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Spike Lee's Rant Against Gentrification

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Most people can pinpoint the changes that occurred in their urban areas; they noticed more non-native individuals move into their urban neighborhoods, following them came the increase of rent and the change of scenery. There was always a name for this issue, but it never surfaced until the late 1990’s. The term Gentrification comes from British sociologist Ruth Glass. “Once this process of gentrification starts in a district it goes on rapidly until all or most of the original working class occupiers are displaced and the social character of the district is changed”. (Kissam 2) This epidemic has taken many urban neighborhoods by storm, From Chicago, Philadelphia, Houston, and the most common Brooklyn. Between The year 2000 and 2010 the Percentage …show more content…

In 2014 Spike Lee’s rant against Gentrification caused awareness and brought national attention to this issue. Spike Lee grew up in Fort Greene and in his rant he touched on how he feels white people have come in and regulated the area. “Then comes the motherfuckin Christopher Columbus Syndrome. You can’t discover this! We been here. You can’t just come bogart” (Joe Coscarelli, spike lee 's amazing rant against Gentrification: “We Been Here! ') Referring to African drummers who played in Mount Morris parks for the past 40 years but are no longer allowed to due to complaints by new tenants. Even groups take gentrification head on for example The Brooklyn Anti-Gentrification Network hold events often to protest and rally up more supporters. They plan to crash the 6th Annual Brooklyn Real Estate Summit. Their invitation says “Join the Brooklyn Anti-gentrification Network (BAN) to plan an action on November 17th to show them that rampant gentrification will no longer be …show more content…

And that success story has put pressure on our housing stock. Coupled with ever-rising economic inequality, it has created a painful reality where more and more New Yorkers are spending more and more to cover their housing costs, and entire neighborhoods have lost their affordability…”(Nyc.gov, Mayor De’Blasio) The Mayor De Blasio Housing plan is to build affordable housing across the city providing 200,000 affordable housing units across the city. Shout out to Mayor Bill De Blasio for trying to bring everyone together into one big happy family. Where everyone will be able to afford housing and no one will have to blame the white people anymore... Looks like someone has been token tips from Oprah “You get an affordable house, you get a house, and you get a house. EVERYONE GETS A HOUSE!!! ”. Whether or not this act can l reverse the damage done by gentrification, now that 's a whole other

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Bennie calls it “the takeover (70)” in the book. Gentrification is what its called when wealthy people and businesses move to low income areas and rebuild and move in and push out the low income businesses and families because this change makes it more expensive for families to live there. “The place that Sierra and Bennie used to get there hair done had turned into a fancy bakery of some kind, and yes, the coffee was good, but you couldn’t get a cup for less then three dollars. Plus everytime Sierra went in, the hip, young white kid behind the counter gave her either the don’t cause no trouble look or the I want to adopt you look(70).” While Izzy enjoys sitting in the new, expensive coffee shops and writing poetry, the threat in the changing culture is shown when Sierra is chased through the streets by spirits and no one in the white neighborhood will help her because they assume about her and think the worst of her for being

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The problem, however, is the effect the revitalization has on the homeless community. The project is already underway; new “trendy” stores have been built alongside the luxury high rises located near the waterfront. While this improvement should be happily received by residents, one must question what will happen to the current residents and, more importantly, the homeless population that rely on establishments that have been around for decades. This change

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Although gentrification has positive aspects on the society, the natives may not be pleased by the changes that gentrification has brought. Percy expresses his emotions towards gentrification using Bend, Oregon, USA, as an example in his narrative essay, Invasion. Throughout the essay, he paints a picture of old Bend, his hometown, and describes the physical changes, process of gentrification, that took place during his absence. Meanwhile, he also expresses his unsatisfaction towards gentrification since the natives feel alienated and the town landmarks are replaced with chain stores. Through the essay, Invasion, Benjamin Percy expresses misery towards gentrification since it has brought massive changes to natives’ hometown, which make the natives feel isolated from their home community, and it has neglected town landmarks for economic growth.

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There has to be a realistic solution that can be put into motion to benefit everyone involved. Referring again to his article “Is Gentrification All Bad?” Davidson argues that urban renewal, if done right, is not a monstrous custom that it is painted to be; nevertheless, he reasons that gentrification depends on who does it, how they do it, and why they do it. As a resident in New York, a city where gentrification is as widespread as the common cold in winter, Davidson speculates that those who go into a neighborhood with the intention to renovate houses, or abandoned buildings ought to have a good reason for it. The author points out that “Gentrification does not have to be something that one group inflicts on another…” (Davidson 349), rather, he suggests that everyone, the gentrifiers and the locals, be on the same page when it comes to developing their

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458 Words | 2 Pages

State-led gentrification refers to the process where policies and initatives driven by the government facilitate gentrification, which of is seen as a widespread contovisal topic within the modern sustain society. This generayes the process of urban development, where lower income neighbourhoods undergo considerable change to create more of a appeal towards those of a middle and high income society. This process implemented by the government as a urban ‘renewal’ transformation causes an inflow of wealthier new residents to move in at the cost of evictioning existing residents in the area demonstrating the impacts surrounding the use of state-led gentrification. This essay will critically assess and evulate the impacts of state-led gentrification

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San Francisco was once notorious for its urban renewal that lowered housing affordability for its displaced residents. Starting in the

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One way in which this fear is implemented is by increasing the inequality between races. Urban planning, in particular, has played a large role in this as it has historically advantaged some people while putting others at a disadvantage. From gentrification and racial disparities in law enforcement to practices such as blockbusting and redlining, it is apparent that policies and decisions made by city planners were not designed to benefit everyone equally. Particularly the Housing Act of 1949 and the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956. Both of these policies displaced residents through the use of eminent domain and condemnation laws (Budds, “How Urban Design Perpetuates Racial Inequality – And What We Can Do About It”).

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Issue: Within the last decade, San Francisco has dramatically changed. San Francisco’s working class people and poor neighborhoods underwent drastic economic and racial changes from the 1990s to mid 2000s, resulting in the undeniable gentrification of the districts. San Francisco’s gentrification has reached a ridiculous new extreme, making it the most expensive city in the country, outstripping even Manhattan. The beginning of the issue was right after the dotcom and Tech industries started drastically moving to the Bay Area.

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The main ideas of these two explanatory frameworks for the causes of gentrification have driven a theoretical conflict to explanations of gentrification, but more importantly, that these theoretical approaches are complementary and thus a more effective insights result from the combined application of these theories could be

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In this speech, I will begin by explaining what gentrification is along with a short background on the Lincoln Park gentrification, then I will proceed to explain how the families in these areas fought for their homes, and finally I will be discussing the gentrification that is affecting citizens of Chicago today. Body I. Gentrification is the process of renovating an area to meet the standards of a different social class, typically the upper middle class. Throughout this process the price of renting and owning a home increases while family owned businesses become bankrupt. Low-income families are left homeless and without the support of a

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538 Words | 3 Pages

Due to the socioeconomic status of Section 8 housing applicants, vouchers are commonly needed. Since the vouchers are too small to rent in middle-class areas, the only way to take advantage of the voucher is to move to an even more segregated neighborhood than the one they were already living in. As a result, minorities are clustered once again, in neighborhoods with no diversity. The information given in this chapter correlates to the article Gentrification by Ajay Panicker.

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1890 Words | 8 Pages

A culturally diverse and vibrant city called Oakland has recently become a new social hub, the new place to be. The rapid effects of gentrification has specially been observed in these ways; due to the increase of housing prices, long term and native residents of Oakland have been priced out of their own homes. There has been a lack of cultural authenticity, truly leading to a feeling of uncertainty for the future shared among the community. Coming about this paper there were many moments where I found myself questioning my own argument, just for the mere fact that there are some undeniable upsides to gentrification. To start of what is an acceptable definition of gentrification since there are many, we begin with a basic a google definition,

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502 Words | 3 Pages

Gentrification is the process of renovating and improving a house or district so that it conforms to middle-class taste. Real Estate investors usually take low-income places that they feel have a chance to prosper economically, and turn them into areas that attract the middle and upper class workers. In doing so they feel like the low-income areas will be safer and more appealing, attracting more people to visit and live there. An improvement to a poor district sounds beautiful, but is gentrification as great as it’s sought out to be? Many residents have their doubts about gentrification due to the idea that the costs of their living will go up and they will be driven out of their neighborhoods.

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325 Words | 2 Pages

What is gentrification? In case you don't know gentrification is when an investor/developer comes into a low income neighborhood and puts new house and etc to revitalize the area .I disagree with gentrification because of what is does to people,neighborhoods and etc .when gentrification occurs people get put out of homes prices go up and tradition changes .this happens in almost every city across the us . So you may think why do I disagree with gentrification. I disagree with gentrification because it ruins tradition and memories .when you move into a new home you plan to live in that home and make many memories and have memorable party's .you would never expect a developer knocking on your door to talks about paying you to kick you out

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The general argument made by the Brooklyn-based group in their work “Is Gentrification a Human-Rights Violation”, is that gentrification is becoming a post threat for the poor typically low income people of color. More specifically, gentrification has become an annoyance and causing harmful effects where organizers see it as a human-rights violation. The Brooklyn-based group writes “The headquarters of Right to the City a national alliance of community based organizations that since 2007 has made its mission to fight gentrification and the displacement of low income people of color.” Gentrification has resulted in the displacement of increased rents and struggling neighborhoods. The Brooklyn-based group is suggesting that there

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