Pv Has Passion Proposal

Zach Kennedy

Mrs. Newman

Period 5

January 27, 2017

Passion of Lowriders

            What people don’t understand is there is more to Lowriders than drugs and gangs; this is a stereotype that has been placed upon this culture and lifestyle. To some people it is no bother, but for me it’s a great tragedy. This stereotype has greatly affected me due to the fact that I live part of this lifestyle, as well as suffer the consequence of the fact that I am often racially stereotyped for my love for cars. Constantly I am stopped by police for their belief that I am a gang member or even a drug dealer. Through my eyes I am building a 3-D model of a hydraulic pump to symbolize my love for lowriders and even be able to take the time to disassemble it. This will also show theirs more to Lowriders and it takes knowledge to understand the complex parts. Showing people, it takes more then money to build cars may show that not all people who live this ever changing lifestyle are not gang members and are often hard working people.

            Firstly, my purpose for this is the fact that Lowriders are a complex style of life; countless people don’t understand that it takes more time and work to truly build a car then most people believe. Although this culture has been steadily dying, it still has a strong presence in society around the world. My main goal for this project as mentioned before it to fully design a 3-D model of a hydraulic pump that can be disassembled to show how complex these parts truly are. Not only will it show more about my passion, but it shows the increasing knowledge it takes to be able to adequately take part in this style of cars. Most people see these cars as small things that can be built easily, but in reality several of these cars take countless years and massive amounts of money to be completed. What we need to do as a society is to recognize this class of cars as a culture and not a symbol for gangs.

            Secondly, the reason this affects me so much is because I grew around this culture and it has always been a part of me. Since I was young my dad has been building cars and I can remember being pulled over because they thought he was a gang member or a drug dealer. Even for myself I was racial stereotyped for my car because I was a young kid building my own car. It seems like today they make so many laws to stop us from being able to express our love for our cars; we can no longer cruise or even meet at parks without someone stopping us. What people don’t understand the plaques and shirts we wear are not symbols for gangs, but an extension of our family with bonds built over years on the foundation of our cars. The sad part about this is countless lowrider clubs try and help the community and often shame those who join gangs but are still stopped themselves in belief for gang relations.

            Overall, Lowriders may never be the big culture it once was but I believe some people still truly enjoy the passion. Every car tells a story and theirs an owner behind everyone that is willing to tell the hard times and all the sweat, blood and money behind it. We are not out there to start violence but be in the company of those around us who enjoy the same passion, and show the world what we are capable of being labeled as low class Americans. This isn’t something I need to research and understand because its part of my life every single day, I see the things we go through to build our cars, the discrimination we face when we just go for a drive and mostly the struggles we have everyday just to do the thing we love the most. Though these struggles we will always find a way to continue our passion because in the eyes of Lowriders theirs no other way to live your life then going low and slow.