Gentrification: A Beautiful Monster

I saw that on Facebook. Gentrification: A Beautiful Monster

My favorite reference site, Wikipedia, says that “Gentrification is a trend in urban neighborhoods, which results in increased property values and the displacing of lower-income families and small businesses.”
Simply stated: gentrification is when they, the powers that be, have ruined cities that used to be mostly populated by people of color and the liberal children of the those who left during White Flight come back to rename areas of cities that POC have been living in for decades. Then all of a sudden businesses that would have nothing to do with urban areas start popping up everywhere. Then houses and apartments start costing too much so the POC who’ve been there all along can’t afford to live there anymore so they get evicted. After a bunch of evictions, the houses, apartments and other units get renovated, the neighborhood or burrow gets a cool new name. More people move in, urban gardens get planted, the streets get cleaned and the economy sees a surge.

Ok… so that wasn’t a simple explanation, but it encapsulates the oxymoronic nature of the beautiful monster, gentrification.

Here in Detroit, it’s hard to love it while watching what it is doing to my family and family friends. Taxes are astronomical so it’s hard to keep up with them as well as the super high water rates. When people fall behind everybody blames them for not paying bills. It totally makes sense, no bill pay, no water. No taxes paid, no home. But it’s not that cut and dry. However, that’s beside the point.While I watch people fight to keep their homes, I drive ten minutes away from my home on the Northwest side of the city and end up in Cass Corridor. You probably know of it as “Midtown.” And I look around and realize it’s a completely different city. I ride downtown and inevitably think to myself “Why did they come from?” The bike lanes. The neighborhood names. The coffee shops. The new parking meters. The White people. 

The diversity that comes from gentrification is beautiful. The way natives are being mistreated, displaced and forgotten is monstrous.