Long Beach, California, is seen as one of the most diverse cities in the United States, it’s been my home since the age of 5 and I really can’t imagine myself anywhere else. Living in Bixby Knolls/ California Heights for most of my years, I’ve noticed the lack of diversity that surrounds me, and because of this I believe as a community we lack cooperation and empathy between people of different colors and backgrounds.
Learning about Long Beach and its racial history, it's no shocker to me that my neighborhood is made of mostly white females and males. Long Beach throughout the 1900s was faced with many hardships, including hate crimes towards African Americans and segregation all over this city. Although most people believed segregation and discrimination only took place in the South, it was a huge struggle in the Signal Hill/ Long Beach area. According to the Signal Tribune newspaper, Claudine Burnett, a Signal Hill Historian, wrote about the racial tensions that roamed the streets in the 1950s, particularly in Bixby Knolls. Just a couple blocks from my house, $50,000 worth of vandalism was done to a newly built 1948 home in an all-white lavish neighborhood. Charles and Ruby Taylor, black homeowners, purchased a beautiful home for it to be soaked in water, full of bleach, with the carpet being ripped out. Ruby and Charles were constantly harassed by their fellow neighbors in order to sell out the house and not move in. That didn't stop the Taylor family from moving in. Time went on and they were always treated differently from their peers when they were really just trying to provide a better life for their three kids. It wasn't until 1958 when someone threw a rock into their window almost hitting the babysitter and the kids that civic leaders decided to do something about the injustice going on in this community. These leaders formed the City Human Relations Committee to improve racial harmony in Long Beach. Racial tensions and the way a neighborhood can come to a resolution to end discrimination were a huge part of their mission. Bixby Knolls is still known for being the white side of town, and although I haven't heard about any racial tension in my neighborhood, white privilege is deeply rooted amongst my neighbors and community.
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According to social explorer, most people in my neighborhood are between the ages of 55-64. This means people in my community witnessed first-hand the harsh struggles people of color had to go through or may have even participated in such hate crimes. As a society, most of us don't know the struggles that colored people faced, so it’s important for me to educate others on the history that happened next door to us. Educating others will spark conversations that ultimately one day will lead to cooperation and new ideas.
Over 59% of the population is white, 34% are Hispanics and only 13% are African American. These numbers are very prominent when walking around my neighborhood or even when observing the children getting out of school, how many walk home, and how many are picked up. Most children getting picked up from school are of color, meaning that they come from other sides of town. When I attended Longfellow Elementary and Hughes Middle School, I was surrounded by all races, classes, and genders. I learned a lot about different cultures, and at a young age, I was aware of the ways people of color were treated differently. Both of these schools are still seen as diverse, and the demographics are forever changing. The significance of learning and being around different types of people helped me build my own identity and made me who I am today.
Bixby Knolls’ sex population is 51% females and 48% male, although very close in percentages women are now more prominent, and according to the social explorer, 21% of women are homeowners and 18% are males. Women and men owning their own houses can increase the economic stability of families and the community they surround themselves with. Women nowadays are dominating the workforce, and since Atlantic Avenue is two blocks away from me, I am able to see all these female-owned businesses evolve, and as a community, we can surpass that barrier that prevents women from ever reaching higher-paying positions. My neighborhood is considered upper middle class since 82% of people will never know what being poor is like. Only 6% of people in my neighborhood are considered poor, and those are most likely homeless people who have no place to stay. Homelessness is not easily seen in my area, and since they've been cutting down trees and plants on the main roads, homes have been destroyed and people now are living by the freeway in grassy areas. According to the Long Beach Post, the 2019 homeless count found 31 more people living on the streets; after many efforts and all the federal dollars you'd think by now, we would have solved this homeless situation. But until we build more affordable housing in our community, we will continue to see people end up on the streets.
In conclusion, 19,000 people live in my community, and without the social explorer and the regions I pressed, I would have never known the demographics within my neighborhood. Living here for most of my life, I’ve never really thought about the history and the implication it has now. Millennials are seen as the largest and most diverse population generation, so it's our job to teach the older population about the history of our city, what it means, and how we can change it. By researching and analyzing other ideas, beliefs, and lifestyles with an open mind, we unlock ourselves to practice creativity and problem-solving by looking at things from others’ perspectives. If we only take one viewpoint about what happens around us, we will never apprehend the other perspectives, and therefore as a community, we will never flourish, and only harm will be done.
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