Saturday, May 25, 9-11pm, 899 E. Broad St.

Gentrification Drives the Color Out of Communities.

Gentrification is a general term for the arrival of wealthier people in an existing urban district, a related increase in rents and property values, and changes in the district’s character and culture. It includes the displacement of poor communities by rich outsiders. But the effects of gentrification are complex and contradictory, and its real impact varies.

In an attempt to control the demographic composition and physical layout of these areas, some housing developers used deed restrictions that mandated minimum construction costs or barred African-Americans and sometimes other minority groups from purchasing properties.

Gentrification has been the cause of painful conflict in many of our African-American communities, often along racial and economic fault lines. This type of gentrification is an act of violence and is viewed as a miscarriage of social justice in which wealthy, usually white, newcomers are congratulated for “improving” a neighborhood whose poor, minority residents are displaced by skyrocketing rents and economic change.

The social, economic, and physical impacts of gentrification often result in serious political conflict, exacerbated by differences in race, class, and culture. Earlier residents may feel embattled, ignored, and excluded from their own communities. New arrivals are often mystified by accusations that their efforts to improve local conditions are perceived as hostile or even racist.

We must have a plan of action to save the African-American communities and cultures of Columbus, Ohio.

This is a grassroots event and your input is invited. If you would like to present or be on the discussion panel, please email us.

Feel free to contact the organizers of this event at 614-285-7531 or garveytrade@gmail.com.

Sponsored by Garvey Trade & Development NGO.