Immigration has always been considered a sore issue in the discussion of the American social fabric. Both on federal and state levels, discussions have been made to ensure that immigrants do not gain dominance over White Americans. The paradox, however, is that the disparities in immigration are distinguished by the race other than white American or European descent and negative ethnicity. The Chinese or Asian settlement in America has always met opposition from white supremacists among other despised minorities with several legislative, economic and socio-structural attempts made to dislocate and discriminate them. The paper will detail a profile of Chinatown in Oakland as a sample area that depicts the effects of racial discrimination and marginalization on an established immigrant community settlement.
China Town is located in Oakland, California with a geographical area spanning to about 0.161 sq. miles, hosting 6,691 residents City-Data (2011). The ethnic composition of Oakland’s Chinatown is as follows: Asiatic and Pacific Islander stood at 73%, Black American at 12%, White Americans 7%, Spanish speakers at 7% while 1% having a mixed ethnical heritage and native American Indians making up 1% of Chinatown’s population. It is to be noted that, according to Alameda County Public Health Department (2001), the Asiatic and Pacific Islander ethnical group had an increase in the population of 41% in a 10 year period as documented in the 2000 Census. The population that Alameda County Public Health Department (2001) defines as Asian Pacific Islanders are 99% Asians originating majorly from Japan and China, and 1% belonging to people from Islands found in the Pacific Ocean.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
There are 1857 males, 1882 females (City-Data, 2011), while a separate report by Alameda County Public Health Department (2001) indicates that 3,374 were male and 2,544 were female. According to Alameda County Public Health Department (2001) this constituted to 57% of the population being male while the remaining 43% being women. The same report by Alameda County Public Health Department (2001) indicates that the Chinatown population consisted of 11%, who were children aged 14 years and below. The 1990 Census revealed that there were 5 languages spoken in the Chinatown residences. 60% of the Chinatown population aged 5 years and above spoke Chinese, 31% spoke purely English at home, 4% conversed in Spanish dialect, and 2% used the Tagalog language, while Vietnamese was used by 1% (Alameda County Public Health Department, 2001).City-Data (2011) indicates that about 53.4% of the population in Oakland’s Chinatown was not fluent in communicating in English, both verbally and through writing. This is mainly because of the segregation in the allocation of educational facilities which restricted the social integration of the immigrant population.
As previously discussed, education is not a forte of the resident population in Oakland’s Chinatown. 49.3% of the population had attained an education of less than high school, with 12.5% having attained high school as the highest level of education.
24.1% of the population in Chinatown consists of people who were born in California, while 10% were born outside California but within the USA. The same analytical report from City-Data (2011) indicates that 65.2% of the residents in Chinatown were born outside American soil which contrasts with 27.9% of the entire Oakland population. City-Data (2011) details the median age per gender as follows: the median age for males stood at 47.8 years while for women it stood at 47.9 years.
In 1999 the households in Chinatown totaled to 2,267 (Alameda County Public Health Department, 2001). According to Statistical Atlas (2015) Chinatown, Oakland, California had a median household income of USD 18,400.00, while the median rent stood at USD 828.00 per month.Alameda County Public Health Department (2001) stated that in 1999, 69% of the households in Oakland’s Chinatown had a ceiling income of USD 30,000.00. City-Data (2011) reveals that the average household in Chinatown hosts 5.3 people as compared to Oakland’s household size of about 2.6 people. Married couples make up 41.3% of the entire household population in Chinatown, with 32.6% of the households having married couples with children, while 13.9% constituting of single-mother homes (City-Data, 2011). Marriage and family is an important aspect of the community in Chinatown; only 13.2% and 9.6% of men and women respectively who fit the profile of individuals 15 years old or older have not been married.
McElvain (2014) generally refers to Chinatown as a low-income neighborhood, which characteristically hosts immigrants in such vibrancy. Despite attempts by state organs to frustrate the immigrant settlements, 46% of the households in Chinatown can afford a mortgage (City-Data, 2011). The community has a rather general vintage appearance with over 1609 houses built before the year 2000 while some dating to over 100 years as indicated by City-Data (2011), hence the efforts to demolish and reconstruct modern structures.However, the discrimination appears where there was no compensation provided to residents who are affected by the urban redesigning of Chinatown (Huang, 2011). The state organs for development seem to overlook the resident status of most of the individuals in Chinatown, with the elderly, poor, as well as the disabled facing much adversity from the changes.
Alameda County Public Health Department (2001) indicates that there are several clear parameters that are not considered in the data collection of Chinatown’s Census statistics. First, there are no clearly defined poverty estimates, such that the ones available are only derived from participants. The reports also do not include the data that is concerned with the homeless, other minority inclusions such as information on the profile of sexual orientations in the stated community.
References
Alameda County Public Health Department, (2001). Chinatown community Information Book 2001. Community Assessment, Planning, and Education (CAPE) Unithttp://www.co.alameda.ca.us/public health
Huang, V., (2011). Building Transit Oriented Community in Oakland's Chinatown. Race, Poverty & the Environment ,Vol. 18, No. 1 (2011), pp. 63-67Retrieved on April 13, 2018 from http://www.jstor.org/stable/41555318
McElvain, B., (2015) Oakland Chinatown – Displacement Vulnerability and the Ethnic Economic Enclave . Policy Forum at Mills College. Retrieved on April 13, 2018 from http://www.millspolicyforum.com/community-economic-development/oakland- chinatown-displacement-vulnerability-and-the-ethnic-economic-enclave/
City-Data, (2011). Chinatown neighborhood in Oakland, California (CA), 94607 detailed profile. City-Data.com, Advameg, Inc., Urban Mapping, Inc. Retrieved on April 13, 2018 from http://www.city-data.com/neighborhood/Chinatown-Oakland-CA.html
