Monday, April 03, 2006
Yuppies Out
Richard from Rebuilding Place in the Urban Space has a couple of shots of anti-gentrification graffiti on the sign for the New Yorker condos at 3rd & L Street. I have yet to see any anti-gentrification graffiti in Trinidad (mostly we get names & the corner of Montello & Morse is tagged Simple City). This is probably as close as we come to anti-gentrification graffiti in Trinidad.
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12 comments:
Last year soon after I had moved in, some kids (< 12yo) walked down my alley and yelled "White Boy", maybe mostly out of surprise. Since then I've experienced nothing but positive reactions. I have heard people on the block talking about various aspects of gentrification like rising property taxes.
On 8 street on H, there are men that preach openly against white gentrifiers, homsexuals and other groups. I have walked by them on Saturdays, but don't know how often they are there. They actually yell ugly stuff directly at people. I usually cross the street to avoid them.
In the past three years living off of H. Street, I've had good experiences with people accepting a new white guy in their neighborhood. I can point to lots of exceptions though. I have had lots of rascist comments hurled at me. Some I've never heard of. I.e. Biscuit? I also sometimes hear the hushed comments as I walk by. I've had a guy throw a shoulder into me as I walked down H. Street telling me to get off of "his street." I've had my tires slashed and my windshield broken. I've seen some thinly-veiled rascist comments written on neighborhood list servs. During a community meeting about Englert's new establishments, I heard people complain that the proposed businesses weren't "African-American" themed. One person then asked Englert if he was a Jew. And I won't even to mention those preachers on 8th and H. They are as enlightened an accepting as the Klan. Still, these are exceptions. My experiences have generally been great. For every "cracker" comment, I've recieved a thousand "hellos" Nonetheless,I wonder if anyone has had similar or different experiences?
Overall, my experience living here for the past 4.5 years has been a very good one. The vast majority of my neighbors are good & friendly people. But anytime you have change, some people are going to get nervous, and that can come out in all sorts of ways. The best thing you can do is get out there & get to know your neighbors . By showing respect, you will get respect back & build trust in the process. For more infomation on those guys at 8th & H Street, check out the blog Quest for Quiet (you can find the link in my sidebar).
The New Yorker had completely sold out in pre-sale, then refunded everyone's deposit because they discovered that they wouldn't be able to get all their permits in a timely manner for some reason (or at least that was the justification. Haven't heard any news & agree--just get on with it.
I have to say I've had a great experience in the 4+ years I've lived on Parker Street. I agree that it's all about getting out and meeting your neighbors & respecting them all. We've held numerous neighborhood cleanups, which are more and more getting people out and meeting everyone.
Generally speaking, I've been nothing but pleased with my neighbors. The only exceptions have been twice, both times across the street from Viggy's Liquors on 15th and D, when once I got "You look soft" yelled across the street at me, and once I got "hey, light skin."
These are so benign that they hardly constitute a problem. And I found the 'you look soft' to be rather amusing. Was I not tough enough for him, or did he merely admire my moisturizing? Oh, I guess I should specify that I'm a guy, so the soft comment wasn't a come on.
In any case, both of the shouters appeared to be pretty wasted.
In another amusing confrontation, one day last summer, a couple of 15 year(ish) kids somewhat agressively inquired as to why my roommate was smoking Marlboro Lights, when he clearly should have been smoking Newports. "'Ports is the best cigarette."
In any case, their conversation ended with a couple of blocks of walking and talking about basketball prospects.
But all in all, as the first white face on my block, I've felt very welcomed into the neighborhood.
I'm the anonymous "Biscuit." I agree that giving respect and reaching out to people heads off a lot of the problems I outlined in my previous post. But please don't assume that I've insulated myself. I'm involved in my neighborhood and local church. I have great relationships with my neighbors. We eat together, have a beer on the porch together, help each other with various projects and keep an eye out for each others homes, children and dogs. No worries there. I also have no problems at the numerous H Street businesses. The isolated problems that I talked about are not with these people. Its random folks. Getting more involved inthe community or "giving respect" will not stop these folks from lobbing racial slurs. Allow me a parallel: A Black family moves to a predominantly white neighborhood. They get pushed on "Main Street." They are whispered about and referred to with racial slurs. They have their property damaged, etc, etc. Would you be so quick to simply advise them to get more involved in the community or "give respect to get respect" or would you be more outraged?
Food for thought. Again, to put it in context, my experience has generally been very good. Also, I think Biscuit is hysterical and now use that as a slur for friends who live in the VA burbs.
I don't think anyone was condoning the bad behavior of a few. Such behavior is shameful & and an embarrassment to us all. The people who pull that kind of crap aren't going to respect you, they have some other kind of axe to grind & they are going to take it out on you. I'm just suggesting that the best thing you can do is try to handle that negativity like water on a duck's back (let it roll right off you). Getting to know your other neighbors just helps to show how most people around here are good decent people who just want to live in a good decent neighborhood (and don't really care what color their neighbor happens to be). When I get comments from people, it is always from 3 types of people:
1. crazy/intoxicated
2. members of the NBPP (or sometimes people expousing a similar point of view)
3. teenagers just testing me.
what is the nbpp?
The New Black Panther Party. Not to be confused with the original Black Panther Party, they are different.
Ingorance is bliss...
This isn't graffitti..It's a tag. Meaning someone's signature. That person may be as white, as BORF..or some young like-skinned black kid, whose friends have given him the sarcastic nickname "Whiteboy". This is very popular amongst the younger black generation in DC.
Some of you urban anthropologist need to sharpen your qualitative research skills! Instead of just walking past one of the young youths, next time, engage in conversation. You may learn something!
While I'm quite familiar with tags, I don't know if this is a tag. If so, it's the only whiteboy tag I've ever seen. I've actually heard it suggested by a nearby resident that this may be a reference to a particular resident who moved in a couple of doors down from this door. Also, a tag is graffiti, it's just a particular type of graffiti.
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