There Goes the Neighborhood. . .

Sooo, I read a very interesting article titled "The Great White Scare: Coming Soon to a City Near You" over at Clutch detailing the "facelift" that some areas in Washington, D.C. are facing. You know what I'm talking about---Good ole gentrification. But gentrification is not new and D.C. isn't the only major city being affected by it. The residents of Harlem (audio file) and Los Angeles are no strangers to gaining "new neighbors" wearing business suits and hard hats. My first reaction was sympathize with those southeast D.C. residents losing their "pieces of history" that are being replaced with Whole Foods, Harris Teeters, and other upscale facilities. I mean, wouldn't you feel bad if wealthy people came bulldozing (literally) into your urban, quaint neighborhood, hiking up living expenses, amenities, and grocery prices? Who wouldn't? Also, what about those historical landmarks like neighborhood parks, barbershops, and hair salons that have sentimental value to residents? Even more importantly, it has to be criminal to practically force people out of the homes that their grandparents and parents worked tirelessly to own and leave as an inheritance to their children's children for years and years to come. Can wealthy people really virtually erase a neighborhood's history all in the name of "revitalization?" As much as I hate to admit it, the answer is yes. The answer is an emphatic yes if its residents fail to upkeep the neighborhood and protect it from contractors who will otherwise view it as an opportunity to take over the neighborhood themselves and make a profit. Don't take it personally. It's just business. It's the American attitude of "We think we can take care of it better than you can." Just ask the Native Americans. . .


Corner stores, block parties, kids running in the streets, young and older people alike sitting on their porches doing hair, playing cards or just talking----There's nothing like black culture and the sense of home and belonging when you visit a predominantly black (and relatively peaceful) neighborhood But, let me play devil's advocate for a moment and pose the question of would some of our neighborhoods, which are now experiencing gentrification, be going through this if we would have taken better care of our communities ourselves? Are we to blame, even a little bit? I think so.

Several of the article's readers share my sentiments:

If we don’t ACT like we want it then other will take it away from us. It’s not white peoples fault or anybody elses, but ours. If we all thought and worked together collectively then we would not have as many issues. And I am sure they say the same thing about us when “we move in”…lol. The blame game is getting old, we need to just work together if we want our communities to reflect our various cultures!


If this is a truly a bad thing, we only have ourselves to blame. We need to make sure we are buying property. I know that is not always possible. However, if people are moving in and driving up property values the people who own will benefit. The people who rent will be SOL.
It is up to us to take care of our communities. Here in Los Angeles I hear of a lot of blacks complain about the Latinos and others moving in and taking over our communities. However, when I consider the communities they are taking over I wonder what did people expect? We allowed our own people to turn our communities into war zones. Contrary to public perception places like Compton and South LA were not always bad. South Central actually has many classic Craftsman homes and California bungalows that would be beautiful if they were restored. Most of these homes sit on palm tree lines streets. There is a very nice core underneath all of the blight. It’s just unfortunate that it often takes outsiders to come in and notice it. We have to remember that society is dynamic. People move around. Whites, Asians, and Latinos are perfectly within their rights to move into majority black neighborhoods. It is not “our” neighborhood unless we own the land. We need to be buying property, paying it off and passing it down to our kids. .


I know that I don't fully understand all of the implications of how gentrification truly affects and displaces people, but at some point, neighborhood residents have to take a teeny bit of responsibility for what they have essentially allowed to happen. But since hindsight is 20/20, the question is of what can be done now?