I recently came across the Los Angeles City Council’s release of the community health profiles for each of LA’s districts. What it said so calmly with fun, colorful infographics about South LA lit a fire in me. Specifically, the information it presented about District 9, the district extending from Exposition Park to Slauson, made me question my morals as a USC student. Our next-door neighbors are made up of a body of exceptionally densely populated rented homes of predominantly Latino and black families. In summary: 70% of these individuals are living below 200% of the federal poverty level, as a household are making a median income of $28,614, are living in an area in the 0th percentile on the California Healthy Index Scale with extremely high crime rates, have no access to parks, and are two times as obese than the rest of the nation, all with very little support by health services. Breaking this down, the state is essentially prepping these families for displacement at any point by not making any permanent infrastructural improvements to the area full of renters; who, once the money for renovation is there, will not be able to afford their increased rent prices. At the moment, these individuals are living in a grocery store desert, not to mention that even if they do make the 20 min walk to their nearest market, the healthy foods are too expensive to take home for cooking. Thus, this has become an area founded on Mcdonald's and Jack In The Box. But, don’t forget about Trader Joe's and Target in the USC village, that helps… right? What is USC doing about its surroundings?
When asked about USC students, a South LA local reported,
-Jameel Hasan
As a student, it feels that the University's response is to reinforce the gates with a tighter lock. The youth of South LA is not attending the university, let alone aspiring to attend it. Despite the extreme cost of the proud private school, the residents do not have the education to support this. Really, what the community needs is better resources in their neighborhoods that are simultaneously supplying jobs to these individuals. USC has an oasis of resources locked away in the castle– even the USC Village, a hotspot for food services, is guarded by security on segways to stop any profiled “suspicious” individuals from entering. The reality is that even if USC is supplying the services for the community, the community does not feel comfortable utilizing them. The ones who are employed by USC as DPS and CSC officers stand on the corner of every street to protect us, yet have had no interaction or introduction. Students would feel safer, and the workers would feel more inclined to protect us if there was some foundation or sense of a relationship (or even a simple “good morning”) between the two disconnected societies. With streets layered with dystopian new apartment construction adjacent to run-down houses built in the 1910s, you would think that the LEAST the University could do is educate us on the community. However, speaking for myself and my peers, no professor has ever made resources like the LA County Health Report available to me. The upsetting reality is that the school has not done much but emphasized the dividing line between us; thus, making it very unlikely that students will be inclined to give back to this area once they become successful with their honorable degree from the University of Southern California.
Comments