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Gabriela Cervantes
Professor Gifford
English 114B
06 May 2014
Power in South Los Angeles Space
Every individual across the world is born into norms that are always expected to be
followed throughout their lives because of culture or other factors that contribute to it. Not only
are norm applied to ones life but theyre applied and reflect to the way one acts or is in certain
place or better how one acts around a certain place or more say, space. These factors are all
contributed because of the power that someone has over a space or place in where you are
located and are needed to act a certain way. This is seen when walked in a place such as a
church, library, or a park. You are known to act certain ways or do certain things because of the
power in that space which is what you been taught since you been young or through other
institutions such as family, school, friends, or even the government. Throughout California there
are power dynamics that contribute to the way California is set up or to be more specific South
Los Angeles reputation. South Los Angeles is built around the power dynamic of class that
makes it its status and causes problems such as low income residents, discrimination, and
propaganda.
Throughout South Los Angeles there are people who have resided all around the
municipality due to financial problems. There are citizens in South Los Angeles that have more
capital than others and are able meet the expense of their wants more than others. The difficulty
of them not being able to come up with the money for other places in other better cities is due to
the power dynamics around the area that make up a low class and are those who are not be able
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to afford a luxurious place as others would be able to. The government has had the control of
being able to direct the amount of rent that should or shouldnt be paid by property. Done a
comparison in the US Census with the percentage of the whole California as a whole having
15.3% and Los Angeles County having 17.1 % it is seen that people below poverty level are
more resided in Los Angeles County than throughout California. This shows the difference of
poverty and low income people in Los Angeles County compared to other county or places
around the state of California. People move from one place to reside in South LA because its the
only affordable place they can pay for. The government has created a space in where people
arent able to meet the needs to live in those places as much as they would. These communities
are specifically made for the high class people that are being able to pay for a nice place or space
to live. Those who are in charge of the rent around other places also have the supremacy to rise
up the rent around other certain area which makes is what makes much harder for other people to
move in into it. Its the reason why South LA is really populated of low income people because it
is one of the few places in where people are actually willing and can afford to pay. While in
other parts of town people are richer and have more luxury than others in South LA. People who
live in poverty only afford to live in South LA and it is why there is a majority of low class
citizens residing in South Los Angeles. The cost of space is expensive in other places and the
only place for people living in poverty is in South LA giving it and portraying the space and the
people as a bad area.
People of color including Hispanic not only do they get discriminated by the superior
race because of their income and inheritance but as well as the way they dress. Having on some
luxury clothe or cheap clothe say can tell a lot about a person and where they live and can create
stereotypes. People are able to tell and distinguish ones financial stability due to certain type of
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clothes thats being worn. South Los Angeles has been a place with the majority of Hispanic and
African American race. Due to the space and its reputations its had South LA is a place known
for its citizens to have the type of attire and dressing style that is seen as ghetto. According to
the author Mcclellan Erin in Making Sense of the City it states, different people can be seen to
make it sense of it in different ways (Page 2). Which in this case it is totally factual, other
people that arent usually around the area and arent aware of the type of citizens or attire that
people around that area wear they will find it out of normal or look at someone strange. Each
individual makes their own opinion or judgment towards someone because of how they look or
what they wear. There would be a great distinguishment for example if you seen a white male
suited up walking around South LA. People who have live around the South Los Angeles area
will ask themselves what in the world is such guy or more say a white male doing in South LA or
what is he doing here, as well as if a Hispanic or African American was to be seen walking down
a neighborhood of whites. They are using the idea of clothe to classify and do a judgments that a
certain individual isnt or doesnt belong in a certain space because of the type of clothe is being
worn around a certain area.
This occurs in South Los Angeles because of those who control space in that place and
the dynamic of race. People around the area arent used to seeing such people all dressed up,
especially not any white man or women walking around such a poverty neighborhood as seen by
other outside the community and the media. While the people in South LA get discriminated and
pointed out because of what they wear and their race. It is known for people around South Los
Angeles to have common themes of clothe to wear because they all dont have the enough
money to buy expensive outfits as a white individual would. It is why people think they know
when someone comes from South Los Angeles or a place nearby compared to if they came from
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richer communities such as Beverly Hills or Orange County. People would be dressed really
differently and people would always think to themselves where they came from because due to
what theyre wearing. This is because of the dynamics of race and ideas that people have grown
up around with and are expected to be seen. If low income people such as Hispanics and African
Americans have good clothe and are wearing real good luxurious clothe it is then seen or
questioned either it is stolen or there must have been a price of some other type to get it that is
you own, because in other peoples eyes such as the superior and the rich, people in South LA
are ghetto people who only wear clothe and shoes only a low income person afford, leaving
behind South LA with bad reputation and propaganda.
Throughout the years and until todays date South Los Angeles has always had a bad
space reputation and it is seen as a bad place throughout many different sources because of the
situations that South Los Angeles is always involved in. South Los Angeles has been a space that
has had many good as well as bad experiences throughout its time. As many know the only
remembered is always usually the bad, and it why South LA got its reputations of being a bad
community in where anything bad can happen from rape, murder, gangbangers, robbery, etc can
happen in any of South Los Angeles streets. In Rhetoric for Radicals by Jason Del Gandio, he
states, history can be used to inform your cultural identity. Past struggles, movements, and
activists have created the paths that you now walk. You are enveloped in an ongoing lineage of
libratory practices, problems, and personalities (Page 94). This textual evidence supports that
throughout time South Los Angeles has had its situations and person in which have made South
Los Angeles reputations as it is seen. Things that have happened in the past only build up to
South LAs reputations as well as the things that occur now. Making South Los Angeles space
always is seen as a negative space also involves the people living in that space. The space is
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always being discussed as a bad place and it is the way its now portrayed. As a space in where
theres a lot of bad things going on. The space in South LA has the power to make other people
think and have a difffent meaning of the place. While for others who have grown in South Los
Angeles it is home it is a place where they want to come back because they have grown their
entire life and dont see anything wrong with the space the government has put them and its
people under. It is only the government who has the supremacy to place certain races or people
in a certain place.
A space can be controlled by many factors. These factors not only are dynamics but are
also a creation of problems among a space. As seen in South Los Angeles due to the dynamic of
race it has created problems. Problems in which put the low class citizens in a situation in where
they only have one choice to live as other races have many option in where they would like to
live. As well as creating discrimination towards certain races because of how they look and what
South Los Angeles has been through. A space is seen as a place in where people make
assumptions of an individual and they way they identify themselves. This is only due to the
power of a certain space. Space can mean a lot to other and it can signify nothing to others. The
power dynamics of South Los Angeles space has only created and will keep creating social
issues as long as its controlled by who its being controlled. There should be a change not only
for the people but for a better reputation for South Los Angeles.





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Works Cited
Gandio, Jason Del. Rhetoric for Radicals: A Handbook for 21st Century Activists. Gabriola
Island, BC: New Society, 2008. Print.
"Los Angeles County Quick Facts from the US Census Bureau." Los Angeles County Quick
Facts from the US Census Bureau. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2014.
<http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/06/06037.html>.
Mcclellan, Erin D. "Making Sense of the City: Place, Space, and Rhetoric in Portland's Pioneer
Courthouse Square." Liminalities: A Journal of Performance Studies 1st ser. 4 (2008): 2.
Abstract. (n.d.): n. pag. Print.