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
read Redevelopment 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?
