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Im a black gentrifier(OR WAS) and I have just about the same if MORE problems than a white gentrifier. In H Street...it was a pretty fun lil neighborhood.....However, the power struggles here are affecting everyone. I walk home at night and white people clutch their purses around me because they think I'm going to steal something. Native Black DC'ers will call me a "sellout" or "uncle tom" at every single moment if we strike a convo and they find I'm not from here, don't have family here,or if I dare wear my Howard U. T-shirt the venom will come FLYINGGGGG.......If I wear anything besides a t-shirt/jeans, or club attire, I'm looked at as a Bougie Black in this neigborhood......God Forbid if I wear a Business suit lol or KHAKIS
At least a white gentrifier can rant/rave to his other buddies? Who Do i have for general support in this area? Poor D.C. Black People don't want to have anything to do with me, white people think I'm automatically on the side of DC Natives when I'm not half of the time.........Gentrification is truly a class issue I've found out........and black gentrifiers are the ones truly caught in the middle in this area.........
Heck, I'd love to have an actual LIBRARY or even a Bookstore in this area! Maybe some more parking for the church on 13th and H or more parking for EVERYONE, Maybe reopen that Gym that's been closed for AGES on H street, maybe MORE affordable and mixed apartment housing so people don't HAVE to move out to PG County............anything besides yet ANOTHER bar...I live here so It'd be great for this area to finally be "liveable" for everyone not just a select few...yet I'm on everyone's s**t list here......
Just curious - what's considered not selling out in that community? It's never made sense to me to complain about people with more money and mobility dictating the direction of a neighborhood, and then call anybody who's black and has money / mobility a sellout.
Seems like the best way to control one's destiny is to gain the financial capacity to do so, yet it's hard to sympathize with a mindset that takes pride in staying poor and/or having a more dangerous city / hood than another.
Am I missing something? I understand that the hurdles to getting money are high and perhaps seem insurmountable to some, but to not even try and create a culture that looks down on trying seems like a lot of self-inflicted hardship and misery.
Just curious - what's considered not selling out in that community? It's never made sense to me to complain about people with more money and mobility dictating the direction of a neighborhood, and then call anybody who's black and has money / mobility a sellout.
Seems like the best way to control one's destiny is to gain the financial capacity to do so, yet it's hard to sympathize with a mindset that takes pride in staying poor and/or having a more dangerous city / hood than another.
Am I missing something? Seems like a lot of self-inflicted hardship and misery.
You know what Blue? It's crazy because I'm black...and I DON'T GET IT EITHER...and since moving here I've gotten way more hostility then in any other area I've been in....I was taught to work hard and someday I can own a home and raise my kids in a safe environment.......maybe even have my own business.................Here, it's like the poorer you are the more "respect" you get lol.
I came from poverty and honestly no matter how much certain DC people/general media wants to glorify it...poverty is NOT FUN..being uneducated is NOT FUN.....and you're only gonna have a 99.99999% bat's chance in h*ll of becoming Lil Wayne/Nicki Minaj.....what makes it even crazier is, I've worked in the music industry where majority of the people who work in it (and MAKE the most money) are some of the most educated people I've ever come across.....................These artists/athletes barely make anything compared to the people with college degrees who are behind the scenes running things
My mom/grandparents did everything in their power to try to break the cycle and turn me middle-class and thank-god they did. Basically when they say selling out, certain people just think that once you get to a certain level all you're concerned about is things not important to the community.....Basically you don't volunteer, aren't concerned with THEIR concerns, etc......which is very untrue for most middle/upper-class blacks........Many of us are doing things to try to make sure everyone of all races benefit from changes in the neighborhood. Not just black, but of course since we're black we want to make sure issues specific to us are addressed.
What boggles my mind(esp in this area) is the fact they'd rather see a neighborhood continue to be a drug infested/violent stretch of land...and then moan/groan about changes and how "great" it was back in the day..........Complaining about high priced housing is pretty understandable but groaning about changes that needed to be done for the safety of residents and to increase economic value(and bring more jobs) is simply ridiculous......
2 years ago (when i first moved here) I was especially scared to walk down the street at night......Over 1 year ago someone was shot dead a block from me while getting off of a bus (not to mention the multiple assaults/attacks/shootings that went on in and around my area)...Today, Police cars are REGULARLY stationed outside and officers walk around for easy access in case there are any issues...We still have crime of course but definitely not as much as we had back then, yet there are still poorer residents complaining about the police presence here................
Last edited by GaBison2007; 07-24-2011 at 09:18 AM..
Im a black gentrifier(OR WAS) and I have just about the same if MORE problems than a white gentrifier. In H Street...it was a pretty fun lil neighborhood.....However, the power struggles here are affecting everyone. I walk home at night and white people clutch their purses around me because they think I'm going to steal something. Native Black DC'ers will call me a "sellout" or "uncle tom" at every single moment if we strike a convo and they find I'm not from here, don't have family here,or if I dare wear my Howard U. T-shirt the venom will come FLYINGGGGG.......If I wear anything besides a t-shirt/jeans, or club attire, I'm looked at as a Bougie Black in this neigborhood......God Forbid if I wear a Business suit lol or KHAKIS
At least a white gentrifier can rant/rave to his other buddies? Who Do i have for general support in this area? Poor D.C. Black People don't want to have anything to do with me, white people think I'm automatically on the side of DC Natives when I'm not half of the time.........Gentrification is truly a class issue I've found out........and black gentrifiers are the ones truly caught in the middle in this area.........
Heck, I'd love to have an actual LIBRARY or even a Bookstore in this area! Maybe some more parking for the church on 13th and H or more parking for EVERYONE, Maybe reopen that Gym that's been closed for AGES on H street, maybe MORE affordable and mixed apartment housing so people don't HAVE to move out to PG County............anything besides yet ANOTHER bar...I live here so It'd be great for this area to finally be "liveable" for everyone not just a select few...yet I'm on everyone's s**t list here......
Well, shouldn't you take issue with your own people?
Im a black gentrifier(OR WAS) and I have just about the same if MORE problems than a white gentrifier. In H Street...it was a pretty fun lil neighborhood.....However, the power struggles here are affecting everyone. I walk home at night and white people clutch their purses around me because they think I'm going to steal something. Native Black DC'ers will call me a "sellout" or "uncle tom" at every single moment if we strike a convo and they find I'm not from here, don't have family here,or if I dare wear my Howard U. T-shirt the venom will come FLYINGGGGG.......If I wear anything besides a t-shirt/jeans, or club attire, I'm looked at as a Bougie Black in this neigborhood......God Forbid if I wear a Business suit lol or KHAKIS
Granted you certainly deserve the right to vent Thank you for it as well, as it does add insight into the different perspectives of different people's experiences.
I've always found the purse clutching observations interesting. I'm not black, but as a white person who has lived in nyc and other cities with high black populations, I've always thought if a white person was living in a dc (or nyc) and thought that way about blacks, they'd be paralyzed with absolute fear and unable to go anywhere, as in almost every city, there are black people absolutely everywhere.
On the other hand, you're talking about white females, and as a white male, I've seen plenty of them just clutch their purses in general regardless of where they're at - malls, among a sea of white people, everywhere. It might not be a black/white thing, but just something that white females do in general.
Granted you certainly deserve the right to vent Thank you for it as well, as it does add insight into the different perspectives of different people's experiences.
I've always found the purse clutching observations interesting. I'm not black, but as a white person who has lived in nyc and other cities with high black populations, I've always thought if a white person was living in a dc (or nyc) and thought that way about blacks, they'd be paralyzed with absolute fear and unable to go anywhere, as in almost every city, there are black people absolutely everywhere.
On the other hand, you're talking about white females, and as a white male, I've seen plenty of them just clutch their purses in general regardless of where they're at - malls, among a sea of white people, everywhere. It might not be a black/white thing, but just something that white females do in general.
Ha, White females with a clutch pursing instinct since the dawning of time lol...
I hope this article (also written by a fellow HU Alum) can shed some light on the issue as well though....believe me, it's not all roses and dandelions for us AT ALL in this area....I tell myself everyday, If I could just use my blackness as an automatic get "out of jail free" card within the black community, I'd use it in a HEARTBEAT! If I could just go into a bar around here with regular casual clothes on without any stares from others, I'd be the happiest lil black girl lol........**I chose to ignore the other response above ya
"The story of the black gentrifier, at least from this black gentrifier’s perspective, is often a story about being simultaneously invisible and self-conscious. The conversation about the phenomenon remains a strict narrative of young whites displacing blacks who have lived here for generations. But a young black gentrifier gets lumped in with both groups, often depending on what she’s wearing and where she’s drinking. She is always aware of that fact."
"Being a black gentrifier is, in many ways, just like being a white gentrifier. It means doing the best you can with what you have—even if what you have is often more than what your neighbors have. Everyone I interviewed agreed that the priority is finding a reasonably priced, relatively safe place to live, and it’s a bonus if there are a few local bars and coffee shops nearby."
I certainly don't speak for anyone but I wouldn't act the same around a black woman who's dressed normally the way I would around one dressed like this:
Well, shouldn't you take issue with your own people?
I think that's her point. "Her own people" are not necessarily defined solely by a color of skin. Having a lot of young black professional friends myself from both DC and elsewhere, they have far more in common (in terms of hobbies, books, movies, careers, etc...) with asian/white/Indian/Arabic/black people of the same educational / career level than people who happen to share nothing but skin color.
By your logic, I look forward to your solution for the illegal immigration issue. You are, after all, a spicy Latino.
Location: Standing outside of heaven, wating for God to come and get me.
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Being a black young professional, I can tell you point blank that being black doesn't get you a pass. Personally, I try to be cool with everyone but people who embrace ignorance are kept out of my attention span.
Hmm... never thought of my self as a "black gentrifier" or a or even a "gentrifier" in general. but I guess I am. If I've taken any flack from anybody Black it's been from middle class and professional black folks who just don't "get" the choice that I made. Live a small cramped space in a neighborhood bordering still-sketch areas vs. getting 3 or 4 times as much space for the same price in Charles County, Prince George's County, Woodbridge or even say Silver Spring or Alexandria? But then, As peak oil looms and new urbanist ideas are creating spaces that actually have life, I don't get the desire for 4,000 square feet in the middle of nowhere and 1hr + commute.
My big regret is that out of this wave of gentrification and change, is that it wasn't a critical mass of "black gentrifiers" who reinvigorated neighborhoods that are our legacy. People like Mary McCloud, Bethune, Charles Drew, Alain Locke, Ralph Bunch, Charles Houston, Anna Cooper, Carter G. Woodson used to live and work and presumably played in some of these neighborhoods now overrun with overpriced restaurants, dog parks and the umpteenth trendy bar. With Howard being one of few stable black instiutions left in DC, maybe, as it did for previous generations, it can be the catalyst around which a new vibrant urban intellectual Black elite community can develop... not holding my breath though.
Being a black young professional, I can tell you point blank that being black doesn't get you a pass.
This is all pretty interesting...throughout the thread.
Having lived in NYC before, I always felt that being black did give a person a free pass. Always assumed you all had choices to live in the cheapest of the cheap if you wanted...where being white, you were stuck with gentrifying tension issues.
But the theme here of yourself and others like GABison, are quite interesting.
Rozcat has some interesting comments just above. Interesting concept having the idea of an entire neighborhood being a gentrifying black neighborhood...
Personally, I'm routinely surprised at how beautiful some of the 'downright dangerous' areas of DC are....Eckington is one that comes to mind.
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Thank you for it as well, as it does add insight into the different perspectives of different people's experiences.
