The Black Informant | African American Commentary, News and Community Building

First the news…

(AP) FONTANA, Calif. Police say what began as a fight between two students escalated into a riot involving about 500 students Friday at Fontana High School.

No major injuries were reported. But police say two students were arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and four others were arrested for refusing to disperse and resisting arrest. (more…)

What really got me on this story was how quickly folks wanted to tie this whole incident to racism due to economic frustration. here is an excerpt of another article covering this incident:

Scott Brooks, assistant professor of sociology at UC Riverside, said racial tensions often reflect the economy.

“If the economy is flourishing and people are doing better, we’d see less of this animosity,” Brooks said. “When you live in a situation where the distribution of resources is limited, people feel they have to compete, and America is wedded to that idea.

“People see themselves attached to a larger movement and they see their group as losing out.”

Blacks and Latinos, for instance, can feel they are in direct competition for jobs, Brooks said. As youths mimic adult tensions and hear about financial struggles at home, the racial divide can spill onto school campuses, he said. (more…)

I live about 10-15 minutes from Fontana and I can assure you that this had NOTHING to do with economics. Fontana is one of the many towns in the Inland Empire that has been experiencing booming growth over the past few years. Much of this growth consists of folks moving from Los Angeles. For what you pay in the city, you can get a nice 5 + bedroom house for a little extra. Many of the newer homes in that area (and there is a lot of new construction) start between $500-550k. While that may sound expensive for many of you who live outside of the West coast, for first time home buyers (especially those coming from the city), this has been attainable step for families moving out of a poverty-stricken area (especially in light of all the current creative lending programs). Now don’t get me wrong here, you will not find the Cleaver’s strolling down the street in that neighborhood. What you will find are nice homes owned or rented by folks who brought their “issues” to the suburbs (for my ATL folks, something like parts of DeKalb or Fulton county). Fontana, like most of San Bernardino county is one of the few places in the Inland Empire where home prices are relatively cheaper while at the same time not too far from LA.

At the two major shopping areas nearest to Fontana, you will find PLENTY of Black and Hispanic kids working in these shops. And with more and more stores coming to the area, future employment for these kids will definitely not be a problem.

I guess I am saying all of this because I was somewhat taken back by the professor’s remarks suggesting that this riot was a result of some form of economic frustration. Many of these kids live in nice homes and as I just mentioned, have plenty of opportunities to work good jobs. So I e-mailed him the other day. Here is what I wrote:

My question to you is that with all indicators showing that the economy is actually doing good, more and more Blacks are buying homes for the first time (PLENTY of proof of this trend here in the Inland Empire), more and more Blacks starting new businesses, I do not see how the recent riot that took place in Fontana was a result of economic frustration. Could you explain?

While racism does exist in this country, as a Black man who has lived in the Inland area for a while, I have yet to see crime related to economic frustration. What I do see are nice Black/White/Hispanic communities that have been fighting to keep gang activity away. This includes the growing graffiti problem.

Both Blacks and Hispanics have been and still are finding employment in the growing Fontana/Ontario/Rancho Cucamonga area.

Fontana, like many communities in San Bernardino county have been dealing with the influx of gangs coming from the LA area for a few years now. Unfortunately it is these few troublemakers combined with failures of family responsibility and local government that this problem has not gone away. Many of these individuals that you are referring to do have access to capital, they just lack the maturity and wisdom to handle it.

Thanks for your time.

Here was his response (I am posting the whole thing so that some of you will not think I am cutting him off or misrepresenting his comments):

Duane,

Interesting comments. Thanks for reading. Sorry, I can’t give too much time this but here goes. It sounds as though you believe I was giving an economically deterministic model But this is not the case-it’s much more complicated.

I’m new here, but I do understand race relations in a broad sense and absolute numbers, such as homeownership, do not

tell the full story. People are not simply concerned with themselves. As members of groups, many are ultimately concerned with how they are doing when compared to other groups, competing groups. While Blacks might be doing better in absolute numbers, the wealth gap continues to increase, as does the racial achievement gap. This is not lost on folks.

So, if Black adults believe that Latinos are taking jobs from Blacks and speak about this, kids will feel that they are in

competition with each other as well.

As for economic frustration. Economic frustration leads to crime in many ways. If people don’t feel they are able to earn enough money how do they earn more money? The illicit economy works with the regular economy to provide work and

income.

People are not simply employed. They are employed in dead end jobs, low wage jobs with insufficient pay, multiple jobs, and fired and mistreated, and so on. Unfortunately, the type of jobs people are able to find and take are highly correlated with their socioeconomic background, and not simply their own efforts. Many people are born poor, they don’t become poor by their own decisions, although they make some choices as they become older that will reinforce their poverty. Remember the norm is not mobility or upward mobility, but immobility, most folks stay in the same class. Not simply measured by income because wages don’t reflect class accurately. Instead, class must be measured by the difference in life chances, opportunities, outcomes, leisure,

and wealth relative to all other classes. For example, as we become even more technologically advanced, all classes will

eventually have computers, not because the poorest are no longer poor, but because that becomes the norm and economically feasible for folks in the wealthiest country in the world.

Peace and Blessings,

Scott N. Brooks

Assistant Professor

Department of Sociology

And finally, here was my response to him:

Thank you again for your response.

While I do agree with you that poverty is still a problem in this country, to suggest that economic frustration leads to crime is nothing more than a slap in the face of earlier Black history when crime within our own communities was very low. Black on Black crime was something that was so rare, that there are no serious records of this until you get to about the 1950/60′s. Is there tension between the Black/Hispanic population here in the Southern California area? You bet. But most of the tension is fueled by a small few who just do not have anything better to do (gangs, etc.). As far as this situation in Fontana goes, much of its growth is due to the influx of folks coming from the LA area. So while some of these individuals have been able to move up the economic ladder, some of these individuals brought their “issues” with them. I can show you $600k+ communities that are fighting graffiti. Sorry, that is not out of economic frustration.

Thank you for your time and take care!!

While I am certain that race did play a part in this situation, racism due to economic suppression had nothing to do with it–especially in that town.