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Lumpenproletariat

Tag Archives: Chicano

On Social Mobility and Social Stratification: “The Impacts of Neighborhoods on Intergenerational Mobility”

13 Wed May 2015

Posted by ztnh in Microeconomic Analysis, urban economics

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Amanda Cox, Baltimore, Center on Poverty & Inequality (Stanford Univ.), Chicano, Claire Cain Miller, Contra Costa County, David Leonhardt, Equality of Opportunity Project, Hillary Clinton, housing vouchers, Jeb Bush, Julián Castro (HUD), Kendrick Lamar, Lawrence Katz, Moving to Opportunity, New York Times, Obama administration, Raj Chetty, To Pimp a Butterfly

War_The_World_Is_a_Ghetto_Wikipedia (27 APR 2015)LUMPENPROLETARIAT—A new study [1] featured in the New York Times last week provides evidence confirming beneficial socioeconomic outcomes resulting from children moving out of ghettos and into neighbourhoods with less concentration of poverty.

This may seem to be an obvious assertion.  However, previously, Congress’ antipoverty experiment entitled Moving to Opportunity (c. 1990s) had given vouchers to help poor families move to neighbourhoods with less concentration of poverty and had “awarded them on a random basis, so researchers could study the effects.” [2]  Unfortunately, due to methodological limitations, that study yielded “deeply disappointing” results.  “Parents who received the vouchers did not seem to earn more in later years than otherwise similar adults, and children did not seem to do better in school. The program’s apparent failure has haunted social scientists and policy makers, making poverty seem all the more intractable.” [3]

Fortunately, the new study published by Dr. Raj Chetty (b. 1979) and Dr. Nathaniel Hendren was able to analyse “more recent, richer data”.   “In addition to studying the outcomes of more than five million children who moved, Mr. Chetty and Mr. Hendren revisited the subjects of the Moving to Opportunity experiment.” [4]  Dr. Chetty and Dr. Hendren also worked with one of the original researchers of the earlier study, Dr. Lawrence Katz (b. 1959).  They “concluded that children who moved before they were teenagers did indeed benefit economically”:

“In both studies, the younger children were when they moved, the better they did.  Children were less likely to become single parents when they grew up and were more likely to go to college and to earn more.  The original research was not able to follow the economic outcomes of younger children because not enough time had passed, Mr. Katz said.” [5]

These important, econometrically rigorous, findings argue for new approaches to housing policy.  Julian Castro (b. 1974), the U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) “said he was excited by the new data” because HUD had “been planning to reallocate funding so that some people moving to higher-cost neighborhoods would receive larger vouchers.  Currently, the value of vouchers tends to be constant across a metropolitan area.” [6]

But simply moving some families out of ghettos will not solve the problem of poverty.  “For all the benefits that moves can bring, they are not a solution to poverty, said people who have seen the new paper as well as the researchers.” [7]  As working-class Compton, California-native Kendrick Lamar raps on “Momma,” from his first number one album, To Pimp a Butterfly, about his rags-to-riches experiences:

“I can attempt to enlighten you without frightenin’ you
If you resist, I’ll back off; go catch a flight or two
But if you pick destiny over rest in peace
Than be an advocate; go tell your homies, especially
To come back home”

HUD Secretary Julian Castro, of Chicano heritage, agrees with Dr. Chetty and Dr. Hendren:  “‘We can’t walk away from them,’ Mr. Castro, the housing secretary said.  ‘We need a two-pronged approach.'” [8]  Relevantly, on “Mortal Man”, Kendrick Lamar (whose sociopolitically conscious lyrics seem to be underappreciated by commercial radio, despite a clear hunger on the streets for such articulation of ghetto life) recites confessional prose:

“I didn’t wanna self destruct
The evils of Lucy was all around me
So I went running for answers
Until I came home
But that didn’t stop survivor’s guilt
Going back and forth trying to convince myself the stripes I earned
Or maybe how A-1 my foundation was
But while my loved ones was fighting the continuous war back in the city, I was entering a new one
A war that was based on apartheid and discrimination
Made me wanna go back to the city and tell the homies what I learned
The word was respect
Just because you wore a different gang colour than mines
Doesn’t mean I can’t respect you as a black man
Forgetting all the pain and hurt we caused each other in these streets
If I respect you, we unify and stop the enemy from killing us”

All those of us who make it up out of the ghetto must not just contribute to white flight, black flight, or brown flight.  We need to get on up out of the ghetto, only to go back home and help our loved ones trapped by the capitalist mode of production, which depends upon a redundant population to repress labour and increase capital’s rate of exploitation of the proletariat.

—Messina

***

THE NEW YORK TIMES—In the wake of the Los Angeles riots more than 20 years ago, Congress created an anti-poverty experiment called Moving to Opportunity. It gave vouchers to help poor families move to better neighborhoods and awarded them on a random basis, so researchers could study the effects.

The results were deeply disappointing. Parents who received the vouchers did not seem to earn more in later years than otherwise similar adults, and children did not seem to do better in school. The program’s apparent failure has haunted social scientists and policy makers, making poverty seem all the more intractable.

Now, however, a large new study is about to overturn the findings of Moving to Opportunity. Based on the earnings records of millions of families that moved with children, it finds that poor children who grow up in some cities and towns have sharply better odds of escaping poverty than similar poor children elsewhere.

The feelings heard across Baltimore’s recent protests — of being trapped in poverty — seem to be backed up by the new data. Among the nation’s 100 largest counties, the one where children face the worst odds of escaping poverty is the city of Baltimore, the study found.

Learn more at THE NEW YORK TIMES.

***

[1]  Chetty, Raj, and Nathaniel Hendren. 2015. “The Impacts of Neighborhoods on Intergenerational Mobility: Childhood Exposure Effects and County-Level Estimates”, http://scholar.harvard.edu/files/hendren/files/nbhds_paper.pdf

A summarised six-page version of the full 143-page Chetty and Hendren (2015) study is available here.

[2]  David Leonhardt, Amanda Cox, and Claire Cain Miller, “Change of Address Offers Pathway Out of Poverty: Study Finds Surprises on Upward Mobility,” The New York Times, May 4, 2015, accessed May 11, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/04/upshot/an-atlas-of-upward-mobility-shows-paths-out-of-poverty.html?_r=0 .

[3]  Ibid., 2

[4]  Ibid., 3

[5]  Ibid.

[6]  Ibid., 4

[7]  Ibid., 5

[8]  Ibid., 5

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“I Can’t Make It” by Sapo

10 Sun May 2015

Posted by ztnh in History of Chicano Rock, History of Funk, Music

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Can't Make It, Chicana, Chicano, East Bay (SF Bay Area), Hayward (CA), Malo, Mystique, Richard Bean, Sapo, Suavecito

Sapo-291x300PublicBroadcastingNetLUMPENPROLETARIAT

Cruisin’ al lado del varrio Aztlán.  Some of you guys may recognise that Chicano voice.  Yep, that’s our man from the San Francisco Bay Area—Richard Bean.  Bean is most recognised for his lead vocals on the classic lowrider oldie, “Suavecito” (1972).  “I Can’t Make It” is a more obscure song, but it’s a gorgeous one, too.  I bet you didn’t know Richard Bean has been a long-time Hayward, CA resident.  Oh, yeah, reprazent for the East Bay.

“I Can’t Make It” by Sapo

In Voices of Latin Rock: People and Events that Created this Sound, author Jim McCarthy recounts some early experiences involving Malo and Sapo:

“‘The second [Jorge Santana] album, Three Mile Island [It’s All About Love (1979) by Jorge Santana], was recorded in 1979 in New Orleans. We were staying at Allen Toussaint’s house out on the Bayou. Toussaint told me that Tomato [Records] had gone bankrupt, so we did the rest [of the album] at Allen’s on his studio time. That’s why he has […] songs on there; that was the trade-off. I remember having to borrow $2500 off Carlos [Santana] just to get the band back home. We didn’t even finish the horn stuff I wanted to do.’

“Jorge [Santana] later put together another version of the band with Richard Bean, who also co-wrote much of the music. ‘We had another four-piece band called Jet; really a rock sound that took people for a loop,’ Bean says. ‘Again, people were expecting a Latin thing but it was a big rock sound. We did one performance at Lincoln Park; it was a big crowd. We started doing ‘Suavecito.’ The biggest Latino dudes came onstage holding up this gigantic Mexican flag. The bouncers couldn’t move them. It was like the national anthem to them. I had tears in my eyes. It was one of the best moments in my life.’

“After leaving Malo, Richard and his brother Joe Bean auditioned players for a new group they were forming called Sapo. The personnel included conguero Raul Rekow and bassist José Simon (presently working as a well-known comedian). ‘We auditioned loads of players; we had a fourteen-piece band at first,’ Bean says. ‘I had songs like ‘I Can’t Make It,’ which was ready for the second Malo album, and I started writing a lot of new material. We got Raul from Malo, after another one of Rubinson’s meetings. [We had] Phil Scoma, our guitar player before Oscar Estrella, who was a happening guitar player! Kincaid Miller, our keyboardist was hanging out with Neal Schon around then. He’s playing with Pablo Cruise now.’” [1]

—Messina

***

“Suavecito” (1972) by Malo [featuring Richard Bean on lead vocal and Jorge Santana on guitar]

***

SLIM’S—In the annals of Bay Area music, Malo’s “Suavecito” will no doubt go down as the ultimate Latino love song. The San Francisco Latin rock group’s 1972 hit featured the voice of Richard Bean, who wrote it. Today the longtime Hayward resident is still going strong with Sapo, now celebrating 40 years of performing his tune with the band he formed after leaving Malo.

Known as the greatest Chicano love song of all time, Malo’s “Suavecito” is 40 years old this year. Malo’s 1972 Top 20 hit single was written by timbale player Richard Bean, who initially wrote it as a poem for a girl in his high school algebra class. The song has also been called The Chicano National Anthem. “I have heard it so many times that it almost is part of my brain, I think Richard Bean (along with Pablo and Abel) really created a sweet Latin lovers anthem, the song is simple, like all great love songs and I think it is very romantic. Richard was/is a great songwriter with a very different aspect to his writing. I wonder how Malo would have fared had he and Abel stayed in the band. Well, Malo got a Top 20 Billboard hit that has lasted for 40 years and means a lot to Chicanos…” ~ Quote from Jim McCarthy writer for “Voices of Latin Rock” on his opinion of “Suavecito.”

Forty years after its release, Bean is enjoying a new generation of fans who recognize his songwriting skills. The song that originated as a love letter that was never opened instead was intercepted by generations of listeners who continue to discover the joy of Bean’s lyrics. “I think it has more meaning to the people who are listening to it now,” said Bean. “To me, it’s always been ‘Suavecito.’ I love that song. I don’t think about the times when I wrote it. I just think about the people that are listening to it, that enjoy it, and the fact it’s brought something to them.”

Sapo, live at The Avalon (circa 2012)

Learn more at SLIM’S.

***

“Just With You” by Easy Company

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“By the Fireside” by Mystique

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“Suavecito” by Mystique

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[1] Jim McCarthy and Ron Sansoe, Voices of Latin Rock: People and Events that Created this Sound, (Milwaukee: Hal Leonard Corporation, 2005), 194.

***

[Last modified 16:57 CDT 10 MAY 2015]

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