Blog #1 By Karla

When I first think of the word barrio, I vision a huge land in Mexico where farmers and their families live, every little contact with the big cities, no work, no school for the children, and not really helped by the government. The people there just do the things they need to do to live. When I readRedevelopment Policy in the Barrio it really gave me a sense what a barrio was here in the United States. From what I read, barrios are places where low-income people live, where there are very little jobs, and not a lot of things to do then to get in trouble. In this article, there wasn't very much of feelings involved, it was more from the political stand point. This actually helped me understand the barrios a little more, since I got to know the way the government dealt with the low-income community. During the time period, I believe the Chicano community was torn apart and were only seen as cases that need to be helped and guided. I do not understand how the government could make so many mistakes, as though the Chicano community were guinea pigs to all of their proposals and policies. None of those policies worked and they continued to try, to this day barrios are still fighting for a say. Elected officials did not want to listen to the people that lived in the barrios. They thought that they knew what was best and never once wanted to listen to the Chicano voice. It seemed as though the officials were not putting all their efforts to fix the barrios, it seemed as though they were just “half assing” everything. Officials did not seem to care if they really did the job right, they just wanted to make it seem like they were working hard to fix it. Officials would tear down houses and businesses to rebuild the community but never thought to worry about what the people living there would do after. They never gave them a place to stay when they would tear down homes. It is shocking that before I was born cities very close to my hometown were going through all this. My vision from a barrio was not that different from a barrio in the United States, both were cities where there were no jobs, little education, and when someone would try to help they did not want to hear the voices of the people living there. Do you think people wanted to move out of the barrios? Do you think that people that lived there thought they had no other chances anywhere else? Questions that these must make you think how everything felt back then. If you were a Chicano living in a barrio, do you think that you belonged there for a reason, that you were not worthy of anything better than a place where you had to live pay check to pay check or be jobless?