The Hip-Hop Generation Fights Back: Youth, Activism and Post-Civil Rights Politics

2. Keep Your Eyes on the Prize: The Contemporary Struggle

 23  2 KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE PRIZE The Contemporary Struggle At almost any point along Skyline Boulevard in Oakland, you can see the San Francisco Bay, the Bay Bridge, and on clear days the Golden Gate Bridge. To the west, the beaches on the island of Alameda and the Port of Oakland spill into the Bay. Directly below, the rest of the city of Oakland looks alive. In contrast to the peace and quiet of this vantage point known as “the hills,” “the flats” are bustling in the distance—cars move along slowly through the city streets, much as they do on the freeways full of commuters. Up here, the city sleeps; a person could easily drive through this area and not even see some of the houses tucked behind large oak and redwood trees. “Hidden Driveway” signs alert fellow drivers that residents will be exiting their dwellings to mingle with the rest of the city’s inhabitants. As you drive down the snakelike, hilly roads back to the city, it feels as if you’re driving through a park. Tall redwood, oak, and fir trees line the streets and the median, with few if any sidewalks for foot traffic. Meanwhile, the Bay is almost always in view and Mount Tamalpais sits in the distance. You may see one or two joggers or pass another driver on the road, but for the most part it feels as if you are far, far away from anything resembling a city. This feeling of escape was exactly what the developers had in mind when they started building this area at the beginning of the twentieth century. Middle- and working-class whites were encouraged to move their families into the refuge of the hills.1 As Oakland’s population began to diversify, the desire for distance from the “noise” of the city also increased. One of the initial selling points of the hills was the promise that a homeowner would experience “nothing but  24  Keep Your Eyes on the Prize beautiful homes and gardens around him—no intrusion of business, no apartment houses, no double houses or flats, no spite fences, no freak houses, no shacks, no private garages allowed to be places where they will spoil his outlook, no unsightly feature of any sort.”2 This promise remains today: you must travel several miles, into the city proper, to see any businesses or apartment buildings. Many of Oakland’s working-class families moved out of the hills long ago and now live in the area between the hills and the flats known as the “foothills.” As you continue to drive down Skyline and turn onto Redwood Road, the houses are closer to the street and neighborhoods begin to take shape. Still primarily stable working class and middle class, this area has more of a “new” family presence: tire swings on trees, home renovations in progress, basketball hoops in the driveway, and bicycles scattered on lawns. Not only are the houses closer to the street, they’re painted bright shades of blue, yellow , mauve, and pale green. The view of the Bay is not as expansive, but the feeling of safety and escape persists. Large trees protect front yards from the sun, while lemon, orange, and jasmine trees bloom throughout the area. The houses also seem more inviting than in the hills; window curtains are pulled back, allowing neighbors to peek in at the fireplaces, rocking chairs, and freshly polished dining room tables. As you drive even further down the winding street, Redwood Road becomes Thirty-fifth Avenue, eventually intersecting with MacArthur Boulevard. The neighborhood continues to shift: streets become narrow and crowded with coffee shops, gas stations, grocery stores, fast-food restaurants, and beauty salons competing for space along the stretch known as the Laurel district. Residential neighborhoods begin to fade into the background. Nondescript apartment buildings take the place of houses on these busy streets and a multiethnic mix of people dart in and around cars trying to cross the street. After school, Black, Latino, and Asian youth cluster around bus stops waiting to take long bus rides to distances east and west. Even though the streets are busy and alive with people, the flats to which many of these youth travel have an isolated and deserted feel to them. Rusted, broken-down cars are firmly planted in front of  25  Keep Your Eyes on the Prize...