Last week, I happened upon a friend from high school who owns a cafe. It was an interesting conversation that left both of us with a feeling of unease. My friend commented how his business was better than ever because of the recent arrival of young middle class white people to the neighborhood. I noted to him how I found it interesting that when white people move to a black neighborhood, home values and commercial activity go up. When the inverse happens, the inverse happens. My friend noted with laughter that he has been an unwitting beneficiary of the economic downturn. "They can't afford to live in Manhattan because of the economy. So, they live over here. I don't like it because this is our neighborhood. But it is good for business."
I looked around his place as we talked. Whites sitting with whites. Blacks sitting with blacks. While something as ordinary as this wouldn't normally attract my attention, I did notice it here. In this place. In this neighborhood. At this point in history. It was one of those observant moments one encounters when one isn't really paying attention, and then suddenly everything comes into clear focus. I realized that there were probably moments like this happening all over the country over the last 40 years. There were the first days of racial integration in the South when someone white for the first time noticed someone black in the same bathroom. And there is today as poor inner cities are revived by new, more prosperous residents. Here I was, having my own moment of experiencing "the other" being near in a form other than landlord or policeman. Experiencing them out of their familiar social role as boss, co-worker, customer or client. Now, it was just neighbor.
I am a fan of the new arrivals. I think it is good for the neighborhood. There will be costs, as there is with any type of change. Yes, rent will go up. Yes, families that have been here for years will leave. No different than before when we came to replace the Jews who replaced the Irish who replaced the Dutch who replaced the Native Americans. The human race moves around. Times change and so do neighborhoods. Would I be saddened to come here 20 years from now to find my favorite roti shop turned into a sushi bar? Yes. Would I be disappointed to find my favorite tavern turned into a one syllable nightclub with a name like "Swoosh" or "Splurge?" Definitely. Still, my ethnic group is no more entitled to be here than any other. Besides, I think it's good to have a nice mix of cultures living around each other. Gets everyone out of their comfort zone.
What I hope doesn't happen is that the neighborhood becomes economically stratified. I hope we don't transform into one of these upper-middle-class knowledge-worker communities. That will bring chain retail and that, I believe, is what "gentrification" is really about. It isn't so much that one race of people pushes out another. It's that one class of people pushes out another, and you know very well the poor are not pushing out the wealthy. But, lets face facts: White people have money. Blacks and Latinos don't. I'm not saying all Whites have money and all blacks don't. I'm saying those who do have money are more likely to be white than not. So even though there may not be any racial motivation behind what happens when neighborhoods gentrify, inevitably the faces of those coming in and going out reflect the inequality of wealth between the races. This is why completely poor and middle class Whites can move into a Black or Latino neighborhood, with possibly less money than the current residents, and it is still considered "gentrification." You could move an out of work coal-mining family from Appalachia here and it would be "gentrification." Thus goes White privilege in America. I would PREFER that scenario, however, because what I think real gentrification is about is class, not race.
Around here we've got a nice, healthy mix of doctors, gangsters, police officers, disabled veterans, teachers, students, rap moguls, street musicians, single moms, housewives, young professionals, union workers, evangelical Christians and drug-addicted prostitutes. There are people on welfare and people with large equity portfolios. It is the way a city is supposed to be in my book, with the poor and the rich coming in direct contact with each other. It may be racially segregated, but it's not economically segregated.
It would be very painful to me to find a community that becomes more racially diverse, but where everyone went to college and works in some sort of tall building or funky converted loft space. I'd hate to see restaurants that make some sort of down-home cooking be replaced by places that are always "fusing" things. Or ones that make some sort of ratings list. I'd hate to see local businesses run out because some real estate agent sold a national retailer like Whole Foods on the neighborhoods "upwardly mobile" demographics. I think we've got quite enough of all that. I like my local Korean grocer who doesn't know what organic means and therefore doesn't charge $4.99/lb. for apples.
I think I can sort this out without any conflicts. First, old timers need to recognize that people are allowed to live wherever they want to. Remember that whole bit about judging by the content of character? It's good to remember that. In fact, lets make an effort to bring new neighbors into the fold. Why is it we don't know them and they don't know us? Lets stop with the gunfire, okay? Nobody likes it or respects it. Take that ish somewhere else. If this is done right, new arrivals may find they don't want the neighborhood to change all that much. Well, except for the coffee. We could use some overpriced, yuppie coffee around here.
Second, new arrivals shouldn't succumb to the temptation to make a bee-line in and out of the neighborhood. Go out of your way to get to know everybody and don't become another anonymous person. Try new food that is probably unhealthy. Appreciate what is happening in the community and then you'll become a part of it and not an outsider. Make friends here and don't just hang around people you already know. Shop locally. It won't kill you to shop at the Guyanese 99 cent store. If you hear salsa or reggae or soukous being played loudly, enjoy it. Don't call the cops. We like to sit outside on the stoop or put a table on the sidewalk to play Dominoes. If you want to join, bring a case of beer and sit down.
Let's unite around this though: no chain retail and for crissake no sushi bars!