Sign o the Times Blogtalk Radio 6pm Eastern Time 5pm Central 917-889-8059

Sign o the Times Blogtalk Radio 6pmEastern 5pmCentral 917-889-8059 WHITEWASHING & REBRANDING A TOOL OF GENTRIFICATION For instance, the young, affluent newcomers tend to take over political and civic organizations and promote their own interests — a phenomenon on display in the recent explosion of bike lanes, dog parks and upscale coffee shops.

Many older, working-class blacks are able to remain, because of the District’s progressive affordable housing policies, and they welcome some benefits, such as a decline in crime.

But they also resent giving up both their former political influence and the character of their community. In one case, lobbying by new arrivals cost black churchgoers a long-standing convenience of parking in a school playground on Sunday mornings. Small, black-owned businesses that served as public gathering places have shut their doors.