8/29/2023 0 Comments City of compton historySo that was like my first time being exposed and also having a history and legacy in Compton. Growing up also have the weird dichotomy of going to school in Compton or living in Compton and going to school elementary schools in Culver City and seeing, well, why am I the only black kid in so many of the classes, but then I’m only surrounded by being with my friends from church or from my community and my Latino friends. So my origins come from the city, particularly rich in farms growing up and seeing poverty, but also being connected with, like my neighbors who come from El Salvador, who come from Mexico, and trying to bridge the gap between the Black and Brown communities that exist. My father’s origins are Kenyan, or he comes from Kenya, from Nakuru, Kenya.Īnd he met my mother in the late eighties in Compton, California, of course. I think it might be enough to get people to care.Growing up in Compton, California, my whole life, I definitely had a unique story. Compton has always been really persistent when they know what they want. People do go to Richland Farms, they go to East Rancho Dominguez Park, they go to the historic post office. At the very least, if something happens to these places, people’s outrage isn’t going to die out. And for now, all we can do is make sure that people know about these places. The protection for these places is going to have to be grassroots. The planners are dealing with other things-trying to get the streets fixed and dealing with a new school building, for example-and they have a limited amount of money. But Compton only has three city planners. Los Angeles and Pasadena can fund this type of project, and they can support a set of planners that focuses on ordinances and design review. But for that to happen, the city would have to invest in it. Maybe you can’t tear down a house to build a multi-family structure, for example. Some of these buildings and areas would really benefit from legal protections, like becoming a cultural district. A good next step would be a public forum to find out which resources in Compton people really care about.īut after that, it gets a little tricky. There is a list of historic places on the city’s website, but it’s not extensive. What steps do you think should be taken to preserve historic Compton while respecting the community that lives there right now?įirst and foremost, people need to know exactly what those places are. It’s never been a rich city, but it housing is affordable and its environment is stable. I’ve always known it to be a quiet neighborhood. I’ve always lived in Compton, and I’ve never felt unsafe in the city. And in the past three years, Compton has seen a lot of new development. Since then, rates of violence have gone down, and programs that effectively discourage violence in young people have been created. And the media perception that Compton is a dangerous place still follows the city today. While N.W.A.’s music was mostly hyperbole, this image of Compton stuck in the American mind. created a lot of negative media attention around Compton. The city didn’t have a reputation for being dark and dangerous until groups like N.W.A. And when they left, they took their tax base and businesses, and that left Compton with a large income gap. The first gangs in Compton were actually white.īy 1965, the African American population had reached 40%, but it wasn’t until the Watts riots that white residents started to leave Compton in droves. A white gang called the Spook Hunters tried to keep black people off the streets after 5 p.m. In response to African American migration, some white residents left, but other people like burning crosses on lawns. At the same time, developers frightened white residents into selling their houses and leaving the city. Developers bought land to create housing for African Americans who wanted to move out of South Los Angeles and into middle class comfort. The Los Angeles and San Pedro railroad ran through Compton, so farmers could easily send their crops to the San Pedro harbor and to Los Angeles that quickly led to economic growth.Īfter restrictive housing covenants were struck down in the 1940s, demographics in Compton began to move away from being predominantly white. Talk to me a little bit about Compton’s history and its historic resources.Ĭompton was one of the earliest suburbs in America.
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