Freedom Rider: White Settler Gentrification

Freedom Rider: White Settler Gentrification

by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley

“Black people are on their way to becoming historical footnotes in Washington and other cities.”

Black neighborhoods were once red-lined, cut off from the capital needed to develop them, but are now declared “hot.” As if by magic the developers and bankers made a 180-degree turn and pumped cash into places they had long spurned. The result is gentrification, the displacement of one group of people by another. That dynamic is repeating itself at an accelerated pace in America’s large cities. In this country the displacers have historically been white and those forced out have been black.

The newcomers are like the conquerors of old, expecting the original inhabitants to disappear. Landlords leave apartments empty in hopes of renting them at higher prices. Real estate bubbles put home ownership out of reach. The police work hand in hand with the ruling classes as they stop and frisk in New York and “jump out” in Washington D.C.

Black people across the country are suffering because the dictates of capitalism and racism demand that white people return to the cities they fled. Of course that won’t happen unless black people are driven out. Those who remain are under unrelenting pressure to do just that.

The newcomers are called “urban pioneers” and “homesteaders” in the tradition of their ancestors who nearly eradicated the indigenous population. Like them, they expect the original inhabitants to keep quiet and disappear without complaint.

The video of an argument on a Brooklyn street shows how the 21^st century pioneers see themselves. The confrontation between two white men elicited this piece of disturbing yet illuminating language. “The only reason white people are living here is because I settled this fucking neighborhood for you!”

These words were uttered by a man who has no filter. He spoke out loud what others believe but won’t say in public. He became a laughing stock in social media and was dubbed the Christopher Columbus of Brooklyn but there is nothing funny about what he said.

“Postal workers delivering mail are reported to the police as being “suspicious” and any black person moving about in public is at risk.”

The word settler should be treated with absolute contempt. Settlers committed genocide in North and South America, Africa, Australia, Asia and today in Palestine. They arrive in other peoples’ lands and claim them for themselves. Not content to be thieves of the worst kind, they often feel aggrieved as if they were victimized instead of the people they push out.

In Oakland, California the usurpers declare that any black man, woman or child appearing in public is behaving suspiciously and call the police for the flimsiest of reasons. Postal workers delivering mail are reported to the police as being “suspicious” and any black person moving about in public is at risk. Black people are literally afraid to wear hoodies or walk in their own neighborhoods for fear of being the latest victim of police murder. Oakland has traveled back in time and resurrected the slave patrol. Any white person was a patroller and had the right to question, incarcerate, injure or kill any black person. The urban homesteaders yearn for those days to return.

Nothing is sacred when the pioneers set their sights on maintaining their privileges. Once known as Chocolate City, the nation’s capital is now café au lait city, after having lost its majority black population. The latest weapon of choice is the designation of bike lanes. A seemingly harmless amenity for some is a loss to others and a harbinger that the conquest is complete.

“Oakland has traveled back in time and resurrected the slave patrol.”

The gentrifiers whine because churches don’t want to give up parking spaces in order to accommodate bike lanes. At a recent public meeting church leaders and laity made clear that they were in no mood to be pushed around. “We just think we have to protect what’s ours,” is how one pastor stated the case.

The Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA) is among the representatives of the 21^st century settlers. They complained because the public meeting was “…not the respectful discussion we might have hoped for.” For reasons known only to themselves, WABA members were surprised that people don’t want to change their worship habits or life styles in order to please them.

The footprint of whiteness expands as black people are on their way to becoming historical footnotes in Washington and other cities. Any issue can become a means to a cynical end in a system that so clearly favors one group over another. The boorish man who happily declared himself a settler was in fact being truthful. He settled the neighborhood so that more people who looked like him would arrive. The street corner scuffle was of no consequence. They are all happy to see one another and that means people of color must be forced out. No self-respecting settler would have it any other way.

Margaret Kimberley's Freedom Rider column appears weekly in BAR, and is widely reprinted elsewhere. She maintains a frequently updated blog as well as at http://freedomrider.blogspot.com. Ms. Kimberley lives in New York City, and can be reached via e-Mail at Margaret.Kimberley(at)BlackAgendaReport.com.

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