The always thoughtful Esteban, from the Crown Heights Tenants Union, added a comment on "On Second Thought" that puts this article in its proper place...as one reminder of the tactics, but hardly the last word. Here's his comment from the last post:
I think part of what makes the story so compelling is the matter-of-fact
way the issues are discussed. As Cea [from UHAB] says in the follow-up article,
it's shocking to hear the actual words that Ephraim uses, but only
because we are much more accustomed to hearing terms like "knowledge
worker" or "good tenant" (that's my landlord's preferred phrase, and he
uses it exclusively for new, white tenants). In the same way, it's
common knowledge that though the law clearly prohibits it, landlords
practice "source of income" discrimination ALL THE TIME. Ask any Section
8 recipient how hard it is to get a landlord to agree to rent to them;
better yet, ask an HIV positive HASA recipient how they fare. The point
is, these are not isolated incidents or things that kinda just "happen."
Getting rid of the black and brown people in a building is an essential
part of the business model for landlords like mine (Burke Leighton) or
ZT or BCB. So you know they REALLY hate it when long-term tenants and
new tenants organize together!
5 comments:
What do you mean "landlords like mine?" Don't you own your building?
Esteban wrote that, not me.
My fault.
Here's an excerpt from a commenter on jezebel speaking about her experience renting an apartment in Prospect Lefferts Garden. You can take it with a salt of grain but it's rather heart wrenching to read.
_____________________________________
"I’ve worked in real estate for close to 10 years as an agent and as a manager and now as a teacher. I teach Fair Housing to real estate agents which adds another layer to this shit. And let me tell you about how I applied for an apt in Brooklyn (Prospect Lefferts Garden), was approved and told to come to the lease signing with all the certified checks to sign w/ the Landlord. When I got to his office, the Hasidic Landlord looked at me with disgust and then looked at the real estate agent which such annoyance a and said to the agent in front of me - “you know I don’t want these kinds of people”. He looked at the certified checks I had in my hand and told me to take them back. That was 3 years ago. And as a black woman, I have had such rage/embarrassment/shame/disgust... that I haven’t talked about it to anyone. I remember looking down at myself genuinely confused and wondered if I was dressed inappropriately... Nevermind that I had taken a taxi from my office and was wearing a fucking suit (and heels. I don’t wear heels for just anything!... ;-/. And then I felt such anger with myself that this shit-of-a-human-being had made me look at myself to see if I was to blame... how fucked up is that?
I still teach Fair Housing but it makes me sick. Because this shit is a massive problem and while I can do my part to educate the agents, the Landlords are the real problem. I ended up renting another apartment a few blocks away and one by one, the black residents are being replaced by white tenants and I’m feeling such hopelessness by this situation. Ephraim is small time compared to some of the shit I’ve read about these Landlords here in Brooklyn..."
Almost forgot the link
http://jezebel.com/how-racism-is-driving-new-york-citys-gentrification-1703971124
The commenter's name is honeybadgegurl
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