schemes fo r removing Ind lgenll en mou e _ dep orting them to a poor farm on (he edge o f the desert, conn ning th em In ca!nps in the mounta ins, or, m emorably. Interning them on a derelict ferry at the H arbor - such 'flnal soluttons' have been blocked by co uncllme mbe n fearful of the displace ment of the homeless Into th eir dlstrlcII , Instead the city, s~ l f-consclously ad opt ing the Idiom of urban co ld war, p rom ot e. the 'contai nment' (official term) of the hom eless In Skid Row alo ng Fifth Stree t east of th e Broadway, systematic ally transforming the neighborhood Into an outdoor poorhouse. But th is conllinment st rate gy breeds Its ow n vicious circle o r contradictio n. By co ndensing th e mass of the despera te and helpless together In suc h a sma ll space , and denyi ng adequate

that It was mainly utilized for d rug dealing and preetnuuo n - the city Installed an elabo rate overhead sprinkle r syllem prog rammed to drench

umus pectt ng sleepers at random times during the night . The system was · Imm ediately co pied by some local huslnessmen In orde r to d rive the · homeless away from adjacent pu blic sidewalks. Mea nwhil e restaurants and · marke ts have respon ded to the hom eless by building ornate enclos ures to · prot ect th eir refuse. Althou gh no o ne In los Angeles has yet pro posed addi ng cyanide to th e garbage, as happen ed In Phoeni x a few years back, on e · popular seafood restaurant has spe nt S12,000 to built th e ultimate bag-lady. proof trash c.ge: made of three-quart er Inch steel rod wit h alloy locks and vicious outt urned splkee to safeguard priceless mo lde ring Rshh eads and : u ele Fren ch rrles. Pub lic toilets. howev er. are the rea l Eeete m Front of th e Dow ntown war on the poo r. los Angeles, as a maner of dellb era te policy , has fewer a¥allable publi c lavatories than any major Nort h Ameri can ci ty. On the edvlce of the LAPD (who actually sit on the deSign board of at leut one major Downtow n redevelopment prolect).u the Com mu nity Red evelop' ment Ag~ ncy bu lldozed th e remaining publi c toilet In Skid Row. Agency · plann ers th en agonized for months ov~ r wh et her to Inclu de a ' free.•tandlng , publ ic to ilet' In th eir deSign for So uth Par k. As CRA Chairman Jim Wood later ad mitted. the dec ision not to Includ e th e toilet was a 'polley decision

CI T Y OF O u ... .. T Z .

232 SADISTIC

STRE ET

eNVIRo NM ENTS

This co nscious 'hardenrng' of the cny surface against the poor Is especially : brazen In the Manlchaean treatment of Downtow n mic rocosms. In his . famous study o f the 'social life o f small u rban spaces', William Whyte make. the point tha t the quality o f any u rban enviro nment can be measured , nnt of an, by whether there are convenient, co mfortable places fo r ~ estrllnt to sit. II This maxim hal been warmly taken to hear! by designers of Ihe " high-ccrpc rate predri t U of Bunker 1-1111 and the em erging 'urban ~l1Iage' of ;." South Park. As part of the city's polley of subsidizing white -co llar resident ial . colonlzatlon In Dow ntown . It has spent, o r plans 10 spend. tens o f millions of dollars of d lverted tax revenu e on enticing. 'so fl' enviro nments In these areas. Plan ners en visio n an opulent co mplex of squ a r~ s, fountains ,' wod dclass public art , excdc shubbery, and ava n titard~ nreer fur nitu re along a Hope Street pede suian co rrido r. In th e propaganda o f official boosters, nothing Is reken as a bette r Index of Down tow n's 'liveability' than the Idyll '; of office wo rkers and upscale tou rists lo unging or napping In the terraced gardens of Ca llforn l~ Plua, the 'Spanlsh Steps' o r Gra nd 1·lope Park. In star k contrast, a few blocks away, the city Is e ngaged In a mercllese struggle to make public facilities and spaces as ' unllveable' as pcsslble for the homeless and the poor. Th e pe rstsree ce o f thou sands of stree t people 6n the fringes of Bunker Hili and the CIvic Ce nte r sou rs the I m llg~ of designer Downt own liVing and be trays the labo riOusly co nstr ucted illusion of • .: Downtown 'ren alsu~ ce' . City Hall the n retaliates with Its ow n variant of ;. low-rm ensny wufare. lJ Although city leaders peri odically essay schemes for removing Indigen t. t n mont _ deporting them to a poo r farm on the edge of the desert, co nn ning them In camps In the mount ains, or, memorahly, Inte rning them on a derelict ferry at the Harbo r - suc h ' Ilna! solu tio ns' have been blocked by cou ncllmembers 'fearful of the displacement of the homeless Into their districts. Instead the city, self.consclously adopting the Idiom of urb an cold war, promot e. the 'cOntainment' (official term) o ft he homeless In Skid Row along Fln h Street eall of the Broadway , systematically transfor ming the neighborhood Into an out doo r poo rho use. But th is co nta inment stra tegy breeds Its own vicious circle of co ntradic tion. By co nde nsing the mass o f the desperat e and helpless together In such a smlll space, and den ying adequ.te

234

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233

housing, c lllctal policy h illS transfo rmed Skid Row Into pr obably the most dangerou s ten square block s In the wo rld - ruled by a grisly succession of 'Slashers', 'N ight Stalkers' and more o rdinary pred ato rs." Every night o n Skid Row Is Friday the 13th, and , unsurprlslngly, many of the hom eless seek · to etcape the 'Nickle' du ring the night at all costs, searching safe r niches In othe r parIS of Downt own. The cit y In turn tightens the noo se with Increased police harassme nt and Ingenious design deterr ent s. : One o ft he most co mmon , but mlnd .numblng, of these deterrents Is the · ~a p ld Transit District's new barrehhaped bus bench that o(f~rs a minimal , surface for u nco mfortab le slUing, while making slee ping uu ~ rl y Impossible. · Such 'bumproo f' benches are being widely Introd uced on the pe riphery of ~ Skid Row. Ano the r Inventio n, wo rthy of the Gra nd GUignol, I. th e aggresSive deplejmem o f outdoo r spr ink lers . Seve ral y~ rs ago the city · opened a 'Skld Row Park' ,long lower Firth Street , o n a co m er of H~I1 . To · ensure that the pa rk was not used for sleeping -th, t I. to say, to gu aran t ~e ~ that It was mainly utilized for dr ug dea ling and prostitution - the city : Insulled an elabor ate overhead sprinkler system p rogramm ed to d rench unsuspect ing sleepe rs at random tlmes du ring the night . Th e system was \ Immediately copied by some local buslnusmen In o rde r to d rive the • homeless away from adjacent pub lic sidewalk•. Mea nwhile re.tau rant. and m ark ~t s have respond ed to the homeless by build ing ornate enclosures to prot ect their refuse . Although no one In los Angeles hilS yet proposed , addlng cyan ld~ to the garb age, as happened In Phoen ix. few yean back, one .: popu lar seafood restaurant has spe nt S12,000 to bu ilt the ultimate bag-ladyproof trash cage: made o f three-quarter Inch steel rod with alloy locks and vicio us c uu um ed spikes to safeguard p riceless mol d~rlng nJh heads and stal~ fren ch fries. Public tollet s, however, are the real Eastern front of rhe Dow ntown war o n the poo r. Los A n g~les , as a matt er of deliberate po licy, has fewer av.llable public lavatories than any major No rth A m~rlcan city. On the advice o f the LAPD (who actually sit o n the design board of at least on e major Downtown redevetopmem prolect), l~ the Co mmu nity Redevelop. ,; ment Ag~n cy bu lldozed the remaining pu blic toilet In Skid Row. Agen cy · plann ers then agonized fo r months over whethe r to Include a ' free.stand lng public toilet' In their d~s l gn for South Park. As CRA Chairman Jim Wood later admlued, the decisio n not to Include the tolle t was a 'polky dec isio n

FOHTnES s

CI T Y O F OUAf'tTZ

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and not ill de sign decision'. Th e e RA Downt own prefers (he solution of 'l!ull5l.publlc rest roo ms' - meaning totlets III r~St:luraIlU, art galleri es and office bUildings -which can be rnnde avallahle to tou rtsts and office workers wlrlle helng de nied to vagrants and other unsultables: ' T he to iletless noman'•.land east 00 1111 Street In Downtown Is also barren of outside water sou rces for drinking or washing. A co mmo n and tr oubling Sight th ese days are the homeless men - many of them yOllng Salvaclorea n refugees washIng In and even dr hikln g from the sewer croue nt which flows down the co ncrete cha nnel of tile l.os Angeles River o n the eastern e~ge of Downtown. Where the Itinera ries o f Down tow n powerbreke rs una voidably Intersect with the hablt~ tJ of th e homeless or the work ing poo r, as In the : preViously mentioned zo ne of genulncatlon along th e northern Broadw ay co rridor, ~xtno rdlnary design precautio ns are being taken to ensur e the phYSical separation of the different hum anities. For tnsrance. the CRA 1 brought In the I.os Angeles Police to design 'H ·hou r, stare-of-the -art secu rlty' for the two new parking structur es that serve the I.os Angelel ' limn ami Ronald Reagan State Office buildings. In co nt rast 10 the mean streets outslde,lh~ pa rking stru ctur es co ntain beillutlfully landscaped lawns or 'm lcroparks', and In one case, a food court and a histo rical exhib it. ' Moreover, both struct ll~es are designed as 'con ndence-bcudrng' circula tion systems _ mlnl ature pa~adlgms o f prlvilltlzatlon - which allow white-collar .. workers to w1\lk from car to o ffice, or from car to bou uqne. with mini mu m ; exposure to the publtcstrcet. lbe Broadway Spring Center, III particular, which links the Ronalli Reagan Building to the p ropo sed 'Gnnd ~entral \ Square' at Third and Broadway, has bee n warmly pratsed by architec tur al : critics for adding green ery and art (a banal bas relief) to parking. It also adds 1.. a hoge do se of menace - arm ed guards , locked gatel , and secu rity ca m~ ras ; _ to scare away the homel ess and poo r. The cold war on th e str eets of Downtown Is ever escalat ing. The police, '. lcbbted by Dow ntown merchants and developers, have bro ken up every ; Atte mpt by the homeless and th eir allies to c reate safe havens o r seU· '. organized en campments. 'jusucevnle'. fou nd ed by homeless activist Ted : 11ayes, was rou ghly dispersed ; whe n Its Inhabitants att em pted to Ilnd refuge . at Venice Beach, they we re arrested at the behe st ohhe loc al cou ncllperson [ (a renown ed enviro nmen talist) and sent back to the Inferno of Skid Row. : j .j

' BUM·PRooF' BUS BENCH

Hill Strut, Downtown

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The city's OIY ., br ief experiment wit h IcgJllzcd camp Ing _ a grudging respo nse to it series of exposur e de aths In the co ld winter of 198 7 16 _ was ended abruptly afte r o nly four months [0 make way fo r cons tructio n of a tr ansit repair yard . Cu rrent policy see ms to Involve a per verse play upon 7..ola', famous Irony abou t the 'equa l rlghls' of the rich and the poo r to sleep out TOn gh. As the head of th e ci ty planning commission ex plnlncd the officlal llllC to Incredulous report ers, It Is no l agai nsl the law 10 slee p on the street pe t se. 'o nly to erect any sort of prot ective shelter', To enforce this prescription against 'ca ~dbo a rd condos ', the lA r D periodically s w~c p the Nickle, conflscatlng shelte rs and othe r possessions, lind arr esting resisters. Suc h cy nlca~ repression has t~, rncd the majo rity of the homeless lnto urb an bedouins. Th ey arc vlslble &11 over Downtown, pusllll1g a few parbenc possessions In purloined shopping ca rts, alway! fugitive and In motion, pressed between the offi cial policy of co ntainment and the Increasing sad tsm of Do wntown stree ts."

FR A N K

O E H R Y

AS

D IR T Y

tt A R R Y

If the cOlne mpora ry search for bo urgeois sccurny call be read In the design of bus bench es and mega-struc tures. It Is also visible at the level of (WU llr. No rece nt architect h~s so Ingernously elaborated the ur ban security function or so brazenly emb raced the resultlng friSlon 3! l os Angeles'. l'r uekcr Prize laur eate, Franj< Gehry. As we saw earlier, he has become one of the principal 'Imaglneers' (III the Disney sense) of tile nco-booster tsm of the 1990s. lie Is p;"tl~lIl arly ade pt as a c rossover, 1101 merel y between architec ture and modern art, but also between olde r, vaguely radical and co ntemporary. hasteally cynical styles. "I1IUS his portfolio ts at once a principled rep udiation of pcstm cdemrsm and o ne of Its cleverest sublimations; a nc n algtc 'evocation of revolurtonary construc tivism and a mercenary celebration of bourgcors-decedcm mlnhnallsm. These ;

am phlblan shifts and paradoxical n uances In Gchry's work sustain a boo mIng co ttage Indu ~ t ry of Ce bry-Imcrprctatton, mostly effused with hypcr boltc adm iration.

Yet. as s llggesr~d In chapte r one, Gchry's strongest suit may simply be his stralghtforw" rd explouatton of roug h urb an cnvlro nmems. and his

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blatan t Inco rporation of thelr harshest edges and detr itu s as powerful represent ational elements In his wo rk. AffectIonately described by co lleagues as an 'o ld socialist' or 'street-fighter wIth a heart', much of his most Interesting work Is utterly unroman tic and anti-idealist .11 Unlike his popular front mentors of the 19 40s, Gehry makes lmle pretense at architectural reformism o r 'design for democ racy'. He boasts of trying 'to make the best with th e reality of thIngs' . Whh som etimes chilling lumInosity, his work clarifies the und erlying relations of re pr ession, surveillance and exclusIon that charac terize the fragmented , para noid spatiality towards which los Angeles seems 10 aspire. A very u rly example of Gehry's new urb an realism was his 1964 solutIon ot the problem of how to Insert high property values and sumptuary spaces Into deceyrng neighborhoods. His DanZiger Srudto In Hollywood Is the pioneer Instance of w h a~ has become an enttre species of tcs Angeles 'ste alth houses', dtsnm ulan ng their luxurious qcelntes with pr oletari an or gangster i: Iacades. The street front age of the Danziger - on Melrose In the bad old days : before \Is current gourmet-gulch renaissance - was sImply a massive gray .. t wall, treated with a rough finish 10 ensure that It would collect dust from ; passtng traffi c and weather Into a simulacrum of nearby porn studios and ; garages. Gehry was explicit In his search for a design that was 'Introverted and fortress-like' with the silent aura of a 'dumb box'.'? 'Dum b boxes' and screen walls form an entire cycle of Gehry's work, " ranging from hIs America n School of Dance (1968) to his Gemini G.E.I. ~ (1 9 79), both In Hollywood. His most seminal design. however , was hll ··, walled town ce nte r for CochitI l ake, New Mexico (197]): here ~(;e-bl ue ramp art s of awesome severtty enclose an entire community (a plan ; replicated on a smaller scale In the 1976 Jung Institut e In l os Angeles). In : each of these Instances, melodrama Is generated by the antithesis between the forti fied exte riors ,' set against 'u nappealing neighborh oods' or deserts, ; and th'e opulent Inter iors, ope n to the sky by clerestories and Ilght wel1s. , Gehry'a walled compounds and cttles, In other words, o ffer powerful . metaphors for the retreat from the stree t and the Introversion of space that :', characte rized the deug n backlash against the urban Insurrectio ns of the

I'"UI ., ..

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largest Central American barrio In the Un ited States. The Inner-city situat ion of the Loyola campus confronte d Gehry with an explicit choice between the risks of creating a genuine pu blic space, extending Into the · commu nity, or choos ing the security of a defensible encl ave, as in hls prevlous wo rk. The radical, or simply Idealist, arc hitect might have gambled · on opening the campus to the adjace nt co mmunity, giVing It some substantive stake In the deSign. Instead, as an admiring crtuc explained, · Gehry chose a fundament ally neo-conservative design that was: open, but no! 100 ofJfn. The South Instructional Hall and the chapel show solid back. to Olymptc Boulevard, Ind ~I!h the anonymous street 31del of the Burns ; Building. form a gateway that If neither forbidding nor overly welcoming. It Is , ' imply there. like everylhlng else In the nelghborhood.1o

.f

,

(ThIs descri ption considerably underst ates the fot blddlng qualities of the .. campus's formidable steel stake fencing , conc rete bloc ziggura t, and stark , frontag e walls.) But If the Danziger Studio camou flages Itself, and th e Cochiti Lake and Loyola desIgns bunch fron tage In stern glares, Gehris baroquely fortified · Frances Howard Goldwyn Regiona l Branch library In Hollywood (1984 ) · positively taunts poten tial trespasse rs 'to make my day'. Thls Is undo ubted ly the most men acing libra ry ever built , a bizarr e hybrid (on the outside) of dry-docked dread nought and Gunga Din fort. With Its fifteen -foot secur ity walls of stucco-covered co ncrete block, Its antl-gram tl barricade. covered _In ceram ic tile. its sun ken ent rance pr otected by ten-foot steel stacks, and ' lts stylized sentry boxes perched precariously on each side, the Goldwyn . Library (Influenced by Gehry's 1980 bfgb-securtty design for the US .Chancellery In Damascu s) projects the same kind of macho exaggeration as Dirty Harry's 44 Magnum. Predictably. some of Gehry's Intoxicated admirers have swoo ned over ~ this Belru th:ed structure as 'gen erous' and 'InvIting', 'the cld-fashtcn ed kind

· of library' . and so on. They absur dly miss th e potnr." The previous Hollywood RegIonal Branch library had been destroy ed by arson, and the .J (·Samuel Goldwyn Foundat ion, which e ndows this collection of fIl mland 1960s . This problemat ic was renewed In 1984 In hls design of the Lo yola Law : ' memorabilia, was flu ted on physical secu rity. Gehry accepted a commission to design a stru cture that was Inherently 'vandalprcof". The School located on the western edge of Down town Los Angeles In the

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curiosity. of co urse. Is his rejecuon of the low-proflle. high-tech sec urity ~ systems that most architects subtly lnlcgr;\te In their bluep rints. He chose: Instead a hlgh-prnOle, low-tech approach that maximally for egrounds the security functi ons as motifs o f the d esign. The re Is no d issimulation of ; funct ion by form : quit e rhe opposite. Gehry leis II all h,mg n ut , J low playful ., o r mord antly witty you may flnd the resultin g effect depend s o n your . existential position. 11.c Goldwyn Uh rary rele ntlessly tnterpelletes , ; demonic Other (arsoni st. graffiUsl, Invade r) who m II reflects back on ~ sur ro unding streets lind street people. It coldly saturates Its Immediate : enviro nment , which is I~ly but not parti cularly bost tle, wit h '!ls own: arrogant paranoia. \ Yet pa ranoia cOlild he • misnomer. for the adlace nt street. are . : batt leground. Several years ago th e l os Angcles Times b roke the sordid . tory. about how the entertainment conglomerates and a few large landowners.. rnou c pclt atng land ownership In this part of Hollywood , had managed t capture co ntrol of the redevelop men t pro cess. Thcl r plan, . 1111 the object or; co ntroversy, Is to use eminent do maln and pub lic tax Increments to clear. the poor (Increasingly refugee s from Central America) from the streets of' Hollywood and reap the huge wind falls from 'upg rading' the region Into I gllt7.y theme-perk fo r Intern ation al toortsm." Within this slntegy, the Goldwyn Ubn ry - like Gehry 's ea rlier walled compounds - Is a kind of' arclnte ctu ral O re .ha! ~ , a beachhead fo r gentrification. Its soaring, light. Oiled Interiors surrounded by bel licose barricades speak volumes abo ut hO'N' pub lic arch itecture 1'1 America b literally being turned Inside out, In the. servtce of 'security' ai'lll preflt ,

THE PANOPTI CON MALL

i In other lc caltnstances, however , the 'for tress' Is being used 10 reca pturt. the poo r as con sum ers. If the Goldwyn Ubrary Is a 'shilling ex ample of th~ posslbilltle. o f public and pr fvate-sector coo peratio n', then develope r Alexander 1-13agen'$ Inne r-city malts are tru ly stellar Instances. Haa gen1. whose career began as a Jukebo x distr ibut or In the bo nky-tc nks or Wilmingto n, made his InItial Ior tur e seilIng co rne r lots to 0 11 co mpanlel . (. Ince recycled as mlnl-malb]. lie nnw controls the largest retatl

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DIAn IlAAA r S 1.181UAY Gofc/wyn li brary , flolJ)'I"ooc/

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development empire In Sout hern California. respo nsible for mo re than fort~ shopping ce nte rs. A, we saw In chapter two, Haegen Is a savvy polltlca uh th Democra ts and RepubllcJ ns. He Is ah a th e past do nor who swIngs w bo If master at exploiting publlc.sector redevelopment for prlYate gain - o r, u refer 'the father of the Inner city's rebirth '. yo ~e wa's the On t major developer In the ne ncn to grasp the laten t p roOt tentl als of abandoned Inner-clty reull mar kets. Al\er the 19 6 1) WatU : :belllon the hand ful cif large ret ailers In Southcentra l l os Angeles 100~ night while viable small busi nesses were asphyxiated by dlscrlmlnato~ ban ; ' redllnlng' p ractices , A ~ a result , half a million Black and Lat nc shoppen were forced to comrnut.e to dista nt regional malls or bordering white areas . even for o rdinary grocery and prescription shopping. Hu gen reason ed that .a retail developer prepared to re tu rn to the Inner city cou ld mon opo lize ye high sales volumes. Aware of the accumulating anger o f th e Black "

co~munlty against deca des of benign neglect by redevelopment autho n tle. , i he also calculated that tie could Induce the city to subsidize this commerc~ ,

recoloniza tion . Wh ile ihe Commun ity g edevelopmem Agency had rac h d to assemble Ia~d for billion aire developers Downtown, It had • ea I Ingle supermarket te , floun dered In Wat ts for years , unab e to ~ lt ract a • h . - lg'hbo rhood shop ping center. I'h agen recognized t at anch or I propose d n .. h _. d t d hot water with Its Sout centra . the Bradley regime, In unp r« e en e h \ dsomely reward any prlyate·sector Initiati ve t It constituency, wou Id h an . , I ' could cut the Gordian k not of th e ' anchor ten ant problem . His Ingen OUI. solution, which won nat ional accla im from the co mmercial deyeiopme nt, Indu stry, was a comprehe nslye 'Jtcurity .oritntt d design and mana.gement.

,n strategy , d I 19 79 whe n Haa gen Develop ment took lItlf I Th e Orst move was rna e n Id Sears l ite I t Vermont and Slauson. In the heart of Southcentra , over an 0 hi h com plello Then In 19 83 the redevelcprneru agency turn ed over to m I e I h of Its 10ng-delayed ~1a~ln Lu ther King Jr. Ce nte r In W"tts . A yea~ at; r. . won the bid for th e' $120 million refurbishing and expansion 0 t Cre nshaw Piau In Baldwin HlIIs, followed by a Co unty conlract to creat ,

a shopp ing comp lex In the W illowbrook area Just south of ~atts. In ea I clSe the guarant~ of fall.safe physical s«urlty was the Slnt qua ~n . ersuadlng ret ailers and franchises (and their Insurers) to take up le~ ~e pr ototype plan shared by all four shop ping cenlers plagiariZes brazen..:

from Jerem y Be ntham's renowned mn eteenth-century design for the ' penop ucon pr ison' wtth lis eco no mical ce ntral surveilla nce . Co nside r, fo r example, the layout of }-h agen 's Walls center: The Ki ng center alte Is surrounded by an elghl·foot·hlgh, wrought·lron fence compuable 10 security renee. round at the perimeters of prlute estales and exdu.lye residential communille•. Video cameras eqUipped with motion detecrers are posilioned near ent rance. I nd throughout Ihe . hopplng center. The enure cenler.lncludtng parking lou , can be balhed In brlghl Ieur-fccr Cindie 1tghllng at the' nip of the 5wltch. There are six entrances to the center: three entry polnu for aUlOS, two service gates, and one pede'lrlln wllkway. The pedenrl an Ind IUtOenn les have gatelthat Ire opened at 6:]0 a.m. and d osed It 10:] 0 p.m. The semce uu loce ed II the ru r of the prope"1 Is enclosed wlth a slx·foot.hlgh concrete block wallj both service gates remain closed and are under closed-elrcult video surveillance, equippedfor two·wayvctee communications, end operated for dellyerlesby remote control from a .ecurlty 'observatory'. Infra-red beam. It the bu es of light nxluru deteet lntruden who might circumvent video cameru by climbing oyer the wall.U The 'unobtru sive' pan opt lcon observatory II both eye and brain o f th is . complex security syste m. (In the Willow brook center It Is actu ally hidden , above a pub lic libr ary b ranch.) It con tains the headquarters of the shopp ing center manager , a substation o f th e l APD, and a dispatch ope rator who monitors the video and aud io systems IS well as maintaining commu ni· ~ calion ' with ot her secu re sho pping cen ters tied Into the system, and with the police end Ore depa rtments' , AI any lime of the wee k, day or night , ·,' there are at least fou r center secu rity gu ards o n du ty: on e at the observato ry .n d thr ee on foot patro\. They are tra ined and backed u p by the regula t 'LAPD o fficers o perating from the substation In the observatory . 'While these security meuures may seem extraordtnary, shopping center security hsues hive risen to the forefront of management's concerns during Ihe tut few . an . With Insurance carriers revtewlng lhe security operallons of shopping nlers before wrillng new policies or even reneWing exlsllng ones. and, In some ~ U Cl, Insisting on upgn ded securlly progrllms u a condition of Insurance:, centers locations other th,ln Inner-elty netghborhoods hllYe sllned to focus on securhy entlon5 u an Integral plln of their design and management strategy. Indeed i'olecllng shoppIng cenTer owners and managers from ,",wsult. can make a urong rlty program eJtuemely proflu ble oyer the long run.1•

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Th ese ce nters, as ex pected, have been bonanzas , averaging annual.ales o r more than $350 NO r , as co mpared to about $200 (or ,"_, Ieaseble square loot their sub urban equtva len t s.n Marcover I-I n gcn has reaped the multi 1 ~' wind falls o f lax br c akI , ed era I an(I city grants. massive Iree publtcny sub-' pie , tenan ts and sixty' to nin ety-year gro und leases. No wonder he hal : nee n able. 10 • pr ovcu u' tha t th e on ly colo r thai counts In buslnen :. . bo ast'. 'Weve ~s gre en. I her e Me ',lUge opportunities and huge prcfue 10 be mad e In these ':

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depressed Inner·clty an!u of America that have been abandoned.''' : Meanw hile the logle of '11a"genlzat lon' has been extend ed to the ' houll,l n g as we ll as shopping areas o f the ghcuo. 'n lc co unte rpart of the ' I I lou slng'p roJect -as-strafeglc·hamlet . The : rna -as-pano pttco n-prts011 Is rne 1m

penal Cou rts I10uslng Project, Jtut down the road from the Marti : Luther King Jr. Ce nter, has recently been fo rtlOed with fencing obll tn .

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IdentifY pau es and a . ubslatl on of the IA PD. Vlsllors are oryd frisked while th II pp an \ . ' e a; rou tin ely order residen ts back lnto their part menf s at night . Such I.t the loss of freedom Ihat public hou!lng tenenu must now e ndure as the pr ice of 'security' . i

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ROEIOCOP

Th e secur ity-dr iven logiC o f ur ban endavlzatlon Onds Its most popul ar expresslon In th e frenetic effo rts o f l os Angeles' s afflue nt neighbo rhoods to' lnsulate home values and lifestyles. As we saw In the lUI chapte r new lu xury developments outs ide the cl ly limit s have oflen beco me f~rtred cure s, co mplete wit h euccmpessrng walls, reJ:lrlcled entry po ints wnh guard posts. o verlapping prl v,ate and public police services. and even privatized· roadways. It Is Sim ply Impossible fo r ordinary citi zen s 10 Invade the 'cutes' of H idden III11s, nra ~bury, Rancho MIrage or Ro iling Iflll s without an Invitatio n from . res ident . Inde ed Bradbury, with nine hu nd red residents · and ten miles o f gated pr ivate roads, ts so secunty-obscssed thai lis th ree clly officials do nOI retur n teleph one calls from the pr ess. since 'each time an' article b I appeared ' " It dr ew ane nno n 10 [he city and th e num ber 0 r u rg aries Increased'. For lIS part , I!ldden II I1I I , a N o rman Rockwell ' p ainting behind hlgb-seccr ny walls, has been btnerly dtvidcd com pli Ih S over ance w t a upe eter Co u n o rde r 10 bu ild forty·etghl un it'. c f senicrs':

C IT Y OF Q UARTZ

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Ptf NOPTlCON EYE Polke observotory above library III f fnngtn 5hopplng moll Willowbrook c/iJlrict '

FORTRE S S

the old folks' :tpartmen lS 'will an eact gang s anti dope ' (slc).JJ Meanwhile. tradilion al luxu ry encl aves like Beverl y I ll1Is and San : Marino are Increasingly rest ricting acce ss 10 thclr pobltc facilities, uSing ' haroque layers of regul~tlons to bu ild Invisible walls. San Marino , which \ may b e the rlche st, and Is rCJlut edly th e most Rcpuhllcan (85 per ce nt], city ' In the count ry, now d oses lis parks on weekends 10 exclude I.allo o and " Asian families from adtacenr comm unities. O ne plan unde r dlscusslon "j would reopen th e parks on Salu rd ays o nly to those wllh proo f of reSidence. . O the r upscale neighbor hoods In Loa I\ngeles havc minted a similar " reslclentlal pr lyllege by obtaining ord inances to restrict parking to local ' homeowners. Predl clab ly, such p referen tial parking regu\a.tlo ns pr olifera te " excl USively In neighborhoods with three -c ar garages. Resldenll al are as wtth enough c10U I are thus able to privatize local publiC.'

ow~~rs,

t;ommunlty than not liVing In a gated commun ity.'}!

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ho uslog olltslde li s gates . At meet ings of the city's all·powerful ".; hom eowners' association (who~e memhershlp Ind udes Franki e AV:lloo, Ne ll Diamond and Bob Eubanks) opponents of compliance have ar gued Ihat "~

space, partitioning themselves from the rest or the metropolis, even Imposing " a varlant of neighborhood 'passport co ntrol' on ouulders . The nexi slep, of. course, Is to ape Incorpnn ted enclaves like Roiling H ills o r H idden Hills by ', bllllding literal waU,. Since Its cons tm ctlo n In the late 19 405 Patk La Breilhill been a bit of t o wer Manhalt"n rllUlzpah moo red to Wilshire Boulevard: a '. I76-acre maze of meclhim·~n1 townhouses and tower apartments, occu pIed ' by an urbane mix of slnglcs, reti rees, and families. No w, as part of " str atcgy Forest Cily Eotc rp rlses, have decided 10 enc lose: of gentr lfkaUon, lIS the emtre community In sccu rlty fencing , c\tHlng off to pe,lcstr lans·one of: the most vital public spaces along the ' Mlr"c1e Mile' . 1\, a spokcswoman for' the owners observed, ' It's 1\ tr end In general 10 have enclosed ; communities'." In th~ once wlde-('lpen tract lands of the San Fern ando . Valley, where there wer e virt ually no wallcd ·ofT co mmunltlcs a decade ago, the 'tre nd' has assumed Ihe frenz.led dimension s of a residential arm s race at . ortllnary . ubmbanltes demand the ki nd of soclal lnsu1:ltloll once cnJoyed only; hy the rich. Brian Welostoc\, a leading Vallcy contract or, bo ,u u of more than ' one hundred newly gated neIghborhoods, with an Insatiable demand for more security. 'Th e flrst question out of their (the buyers" nlouth s Is whether there Is a gated community. Th e demand Is the re on a ) ·to-I hasls for a gated

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CIIUTZPAII OENIF.D Park La BrM

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The social control ~dYantilges of 'giltehoOtI' have also aureo ed the : en enucn of hmdlords In den ser, lower-income areas. Apartment owners In the Sepulveda barrio of the Valley have rallied behind a pollee program, ~ launched In October 1989, to b:u rlcade their st reets as a deterrent to drug buyers anel other undesirables. The I.Al' O wants the City Cou ndl'J' permission to permanent ly seal off the nelghhorhootl and restrict entry to. residents, while the owners finance a guard station or 'checkpoint chu lie',.: While the Council contemplates the perman ency of the experiment, the. 1.Ar D, supported by local homeowners, has continued to barrlcade ot her I urban 'war zones' Including part of the Pfco-Unlcn district, a Mld·WIl$hlre . neighborhood, and an entire square mile around Jefferson "lIgh School In . the Central-Ver non area. In face of complaints from youn ger residents ), about the 'Berlin Wall' quality of the nclghborhood quaram lnes. Pollee 1, Chief Gates reassured Journ alists that 'we're not here to occupy the , terr itory. 'T1l1s Isn't Panama. It' s the cny of los Angeles and we're going to I

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, manner.' be here In a lawful ' Meanwhile the very rich are yearning for hlgh·tcch castles. Where gate.t ,md walls alone ~J1I not suffice, as In the case of BeYerly 1-111Is or Rel·Ali, homeowners, the house Itself Is recleslgned to Incorporate sophl. tlcateQ, sometimes far·fetched, security functions. An oyerrldlng but discreet goal of the current 'manslonlz lng' mania on the Westside of los Angeles - for Instance. te3r1ng down $J million houses to hulld $JO million manslonsIs the search for 'absolute security'. Rcsldenttal architects are bor rowing design secrets from overseas embassies and military command pOli S. One of the featu res most III demand Is the 'terro rlst' proof securlty room ' concealed In the housep"'n and accessed hy sliding panels and secret doors. MeN . Griffith and his fellow manstcmzers are hardening their palaces like missile ;. silos. , Hut contemporary resrderutal seceruy In 1.0s Angeles - whether In the '. fortlRed mansten or the average suburban bunker - depends upon the : voracious consumption of private security services. Thro ugh their local .' homeowners' associations, virtu ally every amu ent neighborhood from the . Palisades to SlIverlake con tracts 111 own private policing; hence the , thousands of lawns displaying the little 'armed respons e' warnings. The : classtllcds In a recent Sunday edition of the Los Angeles TImtS contained i· nearly a hundred ads for guards and patrolmen, mostly from Rnnl :

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BU LlGERENT LAWNS IlollywooJ HiIlJ

~OF~AA

RTtrIrI'S

L~

, Ipeclallzlng In residential protection . Within Los Angeles Coonty, the .. security services Industry has tripled Its u les and workforce (from 24 ,000 to 75,000) over the last decade. ' It Is easier to become an armed guard than . It Is to become a barber, hairdresser or [cumeyman carpenter', and under ' California's extraordinarily lax licensing law even a convicted murd erer Is : not automatically excluded from eligibility. Although a malorlty of patrolmen are minority males earning near the minimum wage (S4- 7 per ' hour depending on qualHlcatlo ns and lHeracy), their employers are often . multinational conglomerates offering a dazzling range of secueny producu : and services. As Michael Kaye, presldent of bu rgeoning weeee (a subsidiary of Japan's Seccm Ltd), explains: 'We 're not a security guard company. We : . eli a concrpt of secort ry.'!' (This quote, as aRd onados will Immediately ' recognize, echoes'the boast of Omnl Consumer Products' Dick Jone. - the villain of Paul Ve~hoeve n 's Aobocop - that 'everythIng Is security concepti , . . . •ometlmes I can Just think of something and It makes me so horny' .) ~ What homeowners' associations cont ract from westec - or III principal rival, Bel·Alr Patrol (part of Borg-Warner' s family of security compentes, Including Burns and Pinkerton) - Is a comp lete, ' systems' pachge that Includes alarm hardware, monitoring, watch patrols, personal escorts, and, . of course, 'a rmed response' IS necessary. Although Iaw-enfcrcement experts debate the efficiency of such systems In foiling profeu lonal criminals, they ate brilliantly successful In deterring Innocent outsiders, . Anyone who has tried to take a stroll at dusk through a strange . neighborhood patrolled by armed security guards and slgnpolled with death threats qUickly realizes how merely notional, If not utte rly obsolete, Is the; old Idea of the ' freedom of the city' .

THE L .A .P. D . AS SPA C E

P OLI C E

This comprehennve urban security mobilization depe nds no! only upon the Imbrication of the police function Into the built environment, but also upon an evclvrngsoclai division of labor between public. and pn vere-sectcr police services, In which the former act as the necessary supports of the latter. At Police Chirj magazine note s, 'harsh economic realities of the 198 0s' - for , Instance, the tax revolt, rising rates of crime against property, and

burgeoning rntddle-class demands for secur ity - have catalyzed '. realign. ment of relationships between prtvete security and law enforcement'.u ;' The private sector, explOiting I n army of non-union , low.wage employees, : has Increasingly captured the lebor-Intenslve role. (guard duty, re. ldentlal ,. patrol, apprehe nsIon of retall crime, maintenance of security passages and ~ checkpoints, monitoring of electronic surveillance, and so on), while public · law enforcement has retr enched behind the supervision of secu rity macro. · systems (maintenance of major crime data bases, aerial survenlence, Jail , system., paramilitary respo nses to terrorism and street Insurgency, and so on). The confUSing Interface betwee n the two sectors Is most evident In the overlapping of patrol functions In many neighborhoods and In the grOWing , trend to subcontract Jailing (With the privallzed supervision of electro nic . home surveillance as another potentially lucrative market). , In many respects this dlYlslon ofJabor Is more elaborated in los Angeles • than elsewhere, Ifon ly because of the LAPo's palhbreaklng substitutions of technological capital for patrol manpower. In part this was a necessary : adaptallon to the city's dispersed form; but It hIS allO expressed the departm ent's particular dennltlon of Its relationship 10 the community. especially In lis own seff-perpetuaeed f!1yth, the LAPD Is seen as the progressive antithesis to the tradit ional big-city police department with Its patronage armies of patrolmen grafting off the beat. As reformed In the early 19 50s by the legendary Chief Parker (who admired above all the · elitism of the Marines), the LAPD was Intended to be Incorrupllble because · un approachable, a 'few good men' doing battle with a fundamentally evtl city. Drogntr's Sergeant Friday precisely captured the Perkerteed LAPO's quality of prud ish alienation from • citizenry composed of fools, degenerates and psychopaths. Techn ology helped Insulate this paranctd rJprll J~ corps. In doing so, It Ylrtually established a new epistemology of pcllc tng, where technologtzed surveillance and response supplanted the t raditional patrolman's Intimate 'folk' knowledge of speciRc communities. Thus back In the 1920s the LAPO had pioneere d the replacement of the natfoot or mou nted officer with the radio patrol car - the beginning of dispersed, mecha nized policing. Unde r · Puker, ever alert to splnofTt from military technology, the LA PO Introduced the nut police helicopters for systematic aerial survelllance. · After the Walts Rebellton or 196 5 thlt airborne effort became the

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co rnersto ne of II policing strat egy for the en tire Inner cby.1l As paJ! of lis ; 'Astro ' program LAPD heljcoprere maIntain an aver"ce nineteen -hour -per- ~ day vigil over 'high c rime areas', tac tically coordi nated to patrol car forces, and excee ding even the British Army's aerial su rveillance of Belfast. To :. facilitate grou nd-air synchronization, thousands of restde mul loafl ops have ~ been painted with Identifying street numbe rs. transforming the aerial view of the ci ty Into II huge police grid. :'

The nrty·pllot LAPD etrforce was recently updated with French ; Aerospatlale helicopters equtpped with futuristic surveillance tech~ology. } their Ic rward-lccktng Intra-red ca meras are ext raordinary nIght eyes that • can easily fo rm he..t lm..ges Ircm .. Single bu rning clgareue, while their i thlrty-millJon-candlepower spotlights, appro priately ca lled 'N lghtsun', can f . I literally turn the night Into day. Mean whtle the LAPD retains anot her fleet ~ or Bell Jet Rangers capable o r deliveri ng com plete clements or SWAT , perso nnel anywhere Ih the region. Their training, which sometimes Includes practice assaults on Downtown hlghrbes. an ticipates some o r the I spookier Hollywood Images (ror examp le, Blui Thundtr or Running Man) or airborne police te rror. A few years ago a vete ran LAPDSWi\ T commander! (apparently one of the principal! In the Infamoul SLA holocaust In ; Sourhcemral Lcs Ange!es) acclden relly shot his own helicopt er o ut of the .. sky while pract icing a straOng ru n with a machine-gun. But the most decl;lve element In the LAPD's meta mo rphosis Into a ~ techncponce has bee n Its long and successful lI..bon wit h the military \" aerospace Industry. Just In time for the opening of the 198 4 Los Angeles : Ojymprcs, the department brought o n line ECCCS (Emergency Command ! Control Communications Systems), the most powerful, stete-of-the-ert : police co mmunications system In the wo rld. First conceptualized by , Hughes Aerospace between 1969 and 197 1, ECCCS's design was reOned ., . and updated by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Incorpo rating elements ' or space techn ology In~ mission con trol com municat ions. Arter the passage or a $42 million tax override In May 1977, the City Council eppoved ] Syslems Developm ent Corpo ration of Santa Mo nica as prime co ntracto r fer the system, which too k more than seven years to build. '. The central hardware or ECCCS Is encased In security co mparable to I . SAC mlsslle silo In Monlana . Bunkered In the earthqu..ke-peoofed and 'secu rity·hardened fourth and Ofth sublevels of City l fall East (and Inter- :

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25 4

CI T Y O F QUARTZ

'11"ussmannl7.atlo1\' of Los Angeles. No need to clear Odd s of Ilrc for ca nno n when you co ntrol the sky: len need to hlre Informers o n cvery block whe n surveillance cameras are unlvers"l ornaments on every building . But .the police also reorganize space In far mo re stralghtrorward WOlfS· We have already seen their growing role as Downtown urban dcstgners, Indtspeneable for their expertise In 'security', But they ah a lobby Incessantly 10 cnlargc law-and-orde r land usc: additional warehouse space for I hurgeon lng Inmate population , and administra tive-training facilities for themselves. In Lo s Angeles this has taken the fo rm of a de f~cto urban renewal progra m, operated by th e police agencies, that thr eatens to co nvert . an ent ire salient of Down town-East Los Angeles tuto a vast penal colony.14 Neerly 2),0 00 prisoners are present ly held In six severely overcro wded ' county and federal f~c1 I1 t1el - not Including Immlgrlltlon and Narurallaatton . Service (INS) detention ce nters - within a three -t ulle radius of City Hall - . the largest Inca rcerated population In the nation . R:aclng to meet the challenge or the current ' War on Drugs' (which will doub le deta ined ~ popu lations within the decade], au rhcrlnes are forging ahead with the ' co nstruction of a new state prison In East Los Angeles u well as a giant I expansion of the C~u nty jetl neer Chinatow n. Both prolects arc Vigorously co ntested by co mmun ity coalitions opposed to further dumping ofja ilipace In the Inner city. Y~t at the same time agencies like the Bureau of l'rlsons and County Jail, togeth er with the Innumerable private security compa nies, have beco me major ~om mll n l ty e mployers In the wake of plant closures and i: delndustrl "IIzallon In East los Angeles during the 1 9 7 0 ~ and ea rly 1980s. Jails now vic with' ConnlYIUSC Hosphal as the single most. Impo rtant , economic force on .the Eastside. , The a m nia otl nterest between commu nity and law enforce ment land , use Is also sharp ly ~ocused on the fate or Elysian Park, the hom e or Dodger Stadium and the pJ llce Academy. Consisting of steep htllsides and ravines Immediately no rthwest of the original EI Pueblo de Los Angeles, [ Iyslan .. Park was o nce UPOh a ttme a prime to urist att raction, one of the foremost 'City Beautiful' pa;ks In the country. Through an extra orilinary clrcum- , venucn orJoc al government. the police department has managed to turn lIS occupancy or the 1932 Olympic pistol range (under tempora ry lease to the , Police Athletic and Gun duh) Into :\11 occupation or the entire park. Although lawyers for 'Friends of [ Iyslan Park' were ahle 10 pro ve that the

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connecting with the Police pentago n tn Parker Center), Central Dispatch Center coor dinates all the co mplex Itlnerartes and responses of th e t APD , using digitalized com munication to eliminate voice congestion and guarantee the sec recy or transmission. ECCCS, together with the LAPD's prodigiOUS Infonn atlon'proceu lng assets, Including the ever-growing dat..bases on suspect citizenry, have become the ce ntr..l neural system for the vast and · disparate, public and private, secu rity operations laking place In Los Angeles. But this Is hard ly the ultimate police sensorium. As gang hysteria and the war o n crack keep the city's coffers open to police funding requests. It Is likely the LAPD will continue to win political !uppo rt for ambitiou s capital Investment progra ms In new technology. Having brought policing : up to the levels c f rhe Vietnam War and early NASA, It Is ..Imost Inevitable i that the LAPD, and ot her advanced pollee forces, will try to acquire the , technology of the Electronic BattleOeld and even Star Wars. We are at the · thr eshold o r the universal electronic tagging of prope rty and people - bot h criminal and non-crtmlnal (small childre n, for exam ple) - monit or ed by both ce llular and ce ntralized surveillances. or the latter , ex-Los Angeles police chler, now state senato r, Ed Davis (Republican - Valencia) has : proposed the use of a geosyndlnlcal space satelllte to co unter pandem ic car theft In the region . Electron ic alarm systems, already tested In New England. woul d alert police Ir I properly tagged car was stolen; satelllte moltorlng wou ld exte nd covera ge over los Angeles's vast metropolitan , area. O nce In orb it, or course, the role of a law e nforce ment satellite would grow to enco mpass o ther forms of surveillance and co nt rol. The Image here Is ultimately mor e Impor tant than the practicality of the proposal, since It co nde nses the historical wo rld view and quixotic quest of the postwar LAPD: good citizens, 01T the street s, encleved In th eir hlgh, .ecurlty private consumption spheres; b..d citizens, on the streets (and therefore not eng"ged In legitimate business), caught In the terrible. · Jehovan scruti ny of the LAPo's space program .

T HE CARCERAL C ITY

All this airborne surve illance ..nd engrlddlng, e ndless police data-galhe rtng and ce ntralization of commu nications, constit utes an Invisible

f- uHYRE tU:l

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NElGII80RllOOO PRISON INS Deten tion Ccllter, MacArth ur f llrlt flistrlcf

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25.

OF "' ...... A T ~

• ....... TRo:.o ~

development of the Police Academy was an unauthorized. even Iller! . app ropriatio n of publi c land. the LAPD cowed th e City Co uncil Into ratl-

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257

Angeles. on the edge of the Civic Ce nter and th e Hollywood Freeway. Although this ten ·story Fed eral Bureau Prison 's facUlly Is one orthe most visible new structures In the city, few of the hu ndred s of thousand s of · commuters who pass It by every day have any Inkling of lIS fu~ cU on I I a holding and tra nsfer ce nter for what hu been o fficially described u the 'managerial elite of narco- terrorlsm'. He re, 70 pe r ce nt of fede ral Incarcerations are related to the 'War o n Drugs'. This postmodern Bastille - the largest pr ison buil t In ill major US ur ban ce nter In generations - looks Instead like a futur istic hotel o r o ffice block , with art istic charms (like the high-tech tr ellises on Its brldge·balconl es) comparable to any of , Downt own', recent architecture . But Its upscale ambience Is more than mer e facade. The Inter ior o f the pr ison Is designed to Implement a : sophisticated program of psychological manipulation and co nt rol: barless windows, a pastel color plan , pr ison stafT In pr eppy blaze rs, well-tended · patio sbubbery. ill betel-type reception area , nine recreation areas with nau tilus work out equipment, and so o n. J1 In co ntrast to the hum an Inferno of the desper ately overcrowded Co unty jail a few blocks away, the

or

fylng th e sta tus quo. Th en In 19 89 One pri nt 3u ached to II larger po lice boner Issue, fueled by the gang and drug crisis. pr ovided autho rity and funds fot th e three-fold expansion of the Academy In the park. To suggest an analogy, ' It Is almos t u If the San Francisco police were to occupy Golden Gale Park", or the New Yor k Police De partment to co mmandeer half of Central Park. The INS, meanwhil e. has bee n tl'}'lng 10 shoehorn p rivatized 'm icrO'

prisons' Into unsusPecting Inner-d ty neighborhoods. F.lclng r~rd over·' crowding In Its norm al facllitles. La Migra has co mmandeered motels .nd' apartm ent s for openltlon by prlvate contracto rs as amcillary Jails for detained . aliens - many of thein Chinese and Central Americans seeking asylum. Tbt . disclosure of one of lhese ce nters caused a co mmu nity upr oar In f.l ollywood ) In 198 6. and again In early 1990 In the MacArthur Park neighborhood after : an audacious escape by eight fema le detainees led by a Chinese pollUcal 'i dissident. The women clalmed th at the detenti on cente r (an anonymous, ; barr ed sto refront on the area', main shopping street) lacked basic hygiene ; n and that male guards spent the night In the women's cells. The demand for law enforcement Itbtmroum In the a ntral city, how ever, . will Inevitably bring the police agencies Into cOnflict with more than mere community groups. Already the plan to add two hlghrlse towers, with 2,400 new beds, to Coun~ Jail on Baucbet Street downtown has raised the Ire cl planners and develcjers hoping to make nearby Union Station the center rJ ' a giant complex or-skyscraper hotels and ofTlccs. If the jail expanslon goet .

Becket structure sup ernclally appears leu a detention than a convenno n · cente r for federal felons - a 'd istinguis hed' addition to Downtown's : continuum of secu rity and deSign . But the psychic cost of so much att enti on to prison aest hetics Is Insidious. As one Inmate whispered to me In the course of a tour, 'Can you Imagine the mlndfuck of being locked up In Holiday Inn?'11

ahead, tourists and prisoners could end up ogling one another f~m opposed hlghrlsu. One solution to the conmet between carceral and ~mmerdaJ redevelopment b to 'use arch itectural camou nage to nneu e jail space Into the , skyscape. If buildings and homes are becoming mort: prison- or fortress·llke In : exterior appeara ~, then prisons Ironically are becoming architecturally naturalized as aesthetic obJects. Moreover, with the post-liberal sh lf~ rJ govemment expenditur e from welfare to rep ression, cercee al struct ures haft become the new frontier of publk architectur e. As an office glut In most paTtI : of the cou ntry reduces commissions ror corpo rate hlghrlses, celebrity arch" . tecta are rushing to design jails, prisons, and police statlons.)6 An C1ttraordlnary exa mple, th e flagship of an emerging gen re, Is Welton Becket Associates ' new Metropolitan Detenucn Cen ter In Downt own los

THE FEA R

OF CROWD S

Ultimately the: alms of con temporary architecture alld the pollee converge most strikingly around the: problem of crowd cont rol. As we have seen, the designers of malls and pseudo-public space attack the crowd by homogenizing It. They set up architectu ral and semiotic barriers to filter out 'undesirables'. They enclose the mass that remains, directing Its circulation with behaviorist· ferocity. It Is lured by visual stimuli of all kinds, dulled by musak, somet imes even scented by InvislbJe aromanzers. This Sldnnerlan orchest ration, If well conducted, produces a veritable commercial symphony of swarming. consuming mon ads TTK»1ng from one cashpotnt to anothe:r.

FORTRE SS

C ITY OF OUAR TZ

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25 9

256 Outside In the str eets , the pollee task Is more d ifficult . The I.APD, true to Its class war background . has always hated ceru lli kinds of p ublic gatherings. h s early history was largely deemed to bludgeoning M"y Day demon slrators , arrestin g strikers and deporting Mexicans and Okles. lOr 19 21 It arr ested Upton Sinclair for reading the Declarat ion 0 Independence in p ublic: In the 19 60s It Indiscrimina tely broke u p 10ve'I~J .d b mlly picnics In hatllc5 to co ntrol Griffith and Elysian Par . ;~lbcnnSclously It has prohably never recovered Imm the humiliation or ~ August 1965' when It temporarily was Iorced to surre nder the s!rcets to ~

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rebellious ghett o. II Whatever the reaso ns, the I.APO (and the County She riffs as we I tM ce ntlnue relentlessly to restri ct th e space of publi c assemblage and freedom of movement of the you ng. In the next chapter we will examine ' some
I

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buggies. bll • h d I ' he dual archlt « lural and police auault on pu c sp. "waters e n 91 8 l the rise and fan oh he ' Los Angeles Streel Scene' . I.aunched In I . " ~;:-day festlva1 at ihe Civic Center was Intended to publlcb.e Downte revitalizatio n as well as to prOVide Mayor Bradley's versio n of the ua~u~ o tI ba rbecue. Th e LAPD were skeptical. Finally In 1986 , II te .e moc ra c d I rhful audience failu re of the Ramones to appear as pr omise , t te to tear up the stage. 111e IA PD hn medlately sent In a ph31anx: of and nr,y helmeted officers and a mounlell unlt . In the twohun dred " 1 1th mel ee tha t followed , angry punk s homhuded the police cava? w r ' and boul es, anc! nl'teen officers :tllli thclr horses were me p or the St reet Scene, a Braclley official. suggested thai more mlddl~,

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260

CITY OF O U A R T Z

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road ente rt ainme nt' might .ttract leu boistero us c rowds. The prestlgk>uJ ' Downtown Ntws counter-attacked, claiming that the 'Street Scene g1vu ,: Dow nto wn a bad nam e. It Illes In th e face of , II th at ha s been do ne here In the Ias~ thirty yean: It demanded ' reparations' for the wounded 'reputation or Downtown', The Mayor" office cancelled the Scene." Its dem ise ' Ugge l ll the consolidation of In official consensu, about " crowds and the use of space In Los Angeles. Since the restructuring of Downtown eliminated the social mixing of c rowds In normal pedestrian circulation, the Street Scene (Iron ically named) remained one o~ the few cam wel-ltke occ u lon. or places (along with redevelopm ent -thre atened ' Hollywood Boulevard and Venice Boardwalk) where pure heterogloula :, could Ilcurhh: that Is lc say, where Chinatown pu nks, Glend ale skinhe ads, . Boyle Heigh ts lownders, Valley girls, Marina designer co uple s, Slauson '; rappen, Skid Row hom eless and gawkers fro m Des Moines co uld mingle :

I. See N. tlo,ul Commilln Oft ,he CluR• • lld P~(nllon ofVIokn« , To£ua6,ljm)wllfu. To [mw.. Domntt<- T~ (RttJ ~,..}. W.... I"C''''' D.C. 1969. . 2. -nw prdoIem. 01.............. uw:l In ~nt ....1(..... Ind ....bfct.oky In doe Chu IC"'''' 0( ,"",1'11: JPIC" cn-II~ wilhl n lhem. .te hOI wnlqwe to _ "" nt(. tX>( IopttKnu. II III co_"fIllet IIlII IM ........ m cky If I "' hok ~.h""' • • l( nMnqr '0 b.(al< down InlO .p«lillKd. !linck-III( f'Kdncu - lM ",n""'nlry cMnfUl. lM Inc!ulltill tMllt. d", 1NuI( cvrnpIo:•• lhe "0...1"1 Kh.t1OlC •• • tact. ~ by InN" "I. -W(tte: . . .. 0( dudop"...", uw:l ...... _~ by "'f'tdalbc "C'tf'dn ~ I.,..... 01 ~ I". n ", « I"" I"",,,.n famlllr ...h OIhtr....,.., ~nu 1ot.01l lhe buI know .1_ _ ht.., 0( , .... d1Iol mll.. , rmne'll """-'c:h abul lhclr own: !Bl rry MdlllAd, SIxwI", MIJIb..· ""MI.., dnJ Dtllgn. london 198 5. P. 109 .) l . O . OtoIrrty 11oofcett. ·freft. lclt u w Ol_ e
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7. 11'\ 1M u ri, 1970. lloe ;otk:t dfCUIIllJ;~ """"",,,n 01 1,"" C~nltll 0" AuodMI OII UouI . n '1_1",,1It .... fnotN!on·. Thty 1I, p bwIne1111lnl 'to trport 10 ttoe poItt 1M pn:1t'fltt0( U!1 I'O"J'I of J'OI'''I lIad. In doe .,.,,, The ... aee JOI'''C ~ ~ the 'I" ol lWdft .lld ~'lMnn. boIh boJI . " d &Irh. On( r"l W ( . ... ~ . . r1nl' .Ild Ihe OIhe, we hil i . WIl!on ~1ICOU1lI~,td In I'O"J'I 0I 1'nOte IhI" t'Il'O I"",,, ••~ ~". 1lMI1If1IIed.· (toe In 24 ~, 1972. 1. 1'-' .) • Ct-lIIrtftcat1oa In t"" CN!: \I 'J.eapnluriOll'. In • CIIIttIpIu: . ... UMd . maldnt the ~" met 01 1M . ro......,. C'Ofrl
or

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various Insecu re elites, like the yupp le.allens In Joh n Carpente r's The)' !iwl, . will never know when some revolt may break ou t, o r what stra nge guise it may wear. On Halloween eve 1988 - a week be fore the law-and -order .

At one ecuvenlr store, the Holly Vine Shoppe, looters smu hed windows and took ' sluffed anlmab, Holl~ postcard., Hollywood pennanu and baseball Cipi emblazoned 'u,PO'.'

261 NOTES

together In relative amity. Until the Anal exti nction of these last real pu blic Sp'~1 - with their democratic 'ntoxlc. Uons, rls1c.s and unscented odors - the padncatlo n Los Angeles will remain Incompl ete. And as long as this Is the cu e, the

climax or th e Bush campa ign - the LAPD att empted to disperse 100,000 ' peaceful revelers on Hollywood Boulevard. Police ho ru s charged Into crowd. while sqUid cirs zigzagged onto cu rbs, pinn ing terrlned o nlooken .. against Slorefron t windows. Dl5playlng what the pollee would laler , characterize as 'a complete lack of respect for the splrh of the holid ay', part of the crowd angrily fo ught back, toulng hol lies and smuhlng the wlndoWi of the Brown Derby~ By midnight the rioters, mainly costumed, were I looting storefronts. T he next morn Ing's TImeJ ca rried the follOWing ' de scriptio n, evoca tive of Nathanael Wu t:

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