S.F. District faces an identity crisis / As others move in, some fear loss of the area's character:
"But some residents are worried that the culture and history of their world-famous neighborhood could be lost in the process, and they have started a campaign to preserve its character. The city, meanwhile, is spending $100,000 on a plan aimed at keeping the area's identity intact.
Newcomers 'are welcome as long as they understand this is our community,' said Adam Light, a leader in the Coalition, a group formed eight months ago to address the shifts in the neighborhood in recent years."
I rewrote that a little, as you can see from the article. But if the article didn't mention who the residents were, doesn't it seem racist? Isn't this the same sort of talk that we hear in "Raisin in the Sun?"
"Well - I don't understand why you people are reacting this way. What do you think you are going to gain by moving into a neighborhood where you just aren't wanted and where some elements - well - people can get awful worked up when they feel that their whole way of life and everything they've ever worked for is threatened...You just can't force people to change their hearts, son." Act 2, Scene 3, pg. 105-6
"But some residents are worried that the culture and history of their world-famous neighborhood could be lost in the process, and they have started a campaign to preserve its character. The city, meanwhile, is spending $100,000 on a plan aimed at keeping the area's identity intact.
Newcomers 'are welcome as long as they understand this is our community,' said Adam Light, a leader in the Coalition, a group formed eight months ago to address the shifts in the neighborhood in recent years."
I rewrote that a little, as you can see from the article. But if the article didn't mention who the residents were, doesn't it seem racist? Isn't this the same sort of talk that we hear in "Raisin in the Sun?"
"Well - I don't understand why you people are reacting this way. What do you think you are going to gain by moving into a neighborhood where you just aren't wanted and where some elements - well - people can get awful worked up when they feel that their whole way of life and everything they've ever worked for is threatened...You just can't force people to change their hearts, son." Act 2, Scene 3, pg. 105-6
Doesn't seem that different to me.
posted by Lou Schwing at 3:51 PM
3 Comments:
Lou,
Not "racist," but definitely biased, bigoted, and xenophobic - and it really doesn't speak well of some (not by any means all, I'm sure) of the Castro Street residents. It's really not all that surprising, however, given human nature; our ingrained tribalism seems very hard to overcome at times.
Nonetheless, I have to note that in these parts, traditionally gay meccas such as Boston's Fenway and South End neighborhoods, and Provincetown at the tip of Cape Cod, are far more "diverse" and welcoming than the Castro District seems to be - I guess that here in the Bay State, somehow we've managed to learn a lesson or two since the ugly anti-busing South Boston riots of the 1970's ...
Yes, "racist" is probably too easy a word to throw around in order to get a rise out of people. It is all the things you mention, yes.
I think the thing that galls me most is the government sanctioning this attitude. They're spending a 100K in order to "preserve" the gay character of the district. If we were to look back to the 50's and see our government spending 100K on the preservation of the "white" character of a neighborhood, wouldn't we be justifiably outraged?
I understand the NIMBY-like attitude of the people who live there, they don't like change. They've worked hard to find a place they feel comfortable. But for the city to act in such a way as to exclude people from a neighborhood really gets me.
Just as the majority groups rightly were forced to learn to be comfortable in the presence of minority groups, the minority groups now have to be comfortable in the presence of others that are different from them. In most places in California, all groups are in the minority, no one group dominates completely in the manner it used to.
Lou,
Well stated, and I agree.
Oh, the burdens we must endure in our striving to be consistently "liberal," eh ... ?
;-)
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