COMMUNITY ACTIVISM IN OAK PARK: COMPETING AGENDAS ...
COMMUNITY ACTIVISM IN OAK PARK: COMPETING AGENDAS ...
COMMUNITY ACTIVISM IN OAK PARK: COMPETING AGENDAS ...
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Ethnic entrepreneurs in American society often carve out an economic niche by<br />
showcasing ethnic culture (Lu and Fine 1995:535). The middle-class in low-income<br />
neighborhoods are often catered to because local businesses see them as “good business.”<br />
Middle-class residents living in urban areas will attend cultural events to seek an African-<br />
American, Latino, indigenous, or ethnic “experience.” In Oak Park, many middle-class<br />
residents will attend book signings at the African-American bookstore, attend African-<br />
American history flicks at the local theater, and eat at soul food restaurants in the<br />
neighborhood. 24<br />
They seek a unique cultural experience that perhaps cannot be<br />
experienced elsewhere in the city.<br />
Public space in Oak Park is occupied and used not only by community groups,<br />
middle-class residents, and business owners. The perspectives of how lower-income and<br />
unemployed residents define their community are also revealed in the way they utilize<br />
public space. Although middle-class and lower-income residents live in the same<br />
community, these residents do not use or define their community similarly. They have<br />
different definitions of their community and experience their community differently.<br />
Lower-income residents use public space differently than the middle-class. Unlike the<br />
middle-class, the poor spend most of their leisure time hanging out in their neighborhood<br />
and attending community-based organizations and non-profit agencies to receive social<br />
services. Their daily activities consist of visiting friends and family in the neighborhood,<br />
hanging out at parks, meeting friends in front of liquor stores, waiting in line at non-profit<br />
organizations to receive resources, and visiting other social service agencies, such as<br />
health clinics and food stamp offices. In their daily routine, they form relationships in the<br />
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