Opposition to Gentrification is Racism

[Polishprince]

Gentrification is the idea of honkies moving into the Ghetto, and a lot of blacks are objecting.

Basically, racist blacks are telling the honkies to stay out in the suburbs.

As long as the Gentrifiers respect the native culture and speak in Jive (aka Ebonics) to their neighbors, I can't see the problem.

This Is What Happens After a Neighborhood Gets Gentrified

 

[Billy_Kinetta]

DC has gone from 85% black in the 1980s down to around 57% now.

 

[Dekster]

Its about dollars. If the locals get displaced, their cost of living goes up. The invaders are looking for cheaper square footage than they otherwise would pay elsewhere.

 

[DGS49]

Percentages (of displaced households) are irrelevant. If you are forced to move, it is 100% for you, zero for everyone else.

The East Liberty neighborhood (and commercial area) of Pittsburgh has long been a relatively-safe gathering area for Black folks and other minorities. Crime is low, there are lots of churches and businesses, and it is a nice place to "hang out."

A few years ago, Google took over a large formerly "industrial" site (a huge Nabisco bakery), remodeled and expanded it, and it now is the workplace of several thousand "Google-type" people, all of whom want to live near the complex (called, "Bakery Square"), and East Liberty is within a few blocks away.

A large apartment complex in East Liberty was purchased by a developer who immediately made plans to upgrade it, starting with the eviction of all current tenants. Lots of them were using Section 8 vouchers, many were elderly on fixed incomes...you get the picture. So you had a couple hundred "households" that were forced to find housing "elsewhere," which meant someplace not quite as hospitable as East Liberty. The evicting landlord/developer kindly assisted the ejectees with relocation, but it was what it was. A lot of uncomfortable disruption of Good Peoples' lives.

Pittsburgh's mayor-for-life, Bill Peduto, tried to extort the developer into reserving some of the apartments for "low-income" folks, but without a legislative leg to stand on, it ultimately was nothing more than a PR campaign with no success.

I personally am conflicted about this stuff, but I am compelled to come down on the side of the developer. If a neighborhood becomes "gentrified," that means that it is desirable for people to aspire to live there. And they willingly pay a premium to live there. So if you want to live there, you have to either make further sacrifices, or work to put yourself in a better position to avail yourself.

Alas, this is true for all of us. No matter what your economic stratum, you probably aspire to live "someplace nicer," and if it's really important to you, you will do what's necessary to make that move - or not. Why should it be different for The Poor? But it's a pity having to leave someplace where you have lived a long time, and are comfortable...even when your economics haven't changed, and you could afford to stay but for the gentrification.

 

[AKIP]

Gentrification is the idea of honkies moving into the Ghetto, and a lot of blacks are objecting.

Basically, racist blacks are telling the honkies to stay out in the suburbs.

As long as the Gentrifiers respect the native culture and speak in Jive (aka Ebonics) to their neighbors, I can't see the problem.

This Is What Happens After a Neighborhood Gets Gentrified

I think gentrification just serves as a reminder, to blacks, that value = white. The only or should I say nearly all places that are considered to have VALUE are white. If whites are in the suburbs. Then then values rise in the suburbs. If whites are in the city....then value rises in the city. The opposite is true for blacks. Hence, when you shake things up with gentrification blacks get a close up view of what the history of racism has resulted in. When poor people just live around other poor people (not saying that all or most blacks are poor....but many of these gentrifying communities were formerly poor and black) you don't see the contrast. When whites start moving in with their big incomes resources, the nations racial inequality become front door.