ARTICLE:
Perhaps you've heard the word gentrification; to Hipsters, foodies and yuppies, it's considered the improving of poorer communities, usually with fancy (and expensive) new apartments, unique shops and avant garde and delicious cafes and restaurants. For the poor and the residents living in those economically disadvantaged communities, it's forcing current residents out to make way for the ambitious plans of the wealthy. And for the Latino, it's something new altogether: gentefication. It's a playing off of the word gente, or people, in Spanish, and that's exactly what it is. Young Latinos (called Chipsters, or Chicano Hipsters) are looking to reclaim and improve their communities on their own terms before outside corporations do it for them, in an effort to maintain their unique cultural identity. Echo Park, Santa Ana, Long Beach, Boyle Heights--the movement is happening throughout California's Latino population, and I'm personally excited to see the Hispanic community fight being marginalized or having their culture treated as something in need of gentrifying from Caucasians. Gentefication, coupled with there being no clear ethnic majority by 2043 and Mexico coming into a richer economy, among other factors, seems to hint that the Latino community is poised to have some economic and cultural clout concerning their influence and prosperity in American society, and within their own community.
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