Suburbia: The Cause of It All

Racism can be said to have a major connection to the cause of climate change. The racist attitude and lifestyle practically led to the creation of suburbia. According to journalist Jim Brown, suburban areas are basically the “greatest misallocation of resources in the world” (Radiant City: Suburban Landscape). He also referred to these areas as “monocultures.” I think that’s a fitting title because of the way everything is distanced and set up. He discusses how in suburbia the shops are separated from the jobs which are separated from the homes. This basically sets up a community where automobiles and gas stations are pretty much a necessity: a major cause of GLOBAL WARMING.
In other videos, suburbia is portrayed as the beginning of tension between two ethnicities. The ideology that “whites” are superior to “blacks” was in fact the cause of segregation and the creation of suburbia. “1950 was the first year that more people lived in the suburbs than anywhere else” (The 1950s). This was simply because the “whites” didn’t want to live in the same area as the “blacks.” This attitude simply led to the development of suburbia in an effort to keep black people in one area and whites in another. This mentality is highlighted in another video that explains the creation of “black gangs” in response to the way they were being treated. These gangs were created in response to the white gangs that tormented and mistreated the blacks. These black gangs were basic brotherhoods that tried to stick together in order to defend themselves against racist actions by the whites. Chinaman, the founder of the Slausons: a black gang states “We couldn’t go there. We couldn’t go here…We’re not gangs. We are the pioneers that opened up [different areas of Los Angeles so that we could be free to go wherever we pleased]” (Racism Divides the Working Class: Gangs and White Flight). Basically, racism led to the development of suburbia which led to a double negative: tension and violence.
I think that a valid argument can be made from the way suburbia is depicted in each of these videos. Suburbia is visualized as a cause of racial destruction and global warming. I actually agree with the argument being made in each video and I think that it’s valid to say that the racist attitude led to the creation of suburban areas. These areas require automobiles in order to accommodate the distance between where one lives and where they work or where they go shopping. The drastic increase in cars actually contributes to climate change. I think a valid argument that can also be made is due to the fact that racism and white superiority has almost always existed, climate change and violence was practically unavoidable. In short, due to this ideology that existed in the beginning, suburbia had to be created, racial tension had to intensify and global warming had to occur.
Radiant City: Suburban Landscape http://youtube.com/watch?v=oCeWCVWZbdo&feature=fvw
The 1950s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhkjA2w4cXs&feature=related
Racism Divides the Working Class: Gangs and White Flight http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVHMJz0IYQM