If you really think gentrification isn’t about racism I’m going to need you to shut the entire fuck up. A while back there was this post by a white woman circulating that defended gentrification by claiming that the white people moving into POC neighborhoods just wanted to improve them with coffee shops & boutiques & increased police presence. I thought that was the most clueless thing I’d ever read about gentrification, but clearly I was wrong.

See, if white people could want to move into historically POC neighborhoods without wanting to make sweeping changes I might could buy that improvement argument. But what I’ve actually seen happen over & over again is that they move in, complain about the customs of the area, call the police about *everything* whether it is actually a crime or not, & then start throwing their political & financial weight around to bring in things that will raise property taxes & rents.

Sure, they’ll claim they want to improve the area, but they neglect to listen to the POC who already live there who do not want local small businesses erased in favor of big box stores. Nor do they (despite claims of wanting better customer service) so much as pause to consider that the small grocery store that delivers to shut ins & extends credit is better for the neighborhood than Whole Paycheck Foods. Because they want fancy overpriced goods & they never so much as stop to consider their elderly neighbors, much less families, or those with low incomes & no access to family wealth.