As we have read in Naimark's book, specifically focusing on chapters 4-6, he talks about ethnic cleansing incidents that occurred in Europe during the twentieth-century. For example, he mentions the way the German's were expulsed from Poland and Czechoslovakia. There was a demand for the mass deportation of Germans out of those countries as soon as possible. Although, this vast deportation was done in a brutal way were the Germans were being slaughtered and told to leave their homes without any of their belongings, if not they would be left at the mercy of the Polish and Czechs.
Although, this harsh form of deportation, ethnic cleansing, cannot be seen in America, currently, there still is a very mild form of ethnic cleansing which exists in this country. Let me paint a picture for you, there are certain ethnic groups which are still highly marginalized in America, despite all these advancements in equity and equality there still a lot of grey areas that need to be fixed. One of them is stopping the ethnic cleansing of African-Americans from urban cities.
I will use Chicago, for an example, of this issue of ethnic cleansing going on in the United States. Chicago has what is called public housing communities which are made affordable to meet the needs of low income people, people with disabilities, and the elderly. The majority of these housing projects exist in inner cities, such as Chicago.
Recently, attempts to "clean up" the city have been made in other to improve the worst neighborhoods and to help put an end to the violence and other issues which effect Chicago. Through this renewal plan there has been many subsidized housing projects being closed down. The people of these houses are promised to be relocated to new homes. An example, is the famous closing of the Cabrini-Green housing project. These high-rise buildings, have a long history of violence attached to it. It might be better off that it is closed down, but what about the people who live there? Some were able to move near by, others had to completely relocate to places out side of Chicago. Section 8 vouchers were offered to these residents, in order, so that they can look elsewhere for affordable housing options.
This has caused a surge of people to look for housing outside of Chicago and move toward the suburbs surrounding the Chicago-land area. An example, comes from the suburb of Antioch, California the sudden rise of African-Americans moving into this predominantly affluent white neighborhood has caused many of the Caucasian people to fear for their lives as these newcomers move into their neighborhood. One resident said, "“I know it sounds horrible, but they’re scary. I’m sorry,” said Ms. Reynolds, “Sometimes I question myself, and I think, Would I feel this way if they were Mexican or white?”
Meanwhile, as these former residents of subsided housing move out of inner cities and into the suburbs, more relaters seem to be buying into these "bad neighborhoods". Now, these neighborhoods are called "up and coming" neighborhoods as the type of residents that move into these remodeled buildings are from the upper class. So back to my original question: are these closing of housing projects a way for these troubled inner cities to get rid of their problem, the low-income class, by offering them a way out and having them relocate outside of the cities? Therefore, is this a form of modern ethnic cleansing? because in a way we are not formally deporting people across countries but are moving a mass amount of people across towns.
For more information: please check out the following websites, (sources):
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/01/cabrinigreen-housing-comp_n_790292.html
http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/topics/rental_assistance/phprog
http://search.usa.gov/search?affiliate=housingandurbandevelopment&query=section+8+voucher
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/09/us/09housing.html?pagewanted=print&_r=1&
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