“We’re moving out, they’re moving in.”

a harsh reality

For me growing up in a predominantly Black neighborhood, I have seen over the recent years a lot of major changes. And the most obvious shift has been the demographics of people moving in as we are moving out. The Black community has taken a shift where I was at a McDonald’s the other night and saw two teenage White girls who lived up the street. And this was deep into my Harlem community. It’s a sight that you wouldn’t have seen ten years ago. But now you are starting to see the shift. And more and more Black families are moving higher up in Manhattan. And with the shift you are noticing a lot of us moving out because of affordability not because of the ethnic move into Harlem.

we’re hurt as well

We observe the Black gentrification move, but there is a White shift in mostly White neighborhoods as well. When looking at Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, which at one point was mainly Italian families now a major Chinese American community. So you think to yourself, are these White men and women being pushed out, coming to Black areas, where we are now being pushed out. Because our communities are environments where you would never see White men and women. Now their teenage children walk around as late as midnight and 2:00 a.m. So there is a silent moving out of White community as well. But as Black people, it’s hard to focus on that aspect of another communities life hen your own community is taking on a different look.

it ain’t your color is cash

Is it about the skin color or is it about how much you got in the bank? Because living in Harlem, the families moving in are middle class white men and women, in addition to some upper middle class as well. So basically, I’m saying that even if upper middle class Black people moved into Black neighborhoods, it would force other Black people out the community. It’s just that in the case of now, the people are mostly White. But this isn’t a trend that’s stopping because the cost of living is cheaper in the Black neighborhoods.

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