Freeway 405: Racial Desegregation In The United States

Los Angeles has the reputation of having the worst traffic in the world, and of course, everyone would spend more time tapping brakes on freeways if it was Thanksgiving. The picture of the jammed 405 Freeway depicts the Thanksgiving rush in Los Angeles well, and people make fun by saying that the freeway 405 has the name because “it takes you '4 o' 5' hours to get anywhere.” () Driving on Freeway 405 is infuriating not only because drivers have to drive slowly, but also because when everyone wanted to get back home as soon as possible, some people would change lanes, and lead to car accidents. In addition, since families want everyone to be back home around dinner time, they can get mad at a member who arrives late and claims that he or she could leave from work earlier. Yes, having to drive slowly is annoying, but what really touches people’s nerves is that people act upon their interests without trying to understand each other. The families could comfort …show more content…
However, cities in America are still racially segregated today; the white still hold a bias against the minorities of being second-class citizens, and the real estate industry has a historical preference of white homeowners. If the process of racial desegregation is a road, the minorities are driving so slowly hoping to achieve the goal one day while worrying if their family members, who are the majority of the United States, will welcome them, and if real estate businessmen will limit them to a segregated housing market because of the businessmen’s goal of maximizing profit. In this paper, I would focus on experiences of African Americans and argue that housing policies did not effectively promote housing integration because the white segregate