K, a young man born and raised in Red Hook, Brooklyn, says that the constant police presence and targeting of Black youth make him feel like an outsider in his home. The dynamics of gentrification also play a role in defining who is part of “the community”-and who isn’t. The group encouraged people to call the police and the local alderman’s office if they observed “drunken behavior.” These residents frame their complaints as a problem of outsiders infiltrating the neighborhood, even when the targets are actually longtime residents who, sometimes, are in the process of being pushed out by gentrification. After pressure from the group, the store committed to restricting its sales of alcohol and to hiring security guards (both steps that could exact a financial toll from this local business).
The group also singled out a small, family-owned convenience store, where residents said people exhibiting “drunken behavior” were gathering. For example, the group has targeted the local blood bank, saying that the people gathering around the building, many of them low-income and Black, were endangering the neighborhood’s safety. Chicago’s “Albany Park Neighbors” group, located in one of the most ethnically diverse neighborhoods in the United States, often focuses on businesses that are accused of bringing in “outsiders,” particularly people of color, homeless people, and people who appear to have substance addictions. Often, when someone posts a notification about a dangerous presence who warrants police attention, “dangerous” equals “young, Latino males.” Chicago anti-displacement organizer Lynda Lopez has seen complaints in local Facebook groups about her own neighborhood, Hermosa, a working-class, mostly Latinx community that is quickly gentrifying.
0 kommentar(er)
