Progression of Gentrification

Is gentrification a positive or a negative process? I believe this question has been the controversy among plenty of communities who have either been affected by it, or who have considered it helpful to their communities. Now that we have been moving from the south side and how African Americans have been affected by public housing and affordable housing, we see how gentrification is affecting the Latino communities. As we traveled around, we stopped at Logan Square where the beginning stages of gentirfication are taking place.



When I looked around the area, it definitely looked like a white neighborhood. The houses, how clean the area is, the plenty of cars you see parked on the streets are just some reasons why it just looks like it has already become a gentrified area. To my surprise, Logan Square is a Latino community that has been up rooted by gentrification. I think that gentrification mostly affects middle and low- class people who have settled in an area, but who are not able to accommodate to any change when it comes to seeing middle- class whites taking over their homes, I mean who would be able to accommodate to this?
In a way, this issue of gentrification bothers me because it is quite unfair how the government has been the reason why now minorities are being treated as whites please. If we go back to the past, we can see how the government used immigrants to their disposition, and how immigrants permitted this to happen. In the 1920's during WWI, we see how the USA recruited Mexicans in order to keep the economy going since Americans were at war. 20 thousand Mexicans were recruited and after the war, they were loaded on buses and were sent back to Mexico.

Of course, once the war was over, Americans wanted their jobs back and by 1929 only 14 thousand Mexicans were sent back.

In 1942 Mexicans had to come back as WWII started, and the treatment was the same. I do not think this was fair at all. I believe events like this started immigration. Mexicans knew there were plenty of jobs in the United States and they would not miss the chance.

What caught my attention was that in 1950, 25 thousand Mexicans and Puerto Ricans came back as immigrants into the United States. Maybe back then, migration was not a big issue as it is now, but in the end it seems like it was all a build up to the problem we are facing now.

What I found to be very interesting is that in 1965 Major Daley established UIC in a Mexican neighborhood. This was such an awful experience to the Mexican community as it destroyed their homes and were forced to move out to different parts of the city, some ended up in Pilsen, Wicker Park and Logan square.

What I found fascinating was the fact that many new business are being built in order to help the gentrified areas, while these businesses are affecting the minority. A brand new Target has been opened in Wilson Yard in order to attract people into this area that honestly, looks a mess. Most of the buildings look abandoned. But what I thought was the worst part, were the condominiums being built for the elderly, which have been a total controversy in the area as they feel it is a waste of space for the elderly. If we think about the elderly, we will probably find out that most of them are immigrants who first settled in areas that are now being gentrified, and now they are being treated harshly by the people who are not content with their settlement in these building built for them.






In the end, history shows how gentrification started before many people could understand it. Gentrification started once the first immigrants’ settled in all of our current communities. As we know, Logan Square used to be Norwegian while Wicker Park was Scandinavian, but nowadays we see these communities full of Latinos. Gentrification has affected the Latino community by moving them from place to place as the middle - class whites please. I feel that gentrification will always take place, whether it’s in areas around the city or far from the city.

In a way, this makes me think that soon; minorities will raise their voice and fight for their communities in order to keep them away from gentrification. Even though many communities have churches, community leader and organizations, it does not seem to be enough when it comes to protecting their homes. Gentrification will always affect a community no matter how much people fight to avoid middle-class whites from invading their homes.