hollerrr

my semester is officially OVER. the writing commences...right...NOW!

gentrification in brooklyn

finally went to that exhibit at MoCADA a little while ago. here's a write-up on it that i had to do for a class on community arts and community development:

Honestly, no single issue has tormented my conscience more than the contentious nature of gentrification. Gentrification is a process. Contrary to common misinformation, gentrification is not a white or wealthy person moving into 912 Gates Avenue in Bed Stuy, Brooklyn. It simply starts with this person, usually an artist, subjected to a life of semi-poverty and who's after the benefits of cheap rent. When that one person tells their friend about this “cheap, but cool and cultural” neighborhood they just moved into, their friend moves in. Then their friend’s friend. Then their friends, friends, rich friend moves in...

While I do believe that individuals migrating to certain neighborhoods have the right to live wherever they feel comfortable, and since I have long ago embraced my inner capitalist especially when it comes to neighborhood economic development and planning, I can’t help but cringe whenever these personal decisions become a gauge for developers on how ready a neighborhood is for whatever they determine “revitalization” to mean. It starts to get sticky when plans are drawn out by city planners, private developers, corporations, and even elected officials to plow through established communities without the involvement of the very people who helped to sustain these neighborhoods for decades in the first place.

The people who stayed are members of a community. Despite the implications of exclusive housing policies, the socio-economic phenomena of white flight, extreme poverty and lack of access to valuable resources, and a steady depletion of life chance, these communities of people managed to establish for themselves a common culture. They speak a common language, have elders who preserve the institutional memory of this community, and young people who wish to add to it through whatever medium their destiny forces them to choose. This to me is significant.

My concern with gentrification is the way, as a process, it starts with undermining what was already established thereby making it fairly easy for these new inhabitants to impose their will on people who call their neighborhoods not only home, but self.

I visited the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts's gentrification exhibit with this very thought process. Located in the Fort Green section of Brooklyn, MoCADA’s intentions were obvious: prepare for the public an exhibit showcasing the artistic community’s response to gentrification, make this art accessible, instrumentalize it for the purpose of community empowerment, make it art that is created by members of displaced communities, and make the subject matter one that is transparent by having experts come in discussing what gentrification means (both its definition and implications).

Advertisements for the event itself expressed open frustration about the economic, structural, and cultural changes taking place in their Brooklyn community. The pieces on display were ranged from passive aggressive and sarcastic, to openly angry. Some spoke of the "white washing" of formerly communities of color. One painting in particular was an advertisement for the exhibit. Called "Stinky Cheese", it poked fun at the pretension and disconnection found in bringing into poor neighborhoods things that poor people don't at all relate to, care about, or can't afford (like bringing into food poor communities gourmet shops when the majority of residents are on food stamps or where the rates of diet-related diseases are disproportionately high due to the overabundance of fast food, etc). It reaffirmed my concern about the cultural aspects of gentrification: it offends without empowering a community of people by refusing to work with the resources presently available. Instead, the tendency, whether intentional or not, is to wipe that resource out without bothering to assess its significance to people, places, and events.

this hiatus makes me sad

there's really not any real reason why i haven't been updating. i'm really not that busy. just really tired all the time. oh and my nephew took my laptop a bath. so for the about a month and a half i had no computer.

some quick updates:

1. i moved to my own place! it's gorgeous with bright light, white paint, cool roomies, and a fun neighborhood.
2. i got water baptized on april 2nd, 2010!!
3. after just 2.5 months into my locing process, i removed them bad boys. they just got on my nerves and i really wanted to just wash my hair and actually feel my scalp. recently, i got my hair dyed a gorgeous chestnut brown, and i'm back to rockin' my 'fro.
4. i'm learning how to drive (judge not. i'm from brooklyn. we don't do vehicles smaller than buses)

that's all i could think of. the blogging resumes with 25 more things, gentrification in brooklyn, the media's obsession with single black women, some songs of the day, this post i've been working on about haitian's and adoption, and other random stuff.

peace.

new exhibition at MoCADA

toronto-based artist specterart has created some interesting billboards in anticipation for the museum of contemporary afrcian disasporan art's current exhibition called The Gentrification of Brooklyn: The Pink Elephant Speaks (see below). the exhibit has been running since february 4th, and will up until may 16th of this year.

here's an exert from the press release:

This exhibition, guest curated by Dexter Wimberly, will examine how urban planning, eminent domain, and real estate development are affecting Brooklyn’s communities and how residents throughout the borough are responding. The exhibition will include the works of several Brooklyn-based artists, as well as those who have been forced to relocate as a result of gentrification. In addition to works of art featured at MoCADA, there will be a schedule of public programs taking place throughout Brooklyn.

i'm definitely visiting very soon. they're also supplementing the art with forums with community leaders and urban planners about gentrification and what it means for urban living. get excited!

i think these billboards are fun:

new hollywood has not a sprinkle of color?

word though?

apparently vanity fair's celebration of hollywood's fresh talent is limited to the lily white and rail thin? weren't some of the hugest films of 2009 starred by women of color? does vanity fair need a reminder about Precious? Avatar? or how about Slumdog Millionaire? i

then there are the small screen and tv young actresses of color like jurnee smollett of the great debaters, erica hubbard of lincoln heights, keke palmer of akeelah and the bee, afro-latina tessa thompson from veronica mars, monique coleman of high school musical, america fererra, selena gomez, frida pinto, and the list goes on and on...

my problem is sort of complicated. this exclusion makes me wonder if women of color in hollywood are overlooked, or if they are merely an afterthought? the former would mean that their talents and efforts are dismissed and disregarded, the latter implies that their talents are in fact acknowledged, but they will never be on par with the likes of kristen stewart and friends.

either way, if both are realities, i'm sort of nervous for my baby sister, and countless other actresses who have hopes of contributing to breaking seemingly unbreakable barriers in theatre and film...

quote of the day

"i'd rather be a small fish in a big pond with mad favor from God." - choklate moore

race, race, baby!

so, i really love talking about race, and deconstructing white psychology, stereotypes, myths, and straight up ignorance on various fronts. i think it's interesting how talking about race makes people feel super uncomfortable, but watching people's progression from discomfort to somewhat clarity from hearing a different perspective is why it's important to challenge each other.

i don't always get to discuss things from an anti-racist perspective without getting called everything under the sun. even today while volunteering at a training at one of nyc's whitest, most expensive, most prestigious universities, i had an encounter with someone who was made uncomfortable by something i said. the floor we occupied was decorated with oil paintings of former board of trustee presidents. when i joked about the intensity in the stare in one portrait, this is the conversation that ensued:

girl: yea, it's totally creepy that the one guy in that painting over there is staring directly at us
me: haha. it kind of makes me uncomfortable..
girl: (laughing) it's really bizarre that they're all old men and really rich looking
me: ...and white
girl: (shocked and clears throat uncomfortably)

her reaction intrigued me. it wasn't something i said to start trouble, it was me wondering aloud something i assumed was very obvious. but instead of acknowledging that one very obvious fact about the former presidents (and interestingly enough, the racial break down of that university), she reacted as though i had said something so perverse, offensive, and taboo. this is why i've started this component of my blog: i want break down and analyze these reactions as they occur, as well as more drawn out responses to inquiries regarding race...and class, gender, heteronormativity, etc in my personal life and in the media. i'm also learning and stumbling as i go along, so sometimes i'm going to straight up fail with my observations, so just bear with me and "let's talk about race, baby"!

majora carter is my shero!

The legacy of discriminatory urban renewal initiatives and policies throughout the 20th century has damaging effects on the lives of Americans who had no choice but to relocate to or remain in neighborhoods middle class whites had the opportunities to move out of. Redlining prevented any real revenue generating sources from entering these communities, national policies especially the GI Bill and highway expansion acts provided not only opportunities for folks outside of the urban centers to establish businesses in suburban communities, but served as a catalyst for white flight and urban blight. The South Bronx is one example of how once thriving communities have turned into wastelands abandoned by elected officials and a community who has no idea how to approach its many problems.

Majora Carter has been on a mission to change the unique yet unfortunate fate of the South Bronx which has become a dumping ground for industrial and material waste. As a result, the SB is characterized by disproportionate incidences of public health concerns, astronomical poverty rates far above the national average, high unemployment, high rates of truancy and, consequently, incarceration.

We never get the opportunity to speak about environmentalism and its relationship to inequality and the continued disenfranchisement of poor people of color. Even when she presented to Al Gore what organizations like Sustainable South Bronx and Green for All plan to do in communities like the South Bronx across America, she was offered money as a solution and not any real encouragement for large-scale support by public officials.

Majora wants to dramatically change the face of the South Bronx, a place where she grew up. She wants to open up green spaces, combat noise pollution, and create a public works project focused on bringing Green Collar jobs to the South Bronx, to name a very few. She uses various approaches to meet a variety of needs, such as purchasing 50 shares of stock in a waste manufacturing company which gave her the opportunity to sit at shareholder meetings, raise propositions, concerns, and solutions. She rallies the South Bronx community to take to the streets demanding the end of environmental racism. She has even collaborated with policy analysts, city and private community development organizations to draft blueprints, policy proposals, and budgets to leverage support in the local and state government.

I became interested in environmentalism because I realized that the voices of low income people of color was absent from this cause. My white, liberal, middle class, college educated friends are the face of the Green movement, but poor black and Latino folks are the ones who are impacted the most. It's still worth having a conversation about how the legacy of urban renewal and suburbanization had such damaging effects on poor communities of color. This video is worth the watch.

hoodrats, naked juice, and innuendos

i'm a little paranoid about the swine flu, or even a common cold. so last friday after traveling all afternoon on a packed, poorly ventilated bus from dc, and then sitting for a few hours in church around people, i decided to go into the corner store in crown heights to get some green machine naked juice.

i had a hard time seeing where the juice was so i asked a store clerk for help. this is the conversation that followed...

me: hello. do y'all sell naked juice?
store clerk: no but--
random guy (of course interrupting): hi, my name juice.
me (back to store clerk): so no naked juice? i dunno if i'm passing over it or if it's hidden behind stuff...
random guy: my name juice
me (frustrated at the random man): yea, you can actually leave the store now, thanks.
random guy: but my name juice. and i can be naked.

me: ::blinks:: ::blinks again::

at this point the store clerk quickly attends to another customer 'cause he senses that i'm about to regulate.

random guy (ignoring my discomfort): i'm juice, i can be naked. ya know..naked juice...?
me: why are you talking to me?
random guy (shocked): eh. where ya sense ah humor?

at that point i was simply exhausted and freezing and really wanted some juice and not any drama. so i decided to grab a bottle of oj and go about my business.

but as i'm paying, the random guy is still standing there testing me. this time he's just staring at me for no reason.

me (frustrated): WELL??!!
random guy: aye gyal, where ya sense ah humor?
me: are you serious!? you're being inappropriate. making me feel uncomfortable doesn't exactly inspire laughter, you loser.
random guy: it wah funny to me
me: ...and it wasn't to me
random guy: it wah funny, haha, what? you don't hava sense ah humor?
me (ready to bust old boy in the face with my bottle of juice): yo, leave me alone. i'm not going to laugh just because you were kidding. you still said what you said expecting me to not take it seriously. you.don't.know me!
random guy: ::laughing, leaves store::

store clerk (returning): yea that was unnecessary.

i know some of y'all got some good laughs from this, but this and plenty of other incidents like it boils down to one thing: entitlement, and i'm tired of it.

this situation reminds me of this really amazing racialicious.com article i read a few weeks ago titled "oh you can't speak to a brotha?" http://www.racialicious.com/2009/09/23/oh-you-cant-speak-to-a-brotha/ where the author wrote an open letter to brothers violating her personal space with suggestive or sexually explicit advances, and harassment in general simply because they think they have a right to our time.

it's really frustrating when you're walking down the block focused on nothing but getting home and some rest, and you have to blast your eardrums out with music to ignore the perverts making comments as you walk by. or grabbing lunch in the financial district with a friend and hearing obnoxious grunts or loud declarations of "ohh baby you on your grown and sexy today, ain't you"? or how about running errands at target only to get visually molested when you walk near some dude and he audaciously bends his head low to get a better peak at your goods? or how about walking alone in the dark quiet streets of canarsie and wondering scared what in the world is stopping that block huggin' fool from putting his hands on you?

i take it seriously because sexual harassment is serious and the victim is often blamed for the abuse. it offends me when women with hips and thighs get lumped into a category and stereotyped. somehow it's my fault that you can't control yourself. it's even more offensive when my complaints get me called angry or overly sensitive or a lesbian.

whatever happened to a good morning for the simple act of being cordial, and not to see if you can get your way with a woman? or making conversation with me about what i'm reading on the subway? heck, what happened to respect in general? some boys just need to do better.

i'm just sayin'.

my grown up birthday list

i'm one of those really lucky people who has a birthday so close to christmas. people have been consistently asking me what i want and i want so many things i figured i'd make a list just to give you an idea of what will sustain our friendship and make me love and appreciate you...until my next birthday, anyway. take a gander, make a pick :)

1. seriously, this is the THIRD consecutive year i've been asking for this. at this point it's a requirement for top spot in my life, yo. the norton anthology of african american literature HARDCOVER. i don't appreciate paperback books because of the abuse i put them through. i want to keep and read this in it's entirety and pass it on to my first born. shut up. i know it's kinda soppy, but so what if i have plans for this thing? just don't disappoint me again...

2. a study bible in large print will do. or even a bible with a case so i can put my notebook and pens in would be real cute.

3. this will please my environmentalist and fair trade supporting friends: dr. bronner's products. i love, love, love the almond castile soap, and the organic lip balms and lotions. you can find these at whole foods or online.

4. i would love a new iPod, but since i know better, anything iTunes will suffice

5. the love jones soundtrack.

6. the boys n the hood soundtrack in cassette form. because it only makes sense that way.

7. this is me reaching, but i would really love the person who gave me tickets to the Rose Bowl :)

8. i love those $5 pashmina scarves off the street. don't get me just one, or ones that look like antique rugs. i like simple colors and patterns.

9. i would ask for a gift certificate to Magnolia's bakery, but my arteries and hips are sending loud messages to me about heart disease and obesity. consider getting it only if you're my hater.

10. i love earrings and bracelets from off the street. but i'm also really picky and i hate the real simple looking ones or the really complicated ones. and don't buy me any necklaces; i don't EVER wear those.

11. subscription to the new york times or the nation, the atlantic, etc

12. ruled moleskin notebooks. hardcover. please. and a monteverde regatta rollerball pen in nightfall black would compliment the moleskin AWESOMELY, but again, i know better...

13. i'm so done sowing my wild oats, partying, and getting drunk for my birthday. i want a nice dinner with alll of my friends. i would honestly appreciate your time and company above all...but i still want presents :)

14. just another blessed, good year. God is good, y'all!

15. oh, oh, oh! and a white christmas would be a great early birthday present.