Racism Will Be History
The world is a bridge connecting people of various backgrounds. Somewhere within the 7 continents, 195 countries, and 24 different time zones, there is a place in which people truly belong. For the majority, this desire for belongingness leads to meeting a diverse range of people, groups, and environments. However, many find themselves attached to the place where they were born, shunning the idea of moving somewhere else. These are the people who have already discovered where they belong, relying on the friends and communities they have at home. Others travel frequently, searching for a place they could claim as their own. But what happens if you can’t find this sense of belonging? Do you remain a lost wanderer, attempting to escape the reality of it all?
Everyone has a different way of starting this search. Some begin by establishing a close friendship with their next-door neighbor, while others turn to bigger communities like Facebook groups. Basic similarities like age, gender, and race will bind you to others sharing the same features and economic status. Regardless of how small these circles are, they exist everywhere and can be formed by anyone. For example, if you were diagnosed with lactose intolerance, then according to Boston Children’s Hospital, you were now in the 90th percentile of Asians who share this trait. Communities like these may sound silly, but to some, they are much more than just an interest group. I, for one, found strength through my communities, no matter how unserious they seemed. Being involved in these groups allowed me to express myself without any judgment.
Growing up in the Bayview neighborhood of San Francisco, I lived on a lively street that welcomed everyone into its small community. Entering high school, I discovered that I was lucky, as this wasn’t always the case. Some communities do more harm than good. In every town or city, there exists a place infamously known to attract the traffic of drug lords and gangs. San Francisco’s most dangerous neighborhood, the Tenderloin district, is a melting pot of crime that ranges from fraud to assault. Why is this part of the city like this? Looking at the Tenderloin Emergency Initiative situation report, we see that this neighborhood houses 60% of the city’s homeless population. This problem becomes more complex when the city’s newspaper, “The San Francisco Standard,” shares that 69% of the total homeless population are actually people of color. This demographic of people struggling with health crises and substance abuse is once again reinforcing racial stereotypes. With available prevention and care systems reaching their capacity, these people remain out in the streets. So, what happens to these groups of underserved communities? Systemic racism binds this demographic and contains them in this neighborhood, once again restarting the cycle of crime and incarceration. However, what could emerge as a result of such troubling circumstances? Resilience. Despite these hardships, ethnic communities from within these boundaries find power within their numbers. Tenderloin Blackness is one of the many projects created by the Tenderloin Community Action Planning (TCAP): a neighborhood-driven collaboration between residents to uplift the Black community. It is these initiatives that show the good of communities, giving minorities an opportunity to persist through systemic racism.
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