I recently shared my belief that just like possession is 9/10ths of the law, perception is 9/10ths of reality. We hear people
talking about gentrification of communities. I contend that there is no such thing as "gentrification."
GHETTOIZATION = DISINVESTMENT
The concepts of ghettoization and gentrification are actually disinvestment and investment. We all from experience and
the evidence that African people have been victims of disinvestment both at home on the continent and throughout the
African Diaspora. We all know the stories of home that U.S. government through discriminatory housing policy denied
insurance to areas where African people lived. It was exposed for all to see in the 1970s and called "redlining." Too often
outcomes that result from public policy are recast as personal deficiencies. Descendants of Africans Enslaved in the U.S.
(DAEUS) move into a community and investment moves out. No grants, bank loans or equity investments = No resources
= disinvestment = "ghettoization."
GENTRIFICATION = REINVESTMENT
Similarly when Europeans move into a community reinvestment occurs. Access to
grants, bank loans and equity investments = Mo' resources = reinvestment = "gentrification." But if you didn't know that
disinvestment resulting in lack of resources to maintain a community you might think it is the personal deficiencies of the
inhabitants, because you see it happen again and again, and sleep on the policy decisions that lead to the outcomes.
Similarly the reverse is true when resources are made available to maintain a community you might think that it might be
related to the individuals merit, character, thrift, intelligence, etc. rather than the impact of policy decisions.
POLICY DECISIONS CAST AS PERSONAL DEFICIENCIES
No ghettoization or gentrification which mystifies the policy decisions that create the conditions often blamed on personal deficiencies. Just disinvestment and reinvestment.
