City of Segregation: 100 Years of Struggle for Housing in Los Angeles

Synopsis

A Majestic One-hundred-year Study Of Segregation In Los Angeles Racism Has Been Central To The Way That The City Of Los Angeles--and All Us Cities--have Formed And Grown. There Is A Long, Ugly History Of State-supported Segregation, The Violent Local Defence Of White Neighbourhood And Racial Boundaries With Continuing Police Oppression, Ever Growing Political And Economic Inequalities, The Drive To Neoliberalization And Privatisation, And Today's Mass Displacement Of Communities Of Colour In Central Areas--a Process Too Often Described As Incidental. This Book Attempts To Explain What Ruth Wilson Gilmore Calls These Death-dealing Differences. City Of Segregation Traces One Hundred Years Of The Struggle Against Segregation In Los Angeles; From The Struggles That Together Ended De Jure Segregation In 1948, To The Campaign That Resulted In The 1964 Prohibition Of De Facto Discrimination And The 2006 Fight To Implement Strict Controls Over Private Security Forces And To Preserve Over Ten Thousand Residential Hotel Units In The Heart Of Gentrifying Downtown. Gibbons Contends That The Study Of These Struggles, Of The Cycles Of Victory And Retreat Reveals The True Shape And Nature Of The Racist Logics That Must Be Fought If We Have Any Hope Of Replacing Them With A Just City-- City Of Segregation Traces One Hundred Years Of The Struggle Against Segregation In Los Angeles: From The Struggles That Together Ended De Jure Segregation In 1948; To The Campaign That Resulted In The 1964 Prohibition Of De Facto Discrimination; And The 2006 Fight To Implement Strict Controls Over Private Security Forces And To Preserve Over 10,000 Residential Hotel Units In The Heart Of Gentrifying Downtown. In Tracing These Fights, Gibbons Illustrates The Ways In Which Racism Has Been Central To The Way That The City Of Los Angeles--like All Us Cities--has Formed And Grown. This Is A History Of State-supported Segregation, Of The Violent Local Defense Of White Neighborhood And Racial Boundaries, Of Police Oppression And Growing Political And Economic Inequalities. It Is A History Of The Drive To Neoliberalization And Privatization, And Of Today's Mass Displacement Of Communities Of Color In Central Areas--a Process Routinely Described As Incidental. In Studying These Struggles--and Their Cycles Of Victory And Retreat--city Of Segregation Reveals The Shape And Nature Of The Racist Logics That Must Be Fought If We Have Any Hope Of Replacing Them With A Just City-- Andrea Gibbons. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.