Ayana Jefferson
The area of Church Hill, in Eastside Richmond VA, is changing but not for its original residents. With the buying of old property, an increase in property tax and the pushing out of old residents many know the outcome... GENTRIFICATION.
I grew up in Church Hill. The worn-down buildings and houses were my norm. I remember my friends and I would all play outside together and that we never saw an ice cream truck drive by or got to order pizza.
My dad would always tell me “This is Church Hill Yana, it’s too dangerous for them to come around here.” When inside, I would always hear the police and ambulance sirens. I remember the adults, including my dad and uncle, would always be discussing someone who had been shot or murdered. I will never forget the new jail built only a few minutes from my home as we drove by the new building, which was next to a few old schools that desperately needed renovation. My sister and I were always told not to go far from the house and that we weren’t supposed to be out when the streetlights came on and it got dark outside.
But my memories aren’t all sad. I was surrounded by caring and compassionate neighbors. I had many childhood friends that were in my neighborhood. I remember my dad taking my younger sister and I to the playground and we would befriend others who were from the “projects” or “ghetto.” Our neighborhood would have block parties and the local church would give away schools supplies to kids. My friends and I would ride our bikes down the block and chase each other around the run-down playground. In the end, does it even matter what good deeds were done and what good times were shared?
The neighborhood is changing due to one large force: GENTRIFICATION, which according to the Oxford Dictionary means: “The process whereby the character of a poor urban area is changed by wealthier people moving in, improving housing, and attracting new businesses, typically displacing current inhabitants in the process. Or the process of making someone or something more refined, polite, or respectable.”
The conflict residing in these definitions, alone, is very offensive. It suggests that wealthy outsiders can just come in and enforce their rules and will within a community so that they may benefit from this themselves. While the ones subjected to this form of harsh form of treatment are usually poor African Americans and Latinos. In this case African Americans who make up majority of the East Church Hill area. This form of lawful “colonialism” is unfair and disrespectful to the generations of individuals who have made Church Hill their home, through the good and the bad, are now being subjected to high mortgage rates that they can’t afford to pay and results in them being forced to move from their homes to only live in another “run down area.” The history of gentrification has never seemed to help or assist the original residents. I’ve seen it happen over and over in many places. But now I’m seeing it affect the people I love.
Richmond, the capital of Virginia, although not as large and spectacular as many of the more glamorized cities in America, has its nice restaurants and tourist spots. But with the good comes the bad. Many people do not realize Richmond is ranked the most unsafe, crime-filled city in the state of Virginia. Church Hill is one of the most violent areas in Richmond. While the facts can’t be denied that Churchill and most of East Side Richmond is higher in crime, poverty, and eviction rates. The area has a culture that shares the same idea of the stereotypical poor black neighborhood with cars blasting loud rap music, and over excessive amount of corner stores, liquor stores, and gas stations that sell fried chicken and a mood that exudes danger and an unsafe area.
“Here you see so many run-down houses that aren’t maintained; shutters falling off, windows broken, and roofs falling apart...some of these black people don’t take care of their houses and run down the community,” stated my father, Darell Jefferson.
I interviewed Ms. Diana Jackson, an African American resident of Church Hill who has lived in the area all her life. She had explained that throughout her lifetime she saw a lot of reconstruction of the city and over the years watched the area continue to change. It was in 1969 that she moved to Holland Park, a previously predominately white area. She even shared with me a few words she recalled from an older white woman who lived across from her: “When black people move in white people move out,” and it was true in this case. Ms. Jackson explained to me that she had definitely noticed that the Church Hill area had become more mixed and that she believed that the area would continue to change as more white residents were moving in.
She noticed an increase in her property taxes as more houses on nearby blocks were being rebuilt and occupied by new residents. She also mentioned that although she did not mind, and even preferred a more mixed neighborhood, she felt that this would not benefit black residents who were forced to leave their homes and forced to move to other areas. Ms. Jackson also did not believe that it would help with all the issues faced in her community with poverty and crime, that the cycle would only restart, just in some place new. Her strong belief was that the people affected needed to educate themselves and take a stand.
“Black people need to fight for what they want and believe, but they also need the backing of higher officials and government to help them get out of this continuous struggle,” said Ms. Jackson.
When I discussed this with my father he had this to say, “I feel like I’m on both sides of the fence about it because this allows me and many other people in the neighborhood to sale our houses for much higher prices than they are worth. While on the other hand this does not necessarily help the dilemma of many black Americans who often are caught repeating the cycle of gentrification. Along with living in poverty-stricken neighborhoods with high crime rates”.
The changes are already happening on a large scale. Research shows that the Richmond area, including Church Hill, has seen a major decrease in the African American population over the past few decades. “In four census tracts in Richmond, the black population fell 45 percent between 1990-2010, while the white population increased 30 percent in the same area. The city’s overall population increased 10 percent over the same time,” according to the report from Virginia Mercury.
I’ve long known gentrification as the process of a poor urban areas being changed by wealthier people moving in, improving housing, and attracting new businesses, typically displacing current inhabitants in the process. To some extent, it’s inevitable. I have come to realize that everything that has a beginning has an end. This same saying applies to the situation at hand. But I also believe there’s a kinder and more considerate approach.
Let me make an analogy. Let’s say you have a car with a few issues, you can 1. put in time, energy, and money to have it fixed or 2. replace the car entirely. The situation many gentrified areas are facing is that not only is neighborhood being “replaced” but the civilians in these poor neighborhoods are getting replaced too. There are ways that can combine the two scenarios of revitalizing the area and allowing the original inhabitants to keep their homes and culture while uplifting and helping create a better community in the many ways that are needed. Examples of what could be done to help allow for original residents to stay and benefit from the change in their community could be: city laws concerning affordable housing to make sure cost of housing is no more than 30% of household income. Along with government set zoning laws to ensure that areas do not become overly gentrified and Community groups are more involved in the early planning stages of urban renewal projects.
As stated by Don Coleman, a resident of Church Hill, “The hope in all of this is that there is a generation of young people will sound the alarm and fight to be a part of solutions rather than surrender to the brokenness of our world. It will also take courage on the part of those who have benefited from past inequities to give back as a demonstration of their sincerity in seeing true opportunities for all. Truth be told until all of us want what’s best for all of us no matter what it cost us the broken systems seem to keep the oppressed: oppressed.”