June 22 Reading: Wacquant and Patillo

In Wacquant’s essay, “Deadly Symbiosis: When Ghetto and Prison Meet and Mesh”, the author talks about how urban life in the ghettos has come to mirror life in prisons. The have essentially become very similar to one another as they both act as vehicles for race based exclusion. Wacquant specifically examines a neighborhood in Chicago and how the risk of incarceration is heavily swayed towards certain communities, particularly the black community. What I took from this article is that as black ghettos become less community driven, they begin to collapse and therefore the likelihood of incarceration rates for these individuals increases. But it is unclear what perpetuates what: does the prison system perpetuate these growing ghettos or is it the other way around?

The second of today’s readings ties in nicely with Wacquant’s dilemma. In Ch. 9. Race, Class and Neighborhoods, Mary Patillo talks about north Kentwood Oakland. The chapter stresses how urban planning in this area was based on anti black terms, justified by what planners deemed as “protecting the good from the bad”. In essence, it was also race-based exclusion much like how the ghettos are now like prisons, excluding blacks from the rest of society. It’s especially interesting to see how the working class and middle class value different things. Poor neighborhoods are more likely to be concerned with social and economic services and supports while middle class are more focused on issues like order, and diversity of goods and services and public investments. We see this sort of urban segregation all around the world, and one example that comes to mind is Israel and Palestine (with Palestinians being driven out of their homes, road blocks that congregate them into certain areas, and Israel creating settlement to entice others to locate there). I think that all in all, it seems to come down to how power is laid out and ultimately, who has access to the most resources.