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Race and the L.A. Human: Race Relations and Violence in Globalized Los Angeles

Ofelia Ortiz Cuevas

in Black and Brown in Los Angeles: Beyond Conflict and Coalition

This chapter explores issues of criminality, race relations, and racial violence in Los Angeles and situates race relations and human relations in the institutions that produce them as part of ... More

This chapter explores issues of criminality, race relations, and racial violence in Los Angeles and situates race relations and human relations in the institutions that produce them as part of policing and imprisonment—what it calls a violent state arithmetic that unifies Black and Brown bodies at the point of deadly state violence. Focusing on the Los Angeles County Jail and the Los Angeles Human Relations Commission, the chapter considers how we have collectively come to participate in a process of dehumanization that disproportionately affects African Americans and Latinas/os. It offers an archaeology of human relations discourse and policy in Los Angeles and shows that its earliest uses in the region were for the explicit purpose of maintaining wartime productivity. It argues that the dehumanization of those categorized as criminals is part and parcel of the human relations narrative as practiced in Los Angeles, the global city.Less

More Than Just the Latinos-Next-Door; Piercing Black Silence on Immigration; and Plugging Immigration’s Drain on Black Employment

Erin Aubry Kaplan

in Black and Brown in Los Angeles: Beyond Conflict and Coalition

This chapter focuses on African American anxiety toward Latina/o immigrants in Los Angeles and what illegal immigration and changing demographics mean for the city's African Americans. It also ... More

This chapter focuses on African American anxiety toward Latina/o immigrants in Los Angeles and what illegal immigration and changing demographics mean for the city's African Americans. It also considers the impact of immigration on Black employment as well as the sentiments of loss and displacement that characterize much of Black Los Angeles's response to Latinas/os. It suggests that Blacks and Black communities are under siege due to the influx of Latinas/os in Los Angeles and that many African Americans view Latina/o numbers as simply a sign of their growing irrelevance. It argues that Latinas/os and African Americans need to discuss their differences honestly if they want to make progress in solving their problems and working together.Less

On Being Called Out of One’s Name: Indexical Bleaching as a Technique of Deracialization

Mary Bucholtz

in Raciolinguistics: How Language Shapes Our Ideas About Race

At the borders where racialized groups come into contact, names become sites of struggle over linguistic autonomy and the right to self-definition. As members of politically subordinated ... More

At the borders where racialized groups come into contact, names become sites of struggle over linguistic autonomy and the right to self-definition. As members of politically subordinated groups—including indigenous peoples, immigrants, and enslaved Africans and their descendants—have entered into the U.S. ethnoracial system, they have endured the degrading experience of being renamed against their will, whether through processes of mispronunciation, deliberate anglicization, or the outright imposition of a new name. This chapter focuses on the issue of Anglo mispronunciation of Spanish-heritage names, drawing on data from a multisited community-based research and social justice project in Southern California that involves predominantly Latina/o high school students in conducting research on language and culture in their lives. Based on student discussions and their resulting community action projects within the program, I argue that personal names are political focal points for both managing and challenging racial regimes.Less

From Mock Spanish to Inverted Spanglish: Language Ideologies and the Racialization of Mexican and Puerto Rican Youth in the United States

Jonathan Rosa

in Raciolinguistics: How Language Shapes Our Ideas About Race

This chapter reconsiders the racializing effects of “Mock Spanish,” which has been widely conceptualized as the incorporation of Spanish language forms into English in ways that covertly stigmatize ... More

This chapter reconsiders the racializing effects of “Mock Spanish,” which has been widely conceptualized as the incorporation of Spanish language forms into English in ways that covertly stigmatize Spanish-speaking populations. I draw on theories of language ideologies and processes of racialization to argue that Mock Spanish stigmatizes populations based on their ethnoracial positions rather than their linguistic practices. Thus, U.S. Latinas/os can be stigmatized by Mock Spanish regardless of whether they identify as Spanish speakers. Meanwhile, elite Latin American and European Spanish-speakers are able to escape this stigmatization. I conclude by showing how U.S. Latinas/os appropriate the meaningfulness of Mock Spanish through the enregisterment of linguistic practices that I call “Inverted Spanglish.” This analysis demonstrates the ways that seemingly similar linguistic practices, such as Mock Spanish and Inverted Spanglish, can function in disparate ways based on language users’ ethnoracial positions.Less

Academic Profiling at a Southern California High School

Gilda L. Ochoa

in Academic Profiling: Latinos, Asian Americans, and the Achievement Gap

Beginning with students’ reflections on the racial/ethnic divides on campus, this chapter provides the book’s socio-political and academic context. I challenge the limitations of studies and policies ... More

Beginning with students’ reflections on the racial/ethnic divides on campus, this chapter provides the book’s socio-political and academic context. I challenge the limitations of studies and policies that focus on a so-called achievement gap. I then explain the neoliberal and neoconservative context, how this work adds to the academic scholarship, the book’s macro-meso-micro framework (which includes a brief history of Mexican Americans, Chinese Americans, and Korean Americans). The introduction ends with a chapter outline.Less

Framing the “Gap”: Dominant Discourses of Achievement

Gilda L. Ochoa

in Academic Profiling: Latinos, Asian Americans, and the Achievement Gap

Teachers and administrators explain the educational differences between students. Such explanations focus on biological and cultural arguments where Asian Americans are assumed to value schooling and ... More

Teachers and administrators explain the educational differences between students. Such explanations focus on biological and cultural arguments where Asian Americans are assumed to value schooling and hard work more than Latinas/os. Along with a discussion of the general silence regarding Whites, white privilege, and whiteness in general at the school, there is also consideration of how federal educational policies that emphasize performance on standardized tests influence school discourses and practices.Less

Welcome to High School: Tracking from Middle School to International Baccalaureate Programs

Gilda L. Ochoa

in Academic Profiling: Latinos, Asian Americans, and the Achievement Gap

Students describe the school policies and practices influencing their educational trajectories and peer relationships. Of particular importance are the significance of segregated and unequally valued ... More

Students describe the school policies and practices influencing their educational trajectories and peer relationships. Of particular importance are the significance of segregated and unequally valued middle schools and the inequalities attached to a rigid track system that includes placement in the International Baccalaureate Program, Advancement Via Individual Determination Program, or non-honors college preparatory classes.Less

“I’m Watching Your Group”: Regulating Students Unequally

Gilda L. Ochoa

in Academic Profiling: Latinos, Asian Americans, and the Achievement Gap

Students reveal unequal patterns of surveillance and regulation by race/ethnicity, class, gender, and academic track. While students in the school’s top classes describe having a free pass to move ... More

Students reveal unequal patterns of surveillance and regulation by race/ethnicity, class, gender, and academic track. While students in the school’s top classes describe having a free pass to move around campus, students outside of these courses, especially Latinas/os, encounter control and punishment. Asian Americans, on the other hand, express more academic restrictions where they are held to higher standards because of the racialized academic profiling that expects them to excel in their courses.Less

“Parents Spend Half A Million on Tutoring”: Standardized Tests and Tutoring Gaps

Gilda L. Ochoa

in Academic Profiling: Latinos, Asian Americans, and the Achievement Gap

This chapter reveals the intensification of a tutoring industry. Some students—primarily middle and upper middle class Asian American students–receive extensive tutoring in Chinese schools and from ... More

This chapter reveals the intensification of a tutoring industry. Some students—primarily middle and upper middle class Asian American students–receive extensive tutoring in Chinese schools and from for-profit organizations. In contrast, many Latina/o students across class position receive no tutoring or limited tutoring. Such unequal access to tutoring fuels academic and social differences, and some teachers are even changing their curriculum in ways that benefit students with tutoring.Less

“They Just Judge Us by Our Cover”: Students’ Everyday Experiences with Race

Gilda L. Ochoa

in Academic Profiling: Latinos, Asian Americans, and the Achievement Gap

The chapter focuses on the academic and social hierarchies at the school and students’ roles in perpetuating such hierarchies. Examples focus on how students of color are differently labeled “smart,” ... More

The chapter focuses on the academic and social hierarchies at the school and students’ roles in perpetuating such hierarchies. Examples focus on how students of color are differently labeled “smart,” “stupid,” “sporty,” or “stupid” while White students are believed to be less identifiable. There are also examples of anti-immigrant posturing among some Asian Americans that is linked to larger assimilationist imperatives.Less

“Breaking the Mind-Set”: Forms of Resistance and Change

Gilda L. Ochoa

in Academic Profiling: Latinos, Asian Americans, and the Achievement Gap

This chapter exposes forms of resistance. From claiming an identity, playing with stereotypes, to defying typification, students creatively carve out their sense of selves and challenge others’ ... More

This chapter exposes forms of resistance. From claiming an identity, playing with stereotypes, to defying typification, students creatively carve out their sense of selves and challenge others’ perceptions. Organizationally, a smaller group of students and teachers create alternative campus spaces in classroom and through the student organization MEChA that are inclusive, oppositional, or overly political.Less

Processes of Change: Cycles of Reflection, Dialogue, and Implementation

Gilda L. Ochoa

in Academic Profiling: Latinos, Asian Americans, and the Achievement Gap

Reflecting on my experiences sharing the research findings with the school, this chapter conveys the urgency and the difficulty of change. While presenting, I learned that some heard my analysis ... More

Reflecting on my experiences sharing the research findings with the school, this chapter conveys the urgency and the difficulty of change. While presenting, I learned that some heard my analysis through the same frameworks that I aimed to critique. Others found it difficult to transform school practices in the current period of schooling where assessment drives education.Less

Possibilities and Pitfalls in Any School, U.S.A.

Gilda L. Ochoa

in Academic Profiling: Latinos, Asian Americans, and the Achievement Gap

Beginning with a discussion of a program that was established at the school after my research, this chapter discusses what the high school teaches us about the detrimental impacts of the current ... More

Beginning with a discussion of a program that was established at the school after my research, this chapter discusses what the high school teaches us about the detrimental impacts of the current state of U.S. schooling. In many ways, the high school under study is any-school USA. Just as it is premised on competition, individualism, and assimilation, it overlooks the significance of opportunity and social gaps and the wealth of knowledge, experiences, and resources that its students, their families, and the surrounding communities possess.Less

Theorizing Regional Racial Formation

Wendy Cheng

in The Changs Next Door to the Díazes: Remapping Race in Suburban California

“Theorizing Regional Racial Formation,” gives a brief overview of the history and contemporary importance of the West San Gabriel Valley, and lays out the key themes and stakes of the book. It also ... More

“Theorizing Regional Racial Formation,” gives a brief overview of the history and contemporary importance of the West San Gabriel Valley, and lays out the key themes and stakes of the book. It also elaborates the theoretical and multidisciplinary underpinnings of a regional racial formation framework.Less

Not “For Caucasians Only”: Race, Property, and Homeownership

Wendy Cheng

in The Changs Next Door to the Díazes: Remapping Race in Suburban California

Chapter one outlines the importance of property to racial formation. It delineates Asian Americans and Mexican Americans’ shared histories in the area and how this has led to the development of ... More

Chapter one outlines the importance of property to racial formation. It delineates Asian Americans and Mexican Americans’ shared histories in the area and how this has led to the development of multiracial identity and an inclusive spatial ethos.Less

“The Asian and Latino Thing in Schools”: Academic Achievement and Racialized Privilege

Wendy Cheng

in The Changs Next Door to the Díazes: Remapping Race in Suburban California

Chapter two details a controversy at an area high school over a student-written newspaper column on the topic of the “achievement gap” between Asian American and Latina/o students.

Diversity on Main Street: Civic Landscapes and Historical Geographies of Race

Wendy Cheng

in The Changs Next Door to the Díazes: Remapping Race in Suburban California

Chapter Four, “‘Diversity of Main Street’” considers the role of race and ethnicity in civic landscapes through the analysis of two city-led branding campaigns and a grassroots struggles to save a ... More

Chapter Four, “‘Diversity of Main Street’” considers the role of race and ethnicity in civic landscapes through the analysis of two city-led branding campaigns and a grassroots struggles to save a local park.Less

Sgv Dreamgirl: Interracial Intimacies and the Production of Place

Wendy Cheng

in The Changs Next Door to the Díazes: Remapping Race in Suburban California

Chapter Five, “‘SGV Dreamgirl’” looks at the role of interracial intimacy – broadly conceived as inclusive of friendships and fictive kin - in the formation of a multiracial spatial imaginary.