In my articles, it's been brought to my attention that a lot of terms that I use in my writing and photographic works use terms that are usually known exclusively by People of Color (PoC's ), One term that I use a LOT in particular, is gentrification.

Gentrification is, by definition, the buying and renovation of houses and stores in deteriorated urban neighborhoods by upper- or middle-income families or individuals, thus improving property values but often displacing low-income families and small businesses. It's known by prime supporters of this type of thing as "urban development."

"But Isis, that actually doesn't really sound bad when you think about it."

Well, let me break it down in different terms then, how about some time traveling:

Imagine your people are marginalized by the society that they live in; not just the country's society that you live in, but think in the world overall. There is "anti-you" at some place, in every country where the majority of people may not be like you. Okay, so while you're segregated where you live, you build a little community for yourselves and the people who run the country, who, remember, are "anti-you," come in and burn down, absolutely destroy, your community. Everything is gone — your homes, your businesses, your schools, everything you've worked for — all because of who you are. You're left to get up from the ashes and rebuild everything. Don't forget that over the years, there have been more occurrences where your neighborhoods were destroyed by those "anti-You."

Fast forward to now. Let's say you're where I live, in Philadelphia, or New York City, whichever you choose. You grew up in the 'hood — still live there now. You're pretty much poor, low-income, but your neighborhood has a rich culture inside of that poverty; a few roses that broke through the concrete where Ms. Jackie on the corner helps the kids and feeds them if they're hungry, where the best hairdresser lives a block down and does hair in her living room, where you have a free, live, next-door DJ every summer day, even in the winter sometimes. You may have a few dilapidated and abandoned houses with broken glass that you'll step on in flip-flops and gang banging across the street. But remember, we are poor and struggle to fix those issues. Soon, those who live in the richer, suburban neighborhoods come in to see that they can fix those places for cheap, which is great because we needed help. They move in, that's cool. The complaints start about the loud, bad music. Law enforcement come more often not to help the neighborhood people, but to shut it down. All of a sudden, you need permits to make money for doing hair in your own home. Bodega cats are "unsanitary." The things that made your 'hood unique, the things that made them home are now deemed wrong and annoying. Property value goes up because more and more of those people come in, forcing you and your low income out of where you've been living for forty years. City Hall meetings happen, you start petitions about it, and you're repeatedly shut down. "It's the way life is. Pick yourself up by your bootstraps or go somewhere else."

But where do we go?

A lot of their arguments are about integration, but they don't include inclusion. They just resegregate because they raise the property value where they know you cannot afford to live there. Your people's culture is a bother to them. It disturbs their life so much, you gotta go. This is a vicious, steady cycle that happens everyday. The places you once knew aren't evolving, they're being invaded. The houses are beautiful, and you dream of being able to live there, but institutional racism has you by your neck. I'll get to that next week.

To be clear, you can help renovate and revive a community without terminating the culture. You work together and include the people, educate the people who live there on the terms of housing and marketing. The people will come together to work for a solution. Just give them the tools and they'll make time. No one actually wants to stay in poverty.

So if you ever hear me talking about the "smell of gentrification," you should now understand what I mean.