Lethal Gentrification & Breonna Taylor
The world is not thy friend nor the world’s law:
The world affords no law to make thee rich;
Then be not poor, but break it, and take this.
Romeo and Juliet (5.1.76)
I came across a great article tonight from the Louisville Courier Journal. Great in that it was informative, but it was devastating to read.
Breonna Taylor’s death, described by her family’s attorneys, was the result of an operation by the police department & Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer to “clear out a block in western Louisville that was part of a major gentrification makeover”. An LMPD “Place-Based Investigation” officer requested a warrant for Taylor’s home with the primary targets being two men. Because her home was among several in a block that were flagged as “suspected drug house” or “suspected stash house”, the police entered with no knock on March 13th and murdered her in her bed. The Louisville and Jefferson County Landbank Authority bought the home for $1 on June 5th, which would have been her 27th birthday.
I do believe that, whether it was Breonna Taylor in the home or the two men on the warrants, there was a greater plan to remove this community from their homes to make way for the housing redevelopment plan.
̶I̶t̶ ̶t̶u̶r̶n̶s̶ ̶o̶u̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶”̶f̶a̶i̶r̶ ̶m̶a̶r̶k̶e̶t̶ ̶v̶a̶l̶u̶e̶”̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶B̶r̶e̶o̶n̶n̶a̶’̶s̶ ̶h̶o̶m̶e̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶ ̶$̶1̶7̶,̶1̶6̶0̶.̶
Her life and who ever was going to get in the way of the city owning her property was worth less than $17,160.
It gives me great pause to consider the implications of the evidence raised in the Courier article. I know I am certainly under-educated on the roots of gentrification’s evil. I assume it lives by it’s definition, “a process of changing the character of a neighborhood through the influx of more affluent residents and businesses”…a compact and concise way to describe an inherently destructive, culture killing, fistful of incendiary capitalism, that destroys what makes communities rich, but not the…”right” kind of rich. I assume my role is to research communities I plan to enter and shop locally. I assume I could do more.
A chief part of our mission is to empower people to increase their independence. We aid them with employment, education, and health. When they reach their full potential, we all know our job doesn’t end there. They should become a part of our community forever. “We all have skin in the game”, as my boss usually reminds my leadership team. If I want to be a global thinking leader while at work, and in my locality, I should be checking in on my corner of the mission in a way that hadn’t occurred to me until I thought deeply this evening about what happened to Breonna Taylor, and why. Helping BIPOC who are seeking their greatest potential to vet their future opportunities, requires a lens of empathy to how lethal gentrification is to this group.
“How extensive is displacement?”
“Exactly what kinds of people are displaced, and how do people and groups fare after they leave gentrifying neighborhoods?”
This article helps answer these questions that I had as well. I definitely recommend the article linked at the top ~ here it is one more time for measure. More details about Breonna Taylor’s death and how you can help can be found here.
