Low and Slow vs. The Fast and Furious
San Jose Hosts a Grand Prix in Downtown, But for Whom?
Story by Troy Curtis // Art by Fernando Amaro Jr.

On July 29-31 a gang of custom painted tricked out cars will be cruising the streets of San Jose without being harassed by the San Jose Police Department. How is this possible you may ask? Has the City of San Jose lifted the ban of cruising? Nope. Has local law enforcement stopped profiling car enthusiasts as violent gang members? Not even close.

It's the first “ San Jose Grand Prix.” The San Jose Grand Prix is an Indy car style race that will snake through the city streets at top speed. The terms “Grand Prix” are fancy French words for grand prize. So what does San Jose win by supporting and hosting this NASCAR dads wet dream? Maybe it's the money they hope to generate for downtown businesses, or maybe it's just another thing to put on travel brochures. Something like, “Come to San Jose, we have a Grand Prix race, we're the safest big city and we might be getting baseball team.” Sure we're closing schools and incarcerating pre-teens, but if you're only going to be here for a week, who the fuck cares? Stop at the Tech museum, buy something at Santana Row, and get the hell out before San Jo turns into Watts.

The San Jose Grand Prix is another example of city-sponsored gentrification. Instead of supporting the indigenous low rider or classic car culture that helped define San Jo, the city, through politics and business has widened the divide between wannabe affluent downtown Silicon Valley and the underdeveloped under-funded East Side. And to make room for what? Eight Starbucks and a Grand Prix Race.

The cities downtown development plan is rooted is spectacle not culture.   The biggest example of this is the giant 380 million dollar civic center that looks like a busted satellite dish. So ofcourse they will want a Grand Prix. Who doesn't want to see cars zoom past you at nearly two hundred miles an hour while your chill'n at your favorite downtown spot? The problem is, there still is nothing to do the day after the big race. San Jose's obsession with the cultural one night stand has led the city to a shallow existence.

Is there culture in San Jo? Absolutely. In order to see the real culture you have to differentiate The City from San Jo. Before I moved to San Jose from the east coast I thought this area was Silicon Valley, the city of the future. A unique place were robots and human beings lived in peace and harmony. The truth is that this was the “Valley of Hearts Delight”, known for its fruit orchards, before manifest destiny deemed this “Silicon Valley.” Once dominant cultures with historic connections to the fruit orchards and the Guadalupe River have been driven out or underground. It's not like this valley was rich with silicon trees. At some point people with money and power said,   “People of San Jose, you are now from Silicon Valley, we have already replaced your garbage cans and paved over half your land. Resistance is futile.”

Now, all that can be seen is a landscape raped of old barns and farmhouses for the sake of cookie cutter condo units. The modern Hip-Hop, Skater and Car Cultures fight the City to maintain the connection between Silicon Valley's technological fixation and the spirit of freedom and creativity that existed back when San Jo was just a pueblo of indigenous people.