Research Kit Usage Guide
Research Questions
How do In The Heights and Do The Right Thing? depict the meaning of community in localized neighborhoods of Washington Heights and Bed-Stuy? How do the films show the tensions wrought by gentrification? How do the films depict belonging to a community?
Audience
The majority population (White Americans): Non minority communities tend to not have as much knowledge on the cultures and background historical information pertaining to minority races, such as Latin Americans and African Americans. The questions and background information presented in this research kit is meant to educate and inform non-minorities communities on the importance of how gentrification affects the culture within minority communities.
workOverview
Glossary
Latinx Communities refers to individuals living in the United States that identify as being of Spanish-speaking origin, descent, or background.
Critical Race Theory, is a legal theory developed by activists and scholars (Kimberle Crenshaw) exploring how the law has inscribed discrimination by organizing along racial lines and hierarchies.
The Great Migration was the biggest migration of people. Six million African Americans moved from rural areas of the Southern states of the United States to urban areas in the Northern states between 1916 and 1970.
Gentrification is the process whereby the character of a poor urban area is changed by wealthier people moving in, improving housing, and attracting new businesses, typically displacing current inhabitants in the process.
Mulatto(s) is a person or persons with a mixture of white and black ancestry, essentially meaning having one white parent and one black parent. This term is still used in Latin America but is less frequently used in the US due to its racist roots. It is considered outdated in the US.
Systemic Racism is a form of racism that is embedded in the laws and regulations of a society or an organization.
Interpersonal Racism is a form of racism that occurs between individuals
The US has a history of using race to separate different groups. The acceptance and integration of non white peoples has been a struggle in the colonial history of the US. The genocide of Native peoples and the Transatlantic slave trade are examples of this. Twentieth Century films like In the Heights and Do the Right Thing explore the legacy of Western colonial America in urban areas that experience gentrification. These films are set in low-income, working-class, ethnically diverse neighborhoods; they explore the impact of police brutality, economic hardships, upward mobility, and immigration.
In the late 19th century, most of the Southern states in America implemented a series of racial segregation laws known as Jim Crow laws, in order to keep the minority race separate from the majority . The concept behind the laws was not just to keep the races separated in public spaces, like schools, restaurants, bathrooms, etc. but to also insert white dominance over all other races by creating an institutionalized, legal system of racial order within America. Segregation impacted Mexican Americans/Chicano people as well, especially on the west coast, where Californianos were removed from their land which became the state of California, around the time of the Gold Rush.
School segregation impacted children of color from all ethnicities. In 1947, the Mendez sued the local school district of Westminster in California on grounds that they denied their children equal protection under the law as part of their fourteenth amendment rights. The court ultimately ruled that the school district violated California and federal law. This case set precedent and set an example for other minority races to fight for their equal rights and protection under the law. Following in the footsteps of the Mendez family, in 1951 the Brown family filed a lawsuit against the Board of Education in Kansas on the grounds that their child was denied equal education and protection due to the color of her skin which violated the equal protection clause stated in the 14th amendment. Due to the controversy and backlash surrounding the case in 1954, President Warren stated that the idea of separate but equal could not be applied to the school system as segregated schools are unequal and deprive black children of their equal protection rights. Both these cases were examples of how members of minority communities took back their agency and fought for their rights that they had been deprived of for many years by the majority.
In order to escape the oppression and discrimination they had faced for years an influx of different minority communities began migrating from the American South to the Northern, Western, and Eastern parts of the US. To continue the fight for equal rights and treatment amongst all citizens in the United States, people of color began collectivizing and forming movements that promoted cultural pride. The purpose of most of these movements were to spread and integrate their cultures of Black Pride and Latino/Latinx Pride within these new parts of the country. Some of the movements were the Civil Rights Movement, Black Power Movement and Chicano Movement. The Civil Rights movement focused primarily on the legal side through elevation of Black Americans and gaining equal rights under the law in the US. While the Black Power movement focused on elevated African American representation in the US by emphasizing racial pride, the advancement of black economic status and the formation of black cultural organizations. The Chicano Movement also fought for representation in America but advocated for the representation of Mexican/Latino Americans through social, political, and cultural nationalism.
In the twentieth century, the US intervened in many parts of Latin America through a military presence. After the 1898 Spanish American War, Puerto Rico became a colony of the US. It is still an unincorporated territory of the US. US intervention was continual in the Dominican Republic and many Dominicans immigrated to New York City, in particular, in the 1960s and onward.
The US has a long legacy of preventing people of color from home ownership through carrying out discriminatory practice to segregate minorities within the housing market or housing neighborhoods. government maps are used to outline neighbors or areas that are predominantly black or Latinx/Mexican and deem them as unsafe or risky investments. Through this process the idea of Black American ‘ghettos’ was born, which essentially was a negative word for a neighborhood or housing area that was low-income and contained a high percentage of people of color. As people of color continue to migrate to major cities in states like California, New York, Texas, the majority has continued to target these low-income neighborhoods and attempting to segregate and drive away people of color by taking ownership of the property within these areas. The racial discrimination has an economic impact of devaluing these areas and over time, they become areas of gentrification: affordable to the white middle and upper classes but not to the working class people of color who live there.
In the two films, Do the Right Thing, and In the Heights, gentrification disrupts the lives of the minority people living there and changes the way the community operates. All the new business and cultural merging that took place in the film Do the Right Thing, by Spike Lee, actually took place in Bedford-Stuyvesant, New York, where the movie was shot. Like many other major cities waves of change started happening after the Great Migration. Many immigrants started settling in the Bedford community, including Italians, the Chinese, and Puerto Ricans. It wasn’t until after World War II that Bed-Stuy started becoming a predominantly black community. Once African American families started fleeing the South, they settled in Bed-Stuy, making it one of the largest black communities in New York. For the first time in history, African American were able to own property and built a community that they could call their own. The location and isolation of the neighborhood made it safer for African American to live and allowed them to escape the racial violence of the South. However, this did not last long once racial tension started to rise alongside crime rates in the late 80s. The drugs, and gang violence hit Bed-Stuy extremely hard, resulting in government officials to start passing laws and reforms to try and clean up the neighborhoods. This later resulted in the gentrification of the neighborhood. The new laws and reforms that were passed allowed white business owners to take out loans and buy out the locals of the Bed-Stuy community. This also led landlords to raise rent prices, with a new influx of white Americans entering the area. From the 1990 to 2014 rent prices rose by 34%, which forced many minority families out of the community. This caused a disruption in the community, as more racial tension between the different cultures rose.
The film, In the Heights, based on the musical written by Lin-Manuel Miranda with the book by Quiara Alegría Hudes, and directed by Jonathan Chu with a screenplay adaptation by Alegria Hudes, is set in Washington Heights, upper Manhattan. It originally housed European Jew and Irish immigrants in the early 1900s. However, around the 1960 an influx of Dominicans started settling in the area. Many seek political and financial stability after the death of Democratic Republic dictator, Rafael Trujillo. This shifted the demographic of Washington Heights drastically with Dominicans being the majority. This is where they struggled for upward mobility and began their life in America. They begin opening businesses, churches, and restaurants to create their own little Dominican Republic in New York City. Spanish became the dominant language in the area and as they found their place in America. However, once the crime rate started rising in New York, Washington Heights began losing its people to gentrification practices. Many local owners were brought out by outside investors and forced to move elsewhere. In both films you can see how gentrification caused a disruption in the community and how the minority dealt with the culture clash.
Spike Lee does a wonderful job on critiquing and bringing awareness to the social injustices done by the majority against minority populations such as African Americans, in his 1989 film Do the Right Thing. The film reinforces the social and cultural issue of police brutality and the struggles of lack of minority representation within American societal culture. In the film, the character Radio Raheem is choked to death by the New York City Police Officers on the hottest day of the year following a protest at Sal’s Pizza Shop. Although the film was released in 1989, the recent controversy surrounding Police Brutality and the Black Lives Matter movement shows the critique that history is bound to repeat itself. Following the death of Eric Garner in 2014, Spike Lee compared the creation of his character Radio Raheem to Eric Garner essentially reinforcing the idea that discrimination and prejudice towards African Americans is a generational societal issue in America, while also criticizing the systematic racism of American culture.
While the original play of In the Heights was written in 2008, the actual film was released in 2021 and both versions of the story comments on and reinforces the social and political issues pertaining to the Latinx community, such as the Daca Movement and the DREAM Act. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Act was implemented in the United States by President Barack Obama in 2012, to provide an extended stay for education and opportunity for undocumented immigrant children who had been previously at risk for deportation. Under the Presidency of Donald Trump the Act was reversed sparking a series of controversy and a major movement. Although the original production of In the Heights displays the character Sonny as a political activist for social change for his Latinx community, the 2021 film production dives deeper into Sonny’s background and specifically shows how the DACA Act was created for children like him and how the reversal of this Act affected him. The film also touches on the Development, Relief, Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, which the most recent legislation was approved in March of 2021 in order grant legal status of residency to undocumented minorities who have grown up in the United States as long as they attend higher education, serve in the military, or enter the workforce. In the protest scene that Sonny attends we see many Latinx members of the commenting community talking about how the DREAM Act is virtual to their children’s future and will grant them opportunities they may not be able to get by being deported. The entire concept of the film is also built around these political issues and using the reinforcement of the ‘American Dream’ to critique these issues.
In many interviews Spike Lee mentioned that too many Hollywood films capitalized on the violence and roughness of minority communities. He felt that he needed to develop a film that challenged the fixed stereotypes of minority people and confront viewers with conflicting visuals and viewpoints. The focus of Do the Right, ways to display the racial tensions in America, while capitalizing on the aspect of identity. Lee wanted to spread awareness of how systemic racism and interpersonal racism divides communities and causes violence in these areas. He also wanted to confront the nature of public space being private property and display the need for reform.
Lin-Manuel Miranda, on the other hand, originally made In the Heights, as a play to display the Hispanic community he belonged to. He had witnessed the effects of gentrification in his community and felt the need to show the real Washington Heights before there’s no visual trace. While In the Heights thrived on Broadway, Quiara Alegría Hudes felt Hollywood needed to be exposed to minority culture. This sparked the creation of In the Heights, the film. One major issue she wanted to highlight was the lack of Latinx representation in film. She wanted a full cast of minorities from underrepresented communities to be seen displaying their culture in a positive way. In the film, you can also see how she incorporates Hispanic history as a way of giving tribute to its ancestors. Although, In the Heights, wasn’t emotionally motivated by race, it did bring awareness to the effects of gentrification. It showed how political and social issues impacted the community.
There is a great need for this Research kit being that many states are banning Critical Race Theory from the classroom. When studying American history it tends to speed through African American history and completely skip over Latinx history, as if it wasn’t built off the backs of their enslaved ancestors. When looking at the Standard of Learning for Virginia it is clear that the information provided by this Research kit is needed for explaining why America functions the way that it does. Based on the Standards, it seems that social history is insignificant to the other fields of history, although most of our problems in America are social based. However, as we went through each grade level’s standards, Martin Luther King was the only minority person mentioned by 8th grade. It wasn’t until secondary schools, that minority history was actually discussed in the classroom. However, the only information taught was the history of enslaved African American and the geographic location of South America.
Annotated Bibliography
Chu, J.M. (Director). (2021). In the Heights (Film). Warner Bros Pictures. Film Works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySrSGf_bDZw
This is a primary source that provides a modern day perspective on the community life within an inner city predominantly Latinx and African American neighborhood. The celebration of hispanic culture and hispanic heritage within the film depicts that no matter the circumstances you are faced with, a home is a place where you can spread your culture or identity with the strength of your community. Although the community may change due to gentrification, the characters are affected differently, along with the community as a whole, and ultimately understand that even if their lives separate them from the community, their culture should be celebrated and represented to show that minorities, specifically Latin American people, are not powerless. The significance of the lights cutting back on after the black out shows the celebration and glorification of community and culture, although faced with adversity. (Include Scene: 2)
Fabe, Marilyn. “Political Cinema: Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing.” In Closely Watched Films: An Introduction to the Art of Narrative Film Technique, 1st ed., 191–206. University of California Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt7zw19h.16.
The secondary source by Marilyn Fabe, titled Political Cinema: Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing, provides great insight into the political issues surrounding the creation of the film by looking through different dialect lenses. The article begins by giving a detailed analysis of scenes in the film. She explains the importance of the opening wake-up call by Señor Love Daddy and how it was a wake-up call intended for the viewer. Next, she goes on to talk about the history behind the racial tension and violence of the film, by explaining how Spike Lee brought in real-life events of police brutality to help further the awareness. Afterward, she goes into the different ideologies displayed in the film and explains why Malcolm X’s way of bringing about change was clearly portrayed in the film. The article ends with Lee’s refusal of melodrama, and how he wanted to develop a film that motivates viewers to speak out.
This source helps with our theme of representation and identity by explaining the historical background of the film (p.192) and the reasons behind the clashing of minority groups (p.193). It also provides us with great insight into the film’s motives and how the film’s plot was developed for more than just entertainment(p.194). Lastly, this sources provide us with cinematography dialects needed to understand the many angles present in the film (p.197)
Londoño, Johana. “Brokering, or Gentrification by Another Name.”Abstract Barrios: The Crises of Latinx Visibility in Cities. 184-218. Duke University Press, 2020. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv153k5m2.
This secondary source by Johana Londoño, provides us with a lot of context on the history of Latin American visibility in the United States. However, we choose to take a close look at chapter 5, Brokering or Gentrification. This chapter in particular talks about the practice of gentrification and urban areas of America and how its physical design contributes to the stigma of who belongs in the areas. The author starts the reading by clearly defining Brokering and Genefication and provides us with a case on how brokerning instance is the same as genfication. The reading also provides readers with some historical history on New York’s upper region and the social groups living there during the 1980s. It talks about government officials targeting these urban areas with gentrification practices to bring in the new white middle-class slowly developing around the water in Hoboken (p.186). Londoño does a great job explaining how the government restricted physical appearance by getting rid of the colorful trace of Latin America in the Union City area. This supports our theme of how gentrification impacts a community ability to maintain cultural and elevation as a whole. He also does a great job explaining how the government viewed minorities as the problem and genfcation as the solution (p.193).
Marks, Andrea. “How ‘in the Heights’ Casting Focused a Wider Problem of Afro-Latino Representation.” Rolling Stone. Rolling Stone, June 16, 2021. https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/in-the-heights-casting-colorism-afro-latino-1184945/.
This is a secondary source that highlights the value that a diverse cast and representation plays within the Latin community. This article discusses how the lack of diverse representation and display of Afro-latino characters were not present in the film, In The Heights. The director highlights that the lack of a diverse representation does not highlight the story of the entire community, but only a portion. By including this source it allows for the emphasis on how community representation is formed through different types of Latino people within this film to be questioned deeper, into how might the effects of community formation play on other diverse characters such as Afro-Latinos.
Olivarez, Adriana. “Studying representations of U.S. Latino culture.” Journal of Communication Inquiry, v. 22, no. 4 (October 1998): 426-433.
This is a secondary source that discusses in detail how the history of Hispanic culture is represented and often misrepresented within American society, communities and media. By including this source into this research kit the user will be able to make the connection of how the Americanized history of Hispanic culture forms modern day representations and alson misrepresentations of Latino communities. The film In the Heights, can be used as an example to how American film and society often misrepresents the culture of Hispanic people and those misrepresentations are oftentimes what forms and inspires Hispanic communities to spread and elevate their culture within American society.
Spike, L. (Diretor). (1989). Do the Right Thing [Film] . 40 Acres and a Mule
Filmworks.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPHOpLG91bo
This is a primary source that explains the racial tension that happens during the process of gentrification. This film also shows us the importance of representation in changing communities. Most scenes take place in an Italian owned restaurant in a minority majority neighborhood. In the scene where Bugging Out asks why there weren’t any African American on the wall, the owner, Sal, gets heated and says that it’s an Italian restaurant, with Italian heros displayed and if he wants African Americans displayed then he should buy his own restaurant. This sparks the division of the races. Throughout the entire film, you see Bugging Out petitioning for people to stop buying Sal’s food until his business reflects the culture and the people that it serves. The films end when Radio Raheem won’t turn off his music, the music is a part of him and Sal refuses to have any display of African American culture in his restaurant. This scene in particular expresses how the minority group constantly have to fight to maintain their culture and community.
Sutton, Stacey. “Gentrification and the Increasing Significance of Racial Transition in New York City 1970–2010.” Urban Affairs Review 56, no. 1 (January 2020): 65–95.
This secondary source examines the relationship between Black and Latino residents and the sufficiently increasing pace of gentrification in New York between the years of 1970-2010. The process of gentrification has been used as a mechanism to “amplify the durable racial hierarchy in the US and structure highly unequal and contentious urban landscapes” (66). The use of gentrification can be associated with the racial transitions and community pattern changes seen within these neighborhoods. The use of this source will help provide background on the context of social and political culture within low-income, minority represented communities during the time that the film Do the Right Thing was first viewed and the time of the creation of the original screenplay for In the Heights. This secondary source will assist us in making a connection between the films and the nature of what was the social, political and cultural environment in New York City during the time of the films and how this environment may affect the outcome, maintenance or elevation of the Black and Latino communities.
Wells, J. (Director). (2011). Shameless [Film]. Showtime.
This is a primary source that provides a clear overview of what genfitcation is and what it does to the community. In the film, the family is offered double of what their house is worth by realtors that want to buy the whole neighbor. In the beginning scene, the main character, Frank Gallagher, goes into explaining how low-income families are constantly getting pushed out of their community to relocate several blocks away. The scene also shares with us how the government keeps getting away with. In the scene that begins at 1:37, the main character goes into talking about all the previous neighbors that have suffered from genefication and how they push the poor out to build big businesses like Starbucks and Whole Foods.
Recent Comments