Since coming to the District of Columbia, I have been fascinated with this idea of gentrification. How can we let development occur without raising property values so high that tenants are displaced? How do we help rejuvenate neighborhoods in the District without forcing tenants to move or without changing the character of the neighborhood?
These questions and more have been on the forefront of my questions since coming to D.C. To deepen my understanding of gentrification, I recently attended the play, Clybourne Park, at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre, here in D.C. Gaining its inspiration from the play, A Raisin in the Sand, the play explored heavy concepts of race in the United States. The first began in 1959, in a beautiful bungalow, with a white family moving out of their Chicago neighborhood. Their neighbors were furious to find out that an African American family was moving into the neighborhood; their fear, based out of racism, fueled the belief that their community would deteriorate as soon, more African American families would move into the neighborhood. In an emotionally charged act, I felt the real experience of both Caucasian and African American families struggling with the realities of both individual prejudice and institutional racism.
These questions and more have been on the forefront of my questions since coming to D.C. To deepen my understanding of gentrification, I recently attended the play, Clybourne Park, at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre, here in D.C. Gaining its inspiration from the play, A Raisin in the Sand, the play explored heavy concepts of race in the United States. The first began in 1959, in a beautiful bungalow, with a white family moving out of their Chicago neighborhood. Their neighbors were furious to find out that an African American family was moving into the neighborhood; their fear, based out of racism, fueled the belief that their community would deteriorate as soon, more African American families would move into the neighborhood. In an emotionally charged act, I felt the real experience of both Caucasian and African American families struggling with the realities of both individual prejudice and institutional racism.
The first act closes and the second act opens; the home is the same bungalow, but it is no longer beautiful. The wood panelling is gone. The floor has patches of discolored hardwood floor which has been replaced. The light fixtures are gone. The home is in decrepit shape. Now, the tables are turned. The neighborhood is predominately African American and a Caucasian family wants to move into the home. Living in the city is suddenly glamorous again and this young Caucasian family wants to start their own family in this home. The price are low, and they see an opportunity to demolish the home and build their dream home. The act is equally, if not more, emotionally charged, with both African American and Caucasian Americans powerfully expressing their ties to the neighborhood and their economic interests.
In the end, there is no answer to the gentrification. Repeated in each act is the statement, "Change happens. Some change is good. Too much change is not." It is true - change does happen. It is the reality of life, it is the reality of neighborhoods. It is what happened to the District of Columbia, and what continues to happen as new families move in and out of the District, as wealth allows development to happen... in some ways it cannot be stopped.
But in other ways - I think about the African American families in the play who are displaced and who watch their neighborhood change due to the economic interests of the wealthy re-emerging into the city. It is the same picture we are observing here in the District of Columbia. The juxtaposition of the Caucasian family leaving in 1959 while a new one returns in 2009 is a powerful statement to the continued effects of past racism and current inequality.
The play continues to stretch my mind and ask, how can positive development happen? I suppose in many ways, I too am like the Caucasian family of 2009, wanting to move back into the glamorous city, wanting to capture the "good deal."
Gentrification is a topic I am continually interested in. I have no answers from the play. But I will continue to search for answers on how we can make development and tenant preservation both priorities in our cities today.
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