gentrification
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The Candyman Can Because Yes, Gentrification Deserves Its Own Horror Flick
Jordan Peele is pretty good at this whole horror thing. In 2017’s Get Out, he schooled us with a satirical take on the perils of benevolent racism, while 2019’s Us was a duplicitous mind fuck in itself. This time around, with Candyman—a spiritual successor to the 1992 original, helmed by the bold and brilliant Nia…
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Gentrification Remains Undefeated: DC Cultural Landmark Horace & Dickies Closing After 30 Years
I am getting older. My memory is getting worse. I drive down streets that I don’t know anymore. The child I used to be is long gone and so are the places that held those memories. The touchstones of my life are getting harder to remember. I feel like at times I’m making up a…
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City of Oakland Strikes Agreement for Sale of Vacant Moms 4 Housing Property Following Armed Evictions, Riot Gear Arrests
That’s the spirit. Here’s some corporate and civic kindness for MLK Day. On Monday, Moms 4 Housing announced that it had struck a deal with Oakland’s Mayor Libby Schaaf and housing developer Wedgewood Properties to sell the vacant Oakland house, located at 2928 Magnolia Street, to them. The agreement follows last week’s eviction and arrests…
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Ujamaa That! Annual Kwanzaa Crawl Brings $250,000 to Black Businesses in Gentrifying Harlem and Brooklyn
Even us anti-capitalists recognize that economic freedom is power in the good ole US of A. And as it relates to Kwanzaa, on this fourth day, we celebrate Ujamaa (ooh-jaa-mah), meaning cooperative economics and also, “shared wealth and work”, “economic self-reliance” and “obligation of generosity.” Last year, we feted Richelieu Dennis, and in 2017, it…
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Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Edward Norton Chat Motherless Brooklyn and Systemic Racism
“Things that we are still grappling with in New York are not things that are happened by osmosis. They actually happened because there was a single individual with a very autocratic and racist approach to the modernization of infrastructure in New York,” —Edward Norton. text Motherless Brooklyn, directed by Edward Norton, is a film based…
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How Deed Theft Is Reshaping Black Brooklyn
Look at any map of a rapidly-gentrifying city, be it New York, Miami, Atlanta or Washington, D.C., and you’re looking at a map of property loss. In Brooklyn’s historically black neighborhoods, some of that property loss is outright theft. According to a New York Times report published Monday, the borough accounts for nearly half of…
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The Neighborhood: Cedric the Entertainer and That Time He Experienced His Own Neighbor Drama
Cedric the Entertainer, one of the “Original Kings of Comedy,” is still living up to his name. He’s had quite the steady career, recently starring in TBS’ The Last O.G. and appearing in ABC’s Black-ish. Now, he’s enjoying working on CBS’ The Neighborhood, which is a couple of episodes into its second season. CBS breaks…
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The North Pole Returns to Tackle Gentrification, Immigration Reform in North Oakland
Most people know the North Pole as the northernmost point on earth. It lies diametrically opposite the South Pole and is home to extreme temperatures, a nasty bout of global warming, and allegedly Santa’s workshop. To people in Oakland, Calif., it means something different. “The nickname for the neighborhood in North Oakland is the North…
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Homeless Crisis in Los Angeles Highlights the Fall of the Black Middle Class
Blacks make up just 9 percent of Los Angeles County’s population overall, but comprise 40 percent of the area’s homeless, pushed to the margins by decades of redlining, layoffs, mass incarceration and gentrification. Among the homeless population, two-thirds live outside, some in whole tent communities filled with close-knit bands of men and women, according to…
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Colonizing BK to the Fullest: Rent Biggie’s ‘One Room Shack’ for a Measly $4,000 Per Month
If you ever dreamed of sipping Mo’ on the living room floor of the Brooklyn apartment immortalized by the Notorious B.I.G., you might not be able to play Nintendo with Cease-a-Leo, but for a scant $4,000 per month, you can rent Biggie’s childhood home, presenting the unique opportunity for affluent hip-hop fans to pick up…