Setting Prisoners Free

the eviction of Uptown Tent City (2017) Walking down Wilson, my street I call home Walking through Uptown, my ‘hood I call home My home, where change is tearing apart it’s very fabric My home, sadly displacing an already displaced people Buildings rising up before my eyes The streets becoming more silent Building up and casting out The streets becoming less diverse oh...the ongoing curse of  gentrification     Beauty is in the eye of the beholder The marginalized are sacrificed to appease vanity Deceiving words promote a brighter future The poor languish in the name of progress  Oh...the bitter deafening cries of “holier-than-thou” Exclusive block clubs use their power to exclude Segregating officials use their criminalizing prowess to further segregate Predatory developers use their wealth to pounce on their prey Discriminatory committees use the system to discriminate Why do tent cities live rent-free in the minds of the wealthy? Why ...

People think gentrification is all about making things prettier and more beautiful, but it ain’t! People think it’s just about building up and creating revenue, but it ain’t! Such views are superficial and a great use of propaganda, because they make us believe no one gets hurt or suffers because of it!  Gentrification is about intentionally casting out those who don’t “look right”. Those who don’t fit the mold are systematically and strategically forced out of the neighborhood. It’s about making people conform. It’s about closing “problematic” buildings and replacing them  with “righteous” ones. It’s about jacking up the rent to unaffordable rates. It causes trauma, evictions, homelessness, and relocations.  Unfortunately, all this is done in the name of progress and diversity. It’s often done by so-called richer Democrats or liberals, and backed by Republicans - they ironically find common ground in their quest to exclude those already marginalized. To fit in, p...