Looking into a History of Community Displacement in Barrio Logan, San Diego
Barrio Logan, San Diego.
Barrio Logan evolved into a Chicano Art District, a haven for Chicano culture rooted in social equity and preservation of the mixture of indigenous, Mexican, and American culture. The art produced by the neighborhood is nothing short of beautiful. Like many other neighborhoods deprived of equity and representation, the people fought for their sense of self. Barrio Logan has become known as an Art District and is home to Mexican-American Business owners up and down Logan Avenue.
Yet a recent not-so-attractive headline of Barrio Logan is its haven for those experiencing homelessness and the home of various sting operations for sex trafficking and prostitution.
Felix. Chicano Park, San Diego, CA.
Chicano Park, a legacy incarnate of community empowerment overcoming predisposed city development, has seen its share of displacement. In 1970, community members were privy to the effects of the Coronado Bridge's building: a teardown of the neighborhood. Together, the community stood and advocated for Chicano Park, a monumental effort of politicalness and self-preservation.
Chicano Park, CA.
Throughout the past decade, San Diego City has seen a strategic displacement of those experiencing homelessness with the continued city development of the downtown area. Barrio Logan, like other smaller communities, has experienced the influx of the metropolitan’s growth and welcomes many of those experiencing displacements.
Cuauhtemoc, The Aztec Ruler. Chicano Park. Barrio Logan.
Kimberly Hunt, an ABC 10 News San Diego Correspondent, provides insight into the experiences of residents by indicating prostitution is so out in the open that it is sex for sale in the city.
She goes on to detail that business owners also said prostitution has nearly tripled in the area since Jan. 2023, when Senate Bill 357 took effect.
Senate Bill 357 removes Section 653.22, a notable bad loitering law, relying on a police officers’ knowledge of intent. In practice, law enforcement used that discriminately, targeting Black, brown, and Trans women. A further analysis by a UCLA student sheds light on demographics, showing a bias and disservice to the community.
Reporting on intersectional issues requires intersectional observation; often engulfed by various challenges compounded with decades of systematic oppression having left out the voices of the most vulnerable.
Barrio Logan is a tribute to a community banding together to counter decades-long oppression by uplifting indigenous roots and lifting those displaced by San Diego’s metropolitan growth. A familiar quote resonates,
“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
America’s true communities keep this quote alive.
