in college a teacher explained that criticizing gentrification wasn’t about shaming or blaming the white people that were most likely living in the only apartments they could afford - it was about asking why their living there was inherently valuable. it’s not really about who - it’s about why. why white lives are literally valued more. why is the presence of white people a gentrifying force? what is it about whiteness that elicits immediate value?
And if you look up the stages of gentrification, it usually goes like "artists and teachers and etc move into this neighborhood because its what they can afford" and THEN "developers notice these people and try to capitalize on them."
[Image description: a tweet from @comradesanchez: just want to remind everyone that gentrification is caused by landlords and develo[ers, not hipsters and dangly-earring gays. description ends]
