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FILM 9
from the Ebony/Jet site by Jacquie Jones
During the making of this film, the two directors – one black and one not – lived in a community in Columbus, Ohio as it underwent the radical transformation known as “gentrification,” and it shows. This is not a film of easy answers. Flag Wars instead forces us to consider what it means to really get a sweet real estate deal. Yet, as black homeowners fight to hold onto their homes as white gay “pioneers” circle around them, we also learn that no one is innocent here. If you are currently or have ever lived in a community that is in the path of gentrification, you need to see this film.
From IW: I hadn't heard of this film before, but having lived in the super-gentrification cities of Oakland, San Francisco, Brooklyn, and Philly, I can certainly relate. And tho I suspect it contains information we've wearily seen a thousand times before, it's always interesting to hear/see a different perspective.
from the Ebony/Jet site by Jacquie Jones
During the making of this film, the two directors – one black and one not – lived in a community in Columbus, Ohio as it underwent the radical transformation known as “gentrification,” and it shows. This is not a film of easy answers. Flag Wars instead forces us to consider what it means to really get a sweet real estate deal. Yet, as black homeowners fight to hold onto their homes as white gay “pioneers” circle around them, we also learn that no one is innocent here. If you are currently or have ever lived in a community that is in the path of gentrification, you need to see this film.
From IW: I hadn't heard of this film before, but having lived in the super-gentrification cities of Oakland, San Francisco, Brooklyn, and Philly, I can certainly relate. And tho I suspect it contains information we've wearily seen a thousand times before, it's always interesting to hear/see a different perspective.
9 comments:
This is a touchy subject still for some people but I would shoulder the blame on the white gays alone though, if the movie get that right it will be interesting.
I think it happened a similar way in D.C. with the Shaw neighborhood.
I've always been curious as to why gays tend to be the ones pioneering the move into "bad neighborhoods." (I guess they ain't punks.)
I saw this movie a couple of years ago. It was on PBS i think. You should check it out. Its pretty good and shows how the whole gentrification process works. A lot of it is familiar because my area here in St. Louis is in the beginnings of gentrification and its gotten everyone paranoid. lol.
Hmm... never heard of this one. Will have to hunt it down and see it!
@clnmike and UBM: that's probably true in some places, but in my experience in Philly (it was U Penn) and Oakland (it was the upscale artists and displaced from San Francisco yuppies) the gays ween'y really invilved.
I agree with UBM's statement about the gays not being afraid to pioneer some areas; they have a strong foundation of support within their demographic as well.
@Wanda: well somebody had to do it!lol
@Obenson: me too
I saw this a while ago, it's really good.
UBM, I live in DC and I believe that white gay men are the first b/c there are two men. They probably don't feel the same fear that single women do. Besides, as white men, they want to be the first pioneers in up & coming real estate investment.
I'd like to see this film.
The issue about white people coming into black neighborhoods and buying up the cheap real estate and then evicting black people who have been there for decades is MUCH MORE complicated.... usually these neighborhoods are run down...if the community allows the property values to fall due to neglect then WHO is to blame? I have YET to see a section of town in ANY CITY face a real estate development take over that has not been raggedy and neglected for decades...
I am not saying that discrimination in lending is not a factor in people not being able to get home improvement loans...but it doesn't take a home equity loan to get people who LIVE in the community to stop leaving chicken wing bones in the street, take raggedy couches and other interior furniture OFF of their porches, and to stop fixing cars in front of houses....I am not DEFENDING the fact that many black seniors are also being put out of their homes but there IS some responsibility on the part of the community residents for allowing a section of town to look the way it does....I'm just saying....
Thanks for letting me blow my trumpet!
Peace, blessings and DUNAMIS!
Lisa
@lajane: I would definitely agree that that was what happened in DC. I gotta see this one...
@Lisa: AMEN! Field Negro had a similar post about what you said last week. If I go see an apartment to live in, and I see a couch outside anywhere in the vicinity, I burn rubber getting outta there!
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