The Becoming of Compton

The City of Compton, located in Southern California was established back in 1867. It was named after, Griffith Dickenson Compton, who had lead a group of 30 pioneer families from Stockton, California to this location. Compton began as a small suburb that prior to World War II was predominantly white, who composed 95% of the population. During the 1940's and 1950's, due to the cities affordable housing, the population began to grow rapidly and began shifting from a majority white population to a higher minority demographic. However, the incoming population of minority groups, especially African Americans, were not welcomed and were met with great violence. Currently, Compton has a population of 95,700 with 35.9% white and 30.9% Black or African American who reported of belonging to one race and 66.8% reporting being Latino or Hispanic.

The U.S. has been a country whose government has greatly favored white people for years and that has a long history of oppression and racism towards minority groups. For this reason, it is important to understand how such ideas and practices are still in place to this day through a smaller lens. Therefore, I chose to analyze newspaper articles on issues that related to the city of Compton. Compton is a city that is often associated with a high African American population and is often associated with gang violence and crime and labeled a dangerous city. After analyzing various newspaper articles it was evident that the portrayal of the city and it's African American population is no accident. Over the years, stereotypes put forth by institutions towards African Americans have reinforced ideas of structural racism that are highly prevalent in our society.

In 1896, a newspaper article published by the Los Angeles Harold was written informing the public about the murder case of a black man known as Grivalja in the city of Compton. The man who shot Grivalja, Al Kingsbury, was described by those who knew him to be a man who was too much of a "coward" to do such thing as too murder someone, unless he felt like he was in danger. On the other hand, testimonies on Grivalja referred to him as a person with bad morals with the title of the newspaper going on to refer to him as a "scoundrel". The discussion of Grivalja's personality made for an assumption that this case shouldn't be made into a big deal.

It seemed like efforts were put into the newspaper to portray Grivalja as a bad person which is problematic because instead of reaching for justice for his death, the constant comparison to Al Kingsbury and the mention of Grivalja as a bad person minimized the importance of his death. This idea and portrayal of African Americans is something that is not new and as we can see can be traced to years back. The emphasis of past actions and personality characteristics of African Americans, especially of males, are something that are often brought up in the media and get emphasized. It adds to the stereotyping of violence that is often associated with a whole race, not just towards individuals. This portrayal of Grijalva while, it might seem subtle, has a great impact on the readers of the newspaper which would most likely empathize with Kingsbury.

The article written by Steven Smith, "Compton Makes Major Issue of "Bad News" was published in 1974 in the Los Angeles Times. The article mentions the frustration of residents of Compton on the cities portrayal. The news that the media often focuses on are based on negative events, usually pertaining to crime and emphasize the city's lack of strong leadership which can be seen as a critique on the city's black leaders. Additionally, there is mention on events that occur near the street Compton Ave that often get reported as occurring within the city of Compton.

The focus of negative media coverage of the city and confusion with events that occurred at Compton Ave, which is outside of city limits, prevents from an opportunity of the city's growth. It pushes possible investors to look away from investing into a city that is associated with violence and crime and as a result prevents for economic growth and employment opportunities for residents. Meaning that this city, which is majorly composed of middle income minority families will not have opportunities that could economically benefit and prevents them from a chance of achieving upward mobility. Very often, the economic status of African Americans is linked to ideas that they are not working hard enough to progress. These ideas then get transferred as stereotypes of African Americans, who are society envisions when they think of Compton. Such ideas of African Americans within Compton are then transferred to the whole race.

James Carrington's responses to the claims he was facing come to no surprise, there has always seemed to be a lack of real justice by higher institutions that are meant to serve and aid the community. Efforts to blame the departments ineffectiveness to levels of crime in the city reinforce stereotypes of crime and violence that are often associated with Compton. It pushes forward ideas of black people's inability to move forward socially and economically as a result of their performance within the city. This is something that also gets pushed forward to define a whole race and other minority communities as well.

The housing companies interests in improving the apartment complex and making it more "habitable" would result in higher rent prices which would then displace the families who lived their. Such institutions often have misleading interests that claim to be efforts to help the community, but instead would bring them higher profit. The rebuilding of of the Village Apartments would only increase rent prices after it's completion. This is a a current issue all over Los Angeles' counties where neighborhoods and whole communities get gentrified and it forces residents out of their homes. As a result, people set out to look affordable housing and end up in communities that are majorly minority. Additionally, efforts to "improve" communities by institutions brings this idea that they are unable to succeed on their own and need interference to do so.

Bibliography

The herald. [volume] (Los Angeles [Calif.]), 24 Sept. 1896. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. 

Smith, Steven C. 1974. "Compton Makes Major Issue of 'Bad News': BAD NEWS IS BIG ISSUE IN COMPTON Compton Controlled Information Plan Aimed at Adverse Publicity Compton Aims to Erase Bad News Stigma." Los Angeles Times (1923-1995), Sep 08, 4-se1. 

Faris, G. (1980, Mar 13). Developer plans to transform rundown compton housing: NEW HOUSING FOR COMPTON. Los Angeles Times (1923-1995).

Kelley, Daryl. "Compton's Police Chief Lashes Out at Critics: POLICE: Compton Chief Defends Department." Los Angeles Times (1923-1995), Nov 04, 1984, pp. 2-se1. ProQuest.

Mellinger, W. E. (1923, Aug 12). COMPTON IS GROWING AT FAST PACE: FIGURES ON COMMUNITY ARE GIVEN BY SECRETARY OF CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. Los Angeles Times (1923-1995).

Feder-Haugabook, A. (2019, June 13). Compton, California (1867- ) • BlackPast. Retrieved from https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/compton-california-1867/.

U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Compton city, California. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/comptoncitycalifornia.