All of us live on land that did not belong to us or to our ancestors but was taken by force or fraud from its original inhabitants because we had the power to do it. We are not the only nation to seize land by force or government policy. Can you think of other examples of “forced relocation”?
What motivates “land grabs” and “speculative real estate deals” and even “urban pioneering”? What “power” you have? (If you don’t think you have any power, think harder.) How can people of faith “plot good on their beds” rather than evil in relationship to real estate and housing?
FOR FURTHER REFLECTION
A trend over the last 30 years is for young (predominantly white) artists, students and professionals to move into poorer urban communities of color in what has become known as “gentrification.” Property values increase, new capitol comes into the community, and crime rates often fall. Cities often encourage this shift by improving infrastructure and adding amenities to the community because it represents development and increased revenue. However, as good as all this sounds, “gentrification” has a dark side.
According to Teresa Cordova in her article “Community Intervention Efforts to Oppose Gentrification” (In Philip W. Nyden, Wim Wiewel, eds., Challenging Uneven Development: An Urban Agenda for the 1990s, (1991) New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 25-48.), “gentrification is a creation of real estate agents, property developers, and banks who control the “who” and “where” of urban property shifts.” In other words, those with power shift the way urban property is reused, and “profit” is the typical motivation. As property values increase, property taxes and rents rise, often making the community unaffordable for existing homeowners and tenants. Families are forced to find a more affordable community. It also promotes speculative land purchases as people look for the next “hot” neighborhood. Buy a cheap property, hold on to it and then flip it for a large profit.
How do you see this phenomena happening where you live? Where are displaced people moving? Who are the real estate and development “power-brokers” in your community. What power do you have to ensure that the poor will maintain a place in their communities?
Over the past 6 years, the city of Chicago’s Planning Department has been preparing to transform the elevated train tracks running along Bloomingdale Ave into a 2.5 mile linear park known as the Bloomingdale Trail. While this would bring much needed green space to the Logan Square community, there are fears that it will simply increase the speed of gentrification in the neighborhood. If you live in Chicago, consider contacting Logan Square Neighborhood Association to see what they are doing to ensure continued economic diversity around the Bloomingdale Trail.
Tongue on Fire 
Interesting read about tensions in gentrifying neighborhoods in NYC:
Interesting book about homogenizing trends in U.S. neighborhoods:
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Interesting NY Times article. In Chicago, gentrification hasn’t often impacted the local school because the people moving into the community access the magnet, selective enrollment and charter school options rather than the local school. And we keep increasing the options–all to keep middle class parents in the city. The local schools are usually the worst performing schools (at least on the basis of standardized tests–which is another whole topic) and have always gotten the short stick.
And the book looks fascinating. Have you read it?
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Until this week, I had never heard of Sophiatown, a community that was literally erased from the map between 1955 and 1963 by the National Party of South Africa. The destruction of Sophiatown and the forced relocation of 54,000 Africans (and thousands of other “minorities”) became the model for the implementation of Apartheid. The reason for the removal–Sophiatown, established in 1903, was too close to white communities. The town was bulldozed, rezoned for whites and rebuilt with a new name–Triomf (Triumph).
The stage was set when the National Party passed the Immorality Amendment Act of 1950. The “immorality” that was addressed was the mixing of races within the same community. A second piece of legislation, the Native Resettlement Act, was passed in 1954. On February 9, 1955, 2,000 armed police officers entered Sophiatown and forcibly removed the first 113 families from their homes–homes on property they had purchased and paid for.
There was resistance. “We Won’t Move” was a chant frequently heard in Sophiatown, but the bulldozers came anyway. Poet Don Mattera penned “The Day They Came For Our House”
“Armed with bulldozers they came to do a job nothing more just hired killers. We gave way there was nothing we could do although the bitterness stung in us and in the earth around us.”
However, an Anglican priest by the name of Trevor Huddleston organized the community and became such a vocal opponent of the government’s actions that was nicknamed, “dauntless one.”. He received so many death threats that the Anglican church recalled him to England in 1956. Yet, in the 13 years that Fr. Huddleston had worked in Sophiatown, he influenced and mentored hundreds of residents and sympathizers including a young man by the name of Desmond Tutu who later became the voice and face of peaceful resistance to Apartheid. He traveled the world to promote disinvestment in South Africa–action that ultimately led to the collapse of Apartheid.
It never starts with bulldozers. It begins with a benign sounding law that gets support from additional layers of legislation. And then the bulldozers come. But the church (and people of faith) has power. We have a voice. We have hands. We have the Good Friday and Easter We have the Spirit.
Thanks to the foundational work of Trevor Huddleston and the resistance work of Desmond Tutu and countless others, the stage was set for a new beginning for South Africa. On February 11, 2006, Triomf was renamed Sophiatown.
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