Dichotomy this, Juxtaposition that; Have You Checked Your Privilege Yet?

By Eve Barrette

Art by Ashley Yu

This past weekend, I sat at a coffee shop and drank my 9-dollar latte that had no espresso and tasted like cake. Annoyed with my blunder of a purchase, I mindlessly perused the book I was working through and two women next to me were being less than discreet about their conversation. 

“I don’t know, New York isn’t the kind of place you can live in until you're 90 y'know?” one gabbed, roughly in her mid twenties and smacking her gum between her words. Her friend nodded in vigorous sympathy. “I’m kinda getting bored of the things around here; I wonder where I’m gonna go next?”

The casualness in her tone irked me as these two women debated about if Denver or Seattle was the appropriate place for their thirties. People move to New York City because it fits their current phase of life, it’s considered the city of opportunity and many come purely to reap the rewards, in the process endangering those who have laid down roots here. I've lived in Queens all my life, and as a white resident of the borough, I've moved from Astoria, then Bayside, then Flushing as the cost of living steadily rose. So, while I have a different experience, I can recognize the signs.

Fort Greene was once considered a buzzing circle of Black creativity and genius, a haven of the arts as Black professionals and artists, and Cecil Taylor have been brought up and lived in Fort Greene during prominent eras. After a rough poverty, crime strike, and crack epidemic, the district slowly reverted to a center for Black writers, singers, and filmmakers. Even before their prominent mark of a creative community, there has been evidence that more than half of Brooklyn’s Black population lived in Fort Greene since the late 1800s. As time went on, new occupants continued to replace older residents and housing became more expensive. By the late 1980s, a large proportion of lower middle-class families began to also move away from Fort Greene and eastward deeper in Brooklyn, seeking lower housing costs. 

Spike Lee, an established filmmaker and born and raised in Fort Greene, came to Pratt in 2014 to give a talk when he was asked about the opposing argument (in reference to a NYT article making a pro gentrification statement). He said  “Here’s the thing: I grew up here in Fort Greene. I grew up here in New York. It’s changed. And why does it take an influx of white New Yorkers in the south Bronx, in Harlem, in Bed Stuy, in Crown Heights for the facilities to get better? The garbage wasn’t picked up every motherfuckin’ day when I was living in 165 Washington Park. P.S. 20 was not good. P.S. 11. Rothschild 294. The police weren’t around…..We bought the motherfuckin’ house in 1968 and now you call the cops? In 2013? Get the fuck outta here!”

The purpose of this article isn't to wag my finger at Pratt students and tell you to pack your things and leave. The point of this article is to educate and to urge Pratt students to be aware of their privilege of being in a hotspot of talent and be aware of the damage one could potentially do by moving to New York City. Do research when you go shopping or want to grab an item to eat; what businesses are you supporting? There’s nothing wrong with being curious about a new city, but NYC is rapidly losing its charm that visitors come here for in the first place. Being woke is not the same as being radical; recognize that.