The Pros And Cons Of Gentrification

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Gentrification: sharing spaces of strain. Everyone is searching for a place to call home, and someone will ultimately go where it appeals to him or her. The Urban Dictionary had a colorful way of defining it as ‘yuppification’: lower class neighborhoods attracting white upper class yuppie tenants, increasing rent in buildings while driving out long time, lower income tenants. But a British sociologist Ruth Glass coined the actual term in the 1960s. "One by one, many of the working class quarters have been invaded by the middle class - upper and lower ... Once this process of 'gentrification' starts in a district it goes on rapidly until all or most of the working class occupiers are displaced and the whole social character of the district is…show more content…
The economic, social and physical impacts of gentrification often results in political, race and culture clash. Earlier black residents may feel ignored or excluded from their own communities. There is a major concern of displacement, loss of culture, and an abandoned feeling of comfort in this community evolution. New white arrivals are often confused by accusations that their efforts to improve local conditions are perceived as racist or hostile. In gentrified Los Angeles neighborhoods such as Silver Lake it is rare to see a person of color anymore. I say “anymore” because I live in the area and spoke to my neighbor who is African American. She explained that 10 years ago the neighborhood was occupied with many black families but they can no longer afford it. Not only has the cost of rent been consistently and exponentially raised each year, but the old restaurants and shops have disappeared. To see a person of color enjoying a meal or simply walking down the street has become scarce. “Much of the discourse around gentrification centers on the displacement (or replacement) of low income people of color with white, middle to upper income gentrifiers. Rents increase, coffee shops and pet stores appear and long time residents are pushed out – either because we can no longer afford to live there or because we no longer see ourselves reflected and are too through with being imposed upon by white culture” (Moore). Metaphorically, the…show more content…
She is an international poet, cultural producer and educator of creative writing. Growing up in Trinidad & Tobago from a family of educators, she has seen it all through her worldly travels from Chicago to Cape Town. “Ode to Gentrification” is a poem about her current home, Brooklyn. It is written from the eyes of a woman of color and has seen her neighborhood systematically change over the years. She passionately says in her poem: “You ushered out the families who dreamed, where my head now rests.” In a SoundCloud podcast interview she mentions how in a gentrified neighborhood such as her own, police are more frequent, patrolling the streets. It raises the question of who they are protecting and who they are trying to intimidate. It seems to make the new white residents feel safer and intimate blacks that still reside there. The “stop and frisk” policy targets young black men to fill quotas and make new residents feel safe. This policy only imposes comfort to the new white residents and frustration from the current black residents. These interactions contribute to increasing hostility and
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