White Settlers of New York City
Sometimes people who don’t filter
their thoughts do the world a great service. Such was the case in New York
City last week when video of a fight over side walk space revealed
the sinister nature of gentrification.
The video shows a white man arguing
with a white couple after he claimed to be bumped by their
baby’s stroller. In part of his tirade, the mystery man is heard to say,
“The only reason white people are living here is because I settled this fucking neighborhood
for you.”
Needless to say the man now dubbed
“Christopher Columbus of Brooklyn” is not a person whose actions ought to
be repeated. Notwithstanding the abject narcissism displayed by this person, he
spoke a very serious truth. White people gentrifying Brooklyn or Harlem
or Washington DC or Oakland or Chicago taker their role very seriously.
They see themselves as conquerors and they act accordingly. When white
people wanted to move back into the cities they had fled, they were called
urban pioneers and homesteaders.
The use of these names is not at all
accidental. White Americans still see themselves as pilgrims or
pioneers stealing Indians land. The imagery is a powerful one even for
people who did not play a direct part in that story. No matter. If they
are white they are invited into the circle which they may find so
intoxicating.
A settler community is violent and
rapacious. They may live in New York or in an Israeli settlement stolen from
Palestinian land. They may have arrived at Plymouth Rock or St. Augustine,
Florida or Tasmania in Australia. The end result is always the same.
Indigenous communities are wiped out and settlers get the spoils.
While the ill-mannered man in the
Brooklyn video has been lambasted for bad behavior, the people who
could stop him are silent. He is a villain and a figure of fun in social
media, but the fracas has not inspired any serious discussions about the
massive displacement taking place in New York.
Neither the New York City Council nor
the democrats who control the state assembly chamber have come up with any
meaningful legislative agenda to prevent the 21st century pilgrims from eradicating
the native population. While luxury high rises proliferate and the number
of protected apartments decline, the misleaders of New York do nothing.
The masses know that they are being
chased out of town, but there is no one to help make their voices heard.
Their concerns are diminished with foolish questions about whether people
have the right to live where they like. Yes, everyone should have that
right, but it ought to be extended to everyone, regardless of means.
Harlemites and Brooklynites have a right to live in the neighborhoods they
have occupied for decades. That right shouldn’t be dismissed because the
newcomers have money and are present because red lining was reversed and big
money has been poured into New York.
The only voice of reason in this
sorry episode comes from a black person viewing the incident as he says,
“Thank you white guy.”
I’m sure he was being ironic.
