Gentrification In African American Culture

The culture is in trouble and unless we do something quick, we will lose those few things that make us as a culture distinct and recognizable. I’m truly a person under the belief that quicker than we all can even fathom what once belonged to us, through our speech, our neighborhoods, our culture as a whole is being snatched from us while our backs are turned, or laying on pavement in cold blood, whichever way you chose to label it. Gentrification is, in simple terms, the raising of housing and store prices in order to force lower income persons out of an urban city. As shown in a 2000 Census more than 20 percent of cities experienced gentrification up until now, whereas only 8.6 percent had experienced gentrification between 1990 and 2000.

Not understanding that the wealth is not completely tied into the area itself, but into the land. No matter what is done on a land, whether an apartment is built or a school, that land always appreciates in value. In the city where the population is higher the land is worth more. In most instances, wealth is associated with the amount of land one owns. In “The Gentrification Effect”, an article written by the New York Times, it states that “When Marion Berry was first elected Mayor in DC in 1979 the city was made up of 70 percent blacks,” thus being described as “Chocolate City” due to its large African American population. After his death In November 2014 the African American Population had fell below 50 percent. In 1983 blacks made up roughly 40% of the population, decreasing by 8 percent since then, blacks have dropped to 32 percent. 24.7 percent of African Americans live at or below the poverty line, which when looked at from a gentrification view point, explains why less blacks live in urban areas, due to the increase in housing prices. In the last year alone, housing prices in urban areas have increased by 11.3