We titled this series Habari Gani, a Kiswahili term we use during Kwanzaa, translated as “What’s New”, or “What is the News?” Our intent is to cover recent events that impact Afrikan people.
*** A Response to the Gentrification article
Longtime community activist, Rickey Hall, Sr., who has leadership roles in the West Boulevard Neighborhood Coalition and the Westside Community Land Trust, wrote this response to my article on gentrification:
“Thanks for always speaking truth to power. Your insight on continual patterns of disenfranchisement in Black corridors, in cities where there is a Black majority political leadership hits the mark.
For example, just last week Charlotte’s (Democratic majority) city council (which has five Black representatives plus Mayor Vi Lyles) voted unanimously to sell the parcel of prime real estate on West Boulevard to a group of white investors for $500,000.
This decision comes at a time when considerable community capital has been spent putting forth a community driven economic development vision for that property.
This is a clear cut example of the city government’s pattern of perpetuating white space (ownership) in Black neighborhoods that result in extractive wealth.
The West Boulevard property is located in a (Trump-era) designated Opportunity Zone that subsequently became a City of Charlotte designated Corridor of Opportunity. The sale of this property reminds us of what Georgetown Law Professor Sheryll Cashin calls “opportunity hoarding” in her book ‘White Space, Black Hood: Opportunity Hoarding and Segregation in the Age of Inequality.’”
(Note: Per Wikipedia: Opportunity hoarding occurs when privileged social groups control access to community resources and prevent underprivileged groups from utilizing important resources. The process occurs when a dominant group identifies viable resources and acts in ways that prevents them from being used by individuals outside of this group.)
WCNC reported on November 27 that, in 2022, the city bought the deteriorating strip mall in the West Boulevard corridor to mitigate crime and drug activity. As part of the Corridors of Opportunity Program, the city asked developers to submit proposals on how to flip the strip mall into a refreshed commercial space that offers needed services in the community.
Executive Director of the West Boulevard Neighborhood Coalition, Sharika Comfort, told WCNC Charlotte she is excited for the future development.
"The last thing that you want to see in a thriving community are just abandoned buildings or closed down spaces. So, I think it's going to be vital to some of the growth that's happening to get those spaces up and activated.
Comfort added it’s imperative the builders keep the surrounding community in mind to prevent gentrification. "We want the residents that have been there to benefit from the changes," Comfort said. We will stay on top to this issue to see if this development benefits the West Boulevard community.
I wrote an article in October 2020 titled, “Polls Indicate Americans Fear A Civil War: Americans are stockpiling food and guns.”
[An October 1 (2020), the “Back-to-Normal Barometer” survey found that 61% of Americans agree that the U.S. could be on the verge of another Civil War, and in anticipation, 52% have also stockpiled food or essential goods. As regards stockpiling, the FBI reported in June that Americans set a new record with 3.9 million background checks to purchase or possess firearms, eclipsing the previous record set in March (2020) of 3.7 million background checks.]
I don’t know what the current record is, but it had increased to nearly 4.7 background checks in March 2021. Whatever the record is, it is guaranteed to be broken several times during what will be a tumultuous 2024 election cycle. The reasons for this are numerous.
A headline in Issue Insights.com reads: Do We Live In The (Dis)United States Of America? Most Say Yes, In Latest I&I/TIPP Poll
The article by Terry Jones says, “We live in divisive times, it seems. Bitter rhetoric and open rage over political events, ideologies and culture have become common. As a result, our country's inhabitants now admit we are no longer unified, as the latest I&I/TIPP data clearly show.”
The I&I/TIPP Poll which was published on November 27 asked voters: Would you say the United States is (1) Very united (2) Somewhat united (3) Somewhat divided (4) Very divided (5) Not sure.
More than 66 percent of the respondents (69%) said (the U.S.) is either very divided (40%) or somewhat divided (29%), compared to 28% who said they believed Americans were either "very" united (14%) or "somewhat" united (14%). 3% were not sure.
Along party lines, Democrats split evenly at 49% united versus 49% divided. Republicans were more disillusioned with 21% seeing a united America, compared to 77% who said the nation is divided. Independents see far more division, with only 15% responding united versus 80% divided.
In terms of race and ethnicity, whites saw the U.S. as 22% united versus 75% divided. Afrikan Americans saw the U.S. as 32% united versus 64% divided. Hispanics were the most optimistic, with 53% saying America was united versus 45% saying divided.
Divisions drive fears that often in the U.S. leads to the purchase of more
weapons. Given the possibility of turmoil related to the 2024 presidential election this combination of division, fear, and guns is troubling.
(The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author.)
(For additional views on other issues see the AfrikanLiberation Media youtube channel– https://www.youtube.com/@afrikanliberationmedia)
