Crown Heights; Neighborhood Assessment
Crown Heights; Neighborhood Assessment
Crown Heights, part of the land belonging to the Munsee Lenape and Canarsie people, is located in the center of Brooklyn, NY. The area in Crown Heights (CH) that I grew up in is located about a mile east of Prospect Park. My early childhood was generally characterized by good experiences and fond memories. My family lived on a non-central block in CH that was shared between mostly Jewish and Black families. My house was unique on our block because it had in front of it a relatively comfortable bench that was directly accessible from the sidewalk. I remember as a child looking forward to the times when our middle-aged black mail-lady, Rosa, would stop by our bench for a few minutes before moving on to the remainder of her mail route. It was especially exciting when she would visit during the summer. From the moment that we could see Rosa from the distance, a competition would ensue among the children on the block to see who would be first to bring her a big cup of ice-cold water for her to enjoy during her break. The conversations we shared with Rosa were always interesting and engaging.
The beloved-by-all mail lady on the block was only one of many features that contributed to the dynamic but unique way that I experienced our community throughout my childhood and early adolescence. I remember folks carrying large boomboxes loudly echoing rap and hip-hop music on a regular basis. There was a strong sense of brotherhood and community that dominated the streets. What I never anticipated was how soon and how fast things would change and I often find myself wondering if I will ever encounter those feelings of belonging and community again.
As I entered my mid-to-late teens, I began to notice a demographic shift in our neighborhood and with that shift a sudden surge in conversations regarding future costs of living in Brooklyn. I saw many of my black neighbors move out of our neighborhood and also many of the poorer Jewish families were forced to move to other areas as a result of continuous increases in rent prices. My family also had to move out of our home of almost fifteen years because of eviction threats related to our inability to keep up with the rent. Simultaneously, a deeper issue was taking place. Not only were issues like spacial exclusion and gentrification spreading throughout Brooklyn, but racial segregation was persisting albeit the rapid influx of white people into majority-black neighborhoods. A recent study on the matter notes that Brooklyn is the home of approximately 788,000 Blacks and While there are declines in indices of racial segregation, these declines are frequently marginal, especially when the increase in the number of whites in Black neighborhoods is taken into consideration (Chronopoulos, 2020). The people that are moving into Brooklyn are not blending in but rather creating their own little bubbles where they do not need to encounter people who are not like them. The result is broken communities bereft of the warmth and solidarity that was once at the core of their everyday lives.
The practice of white isolation may be a key way that segregation continues to be reproduced. Scholars that have been monitoring trends of racial divisions since the last century have noticed that while there has been a reduction in segregation, all-minority areas, including blacks, Hispanics, and sometimes Asians, continue to be reproduced, and the disparities in community resources between white and minority neighborhoods remain deeply entrenched (Logan, 2013). The question that follows is how did these major changes in the cost of living and neighborhood structures come to pass? Who was responsible for facilitating situations where the poor and marginalized would be left displaced and under constant financial distress? Was there someone or a group of people who were actively encouraging these transformations in our communities by reframing gentrification and spatial exclusion in terms of “beautifying and diversifying the city”..?
Incidentally, there is most definitely one person (though likely among others as well) who served as a major catalyst for the transformation that eventually would displace many longstanding residents of Brooklyn and other affected boroughs as well. It has been documented that indeed - Bloomberg himself played a major role in that transformation… Real estate developers say the biggest reason they built bigger and taller was because Mayor Bloomberg projected the sense that the city had a future, and that the future looked bright (at least to them and the people able to afford the 360-degree views from atop their towers)(Krase and DeSena, 2016, 9). Efforts have been made to organize and advocate for affordable housing in Crown Heights. One such example is a new organization, the Movement to Protect the People (MTOPP) which was founded in 2014. Led by a fiery middle-class African American woman in Prospect Lefferts Gardens (adjacent to Crown Heights), MTOPP is fighting developments that activists feel will decrease the local amount of affordable housing for the less affluent, as well as African Americans and Latinos in general. (Krase and DeSena, 2016, 12). Organizations like these, by the people for the people are crucial in combating the top-down propaganda that threatens the living conditions of the poor and underprivileged.
Underneath many of the unjust actions that take place regularly is an unfair imbalance of power. Power being leveraged through government, policing, and other means are universal issues that need to be battled with courage, dignity, and sometimes even force. As depicted in the story of “Uma Mulher (One Woman)”, the people have a tremendous amount of power, and when exercised properly, families and communities can rise up and preserve what is rightfully theirs (Perry, Keisha-Khan, 2013, 3). I cannot speak to how things may have turned out had the policymakers done their job to protect my family and others from my community who were displaced and forced to adjust to new neighborhoods and communities. I think, however, that it is safe to say that the overall quality of life for these families and communities would have been better off if things were left the way they were. Regardless of hindsight speculations, it is my belief and hope that going forward, we will become better at communicating and advocating for ourselves when the situation calls for it. Instead of aggressive fighting and land-grabbing, perhaps we will find a way for all people to live together as a species based on the common humanity that we all share.
Works Cited
Chronopoulos, T. “What’s Happened to the People?” Gentrification and Racial Segregation in Brooklyn. J Afr Am St 24, 549–572 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12111-020-09499-y
Logan, John R. “The Persistence of Segregation in the 21st Century Metropolis: PERSISTENCE OF SEGREGATION IN METROPOLIS.” City & community 12, no. 2 (2013): 160–168.
Krase, & DeSena, J. N. (2016). Race, class, and gentrification in Brooklyn : a view from the street. Lexington Books.
Perry, Keisha-Khan Y. Black Women Against the Land Grab: The Fight for Racial Justice in Brazil. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2013.