The Donald Brown Show, Gentrification and Displacement in Communities of Color

Today we are met by our Host, Donald Brown, our guests Jed Parriot and Kenia TorresAlcocer.

Introduction

In the 1970’s, San Francisco’s Mission District housed a vibrant community of working-class Mexican and Central American immigrants. Large families shared small apartments in historic Victorians buildings. Children played Encantados (freeze tag) on sidewalks. But developers bulldozed and paved over this rich cultural heritage. Luxury condominiums, vegan juice bars, and organic ice cream shops have replaced 99-cent stores, tacquerias, and rent-controlled apartments.  Gentrification—the arrival of affluent people in a low-income urban neighborhood—brought about this transformation. (Plunkett, Novak, and Lee, 2016)

This Veterans Day, we explore the history, causes, consequences, and solutions to this phenomenon.