gentrifier

If gentrification bothers you, the first thing you have to ask yourself is “Am I part of the problem?” The world is better when it’s more diverse

When you’re married to the only white man in your apartment building—and one of the very few in the neighborhood—you, as a woman, make a habit of observing him, especially if you’re a woman of color or a mixed race woman. “Will he use his social privilege for good or evil?” is the simple question, but evaluating him in those terms is not so simple.

Folks rail the most against “types.” A white girl with a shaved head living in a non-white neighborhood is a type. She is also a gentrifier. It doesn’t matter whether she is a starving artist or whether she works in finance. The color of her skin represents something bigger than herself. She’s the brass ring, money in the bank, and social mobility.