Gentrification is an ongoing and growing issue in Washington, D.C. Many in the black community feel gentrification is a form of erasure. Recently, black D.C. residents had to grapple with exclusion when The Washingtonian launched a new advertising campaign targeting tourism.

Apparently, The Washingtonian ran a photo campaign entitled, "I'm Not A Tourist. I Live Here," featuring pictures of various D.C. residents, WAMU reports. The problem? There wasn't a single black person featured. Not one.

Despite a growing white population, black residents still make up the majority of D.C.. According to the latest U.S. Census Bureau report, the city is 47.7 percent black and 44.6 percent white.

@Washingtonian released a post on their Instagram with a series of bloggers and photos wearing shirts that say “I am not a tourist” featuring stories of residents of Washington DC. NOT ONE OF THESE FACES ARE BLACK! https://t.co/XRalY8fO57 pic.twitter.com/gFXG5fdGSp— Ashley (@misstwink) May 14, 2018

Because no one can outdo black folks, several black D.C. residents decided to respond to the erasure with a lit photoshoot of their own, called “Native, I’m From Here."

“We’ve gotten to the point to where we can tell our own story,” noted local activist Tony Lewis, Jr. Lewis co-organized the event along with business owner Angel Anderson.

"As a native Washingtonian, I am very sorry that our latest 'I Am Not A Tourist' marketing campaign did not represent the wonderfully diverse city in which we live," read a statement from the magazine's CEO and president Catherine Merrill Williams. "This was the very beginning of a campaign in which all intentions are to include the many communities that make up our city. We solicited pictures from a diverse group of people and put the pictures up in the order they came in."

While Williams assured the public the campaign isn't complete and will ultimately "reflect the diversity" of the magazine's readership, Lewis wasn't buying her sincerity.

“Someone should’ve been in the room to say, ‘Hey, this isn’t fully representative of the city,’” said Lewis. “Someone should’ve said, ‘We don’t have one black person. Not one.’”

“We aren’t being included, and it’s painful,” added Lewis. “But at this point, we almost expect that. It’s disappointing.”

Lewis posted about the protest on Instagram:

Thank you to everyone who came out in support of today’s “I’m not a tourist. I’m from here” photo shoot. It was of the utmost importance to us to immediately project a counter image and narrative to the @WashingtonianMag photo campaign and it would not have been possible without you. The love and energy shared today still lingers. We are grateful. This epic display of unity and pride in our city is one for the history books. Please hashtag #DCNative on your photos. Stay tuned for our official photo drop.
A post shared by mrtonylewisjr (@mrtonylewisjr) on May 20, 2018 at 2:13pm PDT

"It was of the utmost importance to us to immediately project a counter image and narrative to the @WashingtonianMag photo campaign and it would not have been possible without you," he wrote in the caption. "The love and energy shared today still lingers. We are grateful. This epic display of unity and pride in our city is one for the history books."

Photo: GIPHY

To Deny our Existence is to limit the trajectory of our Children . We couldn’t have imagined that this shoot would be attended and executed any better than it did. The way we showed up to positively and immediately reply to a blatant disregard and dismissal of our existence is exactly what should happen. @washingtonianmag nor any other media outlet will ever be able to visually depict life in Washington, DC without including us. We can organize. We can be present. We are DC. This is what DC looks like when two natives call on their village. Thank you @masterwilliams For capturing these images. For capturing the energy. The Love. #DCNATIVE #DCorNothing
A post shared by mrtonylewisjr (@mrtonylewisjr) on May 20, 2018 at 4:19pm PDT

It looks like the movement has already made waves over at The Washingtonian office, as the magazine's editor Michael Schaffer will be meeting with Lewis in the next few weeks.

Let's hope true progress comes from this dialogue!

The Washingtonian

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