1. In the article, Koreatown on the Edge, Koreatown is seen by many as a place with 'exotic foods, run-down apartment buildings, trendy nightclubs, bustling Korean businesses,' but few realize that it is actually a place of 'low-paying jobs, long work hours, high rents, and limited social services.' What do you think makes up for such contrasting images, and do you think it is a motive to provide this type of 'false' image?
2. What do you think contributed to the deterioration of Koreatown between 1990-2000? Do you think the poverty crisis in Koreatown has improved between 2000-2010?
3. According to the two articles on immigrant deportation, the government program in charge of the matter gradually 'shifted to picking up "the easiest targets, not the most dangerous fugitives" ' as the years went on. Soon they were violating privacy and warrant laws in order to arrest immigrants. While this is indeed a problem, what about the laws themselves? In what way(s) could they be changed or fixed for the better? Also, while it's important to protect human rights, it's also important to take care of the country as a whole. Where do you think we should draw the line between compassion for immigrants and practical concerns about the US as a nation?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1. obviously the lack of information about the problems in koreatown help to perpetuate the false image most people see. the businesses don't want to project an image of poverty which drives away outside business. many people often associate low income areas with dangerous ones and if people thought koreatown dangerous they wouldn't be likely to eat or shop there. in a lot of ways it would be beneficial to spread awareness about the situation, but it could potentially lower business for the area, which would ultimately just hurt the workers more.
ReplyDelete1. I think many deliberately try to hide that side of Koreatown. They want to focus on the bright, colourful, vibrant side of Koreatown, with its culture and engaged community. At least that's what it seems like some are trying to show and enforce to others.
ReplyDeleteThis made me think about how this is could be quite relevant to other cities, not only Los Angeles. In my Japanese class we read about about Shinjuku, an area of in Tokyo, known as the city's commercial and administrative center. It is considered to be a very rich area with lots of skyscrapers - it is a very busy and vibrant community (quite large). What we don't know is that Shinjuku is home to a very large homeless community. Again, it is not what we would normally expect. But why would we not normally know about this? And why is there such a big contrast as well.
Not much is done to show that side, as well as educating the public about it. I don't think much is done to help that community. They are left to fend for themselves. Same with the communities in Koreatown. There is no administrative power to help the community's way of life. As the reading suggests, we should "raise wages and improve working conditions of workers", increase "affordable housing", and increase "governmental enforcement of labour laws" to name a few.
1 and 2.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who has lived in LA all her life, I actually don't agree that the public sees Koreatown as "exotic" and "lively". I think anyone who hasn't lived near a metropolitan area might consider any "Asiantown" whether it be Koreatown, Chinatown, Little Saigon, or Little Tokyo, sounds "exotic" and is probably full of busting clubs and food. However, this really isn't the case. Those that commute to downtown Los Angeles to work in an office building, come from middle to upperclass homes, whereas those that both live and work in areas like Koreatown come from lower class homes. These areas are full of the poor, and the homeless. I actually see very few false images of these areas in the media. In fact, when one thinks of downtown LA, often streets full of homeless people come to mind.
As for the second question, I think racial tensions within Koreatown definitely play a large factor towards the deterioration of the city. Koreatown has essentially needed to be completely rebuilt, both physically, as well as culturally, since the LA riots in 1992 (we can talk about this in class!). The poverty crisis has not necessarily been improved, seeing as how LA hasn't seen an increase in the number of blue collar jobs available, considering the state of the california's economy.
Thank you Jessica. I was confused about this disparity between the "image" of Asiantowns and the reality that I do not see. Chinatown in SF might be a fun place to visit and get cheap stuff, but I wouldn't want to live there.
ReplyDelete3. Rather than worrying about where to put the line, let's analyze the events. The fastest growing ICE programs, fiscally, are the ones related to getting rid of dangerous immigrant fugitives. This involves raids on homes that were billed as "carefully planned." The programs were to focus on finding criminals, but that focus changed, from a requirement of 75% criminals to no requirement, resulting in a drastic decrease in criminal arrests and a resultant rise in non-fugitive arrests (got fill the quota somehow, right?).
ReplyDeleteThe programs are no longer doing what we were told they were going to do. Just based on that, these programs shouldn't be getting so much of tax payer's money, our money.
ICE raids are a big deal in San Rafael, where I live. We had a lot of problems with it. Lots of kids, born in the US who naturalized, were being separated from their parents, who were being forcibly removed and sent back to wherever they came from. If people didn't open their doors to an ICE agent, the ICE official would many times start banging on the door in an intimidating manner, threatening, in order to get in and arrest the family within. I draw the line here, at taking advantage of people's rights through fear. Even if they kept the door closed, as is their right, ICE officials would wait for the other members of the family to come home and arrest them. It caused a state of fear among all minorities in the area, regardless of their legal status. Hell, my mom still fears that something could go wrong and she would be deported, despite being a US citizen all my life, always being extra careful to always have some form of identification on her at all times. Even the local police disagreed with it and would not help the ICE people.
Yep, Koreatown hasn't gotten any better over the years and is actually worse off if you look at current literature produced by KIWA. I don't think there's much more I need to say about that here...
ReplyDeleteAs for drawing a line between immigration and "protecting" the US nation, I don't think any line should be drawn. Immigration control shouldn't be necessary and it wasn't an issue until the Chinese began to come in the 1850s. Although there are criminals who come to the US, as the article clearly shows, not many of the people caught by these raids have criminal charges and like the youtube video, most are just here providing for their families.