Philippe Bourgois’ In Search of Respect chronicles the lives of the denizens of Spanish Harlem, New York City's notorious Latin neighborhood. In the book, Bourgois discusses the idea of institutionalized racism, or Apartheid, on the streets of El Barrio--using it to illustrate that segregation exists within the borders of the United States. He argues that in the inner cities of America this type of economic racism pervades and extends beyond race to include gender as well, and is intentionally enforced to maintain power structures and organizations that include but are not limited to: gangs, drug dealing operations, etc.
The Effects of Segregation
Bourgois encounters the effects of Apartheid in his attempts to break into the crack dealing underworld of El Barrio. He discovers that his biggest obstacle is not “[his] conspicuous profile as a potential undercover narcotics agent…but, rather, [his] white drug addict profile…” He states explicitly that he has little success with convincing the police that he is an undercover officer, initially leading him to be profiled as the stereotypical white junkie. This "white scum" distinction causes dealers to ignore him, and the police to harass him for being in the wrong neighborhood.
This illustrates the racial divides between Whites and Latinos. Bourgois traces the extent of this “apartheid” mentality beyond just the boundaries of race itself. In fact it is a nearly universal standard upheld by those of higher socio-economic status. Bourgois describes it as “a racist common sense that persuades whites, and middle-class outsiders of all colors, that it is too dangerous for them to venture into poor African-American or Latino neighborhoods."