Reading Response / Freewriting
Reading Response:
(1) According to Malchik in “March,” why is a community’s walkability “one of the single greatest factors in building social capital” (p. 45)? What is social capital? How do your community’s public infrastructure and public spaces support walkability (or not)? How has your community’s walkability factored in your social capital?
My community has allowed many people to walk freely in public spaces. They have some strict rules when it comes to places being in an area, for example a park has a restriction to 11 p.m. Most of Chicago supports the ability to publicly walk wherever you would want to walk in. I can walk outside whenever and not have a problem with doing so. It won’t matter if I walk in the night or in the morning because of social capital. Social Capital is having the sense of fitting in at most, no matter who you are. To me I feel like I can fit in wherever and people that surround me also fit in. When being in a community there are sometimes similarities that run around that makes everyone feel like they fit in. Around my community there is lots of diversity, there are people who are different colored or believe in different religions however when you enter a store, like Walgreens, you can feel a sense of being there without being bothered. (176)
(2) How has race and/or gender been understood to affect the ability to walk in the city? How does race and/or gender affect the experience of walking in the city, such as the perception of safety, security, and risk? How have the readings help you understand the effects of race and/or gender on walking?
How race has been affected in the ability to walk holds a huge factor in today’s society. Being a different color can be a life or death situation for some if you live in a neighborhood that isn’t friendly or advised. Some places can be racist and can affect you, and what you plan on doing. Getting the cops called on you because you seem, “dangerous” is a traumatizing event for people. There won’t be a moment in your life that will make you forget the day the cops arrived and you did nothing wrong. There has even been evidence to this type of event that has people get shot over it. When in context, you did nothing wrong, and because of the way you were born you see your life flash right before you die is unfair. Even gender plays a role in safety, for many girls when walking alone they are looked at defensively and wouldn’t be able to hold themselves down needing safety wherever they walk to. (169)
(3) Quote: “In all my years in Chicago, I’ve only heard gunshots while crime reporting on the south or west sides of the city, never in the neighborhoods where I have lived, which are all on the north side and are considered “white” neighborhoods.” (Privilege, policing and living while black in Chicago’s white north side)
How this is going to help me in my essay is I am going to use race as a factor to having privilege and how it affects the safety of walking.
