COMMUNITY ACTIVISM IN OAK PARK: COMPETING AGENDAS ...

Altheide and Michalowski (1999:476) proclaim that “the prevalence of fear in
public discourse can contribute to stances and reactive social policies that promote state
control and surveillance.” Thus, the mass media and public perceptions of issues and
problems are related. An example of this is the extraordinary attention the media and
state institutions have of street gang activity. Street gang activity has become depicted as
a signature attribute of ghetto life, along with other resonant behaviors such as teenage
childbearing and welfare dependency (Venkatesh 1997:82).
Social Conflict
There are a few people inside the liquor store. Men walk quickly to the beer isle,
grab single cans of beer, pay for them, and head out the door. Feeling a little out
of place, I try not to linger too long and quickly grab a container of turkey lunch
meat. I walk up to the cashier who smiles and says “hi.” I notice there is no
price on the lunch meat and ask the cashier what the total is. “A dollar fifty-two”
he says. He smiles and jokingly continues, “But that’s chump change for you
huh.” Surprised by his comment I say, “No, I’m just a student living off loans.”
He replied, “But you’ll be out of here later.” I ignore his comment and while
walking out of the store I tell him to have a nice day. Feeling self-conscious, I
begin to wonder if I look and act like a “middle-class” resident.
Lloyd (1984:15) explains that it is important for social anthropologists who are
studying community action not only study community action in the locality where it is
taking place, but to also study community action and its interaction with the state. “To
understand how and why a community can or cannot mobilize itself is half of the
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