Gentrification-reshaping old into the new

In Caitlin Cahill’s article,  “Negotiating Grit and Glamour: Young Women of Color and the Gentrification of the Lower East Side,” she gives a descriptive analysis of the experiences of six young women between the ages of 16-22 years, growing up in a gentrifying, misrepresented, disinvested community.  Her investigation focused on minority groups: African Americans, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Chinese and Black Latinas who resided at Lower East Side, Alphabet City, Loisaida, East Village and Da Sixth Boro.  Besides their different cultural backgrounds, they all share in common, racial discrimination and social inequality.

Cahill explained the stereotypes that existed in their communities.  They were frequently referred to as “burden to society,” “high school drop outs,” “lazy on welfare” etc.  This reflection of these working class women resulted because of disinvestment.  Disinvestment is characterized by under funding programs and financial redlining thus resulting in shortage of affordable housing, cutbacks in social services, scarcity of jobs, lack of financial security and support.  According to Cahill, the effect of women internalizing deprivation does contribute to a sense of shame and inadequacy.  Furthermore, not only does these minority groups have to accept failure but they are faced with social and spatial exclusion with the emergence of Gentrification.

Gentrification refers to the “clean up” of inner city communities thus creating a community that the locales no longer fit in but is fully accommodating for the new settlers.  Cahill stated that gentrification is laissez-faire racism in that global capitalism creates structural discrimination and forms of spatial and social segregation.  This is evident in ownership because there is a relative raced and classed demarcation between the “haves” and “have nots.”  There is also threat of displacement as minorities lose personal and collective control until ultimately there is an appropriation of their culture and history as well as seeing their culture diminish right before their eyes.

In addition, we see a group of people that is torn between two cultures to maintain social order.  They are dislocated from their own community while still living there or they are forced to relocate thus deconcentrating poverty.

Meanwhile, Holly Sklar, in her article, “The Upperclass and Mothers N The Hood”, she seemed to highlight all the shared, social and political experiences of the Black woman vs the White woman.  Her focus was on the fundamental social institution in all culture, the family.  She described different structures of families but stressed all the negative perceptions from the levels of poverty, violence, criminality to class system.