past the view of the skyline
Since the age of white flight [a time when white people fled from urban areas due to an increase of minorities populations, to suburban areas], to gentrification [a process by which a city goes under extensive renovation and beautification, attracting people of higher income], cities have undergone massive population changes.
Historically, immigrants have always landed in cities and made homes there. Many have colorful, culturally complex histories, with diverse communities and stories to tell. They inspired the beloved “melting pot” of America.
Although many pride themselves of diversity, most don’t realize that those who created the non-white, non-American atmosphere that so many crave today, are being displaced. People who wish to experience culture and diversity, art and innovation, moving into homes they can afford, inadvertently displace the people who established those communities that are so fashionable today.
Doing what they do best, white people are stealing away traditionally non-white customs and social spaces.
They swoop in, saying “thank you for your hard work, it looks great! What a lovely neighborhood, so colorful, so artistic. Wow, Indian food! Colombian food! Jamaican food! This is such a cool place. Let’s move in! The rent is super cheap, I wonder why?”
Why? That’s because they have never shown interest of moving in, until now. If you don’t know— housing is a business. Why low-ball on rent when these affluent people are flocking to move in? They want to enjoy the glorified, artsy “urban living,” while they remove all of the factors that made it so appealing in the first place.
While the affluence floods into a section of a city, it does have some aesthetic improvements. Sidewalks magically straighten, coffee shops and health food stores replace boarded-up bodegas, gorgeous parks spring out of empty lots that used to be filled with garbage. Historic community members who have wished for improvements are disregarded, forced to pay double in rent, and can’t afford to frequent the new businesses in town.
Their usual spots to get food and groceries are suddenly luxurious, expensive, and whitewashed. You may think, why does this matter?
Increased rent prices lead to displacement, and for those who stay, they’re spending way more to keep their homes. Some can’t travel to far-away grocery stores that they can afford, so some become food insecure or rely on available, fast food. The stress of economic disadvantage, combined with a diet of processed foods, leads to mental health issues, obesity, heart diseases, and in some cases, cancer.
Although its beautiful and economically stimulating, gentrification hurts so many people who have been left out of the future’s equation.
The artistic community also provides a look into the tragic [and ironic, in this case] impacts of gentrification. Many urban studies researchers argue that artists are the catalysts of gentrification. Through their beautification of spaces, creativity and innovation, they create neighborhood-sized art exhibits that attract people who simply want to move in without doing much of the work that took to create, and maintain them.
Do you think they become surprised when the old murals fade away, without painters to touch them up? Open mics have shortening queues, without poets and singers. Without people of color and immigrants, “globally-inspired” restaurants replace authentic mom-and-pop, historic joints. The people who fought hard through the devastation of the Industrial Revolution, pouring their souls into the neighborhoods, are being evicted.
Think again when you’re mystified by a cool, “up-and-coming” neighborhood. It didn’t just happen that way, people worked hard to create the blueprints. Removing people of color, immigrants, and artists will only end in the death of that neighborhood. It will be different forever, without its original inhabitants. White people fled years ago because of minorities looking for work during dark times, and now they’ve returned, to claim their prize of a beautiful neighborhood that they’ve done nothing to develop.
Those who have been displaced struggle to feed their families, suffering what has been coined as food desertification [an area of low-income communities with low-access to supermarkets that provide fresh, unprocessed foods, and the condition of higher volumes of fast food restaurants]. With expensive, high-class supermarkets catering to their neighborhoods new arrivals, low-income, often minorities, families must suffer the consequences. Although food desertification is a term that cannot only be considered by income and access, culture and space must also be considered, the national effects are widespread. The vicious cycle that is poverty, fast food, disease, medication, and increased poverty has trapped many low-income Americans.
(Basically, every other commercial on American television is fast food and medicine.)
Minority groups often aren’t supported by their communities, down to where their children go to school. Schools with higher minority populations are often ignored and given the worst quality food for lunch, and are often denied food because of money. This is a blatant example of environmental racism [refers to environmental injustice that occurs in a community, afflicting non-white communities].
It all has to do with the city. Each neighborhood has its own ecosystem. If you remove one part, the entire system can collapse. In the words of Jane Jacob: “Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.”