So, technically a black person can be a gentrifier on a micro level. A gentrifier is usually defined as a person from another area whose presence takes up space, drives up prices, and pushes out locals. Technically, a female CEO can be prejudiced to her male employee. And technically a black professor can be prejudiced to a white student who is treated unfairly. But I believe that definition of gentrification is weak and inaccurate.
I’m from Oakland, California, arguably the most gentrified city at this time. To me, the definition of gentrifiers are outsiders who move into a city with wealth and power and disregard the culture and people who existed before they got there. Thus, their presence directly and indirectly changes the space to a mirage, barely reminiscent of what it was before. This does manifest itself with big businesses and techies whose presence drives up real estate prices. But most importantly, it manifests itself in neighbors who complain about noise when black people drum at the local cultural center, when black neighbors pass their window at night or when black baptists holy ghost at church on Sundays. This manifests itself when complaints and aggressions affect policies, legislation and social norms.
I believe that gentrification on the macro level is an institution based on power, much like sexism and racism. Under that definition, gentrification, is not about transplants from other cities, mere college degrees or the ability to cop a good job at a corporation. The average black person does not come from a long legacy of wealth. And by wealth I mean their daddy’s daddy had money, real estate, assets and social capital that extends past at least a couple generations. Sure there are a class of black folks that are wealthy, but the majority are middle income, because being middle class suggests that their family could lose their jobs, their pensions, their 401ks and still maintain the family’s standard of living for at least a year. If that’s not the case, then many black people, though educated, are not wealthy or even middle class. According to an article published last year on HuffPost Black Voices, “the median black family only has a net-worth of $1,700.” No matter if one has a degree from San Francisco State, Howard, Berkeley or Yale, debt in the excess of $80,000+ in student loans doesn’t tip the scale in favor of black people having wealth and power on a macro level. Sure, education is a type of wealth, but I’m talking ’bout money. Wealth that equates to power.
Technically we’re all transplants. My family is from California but got here by way of train or plane via Illinois and Arkansas. There will always be an ebb and flow of folks re-migrating around the country. The question is: What value are these transplants adding to the area? There are plenty of black folks who have moved to the Bay Area from Southern California, Seattle, D.C., Chicago, Georgia and other places who add so much love and positive energy to our city. Many are teachers, artists, activists and social workers who work directly with locals. Some have high-paying jobs at corporations, but it’s their respect and genuine admiration for our culture and the empathy they express for our struggles that sets them apart. I would never open my mouth and call them gentrifiers. There’s a disregard and disdain that comes with that title, and I challenge any black person who accepts that position to dig deeper and rise higher.
I believe that the black gentrifier is a fairy tale, a mythical creature, an anomaly, an urban legend at best. I suggest we be weary of how much energy we give to children’s bedtime stories.
