Comments on: An Open Letter to Everyone But Mostly to White People

By: admin

admin — Tue, 09 Aug 2016 18:55:24 +0000

that’s the simplest thing I’ve read in weeks.

By: Jose

Jose — Mon, 08 Aug 2016 21:20:28 +0000

Brooklyn NY is seeing more whites moving in and blacks moving out, the crime is lower due to the low income blacks who left Brooklyn not just because of a more police presence in the area. The people who left Brooklyn were trouble makers.Most of the whites moving in are college educated people not committing crimes

By: As Above, so Below: Fear & Rage in Missouri « Modern Shark: No School™ Rap

Fri, 15 Aug 2014 20:36:45 +0000

[...] wonder, as I did in my last piece, why are we as white people so invested in robbing black Americans of their right to feel and [...]

By: M

Tue, 15 Apr 2014 02:30:33 +0000

The issue here is wealth and social class, not race.

By: jerry frohnhoefer

jerry frohnhoefer — Sat, 29 Mar 2014 15:22:30 +0000

In many ways i agree with you. My family has been in NYC since 1848. We moved a few times from Lower East Side to Williamsburg and now Queens. But we’re still here. i ran for public office and lost, worked in east Harlem and volunteer time there as well (which is being gentrified like hell) and taught in one of our best public high schools for years. My family and I have seen it all one might say. It is true artists, hipsters, and other gentrifiers have an artificial arrogance that is more than annoying. And as you bring up they come with enough guaranteed money from mom and pop and stocks,bonds, etc. that they have no idea of community. You gave Columbus a Bad rap. Maybe so – but read his logs and letters
and see what he really saw and said about the native peoples he first met. I wish we would get at least that amount of respect. The problem with Dspike Lee is that he is the problem. Why did he have to move to move to upscale digs in Manhattan. he believed in the neioghb orhood and community he had more than enough of the resources to ehlp build it up before the outsiders came. Did he go to ommunity board meetings in Fort Greene? Did he start programs like music, arts, and drama for kids on his block and in the “hood”? Maybe he did but why keep it so secretive?. I have friends from Bushwick from years ago who started a program every friday night and on weekends at Holy Cross Church and later at St. Bridget’s- the Coastal Patrol cadet Corps. Even when some of them moved to Queens or out to Long Island they came into Bushwick every weekend and helped kids get a love for country, for family, for neighborhood and most importantly for themselves so they could succeed in school, many go onto college and meaningful life careers. People I work with in east Harlem and have done so for over 30 years through the NYC 25th Precinct Gladiators led by Mike and Negra Rosario do the same. None of us had the resources that Spike has except we had heart and commitment
to our roots and to the future of these neighborhoods and the next generations.

By: johnny

johnny — Sat, 08 Mar 2014 19:49:18 +0000

And as for the change in character of a neighborhood, why should anyone want a totally static community that insulates itself from the outside world?”

I don’t get it. aside from the hasidic parts of town which neighborhoods are insulating themselves from the outside world? How was pre-gentrified bed-stuy, bushwick, sunset park insulating itself beforehand? brooklyn heights hasn’t changed for the past whatever, is that neighborhood insulating itself? Is Carrol Gardens insulating itself from the outside world?

Being in brooklyn all my life I can’t really decide where I stand on this issue. The facts are that schools are going to get better, property value will go up, crime will go down, new business will open. But it comes at an expense. Personally, i would feel better if people just showed their true colors and came out and said they dont care about what happens to poor people.

I always notice that people will lump the early irish, italian, jewish, immigrants as gentrifiers. Those early immigrants weren’t displacing anyone, and they weren’t causing landlords to improve conditions, schools weren’t getting better etc., etc., etc.

I would like to add one last bit of blabber that isn’t about the topic at hand. Don’t you notice that people try to label the entire borough as whatever characteristics their own neighborhood is? like people will say oh theres so many good restaurants and shopping.. If you live in midwood, kensington, you’re not saying that crap. or people saying there so many young artists here, blahblah.. If I said yo brooklyn is crazy hood, it just aint safe, don’t go out after dark, everyone would say no you’re wrong or say no, just some neighborhoods are bad.

By: Petey Acorn

Petey Acorn — Thu, 06 Mar 2014 01:15:53 +0000

I don’t have any issue with what Spike said. But maaaaaaaaann, he should’ve left Old Boy alone.

By: egotripland.com | (O)ther (P)eople’s (P)osts 3.5.14

egotripland.com | (O)ther (P)eople’s (P)osts 3.5.14 — Wed, 05 Mar 2014 23:10:38 +0000

[...] 1. Diggin’ In The Files: A Tribe Called Quest. A short retrospective on Tribe’s career via print articles from the Bill Adler Hip-Hop Archive. [Crazy Hood] 2. An Open Letter to Everyone But Mostly to White People. The “Christopher Columbus syndrome” mentioned in Spike Lee’s well-publicized gentrification comments is real according Junk Science emcee. By Michael Angelo Tumbarello aka Baje One. [Modern Shark] [...]

By: Joe

Joe — Wed, 05 Mar 2014 12:23:18 +0000

Some of the people who present the “gentrification is change” argument fail to cede some elements of truth to Spike Lee and his supporters here. The main example that I would present here is the destruction of the Fulton Mall shopping area, which has been decimated by the Bloomberg administration’s development policies. This area was driven by many successful small businesses who catered to lower and middle income clientele (largely African American and New York Latino). These businesses were predominantly owned by “non-white” New Yorkers. The aesthetics of the mall were not appealing to many of Brooklyn’s newer and more “upscale” residents, nor to the Bloomberg administration. Through Thor Equities, the area is now becoming one of those glass condo zones and the retailers that are coming in to replace the original businesses are national retailers like Benneton who cater to the people who are buying the new condos. I agree with Spike Lee that this type of change is destructive and ultimately at its core, racist. There had to be a more creative way to do this, in which newer interests were served and the existing businesses and their clientele supported. Some of it is no doubt racism, but another element is laziness and the petty pursuit of “might is right” economic gain.

By: bizzyduvet

bizzyduvet — Wed, 05 Mar 2014 06:18:37 +0000

Bravo my friend bravo, beautifully stated!