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the-necessary-unnecessary · 4 years ago

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hey, can you tell us a bit about racism in Spain? I'm incredibly uneducated about it, and I don't know much about Spanish history especially racism wise so it would be really nice to get an insight from you about it.

this is a big question, since Spain’s relationship with xenophobia dates back centuries and I’m neither the most qualified person to take you through it nor someone who has suffered from Spanish society’s racist tendencies. However I’ll try to piece a bit of something together and maybe other people can add on if there’s other stuff to include. Also, this is mainly Spanish history from a racism perspective, there are many other positive things in other areas that I haven’t included (patriota pero no mucho)

So basically, up until the 15th century, Spain (in its then form) was a relatively harmonious melting pot of different cultures. With the Roman invasion, settlements and a Visigoth takeover (Germanic population) thereafter, Christianity was pretty firmly established in the country/iberian peninsula by the 2nd Century AD. In 711 AD the Moors, who had control over Islamic Africa, invaded the peninsula and established a Caliphate named Al-Andalus which had a particular stronghold in the south: in Andalusia and their Córdoban capital. Rule was stronger or weaker depending on the region but largely Islamic rule was established and Jewish and Catholic people were treated as second class citizens. Córdoba became the wealthiest, largest and most sophisticated city in Europe by the end of the tenth century, with��trade and rich intellectual North African traditions forming a unique culture in the region.

There is a strong historical basis that during a lot of this period there was pockets of ‘La Convivencia’ ie. the co-existence of Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Like for example, around Toledo where in universities the three backgrounds contributed to tremendous amounts of sharing of knowledge etc.

However, from about the 9th century onwards the Catholics who still held strong points right in the north, begun ‘la Reconquista’, the “reconquest,” where they began chipping away at the Caliphate’s dominance. By the early 11th century they had gained more land than was held by the Muslims and 1492 is where we set our next scene.

This is probably one of the biggest and most path changing years in Spanish history. Most known for being the year when Columbus landed in America, this enabled the start of Spanish imperlism which would extend to almost 5 centuries afterwards, conquering territories in South America, Africa and Asia and subjecting them to imperialistic rule and policies of white totalitarian dominance.

The second important happening in this year was the fall of Granada, the last remaining territory the Caliphate had in Spain, signifying the end of Muslim rule in the country. They were, as expected, thrown out of the country in their droves and many others were forced into hiding being subject to situations that would only get worse with the Inquisition in full swing.

The third, and last, big event in this year was outlined in the Alhambra Decree where the expulsion of all practicing Jews was announced. Now this had already followed the forced conversion tens of thousands of Jews had been subjected to in 1391 and 1415 (ie. crusades and masacres against them). As a result of the Alhambra decree and the prior persecution, over 200,000 Jews converted to Catholicism and around 160,000 were expelled.

This ended religious diversity in Spain, the Inquisition sealed this fate. If you’ve heard of one thing about all of this I’m sure it’s the spanish inquisition. Primarily set up to identify heretics among those who converted from Judaism and Islam to Catholicism and ensure the establishment of the Catholic monarchy, it became a method of torture, fear and murder for those who were perceived to cause any threat to the Spanish catholic order. The effects of the Inquisition are widely debated, with some saying the death toll and magnitude has been blown up by the Protestants in other European countries at the time and does not show the full picture of the hundreds of thousands of converted jews and muslims who remained and overtime became integrated into Catholic society. Whilst others remaining firm to the devastating measure of these actions and the ‘pure blood’ mentality it created. What’s for certain though, is that by the end of the Inquisition in 1834 very little religious nor ethnic diversity remained in Spain.

Jump forward about 100 years and the Spanish Empire is no more after the 1898 crisis, there’s a weird back and forth period with Republics and Monarchies and dictatorships until the Civil War broke out in 1936. It lasted until 1939 when the Nationalists, led by Franco, took total control of the country and submitted it to a dictatorship that would last until his death in 1975. I don’t even know where to begin with a period that many people see as rosy and many others ignore completely whilst Historians have now gone so far as to call the 1940s and 50s the ‘Spanish Holocaust’. However I’ll break it down to one or two main things that have predominantly spurred on today’s racist attitudes.

During the Civil Rights movements of the 50s and 60s Spain was largely immune to the winds of changes due to their isolationist policies and dictatorial power holds. We didn’t take part in any of the dialogue nor go through any racial reconciliation, at least to much a lesser extent than most other countries. It’s quite a common thing to say that what much of europe did in 70 years we’ve only had time to do in 45, and there’s much of a grain of truth in this.

A famous conservative spanish politician called David Aznar defended these views and can be extrapolated into the sentiment that existed to facilitate the transition to democracy and still remain today: "In the democratic transition there were implicit and explicit agreements. One was that we Spaniards don't want to look to the past. Let's not disturb the graves and hurl bones at one another.” As a society, we hate to think about the past, it’s just not widely done. There’s ONE museum solely dedicated to the Civil War, the Historical Memory Law passed in 2007 to try and increase the rights of victims and their families was met by so much opposition and is devastatingly underfunded etc etc. This still translates to spaniards’ views on racism, saying it just doesn’t exist here and moving on. There’s a refusal to confront this and microagressions are ingrained in the culture.

As I’ve kind of mentioned before, issues of race extend much further than towards just black people which is why the US BLM movement cannot simply be traced onto Spain. People who are originally from Latin America face extreme stereotypes and varying forms of discrimination against them as do Arab populations and other people who have immigrated from MENA countries plus the large Roma communities.

The refugee crisis has further perpetuated the stigma around African immigrants in the past years, whilst the social effects of the 2008 Financial Crisis and beyond also continue to contribute to a xenophobic and nativist perspective where true spaniards should be prioritised with jobs, opportunities etc. For example, the alt-right wing party Vox that’s blatantly racist, anti-immigrants etc posted something with the slogan ‘Spanish Lives Matter’ the other day. They are purposefully incendiary.

Anyways, hope this was a suitable start for you, you can’t summarise millennia worths of history into a few paragraphs but I tried my best. Also there are obviously many who stand for none of these values, politicians who have tried to right these wrongs, activists who keep fighting the fight, people who have broken down barriers and areas where there’s complete coexistance. However the fact remains that these views and ideas are ingrained in people’s minds, theres blatant job discrimination and a lack of equal opportunities despite laws that may have been put in place.

I’m going to point anyone who has got this far to a couple of articles about racism from an Anglo-Saxon perspective below, racist football culture is almost always mentioned. Being a black traveller in Spain; Same Spanish Holocaust link as before but an extremely important book review read; Irish perspective on the Enigma of Spanish Racism; Racism? What Racism? Asks Spain; Opinion: Racism Is Alive and kicking in Spain

#almost a decade of ciencias sociales and cono lessons pulling through #anyways there's a lot here so maybe dont read it all by id recommend having a good skim of it!#i tried ny best to condense almost two centuries worth of histort into one post lol #blm #black lives matter #racism #spain #españa #history #og #the asks #*not two centuries lol two millennia im out here discrediting myself and everything i wrote

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amanharwara · 5 years ago

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Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited (Album Review)

Highway 61 Revisited is the sixth studio album from American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan.

Dylan is one of the artists who can manage to deliver a complex message without sacrificing any accessibility in the music. And while Dylan may not be one of the most talented singers, his passion for singing is evident. Dylan doesn't sing because he boasts a beautiful voice, rather because he has a message he wants the world to hear. Dylan's singing comes from a need to pour out his feelings to the world. Some find it hard to listen to because of the rawness but for a lot of Dylan's fans, that is what makes them want to listen to Dylan.

Highway 61 Revisited is a seminal work of art for Bob Dylan. The record signifies his transition from being a folk hero to being a rock star. This album catapulted Dylan even more into the spotlight as an amazing musician. This is evident in the success of the single, "Like A Rolling Stone." This album is also where Dylan ditched his folk style for a more electric, rock-and-roll style. This shift in styles alienated a bulk of his folk following.

The record starts with the biggest hit of Dylan's career, "Like A Rolling Stone." A single snare hit starts off the song, followed by electric guitar licks. While the song feels a bit joyful at the start, that idea gets thrown out the window once Dylan starts with the verse. The main theme of the song is the fall from grace of someone who used to live a flamboyant life but now has been thrown into desolation. Not only are they thrown into this relentless world, but they also cannot fend for themselves because they never experienced such torment when they were living their privileged life. On the chorus, Dylan sneers at the person in question, asking them without mercy, "How does it feel?" It's just one phrase, but it feels like a stab to the heart. In the first verse, Dylan reminds "Miss Lonely" about how she dismissed warnings and laughed at downtrodden people, thinking she would never be in their position. But now it probably doesn't feel as good because she did end up in their position after all. Dylan reminds her in the second verse about how even though she went to a prestigious school, she never gained any useful education because she wasted her time partying and drinking. Streetlife is going to be hard for her as she never learned anything about it. Her situation is so bad that even the Devil won't make a deal with her, won't give her an alibi. Her failure is her own doing. The last line of the final verse has two meanings. When you're invisible, you don't have any secret to conceal. Miss Lonely has fallen to the level of people she used to laugh at. Now she has become invisible like every other person, a situation which is terrible for someone who might be used to greater levels of attention, like Miss Lonely herself. This exact thing, however, can also be liberating because now she doesn't have to conceal anything because she has nothing to lose.

Next up is the fast-paced song "Tombstone Blues." It is the most raucous song on the album instrumentation-wise. The song portrays an absurdist account of America during the escalating Vietnam War. Dylan does this by using historical characters, including the likes of Jack the Ripper, John the Baptist, Beethoven, Ma Rainey, and the king of the Philistines. In the first verse, Dylan sees through the facade the authorities have created when they endorse the "reincarnation of Paul Revere's horse," meaning they're selling an illusion to the public that they need to fight for a cause. In the same verse, Dylan portrays Jack the Ripper as being the head of a government organization, depicting blood-thirsty, power-hungry politics. The chorus brings light to how the authorities have enough money to send armies to fight in other countries while the people in the country suffer. The second verse portrays the liberation of sexuality. The doctor criticizes the hysterical bride's sexual lifestyle, but the medicine man comforts her. He says that "it's not poison" and it won't kill her, rejecting pious and traditional views towards sex.

"It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry" is an acoustic/electric-blues song. The song is a mix of lines taken from different blues songs and some of Dylan's lyrics peppered in. The song has a slow tempo and a slow, sensual tone. His voice is warm on this one, in contrast to the raw tone he has on the other songs on the record. The drums at the start are offbeat but transition into a shuffling beat. The acoustic guitar plays throughout along with a piano. There's also a small harmonica solo.

"From a Buick 6" is a reckless song with crowded, bustling instrumentation. The band is very raucous in its approach, with Al Kooper on the organ and Mike Bloomfield on guitar. There's also a soaring harmonica after the bridge before the final verse. The instrumentation is similar to The Kinks' version of the Kokomo Arnold song, "Milk Cow Blues." The song also borrows a few lyrics from a Sleepy John Estes song, also of the name "Milk Cow Blues." While I used to think this song was actually about a woman, I doubt that with Dylan it's that simple. Other possible interpretations I found with some research suggest that the song could be about a shotgun or heroin addiction. The latter does seem plausible to me as, during the time of writing, Dylan was known to be hanging around the junkies of NYC and has claimed himself that he kicked a heroin habit.

"Ballad of a Thin Man" is Dylan's retort to mainstream society who are out of touch with the changes happening in the culture. It can also be interpreted as an attack on journalists and mainstream media who cause drama out of innocent things while avoiding the reality of social issues like racism and sexism. These characteristics have been personified as a certain Mr. Jones. He walks into a room where he sees a naked man, finding it hard to comprehend the situation. This depicts a certain part of society that is against a lot of societal changes such as counterculture, feminism, civil rights movements, etc. Not only are they against these changes, but they're also confused by them since they are so out of touch. When Mr. Jones notices the new changes in culture, he looks at the participants as if he was watching a geek at a circus. He gets called a freak by one of them which offends him as he thinks he is the only normal person there. Dylan ironically calls Mr. Jones knowledgable and well-read, when in reality all he has is surface knowledge and no experience in anything he talks about.

"Queen Jane Approximately" seems like a more sunny contemporary of "Like a Rolling Stone." It might not be directed towards the same person but it continues in the same path of warning someone of a fall from grace. However, unlike "Like a Rolling Stone," this song is not completely cold-hearted as Dylan repeatedly invites Queen Jane to come to see him and get away from all the negativity that surrounds her. Also, Dylan's singing is not as sneery as it was in "Like a Rolling Stone," but rather inviting. Now, there has been a lot of debate over the actual meaning of the song and who Queen Jane is. Some say Queen Jane is Joan Baez, Dylan's then-girlfriend because his relationship with her had deteriorated by that time. Also, Dylan and Joan were known as the King and Queen of Folk. While that might be true, I think that the song is about Dylan himself.

"Highway 61 Revisited" has a comical and cartoonish feel to it. The song starts with a cartoon sound effect that could very well be from something like "Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner." It has fun, frantic instrumentation, backed again by Al Kooper and Mike Bloomfield. It is small compared to other songs on the record, with only five seven-line verses with no chorus. Except for the first verse, in every verse, the first four lines rhyme and the last three lines rhyme, creating a rhyme scheme of A/A/A/A/B/B/B. In the first verse, Dylan recreates the 22nd chapter of the Bible, where God tells Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. Here, God and Abraham, nicknamed Abe, speak in 60s slang. In the second verse, Dylan uses Blind Willie McTell's alias Georgia Sam and depicts a conversation between Georgia Sam and segregationist Virginia democrat Howard Smith. Such conversations are the theme of all the verses which end by pointing to Highway 61.

"Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" has slow, groovy instrumentation. Dylan sings in a warm and melancholic tone. The song depicts being lost in the rain in Juárez, Mexico at Easter time. The narrator in the song acts as a tour guide to you, he tells you about encounters with people such as the ladies Saint Annie and Sweet Melinda. He tells you to say thanks to Saint Annie if you see her, of course ironically. She seems to have hooked him onto some sort of substance, possibly herself or maybe she gave him some sort of STI. The problem is so extreme that even the narrator's doctor, who is his good friend, can't tell him what's wrong with him. Sweet Melinda is so stunning and beautiful, that she brings out the narrator's animalistic instincts and takes his breath away. The narrator tells us about how he started drinking and doing drugs until he was so helpless that he called it quits and wanted to go back to NYC as he believed "I've had enough."

The album ends with the 11-and-a-half minute behemoth of a song, "Desolation Row." This is what I consider not only the best Dylan song in terms of songwriting but also one of the best songs that were ever written. It is the only truly acoustic/folk-like song on the entire record. Similar to Tombstone Blues, in Desolation Row, Dylan uses various characters and people from history to depict a portrait of life in poverty. The title comes from "skid row," used to refer to a run-down area of a city, often populated with cheap barrooms and hotels. While something like skid row would be used to portray a run-down area with no hope, Desolation Row hints to a sense of redemption. See, Desolation Row does not only portray a ramshackle place but also a progression in the thinking and freedom of culture. This can be seen in the lyrics. For example, Cinderella now no longer awaits her Prince Charming to make her life better, instead, she takes charge of her own life. This can be interpreted in either a feminist perspective or of someone successful. However, Dylan quickly reverses this with a twist at the end of the verse. Cinderella did not end up becoming a princess but instead sweeping on Desolation Row. In the same verse, Dylan challenges the traditional, old-age conception of love and romance. Romeo enters telling Cinderella that she belongs to him, but is confronted by someone else saying that he's in the "wrong place." Desolation Row is no longer a place of conventional norms, but a fledgling era of modernism. While I could go on and on about this song, trying to give mine and other people's interpretation of it, I suggest you give it a try on your own, otherwise, we'll be sitting here for quite a while.

In summary, "Highway 61 Revisited" is what I consider to be the seminal work of art for Dylan and also one of the best albums ever to be made. This album contains some of Dylan's most abstract lyrics and powerful deliveries. On the record, Dylan fuses folk with electric rock instrumentation in a funky, eclectic manner. The sounds presented on this album were kind of unprecedented at the time this was album was released, but they've stood the test of time. Dylan's electric venture was not much liked by his previous folk following as they thought he was a traitor and betrayed them. As Dylan wasn't being direct anymore, but rather abstract, they thought he was losing the narrative of the folk movement. However, this does not mean Dylan wasn't talking about important subjects, he was just being more subtle and abstract about it.

So yeah, this is one of my favorite albums of all time and I recommend you check it out.

Overall Rating: 9 / 10

#music #music review #album #album review #bob dylan #highway 61 revisited #folk #folk rock #rock

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davidoespailla · 6 years ago

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Where 20-Somethings Actually Buy Homes: The 10 Hottest Cities for Young Millennials

iStock; realtor.com

As much as pigeonholing millennials has become widely accepted sport (Selfie sticks! Avocado toast! Gross entitlement!), you can’t really squeeze the ginormous mass of Americans born between 1981 and 1996 into one eco-friendly, sustainably produced basket. Maybe two baskets. There are the older ones in their 30s who graduated straight into the hellscape of the Great Recession, and then the youngsters in their 20s who caught a break and got out of school when the economy was booming again.

It’s no surprise then, that when it comes to home buying, the older half tends to be jaded and a bit battle-scarred, while the younger group is more optimistic.

But here’s the thing: While millennials have been the biggest chunk of U.S. home buyers already for a few years, we’re about to see the younger half hit the housing market en masse. The biggest years for millennial births were between 1989 and 1993, and over the next five years those folks will all be hitting their 30s—the core first-time home-buying years. This group will help determine where the next “hot” markets are and what the most desirable homes of the future will be. Their tastes and preferences will shape the housing market for years to come.

So the realtor.com® data team set out to find the metropolitan areas* with the most home buyers still in their 20s—not just younger millennials, but also the first vestiges of the next demo group, the ominously titled Generation Z.

Get ready for some changes, folks.

“Younger Americans don’t have the baggage of the recession and are better positioned to become home buyers—and reverse some of that narrative that millennials aren’t buyers,” says Jason Dorsey, president of the Austin, TX–based research group Center for Generational Kinetics.

So where are they going? “Cost is still the driving factor” of where they want to settle down, says Dorsey. “They need to be in a place where they think there are enough job opportunities and job security for them to make the commitment to buy a home.”

But they don’t want to go to the middle of nowhere just because it’s cheap. And they aren’t necessarily settling down to accommodate growing families yet, as the median age for a first-time parent was 26 in 2016—up from 23 in 1994, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data. They wants jobs and fun. Stability and nightlife. Affordability and culture. And they don’t mind taking on a fixer-upper or a less traditional neighborhood to make it happen,

To figure out where 20- to 29-year-olds are buying the most homes, we calculated where they took out the highest percentage of mortgages in 2018** in the 200 largest metropolitan areas. The ranking was limited to one metro per state to ensure geographic diversity.

So what are the top hot spots for buyers in their 20s?

Best cities for 20-somethings

Claire Widman

1. Evansville, IN

Median list price: $155,000 Percentage of mortgages issued to buyers aged 20 to 29**: 33.2%

Evansville, IN

DenisTangneyJr/iStock

This Midwestern river town is striving to become a place where young folks want to live and hang out on the weekends. The city purchased a private lot downtown with plans to turn it into a park, music venue, and maybe even an ice rink. Events like the Evansville Food Truck Festival, in its third year, and the buzzy Evansville Donut Festival are stemming the flow of 20-somethings to Louisville, two hours east, and Indianapolis, about three hours northeast.

Baked treats aside, the biggest draw here is affordability. Median-priced homes cost about $100,000 less than in those bigger metros.

“These younger buyers are realizing they can get homes they actually own and spend less on a mortgage than they would on rent,” says local real estate agent Trae Dauby of Keller Williams Capital Realty. “Most are locals who were born and raised in the area.”

The city doesn’t have a lot of new condo developments, so many buyers in their 20s are grabbing 100-year-old, single-family homes that need work. The hottest spot for these buyers is just west of downtown along the Ohio River in the 47712 ZIP code. They can score four-bedroom beauties for about $130,000 in neighborhoods such as Poplar Grove and Bunny Grove within the ZIP. About half of those taking out mortgages in this area were under 30.

2. Duluth, MN

Median list price: $178,600 Percentage of mortgages issued to buyers aged 20 to 29: 32.5%

Park Point, Duluth, MN

LIKE HE/iStock

Located in northern Minnesota and right on the banks of Lake Superior, Duluth attracts outdoorsy folks looking for a low-key lifestyle with lots of fresh air, kayaking, and cross-country skiing.

“We attract a certain younger demographic: the micro-beer-drinking bike rider,” says Jonathan Thornton, managing broker of Coldwell Banker East-West Realty in Duluth. (Nice targeting!)

These days these sudsy cyclists have plenty of options, including Ursa Minor Brewing, opened last fall by a former high school chemistry teacher and his brother and serving signature ales such as Hazy Bastard and Porcupine Pilsner. They’re popular with the college set (21-plus, of course) since the city is home to the University of Minnesota Duluth and its roughly 10,000 students.

Home prices here are much cheaper than in Minneapolis, a two-hour hour drive away. Twenty-somethings are gravitating toward single-family fixer-uppers priced under $100,000 in Lincoln Park, a historic neighborhood right on the lake’s shoreline and where most of the breweries are opening.

3. Clarksville, TN

Median list price: $226,800 Percentage of mortgages issued to buyers aged 20 to 29: 31.8%

Downtown Clarksville, TN

DenisTangneyJr/iStock

Clarksville is known for Fort Campbell, an Army base that sits just outside of town. For decades young military families have been the top home buyers in town—but recently they’re competing with an influx of 20-somethings priced out of Nashville.

Prices have soared in the Music City to $350,000. So Clarksville, about 45 minutes away, has become an appealing alternative.

“People can find more affordable housing and a lot more house here,” says local real estate agent Valerie Hunter-Kelly of Keller Williams. “Those younger buyers don’t want to deal with the stress of a competitive market, so they come to Clarksville instead.”

Younger buyers are usually looking for three-bed, two-bath, newly constructed houses or remodeled bungalows in the $150,000 to $220,000 range, Hunter-Kelly says. On the weekends they go out in Nashville, or stay in town and maybe tour Old Glory Distilling, a whiskey distillery. (G’head, try the Smooth Shine Moonshine. Straight up, please.)

4. Lafayette, LA

Median list price: $210,100 Percentage of mortgages issued to buyers aged 20 to 29: 31.7%

Lafayette, LA

DenisTangneyJr/iStock

Young folks looking for a good time have no need to drive the two hours from Lafayette to New Orleans. Known for its Southern charm and cajun eats, this Louisiana city hosts its own Mardi Gras celebration every March complete with elaborate costumes and masked balls.

But it’s all of the good-paying oil jobs in this Gulf Coast community that are the real draw for 20-something residents.

Shocking as it may seem to denizens of East or West Coast cities, it’s common for Lafayette locals to be on their second home before they even hit 30. That’s because two-bedroom, starter homes sell for less than $140,000.

5. Des Moines, IA

Median list price: $288,500 Percentage of mortgages issued to buyers aged 20 to 29: 31.1%

Des Moines, IA

benkrut/iStock

When it comes to Midwest real estate, Des Moines, which has been grappling with flooding in recent days, is actually on the more expensive side. Places such as Detroit, Indianapolis, and St. Louis all have lower prices. So why are folks under 30 buying in the state capital of Iowa? They’re drawn to good-paying jobs at companies such as Wells Fargo, Nationwide, and Principal Financial and the quaint music and arts scenes.

“We’re getting young workers from Chicago and the East Coast and the West Coast who want the lifestyle of a smaller town,” says Paul Walter, a real estate agent with Re/Max Real Estate Group in Des Moines. The region’s population jumped 13% from 2010 to 2017, with lots of those newcomers being on the younger side.

Many of these buyers are trying to snag condos in the heart of downtown. But if price is an issue, they’re looking at Beaverdale, a quiet suburban neighborhood with lots of renovated homes priced around $200,000.

“A lot of those folks are at the point where they’re tired of renting or living at home with Mom and Dad. They’re eager to get out on their own,” Walter says.

6. Provo, UT

Median list price: $380,000 Percentage of mortgages issued to buyers aged 20 to 29: 30.4%

Shopping district in Provo, UT

Witold Skrypczak/Getty Images

When 20-somethings buy a home, it’s usually because they’re getting a bargain. That isn’t the case in Provo, the most expensive market on our ranking. Instead Provo offers a booming job market with employers such as Ancestry.com and Brigham Young University, as well as a startup scene that punches above its belt.

Simply put: Folks have more money to spend on homes here. Plus, it’s a little cheaper than Salt Lake City, about 45 minutes north.

Buyers are getting a helping hand from the city, too. Provo offers down payment assistance up to $10,000 for first-timers. Just last month realtor.com named Provo one of the best places in America for folks looking to snag a starter home.

The biggest group of home buyers in their 20s can be found in the 84058 ZIP code, in Orem, in the northern section of the metro. Home to Utah Valley University, the ZIP has more than 40% of buyers under 30.

7. Youngstown, OH

Median list price: $119,300 Percentage of mortgages issued to buyers aged 20 to 29: 30.2%

Youngstown, OH

DenisTangneyJr/iStock

When the American steel industry started going belly up in the ’70s, Youngstown went down with it. The area hasn’t fully recovered to this day.

Despite revitalization efforts and a drop in crime, the city is still battling persistent poverty with the median household income just under $26,300, according to Census data. In an attempt to stem the brain drain, the city invested in the Youngstown Business Incubator, providing funding and office space to tech and 3D printing companies.

Most of all, the low home prices, even by Rust Belt standards, are an incentive to stick around. Folks can snag three-bedroom homes with front porches for under $60,000.

While many of the most expensive housing markets are seeing home prices fall, median home prices are so low in Youngstown that they had room to jump 12.1% over the past year. That’s by far the largest increase among the places we ranked.

8. Wichita, KS

Median list price: $197,500 Percentage of mortgages issued to buyers aged 20 to 29: 29.4%

Downtown Wichita, KS

DenisTangneyJr/iStock

Wichita State University grads don’t need to head to the bigger cities to start their careers. The area is home to large employers such as Koch Industries and Cessna. A strong local economy combined with reasonable home prices makes it easier to save up for a first down payment.

There are also plenty of things for 20-somethings to do in the Great Plains college town. Enjoy imbibing? There’s Aero Plains Brewing, where the bar is made out of an old airplane wing, festivals like Autumn & Art, where folks can drink wine while walking through the open-air gallery, and the Midwest Beerfest, where attendees taste craft beers from more than 400 breweries.

Home buyers get a lot for their money as we ranked the city No. 5 for having the most homes over 3,000 square feet.

9. Utica, NY

Median list price: $130,000 Percentage of mortgages issued to buyers aged 20 to 29: 29.2%

Utica, NY

DenisTangneyJr/iStock

Utica was once known as the Sin City of the East thanks to the strong presence of the mob. But thankfully, the former textile manufacturing town is now better known for low prices than organized crime.

Homes in this upstate New York metro are way cheaper than those in Albany, about 90 minutes east, which carry median list prices of $300,000. And because Utica is so cheap, first-time buyers tend to be young.

Most 20-something homeowners are purchasing three-bed, one-bath homes for $100,000 or less—about a third of the national median home price, says local real estate broker David Paciello of One Realty Partners

“That age group is our bread and butter,” says Paciello.

10. Grand Rapids, MI

Median list price: $286,500 Percentage of mortgages issued to buyers aged 20 to 29: 29.1%

Meijer Gardens and Greenhouse in Grand Rapids, MI

Terryfic3D/iStock

This old former industrial town has transformed into something of a Midwest hipster haven. By design.

“The city made a plan a few years ago to really market itself toward young people. They made improvements to downtown and brought in employment opportunities,” says Trisha Cornelius, a real estate agent with Keller Williams in Grand Rapids. “They built those loft condos downtown … specifically marketed toward younger buyers.”

Those who can’t afford those lofts, which can easily top $350,000, can scoop up cheaper fixer-uppers in up-and-coming neighborhoods like Eastown. The walkable community is filled with cafes and local restaurants populated by the younger set.

And these young buyers are helping to keep the housing market strong here. Indeed, realtor.com projected earlier this year that Grand Rapids would be the second-hottest real estate market in 2019.

* A metropolitan statistical area is a designation that includes the urban core of a city and the surrounding smaller towns and cities.

** This figure is calculated using mortgage data from Optimal Blue, a real estate data firm that specializes in lending records. We excluded mortgages that were refinances or purchases for second homes or investment properties.

Allison Underhill contributed to this report.

The post Where 20-Somethings Actually Buy Homes: The 10 Hottest Cities for Young Millennials appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®.

Where 20-Somethings Actually Buy Homes: The 10 Hottest Cities for Young Millennials

#TRUSTED LOCAL REALTOR #Where 20-Somethings Actually Buy Homes: The 10 Hottest Cities for Young Mille

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cryptobully-blog · 7 years ago

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Where Eminent Domain Meets the Blockchain

http://cryptobully.com/2018/03/where-eminent-domain-meets-the-blockchain/

Where Eminent Domain Meets the Blockchain

Just as a country’s borders drawn on a globe aren’t often exact, neither are the lines drawn on individual properties around much of the world. De Soto Inc., a socially-conscious joint venture between Overstock.com subsidiary Medici Ventures, Overstock founder Patrick Byrne and world-renowned Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto, has plans to solve the problems of property titles with a developed global property registry system utilizing decentralized blockchain technology.

The vision of de Soto and Byrne is a simple one: by making property rights and claims of individuals publicly recorded and globally verified, they can enable the poor to safely unlock the value of their land; help to mollify disputes by clearly stating who claims what property; and empower local land ownership.

The venture, announced in December 2017, pairs de Soto’s decades worth of reform experience as the founder of the Institute for Liberty and Democracy think tank with Patrick Byrne’s enthusiasm for bitcoin and the capabilities of its underlying blockchain technology. In an interview with Bitcoin Magazine, both men discussed the purpose of their ambitious undertaking.

De Soto Inc. aims to create a global property registry blockchain as a utility that will unlock dead capital, help five billion people have modernized property rights, give information necessary to settle property conflicts/disputes and to fight terrorism by undermining terrorists’ business model.

From de Soto’s perspective, the prospect of having the logistical and entrepreneurial support of Patrick Byrne and Medici Ventures behind his vision was important. With Byrne and Medici at his side, de Soto hopes the new venture will highlight the differences between government views on property rights and the actual reality of property rights.

The noted economist stated, “For me it’s very simple. I’ve been behind what blockchain means for the world for a while, and the whole issue [of property ownership] was a natural meeting place for us. It’s the entrepreneurial ability and the strength of Patrick to be able to pull all of these things together.”

Handling Multiple Property Ownership Systems on One Blockchain

Property laws around the world vary wildly based on country, political/religious systems and particular ideologies. China, for example, does not allow citizens to “own” property, but rather lease it from the government (albeit some leases are for up to 99 years). Other countries with nomadic histories can have more lax views on property ownership than western counterparts.The idea of individuals owning private property as a “freehold estate” that they can pass on to other generations is not ubiquitous. De Soto Inc. addressed how they would manage to account for all of these different types of property ownership systems on a single blockchain.

De Soto emphasized that they were not trying to give any opinion or show preference for one type of property system or one country’s system over others. “What we’re doing is providing all sides information as to how actually the informal economy holds its assets on the basis of the ledgers that we are going to obtain from them.”

As Byrne pointed out, property ownership may be described by what “the central government says…but then there are the people and what they say. This will put a sunlight on all kinds of disputes or disagreements. They will all be surfaced and be able to be dealt with, rather than just be the source of underlying [conflicts].”

Both men reiterated that De Soto Inc. doesn’t plan to actually solve the problems or act as a mediator or judge in any capacity, but that they plan to “provide MASSIVE information” that would provide a “digital shortcut” that would connect the formal legal ways of recognizing property ownership in underdeveloped and developing countries with the reality of property ownership experienced by the people in those countries. As de Soto puts it:

[E]ach country has its own way of coming into the global spectrum. What we are doing is providing all that missing [property ownership] information of the two-thirds of the world which isn’t [already] published and make the connection between the systems so that they work themselves out, clash by clash…making sure that all that information is side by side and can be compared and connected anywhere in the world.

Eminent Domain Meets the Blockchain

“If we think about eminent domain,” said de Soto, “most of the problems you have in my part of the world…is not knowing whose rights you are affecting. In other words, eminent domain says the state can expropriate in certain conditions. But when you get to places like Peru…like Ethiopia or the Niger Delta or Algeria… the eminent domain laws don’t apply.”

What we have found out is that everywhere in the world, where those property rights don’t seem to match the global system, everything is already on existing ledgers.

De Soto Inc. now seeks a way to make “that mosaic of information” common by using “expert systems and blockchain technology” to create a platform that will showcase not only where land ownership lies, but where contradictions are and “who really controls things on ground zero as opposed to the law books.”

While De Soto Inc.’s stance may seem anti-authoritarian at first blush, De Soto believes their platform will give “everybody, including authorities, an idea of the volume, the enormous volume of people outside the legal system.” Authorities can then be made aware of a property rights problem before miscommunication leads to further issues.

Property With Multiple Ownership Claims on It

De Soto and Byrne take a rather pragmatic view toward the idea of accounting for disputed territories.

“When you get on the ground,” de Soto said, ”there is no such thing as a territory overlapping another one; there’s always a fence. We’re getting to the fences.”

There are multiple schools of thought on property rights and possession interest that could cause friction of those fences, such as the rightful claims of ownership over Jerusalem, which is a holy city for three major religions.

But, as de Soto pointed out, most of the property disputes heard of were based on claims to ownership. In other words, whether you believe Tibet is an Autonomous Region of China, or that the Eastern Ukraine should be free from Russian control is less important at any given moment then who owns, polices, taxes and protects the land that is subject to dispute.

As Byrne put it, “We are going to document possession.” The implication laid out elsewhere in the interview is that whatever claims or issues go beyond the idea of ‘possession=ownership’ is for the parties to the dispute to resolve (or not). De Soto Inc. does not claim to opine on anything beyond possession, the basic code to property law.

Disrupting the Terrorist Business Model

While property disputes can be nasty, a particularly difficult form for De Soto Inc. to wrestle with seems to be adverse possession, where someone knows they don’t have ownership rights to the land and tries to claim it anyhow. The most extreme version of this could be viewed as terrorist control in areas of the world. Byrne and de Soto, however, had an answer to the subject of “terrorism.”

“The ledgers are not drawn up by the terrorists,” said de Soto. “The ledgers are drawn up by the local people.”

Byrne elaborated on de Soto’s point:

One of Hernando’s great discoveries is that the business model of a terrorist is going into those local guys who run the ledgers and saying, ‘We’ll recognize your ledger if you give us support.’ And we can disrupt [that].

He added that maybe the best way to fight terrorism is to fight the business model. “What we are doing is a business disruption of the business models of ISIS and FARC and Al Qaeda and all these guys. The best way to disrupt the terrorists is to disrupt their business model.”

Is De Soto Inc.’s plan a herculean undertaking? It seemed after speaking with both men that they will even acknowledge that. But given the potential impact on the planet, both Byrne and de Soto seemed staunchly convinced this was the right thing for them to go “all in” on.

While the venture is capitalistic, or as Byrne put it, “We may make a few shekels in the process and that’s OK…” He reiterated that the venture was primarily a socially conscious undertaking — the fruition of both his and Hernando de Soto’s life’s work.

De Soto Inc. has plans to scale up in as many new territories as possible. According to de Soto, “We have requests from heads of state that go from Sub-Saharan Africa to the Maghreb, to Latin America to Asia, once we get our act on the ground, we will see which [areas] we will take on first…there are no geographical priorities.”

If De Soto Inc. can deliver on its goals, the only geographic restriction (currently) on the blockchain property registry system will be planet Earth.

Blockchain

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cryptochurp · 7 years ago

Text

De Soto Inc.: Where Eminent Domain Meets the Blockchain

Handling Multiple Property Ownership Systems on One Blockchain

As Byrne pointed out, property ownership may be described by what “the central government says...but then there are the people and what they say. This will put a sunlight on all kinds of disputes or disagreements. They will all be surfaced and be able to be dealt with, rather than just be the source of underlying [conflicts].”

Eminent Domain Meets the Blockchain

“If we think about eminent domain,” said de Soto, “most of the problems you have in my part of the world...is not knowing whose rights you are affecting. In other words, eminent domain says the state can expropriate in certain conditions. But when you get to places like Peru...like Ethiopia or the Niger Delta or Algeria… the eminent domain laws don’t apply.”

What we have found out is that everywhere in the world, where those property rights don’t seem to match the global system, everything is already on existing ledgers.

Property With Multiple Ownership Claims on It

De Soto and Byrne take a rather pragmatic view toward the idea of accounting for disputed territories.

“When you get on the ground,” de Soto said, ”there is no such thing as a territory overlapping another one; there’s always a fence. We’re getting to the fences.”

Disrupting the Terrorist Business Model

“The ledgers are not drawn up by the terrorists,” said de Soto. “The ledgers are drawn up by the local people.”

Byrne elaborated on de Soto’s point:

If De Soto Inc. can deliver on its goals, the only geographic restriction (currently) on the blockchain property registry system will be planet Earth.

This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.

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everettwilkinson · 7 years ago

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POLITICO Playbook: STATE DEPT issues ‘worldwide caution’ after Trump announcement

THE STATE DEPARTMENT has issued a “worldwide caution” for U.S. citizens traveling the world. MATT LEE, the AP’s longtime diplomatic correspondent (@APDiploWriter), says: “The last time the @StateDept issued a ‘Worldwide Caution’ because of a US policy decision was March 2003 at the start of the Iraq war.” The State Department memo http://bit.ly/2B0IFkY

AP/GAZA CITY, at 4:18 a.m.: “GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) – Hamas leader calls for new uprising against Israel in wake of US decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.”

Story Continued Below

— ADELSON’S PAPER — ISRAEL HAYOM FRONT PAGE: In English: “Thank you, Mr. President! Jerusalem” (the “usa” in Jerusalem is colored with the American flag). In Hebrew: “The capital of Israel” http://bit.ly/2jYPwAZ

WSJ EDITORIAL — “The Reality of Jerusalem”: “Arab leaders denounced the Embassy move, but we wonder how long the fury will last. The Sunni Arabs also confront the threats of Islamic terrorism and Iranian imperialism, and the Palestinians are a third order concern. If the movement of an American Embassy that was signaled more than 20 years ago is enough to scuttle peace talks, then maybe the basis for peace doesn’t yet exist.” http://on.wsj.com/2AZOrU3

Good Thursday morning. EXPECTED TODAY: House Republican leaders tell us they feel confident they will pass a bill to fund government for two weeks. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) is widely expected to resign. And Congressional leaders head to the White House for fiscal talks.

The most reliable politics newsletter.

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TRUTH BOMB: THE NEXT MONTH IS GOING TO BE A MESS — It looks like Congress is going to avoid a government shutdown this week. But this is only the beginning of a very, very messy month for Republican leaders. Top GOP lawmakers, at the moment, are not completely certain how they’ll fund the government when funding expires on Dec. 22. One idea bouncing around is for the House to send the Senate a bill it won’t even be able to take up — a yearlong bill that increases military spending but doesn’t bump domestic spending. Conservatives are itching for House Republican leaders to stand firm when the Senate rejects its opening funding salvo later this month.

— ALSO TOUGH: Republicans and Democrats are almost certain to cut a deal to boost spending, renew CHIP — the massive children’s health program and bolster Obamacare. Some of that could come at the end of the month, or next month, on the back of an omnibus spending package, which will lump together 12 spending bills. The mood isn’t good at the moment, and it only seems to be getting worse. Optimists hope tax reform makes all Republicans happy. Color us a tad skeptical.

AROUND THE TAX REFORM HORN …

— HOUSE/SENATE DIFFERENCES: “Tax Bill Is Likely to Undo Health Insurance Mandate, Republicans Say,” by NYT’s Robert Pear and Tom Kaplan: “House and Senate negotiators thrashing out differences over a major tax bill are likely to eliminate the insurance coverage mandate at the heart of the Affordable Care Act, lawmakers say.

“But a deal struck by Senate Republican leaders and Senator Susan Collins of Maine to mitigate the effect of the repeal has been all but rejected by House Republicans, potentially jeopardizing Ms. Collins’s final yes vote. ‘I don’t think the American people voted for bailing out big insurance,’ said Representative Dave Brat, Republican of Virginia, who opposes a separate measure to lower insurance premiums that Ms. Collins thought she had secured.” http://nyti.ms/2AZIhU0

— THE FIGHT OVER 20 PERCENT: “Corporate rate cut in tax bill could change as GOP hunts for votes,” by Seung Min Kim, Nancy Cook and Bernie Becker: “In a closed-door meeting Wednesday with CEOs from the Business Roundtable, Republican Sen. Pat Toomey and White House economic adviser Gary Cohn in separate sessions told the crowd their strong preference was to keep the corporate rate at 20 percent, where it is now in the legislation, even as lawmakers were under intense pressure to find new revenue, according to three people familiar with the meeting.

“Both men left the crowd with the impression that the corporate rate was a target in the hunt for that revenue and could rise as a result. … Each percentage point the corporate rate increases is worth about $100 billion over a decade. The top corporate rate is now 35 percent. …

“Boosting the corporate tax rate could open a floodgate of other demands from lawmakers seeking to get provisions in the tax bill. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), for instance, told POLITICO on Wednesday that if the rate goes up to 22 percent ‘and they don’t use some portion of it to help’ boost the child tax credit, ‘I’m going to have a big problem.’” http://politi.co/2nARInh

— K STREET INC.: “Lawmakers face pressure to save deductions for mortgage interest and state and local taxes,” by Theo Meyer, Aaron Lorenzo and Colin Wilhelm: “Lobbyists have launched an all-out effort to save tax breaks and protect powerful industries as the Republicans’ tax overhaul lurches toward President Donald Trump’s desk. Builders and real estate interests are pushing to save the mortgage interest deduction. Businesses are fighting to strip out a last-minute provision inserted into the Senate bill that would preserve the corporate alternative minimum tax. And a coalition of trade groups and local government leaders is urging Republicans not to cut the state and local tax deduction.

“With Trump pressing Congress to send him a bill before Christmas, lobbyists must decide where they want to focus their efforts over the next week. Some are working the senators and representatives who will make up the conference committee charged with ironing out the differences between the House and Senate bill. Others are working to persuade Republican leaders or leaning on the members of Congress whose constituents may see their taxes go up if changes aren’t made to the bill.” http://politi.co/2nCatqu

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — TAX AIR WARS IN NEW YORK – 45Committee, a group backed by the Adelson and Ricketts families, is launching ads against House GOP members who opposed both the tax bill and Obamacare repeal. The first ad — on which the group says it’s spending six figures — criticizes Rep. Dan Donovan (R-N.Y.) for saying he is opposed to Obamacare and supports a tax overhaul, but voting against them. It’s part of 45Committee’s $10 million effort on tax reform, a representative of the group said. The ad’s narrator ends the spot by saying “If he won’t keep his word and support tax reform, how can we ever trust him again?” The ad http://bit.ly/2Ah695L

— SCOOP: AMERICAN ACTION NETWORK is putting $2 million on TV, explaining what they believe the tax bill would do for 24 districts across the country. The ad http://bit.ly/2joVCeo

WSJ’S KRISTINA PETERSON and KATE DAVIDSON: “House Republicans Weigh Linking Debt Ceiling Increase to Spending Bill”: “Rep. Doug Collins of Georgia, a member of House GOP leadership and the head of a working group of House Republicans on the debt limit, said lawmakers were considering increasing the debt ceiling as part of the bill funding the government for the rest of the fiscal year, known as an omnibus.

“GOP leaders are likely to seek to raise the debt limit enough to last at least through next November’s midterm elections, lawmakers and aides said. They will have to act, likely by March, to avoid a default.

“‘There’s just going to be an omnibus at some point, probably after the first of the year,’ Mr. Collins said in an interview this week. ‘Probably there’ll be some debt ceiling discussions with the White House [going] into that bigger omnibus bill,’ he said, but noted that the group of 23 House Republicans hadn’t reached a final decision.” http://on.wsj.com/2nBwOoh

****** A message from PhRMA: A medicine’s path from the biopharmaceutical company to the patient involves many entities across the supply chain. A new report examines how money flows through this system – which includes wholesalers, pharmacy benefit managers, pharmacies and insurers – and how that impacts what patients pay at the pharmacy. Read more. http://onphr.ma/2kgd6Nu ******

IF YOU READ ONE THING – POLITICO MAGAZINE INVESTIGATION: “The Environmental Scandal in Scott Pruitt’s Backyard: It’s one of the dirtiest places in America. Former residents of Tar Creek, Oklahoma, want to know why Trump’s EPA chief didn’t prosecute allegations of wrongdoing during a federal buyout program,” by Malcolm Burnley in Picher, Oklahoma: “Tar Creek, Oklahoma, is breathtaking in a terrible way: At one time the world’s deepest source of lead and zinc, the three-town region is now a cratered landscape so poisonous that no one, aside from 10 holdouts, can live there. Mountains of ashlike ‘chat,’ a toxic residue from lead-zinc milling, rise majestically among the remains of homes torn from their foundations. Abandoned pets forage around the ruins. A child’s teddy bear lies sprawled in a ghostly living room. A gorilla statue fronts an empty high school, atop a sign proclaiming ‘1A Football State Champs, 1984.’

“Tar Creek is also part of the environmental legacy of one of the state’s—and nation’s—leading politicians, Senator Jim Inhofe, and his longtime ally, Scott Pruitt, the former Oklahoma attorney general who is now head of President Donald Trump’s [EPA]. After the EPA struggled to clean up the area, in 2006, Inhofe endorsed a plan in which a trust overseen by local citizens would use federal dollars to purchase homes and businesses in the toxic region so residents could move elsewhere. Then, when the plan proved so problematic that it spawned more than a half-dozen civil lawsuits and an audit into possible criminal wrongdoing, Pruitt, as the state’s attorney general, invoked an exception to state freedom-of-information laws to keep the audit from being an open public record.

“Now, that decision is coming into new light as many Oklahomans clamor for the audit to be released, suggesting that its revelations will prove embarrassing to Inhofe, who played a key role in designing the buyout plan, and cast doubt on Pruitt’s decision not to move forward with charges.” http://politi.co/2kuwKFw

ATTN. DETROIT — “John Conyers III was arrested for domestic abuse but not prosecuted,” by NBC News’ Andrew Blankstein in LA: “John Conyers III, a Detroit hedge fund manager named as a possible successor to his scandal-rocked father, Rep. John Conyers, was arrested in Los Angeles this year on suspicion of domestic violence, but prosecutors declined to charge him, according to documents obtained by NBC News. … Conyers III, 27, was arrested on Feb. 15 at a Los Angeles residence on suspicion of violence against his girlfriend after the alleged victim called police. … The girlfriend said that Conyers III suspected her of cheating after he went through her computer. She told police that he ‘body slammed her on the bed and then on the floor where he pinned her down and spit on her,’ the report says.” http://nbcnews.to/2zUliWp

FOR YOUR RADAR — “N. Korea says war is inevitable as allies continue war games,” by AP’s Kim Tong-Hyung in Seoul, South Korea: “North Korea says a nuclear war on the Korean Peninsula has become a matter of when, not if, as it continued to lash out at a massive joint military exercise between the United States and South Korea involving hundreds of advanced warplanes. In comments attributed to an unnamed Foreign Ministry spokesman, North Korea also claimed high-ranked U.S. officials, including CIA Director Mike Pompeo, have further confirmed American intent for war with a series of ‘bellicose remarks.’” http://bit.ly/2iznFXY

JARED WATCH — “Kushner bets he can have it both ways on Jerusalem move,” by Annie Karni: “Jared Kushner is betting the house on a risky strategy that Middle East experts worry will derail any future Israeli-Palestinian peace deal — as well as what remains of the powerful son-in-law’s shrinking West Wing portfolio. He privately encouraged President Donald Trump’s announcement Wednesday that ‘Jerusalem is Israel’s capital,’ which was seen by some experts in the region as a setback for peace efforts led by Kushner and his small team.

“The group has made dozens of trips to the region and spent hours on listening tours, working to gain the trust of the Palestinians and the broader Arab world. ‘It is very, very hard to imagine how that peace effort can be continued,’ said Ghaith al-Omari, who served as an adviser to the Palestinian Authority’s negotiating team from 1999 to 2002. ‘All the Arab leaders who have been cultivating relations with the new administration will be forced to come out very strongly against this.’ But a person close to Kushner said he was forceful in his backing of the move. ‘Encouraging would be an understatement,’ the person said. ‘It was him.’” http://politi.co/2k3bEdr

THE BACK STORY — “Inside the demise of Al Franken,” by Elana Schor and Seung Min Kim: “Al Franken weathered six women’s sexual misconduct allegations without hearing a single resignation call from his fellow Democratic senators. No. 7 broke the dam. The Democratic women of the Senate had been talking among themselves about the Franken allegations for weeks, one Democratic aide said. None, however, went further than to call for a Senate Ethics Committee probe of the Minnesota senator, who many of them had considered a close friend.

“That stance became increasingly untenable as the accusations against Franken piled up. In calls and texts, the female senators eventually came to an unstated agreement, according to another aide familiar with their discussions: The next credible story of misconduct in a credible news outlet would would prompt them to call for Franken’s resignation. When POLITICO reported Wednesday that a former Democratic congressional aide said Franken tried to forcibly kiss her in 2006, the aide said, it ‘was the tipping point.’

“The first public resignation nudge came from Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), a champion for reform of Capitol Hill’s sexual harassment policy who one day earlier publicly declined to push Franken. Six more Senate Democratic women followed, with head-snapping speed. ‘I think many people have been talking about this for some time. And we all responded with what we had been feeling today,’ Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said after she said Franken should step aside. ‘It wasn’t coordinated, it just happened.’” http://politi.co/2iXZ2bb

THE REPLACEMENT — “Female lieutenant governor expected to replace Franken if he resigns,” by Maggie Severns: “Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton is expected to appoint his lieutenant governor and close ally, Tina Smith, to Al Franken’s seat if the Democratic senator resigns on Thursday, three people familiar with the Democratic governor’s thinking said. But that appointment would be just the start of a huge upheaval in Minnesota.

“Part of the reason Smith could be heading to the Senate, the sources said, is because she has indicated no interest in running for Congress in the past and would not run for the remainder of Franken’s term, which expires in 2020, in a 2018 special election. That would clear the way for a wide-open Democratic primary next year if Franken steps down.” http://politi.co/2BQf7UM

FIRST PERSON – TINA DUPUY in The Atlantic, “I Believe Franken’s Accusers Because He Groped Me, Too: The Democratic Party needs to stand with women who have been harassed—and not defend the politicians who abused them.” http://theatln.tc/2iZhZu9

RUSSIA WATCH — “Trump Jr. cites attorney-client privilege in not answering panel’s questions about discussions with his father,” by Kyle Cheney: “Donald Trump Jr. on Wednesday cited attorney-client privilege to avoid telling lawmakers about a conversation he had with his father, President Donald Trump, after news broke this summer that the younger Trump — and top campaign brass — had met with Russia-connected individuals in Trump Tower during the 2016 campaign.

“Though neither Trump Jr. nor the president is an attorney, Trump Jr. told the House Intelligence Committee that there was a lawyer in the room during the discussion, according to the committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Adam Schiff of California. Schiff said he didn’t think it was a legitimate invocation of attorney-client privilege. ‘I don’t believe you can shield communications between individuals merely by having an attorney present,’ he said, after the committee’s lengthy interview with Trump Jr. ‘That’s not the purpose of attorney-client privilege.’” http://politi.co/2kusF43

TRUMP’S THURSDAY — The president is meeting with Republican senators and RNC Chair Ronna Romney McDaniel. He is also signing a proclamation for National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. In the afternoon he will meet with congressional leaders and former Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton. He and the First Lady will also host a Hanukkah reception.

THE JUICE…

— FIRST IN PLAYBOOK – TOM LOBIANCO, an AP White House reporter, has signed a deal to write a book on Vice President Mike Pence. LoBianco has covered the former governor of Indiana for multiple news organizations, including the AP and the Indianapolis Star, since 2011. The book was sold by Bridget Matzie of Aevitas Creative Management to Julia Cheiffetz of Dey Street Books, an imprint of HarperCollins.

— JUSTIN MYERS has been hired as the CEO of For Our Future and For Our Future Action Fund. For Our Future was founded in 2016, when it ran a $60 million ground operation to help progressive candidates. He most recently has been SVP at the Pivot Group and is an alum of DCCC, Kay Hagan and the New Jersey Democratic State Committee, where he was ED.

— THE WING, a New York-based women’s co-working and social club, held a “welcome” dinner at 1789 last night. It is opening its D.C. outpost in Georgetown early next year. SPOTTED: Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Audrey Gelman, Giovanna Lockhart, Dayna Grayson, Alyssa Mastromonaco, Edith Gregson, Juleanna Glover, Kasie Hunt, Kristen Welker, Annie Karni, Pia Carusone, Susan Tynan, Tammy Haddad and Katie Glueck.

FUN VIDEO — @TheDailyShow: “Trump’s Best Words of 2017” – 1-min. video http://bit.ly/2kvGTSs (h/t Matt Negrin)

HAPPENING TONIGHT — Our first live podcast taping is TONIGHT at 7 p.m. at Sixth and I. Our inaugural guests: MICHAEL BARBARO, host of the New York Times’ hit podcast “The Daily,” DCCC EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR DAN SENA and NRCC EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR JOHN ROGERS. And a panel of POLITICO stars: RACHAEL BADE, SEUNG MIN KIM and ANNIE KARNI. Get your tickets now! http://bit.ly/2hWK7tF

PHOTO DU JOUR: A motorist on Highway 101 watches flames from the Thomas fire leap above the roadway north of Ventura, Calif., on Dec. 6. | Noah Berger/AP Photo

THE LATEST ON THE BAN — “Appeals court considers legality of latest Trump travel ban,” by Josh Gerstein: “A federal appeals court gave a somewhat friendlier reception Wednesday to President Donald Trump’s latest travel ban order, just two days after the Supreme Court allowed the policy to be implemented in full for the first time. A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals met in Seattle to hear arguments over an injunction against varied travel restrictions Trump issued in September on citizens of six majority Muslim countries, as well as North Korea and Venezuela.” http://politi.co/2jm0bWL

JUST POSTED — “The surgeon general and his brother: A family’s painful reckoning with addiction,” by Andrew Joseph in STAT News: http://bit.ly/2j0ZYvw

HMM – “VA cuts program for homeless vets after touting Trump’s commitment,” by Arthur Allen and Lorraine Woellert: “Four days after Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin held a big Washington event to tout the Trump administration’s promise to house all homeless vets, the agency did an about-face, telling advocates it was pulling resources from a major housing program. The VA said it was essentially ending a special $460 million program that has dramatically reduced homelessness among chronically sick and vulnerable veterans.

“Instead, the money would go to local VA hospitals that can use it as they like, as long as they show evidence of dealing with homelessness. Anger exploded on a Dec. 1 call that was arranged by Shulkin’s Advisory Committee on Homeless Veterans to explain the move. Advocates for veterans, state officials and even officials from HUD, which co-sponsors the program, attacked the decision, according to five people who were on the call.” http://politi.co/2nCuQ6L

VALLEY TALK — “Silicon Valley Investor Shervin Pishevar Accused Of Spreading False Information To Cover Up Alleged Sexual Misconduct,” by BuzzFeed’s Ryan Mac: “Venture capitalist Shervin Pishevar, who has been accused by multiple unnamed women of sexual misconduct in a recent news report, is now being accused by a Republican-affiliated opposition research firm of spreading false information about it in an attempt to cover up his alleged wrongdoings. In a bizarre twist on Wednesday, Definers Public Affairs — which Pishevar is suing for allegedly helping to spread a false police report that accuses him of rape — filed a motion to dismiss the investor’s suit in full.

“That motion, made in San Francisco Superior Court, argues that Pishevar’s lawsuit should be thrown out under California’s anti-Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (anti-SLAPP) law, which was designed to prevent litigation that is simply meant to silence or intimidate critics by burying them under legal costs.” http://bzfd.it/2BH5Rl2

ZACK STANTON in POLITICO Magazine: “John Conyers Was An Icon. Then He Lost His Way: It’s time to reckon with the legacy of a man who saw so much and stayed too long”: http://politi.co/2B8OgX3

DESSERT — “A history of the final dying days of the power suit,” by WaPo’s Robin Givhan: “Douglas Heye wears suits. Like a lot of men, he gives a fair amount of consideration to the way those suits are styled. Unlike a lot of men, he is willing and able to break down those considerations into specifics. ‘I like a pocket square, but I generally don’t wear one with a tie,’ says Heye, a former Republican strategist, now a CNN contributor. ‘If I’m wearing a tie, three out of four times it’s blue. I like blue and I’ve been told it works for me. … If I’m wearing a jacket and no tie, I always like a pocket square. I think it’s a little bit more dressy. It shows a little bit of effort.’

“Effort is important. The whole reason for wearing the suit, he says, is to set a tone. He recently attended a meeting where he knew everyone else would be casual. But he couldn’t bring himself to show up in khakis and a golf shirt. A suit, he reasoned, signaled a certain seriousness. ‘But I don’t know,’ he says. ‘Maybe it means something to me and not the viewer.’” http://wapo.st/2Akck9h

MEDIAWATCH — “ABC reprimands producer for giving data to Trump campaign,” by Michael Calderone: “In their new book ‘Let Trump Be Trump,’ campaign insiders Corey Lewandowski and David Bossie wrote that Chris Vlasto — then-executive producer of ‘Good Morning America’ and now senior executive producer for investigative reporting — called Bossie, Trump’s deputy campaign manager, at 5:01 p.m. on election night with information being shared within a consortium of the Associated Press and the major TV networks. …

“Bossie had known Vlasto for decades, going back to when Bossie was a Republican House investigator in the 1990s and Vlasto was covering the Clinton Whitewater investigations, according to the book. Vlasto was considered for a senior communications position in the Trump White House in the weeks after the election before pulling himself out of consideration.” http://politi.co/2BayJWQ

–PER MICHAEL CALDERONE IN MORNING MEDIA: “Doyle McManus is taking a buyout from the Los Angeles Times after 39 years with the paper. He said in a note to friends that he’ll write occasional op-ed columns for the paper as a contributing writer, and that he plans to do more long-form pieces — and possibly a book.”

SPOTTED: Donald Rumsfeld in Farragut Square yesterday after getting a haircut

SPOTTED at the annual American Defense International holiday party at the Hotel George hosted by defense lobbyists Van Hipp and Michael Herson: Rick Harrison, star of History Channel’s “Pawn Stars,” Ed Nixon, brother of former President Richard Nixon, former Virginia Governor, RNC Chair and presidential candidate Jim Gilmore, Reps. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-Fla.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Adam Smith (D-Wash.), Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), Jim Banks (R-Ind.), Scott Taylor (R-Va.), Bill Shuster (R-Pa.), Pete Visclosky (D-Ind.), Bradley Byrne (R-Ala.), Martha McSally (R-Ariz.), Charlie Crist (D-Fla.), Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.), and Mike Turner (R-Ohio).

TRANSITIONS — “Cruz chief of staff leaves Capitol Hill,” by Seung Min Kim: “Sen. Ted Cruz’s chief of staff is leaving Capitol Hill after more than a year leading the Texas Republican’s congressional operation in Washington and in his home state. David Polyansky, 46, came on board as Cruz’s chief of staff following the Republican National Convention in 2016 at a time when the senator re-focused his energies on Texas following his unsuccessful presidential campaign.

“Now, Polyansky is returning to Houston, where his family resides, and staying on as a senior adviser for Cruz’s re-election campaign in 2018. … Pre Shah, currently Cruz’s chief counsel, will take over for Polyansky as the senator’s chief of staff. Cruz’s legislative director, Steve Chartan, will become deputy chief of staff while keeping his legislative duties.” http://politi.co/2AyC0Ou

— SPOTTED: Cruz, Polyansky and Scott Reed in a booth at Capital Grille last night – also seen there: Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.) chatting with Arkansas Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin. Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) and Rep. Roger Williams (R-Texas) were also at the restaurant.

BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Suhail Khan, Microsoft director of external affairs. A fun fact about Suhail: “I was a nanny in college, have ridden a ‘61 Harley Davidson since high school and am currently restoring a ‘67 Shelby Mustang GT500. I was also front row for Metallica three times this summer.” Read his Playbook Plus Q&A: http://politi.co/2AzrXss

BIRTHDAYS: Carole Simpson is 76 … Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) is 65 … Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) is 8-0 … CNN’s Ashley Killough (hat tip: Kevin Cirilli) … Emily Hamilton, director at Hamilton Place Strategies … Kate Tummarello, policy analyst at Electronic Frontier Foundation … Allie Grasgreen Ciaramella, comms manager at the National College Access Network … Nicolás Luis Rosero … Larisa Alexandrovna Horton … Oath’s Sarindee Wickramasuriya … former Amb. Michael Punke, VP of global public policy for Amazon Web Services and author of “The Revenant” … Scott Greene … Kenny Fried … Patrick Lee Plaisance is 54 … Molly Block, newly-hired press secretary at EPA … Ben Fallon … Maria Fuentes … Jeannie Lough … Doug Henwood … Dafna Tapiero … Adam Culbertson … Michael Steinhardt is 77 … Jonathan Tisch is 64 … Edelman’s Erika Reyes … NYT’s Dean Chang …

… Priya Dayananda of KPMG … Anne MacMillan of Invariant … Sam Runyon, deputy press secretary for Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), celebrating over three days (h/t Jonathan Kott) … Christina Freundlich … Olivia Wenk (h/t Dad, Christopher) … Tyler Prell … Robert Cresanti, pres. and CEO of Int’l Franchise Association … Mary Heitman, EVP at IFA … Illinois State Sen. Dan McConchie … Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) is 41 (h/t Robb Watters) … Tom Frieden … Mike Klein … Deloitte’s Sam Schofield, a State alum (h/t Nihal Krishan, “his fellow Fessenden Fiefdom housemate”) … Jenny Kordick … Amanda Faulkner, public policy and government relations at Google (h/t Ben Khouri) … Lisa Sun … Raj Peter Bhakta … Tim Andrews … Kim Bradford … Peter Truell is 62 … Brian Mosteller … Mike Meece … Cristina Beato … Noam Chomsky is 89 … Alice Parker … Ruthanne Buck … Sachin Chheda … Antha Williams … Jeff Blum (h/ts Teresa Vilmain)

****** A message from PhRMA: In the competitive marketplace for medicines, negotiations between pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and biopharmaceutical companies result in substantial rebates and fees. According to a new report, in many cases, this system often creates incentives for PBMs to prefer medicines with higher list prices and higher rebates. Read more about how money flows through the supply chain here: http://onphr.ma/2kgd6Nu ******

SUBSCRIBE to the Playbook family: POLITICO Playbook http://politi.co/2lQswbh … Playbook Power Briefing http://politi.co/2xuOiqh … New York Playbook http://politi.co/1ON8bqW … Florida Playbook http://politi.co/1OypFe9 … New Jersey Playbook http://politi.co/1HLKltF … Massachusetts Playbook http://politi.co/1Nhtq5v … Illinois Playbook http://politi.co/1N7u5sb … California Playbook http://politi.co/2bLvcPl … London Playbook http://politi.co/2xfDPuK … Brussels Playbook http://politi.co/1FZeLcw … All our political and policy tipsheets http://politi.co/1M75UbX

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usnewsaggregator-blog · 7 years ago

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Does Race Matter in America’s Most Diverse ZIP Codes?

New Post has been published on http://usnewsaggregator.com/does-race-matter-in-americas-most-diverse-zip-codes/

Does Race Matter in America’s Most Diverse ZIP Codes?

“The gift about being in close proximity is that you’re desensitized to seeing a different culture and judging it right away,” said Lena Yee-Ross, a 17-year-old high school senior whose mother is Chinese-American and father is black.

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Lena Yee-Ross, center, with her classmates Arabella Compton, left, and Christian Bustos at Jesse Bethel High School in Vallejo. Credit Jim Wilson/The New York Times

Living next to one another for generations, since a major naval yard drew large numbers to the town with the promise of jobs, has mitigated much of the tension found in more segregated communities. People of all stripes sing arm in arm during Thursday night karaoke at Gentleman Jim’s bar, where on a recent evening a white man with a cowboy hat sat next to a Filipino man in a biker vest, and the songs ranged from Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” to the Fugees’ “Killing Me Softly.”

Students of different races study side by side at one local high school, and their shades of skin color span such a spectrum that it is difficult to tell what races or ethnicities they are when they congregate for lunch.

Still, Vallejo (pronounced va-LAY-oh) is no promised land.

Stubborn racial divisions remain. The typical black family has a household income that is three-fourths of the city’s median. Nearly three out of every four members of the Police Department are white, and all of the City Council members are either Filipino or white.

Academic performance is improving in schools, but achievement gaps remain: Of the 11th graders at Jesse Bethel High School, which is in the 94591 ZIP code, 42 percent of black students and 51 percent of Hispanic ones tested proficient in English this year, compared with 63 percent of white students and 77 percent of Filipino ones.

Spencer Lane, a 17-year-old white senior at a high school where whites are in the minority, said classmates had told him that he looked as if he could shoot up a school. Ms. Yee-Ross said her mother once heard a news account of a robbery and insisted that the perpetrator had to be black. And the Johnsons have battled racial tension in their family and their business.

A white customer who had been a regular at the restaurant once asked the woman taking his order to make sure that a young black employee did not cook his food, Ms. Johnson said. When she heard commotion at the front of the restaurant, she said, she confronted the customer, who told her: “How can you have people like that working here? His pants are sagging.”

The Johnsons met in Vallejo in 2003, introduced by mutual friends. He liked her toothy smile, she liked his respect, but each harbored racial stereotypes.

Continue reading the main story

Mr. Johnson, 33, assumed that she would be a devoted homemaker who would cook and clean for him. Ms. Johnson, 31, said she was impressed that he did not wear baggy pants and that “he doesn’t talk ghetto.”

As diverse as Vallejo is, Ms. Johnson said she grew up hanging out mostly with Filipinos, a clustering that many local residents of different races said is natural. Immigrants from Mexico or the Philippines may want the company of people who can help them navigate a new country.

But within these groups, stereotypes can fester.

When Mr. Johnson’s mother, Tanja Mayo-Pittman, found out he was dating Ms. Johnson, she thought of the time she worked at Home Depot. She was the only non-Filipino on her team, and felt ostracized in part because her co-workers spoke Tagalog and joked with one another, leaving her to wonder if they were teasing her.

“Until I met them, I couldn’t imagine that they just had open arms toward my child,” she said of her son’s future in-laws.

But those fears and barriers have dropped. “I stopped feeling judged or left out,” she said. “I stopped seeing them as Filipino. I started just seeing them as people.”

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East Vallejo is within the third most diverse ZIP code in the country, 94591. Credit Photographs by Jim Wilson/The New York Times

Ms. Mayo-Pittman, 52, also had to contend with her own formative years in nearby Pinole, when, as a fair-skinned woman, she had trouble fitting in — not black enough for the black people, or white enough to be white.

“To be honest with you, I never wanted my kids to be light-complected because I didn’t want them to have an identity crisis,” she said.

Continue reading the main story

The Johnsons have four daughters together, from age 3 to 11, each with tawny brown skin.

As the girls lounged on the carpet of Ms. Johnson’s grandparents’ ranch-style home one evening, after a dinner of lumpia and white rice, Ms. Johnson joked about some of the questions that had come from her husband’s side of the family: Do you work at a nail salon? How do you speak such good English?

Ms. Johnson’s father, Al Remorin, 51, grew up in nearby Richmond, where most of his friends were black. He moved to Vallejo in 1979, when he was 13. That’s when he came to know a lot of other Filipinos. He was surprised, he said, to hear some of their racism. People asked him why he talked as if he were black.

Mr. Remorin quickly bonded with Mr. Johnson, often discussing sports. So Ms. Johnson said she was caught off guard by her father’s reaction when she became pregnant.

“How can you?” Ms. Johnson said her father asked. As in: How could she think it was O.K. to have biracial children?

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Tanja Mayo-Pittman with her granddaughter Serenity Johnson. Credit Jim Wilson/The New York Times

Mr. Remorin said he did not recall saying that. He never had an issue with his daughter having biracial children, he said. Back in his day, he rarely saw “half-Filipinos and half-blacks, or half-this and half-that,” he said. “It’s hard enough as it is being nonwhite, and you imagine when they’re half-this and half-that.”

Things are different today. In the Vallejo-Fairfield metropolitan area, 22 percent of marriages from 2011 to 2015 were interracial, more than double the national rate in the same period, according to a Pew Research survey.

Even in 2001, The New York Times was reporting that Vallejo was one of the most racially balanced cities in the country. Then, as now, racial and ethnic groups often stuck with their own.

Back then, there were also concerns about the racial makeup of the police, with no African-Americans above the rank of sergeant. Today, the longest-serving member in the history of the department is black and currently a lieutenant, but there are no other African-Americans above the rank of sergeant.

Continue reading the main story

“There is not really the interaction in the way we would like,” Liat Meitzenheimer, who is black and Japanese, said in 2001. “Kids in the neighborhoods play with each other, but by and large, people stay to themselves.”

A decade and a half later, Ms. Meitzenheimer still lives in Vallejo and she says those divisions still exist.

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Al Remorin with his granddaughters Cheyenne and Serenity Johnson. Credit Jim Wilson/The New York Times

“For somebody who has lived here for 32 years now, it really hasn’t changed,” she said in a recent interview. “There are people actively trying to find ways to bring people together so that we participate from different communities together on single issues, whether it be sports or some artistic endeavor.”

Vallejo is even more racially balanced now, with the white population dropping and other racial and ethnic groups growing. Hispanic and white residents each make up about 25 percent of the population. A little more than 23 percent of the city is Asian and nearly 21 percent black.

The 94591 ZIP code — where the Johnsons live, own their business and send their children to school — is a sprawling swath of the city known as East Vallejo. Among ZIP codes with at least 50,000 residents, it is the third most diverse in the country, according to a Times analysis of census data.

Vallejo’s diversity stems from the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, which for nearly a century and a half attracted families with the promise of stable jobs. The yard closed in 1996, and with it went much of this town’s fortunes; the city declared bankruptcy in 2008. It remains a largely working-class bedroom community, though some fear that the relatively affordable housing could lure more affluent Bay Area residents, displacing low-income residents.

Past restrictions that kept people of color confined to certain neighborhoods have largely fallen, but glaring disparities endure. Black households rank lowest in median income, at $42,000. Residents have complained of brutality by the police force against black and brown people, and the seven-member City Council currently does not have a black or Hispanic member.

“I think that’s part of that racial divide, where Filipinos want to have Filipino leadership or African-Americans want to have an African-American leader or whites want to have a white leader, so they specifically target an individual for election,” said Bob Sampayan, who was elected the city’s first Filipino-American mayor last year.

Continue reading the main story

But Mr. Sampayan and other local residents see promising signs of integration, like the diverse neighborhood watch patrols that sprang up after cuts to the Police Department and the diverse group involved in the city’s participatory budgeting process.

The Vallejo Chamber of Commerce, once a mostly white organization, now has its first Latina chairwoman, and nearly half of its board members are people of color. Different ethnic chambers of commerce — Filipino, Hispanic and African-American — work more closely with the city chamber under a group called the Vallejo Business Alliance.

Then there are the day-to-day interactions that blur conventions of race and culture.

Christopher Morales, 17, said his black friends were not offended when he, a Mexican-American, used an anti-black slur because their relationships transcended race. It is an attitude, he conceded, that puts Vallejo in something of a diversity bubble.

“It doesn’t really offend us,” he said, “until someone from, like, an outside town comes over here.”

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citiesandslums · 8 years ago

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What San Francisco’s Eviction Crisis Can Teach Us About the Current Issues Facing American Cities

By: Sammy Hopp

San Francisco, a thriving urban center renowned for its progressive values, charming landscape, and tech industry, is nonetheless experiencing a phenomenon that is occurring in almost every American city today—though not necessarily to the extent that it is happening in San Francisco. What makes San Francisco such an appealing city is simultaneously fostering one of the worst housing crises that the Bay Area has ever witnessed. As a growing number of people choose to move into the city—particularly individuals working in the tech industry—other long-time San Francisco residents are accordingly being pushed out. In many cases, these long-time residents are being evicted—both formally and informally. Although the numbers and data on evictions in San Francisco fluctuate on a yearly basis, the overall trend that has been taking place in the Bay Area—and specifically in San Francisco—is that evictions are on the rise, thus altering the demographics and character of the city that we have grown to know and love.

Since 2010, evictions in San Francisco have been on the rise. However, it is important to note that so far, 2017 is experiencing a slight decrease in the number of evictions. Nonetheless, I predict that although the data may hint towards a decrease in evictions at this moment in time, eviction rates will probably continue to rise as more developments and city-wide transformations take place. As the San Francisco Examiner stated in an article titled “San Francisco Evictions Continue to Rise Each Year Since 2010,” “As real estate prices have soared amid San Francisco’s technology boom in the past six years [since 2010], so have evictions” (Sabatini 2016). The general trend in San Francisco is that throughout recent history—ranging from about 2009 to 2016—the number of evictions has soared.

Images taken from the Anti-Eviction Mapping Project

Matthew Desmond’s book titled “Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City,” although set in Milwaukee, can nonetheless help explain many of the phenomena occurring not only in San Francisco, but also around the country. As he stated, “This book is set in Milwaukee, but is tells an American story” (Desmond 2016, 5). However, although evictions are taking place in almost every major American city, the reasons behind such evictions greatly differ from city to city. For example, evictions in San Francisco are most likely to occur due to factors such as gentrification and the construction of new development projects in certain neighborhoods—such as in the Mission District. Furthermore, prosperity driven by the tech industry in Silicon Valley undoubtedly has lead to an increase in evictions throughout the city in recent history.

Image taken from the Anti-Eviction Mapping Project

In Desmond’s “Evicted,” however, gentrification and the construction of new development projects are not key factors influencing the rise in evictions throughout Milwaukee. In Milwaukee, Desmond explained, evictions take place due to a variety of other agents, ultimately leading to an increase in poverty and vulnerability for many of the city’s residents. Some of these factors include: tenants not being able to pay their rents on time, landlords’ desires to make more profit from their properties, and landlords’ longings to have more control over their properties (and thus, using the threat of evictions to gain such power). As Desmond stated, “The most effective way to assert, or reassert, ownership of land was to force people from it” (Desmond 2016, 45). As can be seen, landlords play an extremely critical role when it comes to evictions. They not only control the real estate market, but they are also able to control their tenants’ lives in many different ways.

However, just because these factors have led to a rise in evictions throughout Milwaukee doesn't mean that they haven't contributed to the rise in eviction rates throughout San Francisco. As a matter of fact, these contributors have played, and continue to play, an ever-increasing role—alongside gentrification and the construction of new development projects—in San Francisco’s growing eviction rate.

The ways in which Desmond was able to portray the current housing situation in Milwaukee by means of storytelling greatly helped foster my understanding of the material. Furthermore, by means of storytelling—and ultimately seeking an emotional response from his readers—I believe that Desmond was able to capture his audience's attention in ways that wouldn’t have been achievable if he were to just state facts and statistics on Milwaukee’s eviction patterns. However, it would have been helpful if Desmond were to use examples from other American cities to back up his argument and claims. Even though his goal was to focus on Milwaukee, by touching on other major cities such as New York or Los Angeles, I believe that Desmond would have been able to persuade and capture his readers even more.

Moving forward, there exists another similarity between San Francisco and Milwaukee’s spatial dynamics that has heavily affected both of these city’s eviction patterns. Segregation, a phenomenon that exists in almost every major American city, most definitely is fostering increases in eviction rates. In the cases of both San Francisco and Milwaukee, minority groups are the ones who are paying the biggest prices when it comes to each city’s respective housing crises.

“Eviction Surge: 2010-2015”

Image taken from the Anti-Eviction Mapping Project

The map above, depicting the rise in evictions from 2010-2015 in San Francisco, illustrates that the Mission District, SoMa, and the Tenderloin—neighborhoods that have historically been comprised of minority groups—are some of the leading areas where evictions are taking place. This relationship between segregation and evictions is not unique to San Francisco, however. In “Evicted,” Desmond explained that “The Menominee River Valley cuts through the middle of the city and functions like its Mason-Dixon Line, dividing the predominately black North Side from the predominately white South Side” (Desmond 2016, 33). Additionally, “A 1967 New York Times editorial declared Milwaukee ‘America’s most segregated city’” (Desmond 2016, 34). Desmond later went on to describe that “women from black neighborhoods made up 9 percent of Milwaukee’s population and 30 percent of its evicted tenants,” clearly illustrating the fact that certain groups of individuals—particularly minority groups—are most vulnerable and susceptible when it comes to evictions.

Hence, segregation most definitely plays a crucial role in the rise of evictions—particularly for minority groups—in cities across the country. Due to the fact that segregation separates groups of individuals from interacting and living with one another, it tends to foster a sense of isolation and remoteness. In addition, it also grants privileges and benefits to certain groups of individuals, while other groups of individuals are simultaneously denied from such resources and assistance. In regards to the real estate market, these privileges and benefits have led certain groups of individuals to have a sense of housing security and protection, whereas other groups are left feeling susceptible and weak in regards to their housing circumstances.

Image taken from Al Jazeera, 2013

Image taken from Business Insider, 2014

So, even though San Francisco and Milwaukee are located in completely different parts of the country, they are nonetheless both experiencing similar patterns when it comes to evictions. Although there are differences between the forces driving evictions in both of these cities, there are also many similarities that both of these cities share in terms of their eviction patterns. As Desmond clearly explained, evictions are not unique to Milwaukee; they are taking place all over the United States. It is thus extremely important to not only examine why they are taking place, but also how they are affecting the lives and well-beings of certain groups of urban dwellers. Even if one has never experienced an eviction before, Desmond’s book clearly highlighted the importance of why they are so crucial to understand when it comes to studying urban politics and planning. Evictions play an enormous role in fostering urban poverty, which ultimately weakens the city’s function and capacity. Although they have come to characterize the urban landscape in distressing and painful ways, evictions are nonetheless able to teach us a great deal about how to foster a more just and equitable city, one that is able to provide for all of its citizens.

Anti-Eviction Mapping Project. “Maps.” Web. 26 Apr. 2017.

Desmond, Matthew. Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City. New York: Broadway Books, 2016. Print.

Sabatini, Joshua. “San Francisco Evictions Continue to Rise Each Year Since 2010.” San Francisco Examiner. 29 Mar. 2016. Web. 26 Apr. 2017.

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writemarcus · 8 years ago

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Young, black and living in Trump’s America

by David Yi

|TRUE LIFE

ddvvcvv

FEBRUARY 23, 2017 / 33 MINUTE READ

Black tax.

It’s something that James Burge has been paying ever since he entered the workforce. A notion that the 27-year old says he’s been aware of even before entering corporate America.

“Black people have to work and perform a regular task twice as well as white people in order to get half as much recognition,” he says.

It became all too real when one day, he learned about his white colleagues’ salaries, which were much more than his. “[We were doing] the exact same job, he says. “Not only were we doing the same job, we were also hired at the same time.”

It’s a reality that isn’t new for black Americans, who are largely underrepresented in corporate America. A recent study showed that only 6.7% of black Americans held management positions among the country’s 16.2 million management positions. Among the Fortune 500 lists year after year, there’s been only fifteen black CEOs. Ever. A new corporate diversity survey showed that black Americans were a mere 4.7% of executive team members in the Fortune 100 companies. Being black in startup culture isn’t even better. A recent study from last year found that less than 5% of startups in Silicon Valley had employees who were black American.

But these mere statistics are merely numbers. They don’t come close to the human experiences and frustrations black Americans feel in their own respective workplaces. To be a black professional in America, after all, oftentimes means that you are alone, the lone wolf who must fend for yourself. It means you’re the “token” black person who must bear the responsibility of carrying the entire black race on your shoulders. It also presents challenges for many who feel they must undo stereotypes and stigmas others have towards black America.

What’s it like in a post-Trump fueled era? For a new president who vows to make businesses thrive, has there been a change in office places across America? Is there even less restrictions and regulations when it comes to cultural sensitivity now that we’re living at a time where political correctness has become obsolete?

“I’ll be honest, it was scary because we didn’t know if the precedence that the Obama administration set was actually going to be upheld or simply thrown out,” says Sarah Springer, co-founder of Inclusion in Digital Media, a non-profit based in NYC that promotes diversity in work places. “I certainly had a fear that people all over, people in positions of power, hiring managers, etc. would finally say, ‘Yes, forget this quota stuff! We don’t need to hire diverse candidates because our president doesn’t say so!’”

Certainly, hate crimes spiked after President Trump’s election. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, 42% of hate crimes “included specific references to Trump, his election, or his policies.”

From the many black young men we’ve interviewed, many hold the same sentiments. Some have vocalized how they have been judged by their skin tone, or put into a box. Others, felt that racism was still alive and well, microaggressions as prevalent as ever. Many of them are like Marcus Scott, a writer based in New York City.

“People like him are lazy,” he once heard a publisher say about him.

Or like Taj Reed, an integrated producer in New York whose white co-workers use the term “my nigga” casually.

From writers, lawyers, startup employees, to students, Very Good Light™ reached out to 13 black American men to share their very real experiences. Here they are in their own words.

1 Taj Reed, NYC, integrated producer

Maybe it was a testament to my blackness, but I developed savvy before I could even grow a mustache.

Young black men are hyper-aware if their surroundings (at least, they should be), and, with each close-minded interaction, either reinforce the stereotype cast on them or do their part in enlightening someone.

My experience with class and race varied, however—I went to twelve schools in four states through grade school—but I never felt burdened to enlighten people who didn’t understand me, or, in worst cases, didn’t like me because I was black. Instead, I learned to be malleable without compromising my integrity as a young black American, and it’s my assumption that most black men in the professional space have the discerning ability to adapt to any environment they’re in, as well.

Fortunately, I’ve never experienced having to change my identity for work—I just refused to compromise. I’m also pretty straight edged. In most instances the ask was to straighten their “curly” hair. “Curly” in this case means natural hair: afros, dreads, braids and most non-chemical hairstyle solutions for black people. Which, to me, reads as being told dial back the blackness. With respect to their employers, fuck that. There’s a larger conversation to be had about white America’s fear of race and religion dissimilar to their own, but, in short, I’d sooner change careers than to be less of who I am.

I worked for a company based in Germany, and for a while was the only black American, male employee. There was a situation where one of the German editors made mention of someone referring to him as their “nigga” and how proud he was of the declaration. Now, it’s either ignorance, or the fact that before having to work with many black people, he could be as candid as he wanted in the group Slack channel. Whatever the reason for the remark, I thought our bosses would address him and every other employee about their intolerance to this kind of bigotry. That address never came. My reaction was to come up with an exit plan. A company that didn’t find comments like that disturbing, or at the very least, unprofessional, wasn’t a place that would champion for my success.

In a post-Trump era, it’s scary. And I was the optimist at the start of it all. I was the person that said, “let’s see what he does in office, and give him chance to be a decent leader.” I’ve seen nothing close to decent leadership since the inauguration. Just self-aggrandizing, self-serving rants of tyranny and bigotry. I think this era has only fueled people to become more of who they are. As creatives, we should do the same. We should be using our platforms to create art and movements that incite change in a positive, more unified direction.

2 James Burge, Denver, digital marketing

Growing up in America as a black male was challenging. I spent much of my childhood years growing up in Birmingham, AL where I attended predominately black schools. In my ways the south, specifically Birmingham was still stuck in the 70s and 80s. I can remember learning that there were “white schools” and “black school”. Many of the “black schools” were in the poorest parts of the city, while the “white schools” were in the more affluent areas.

Now this segregation wasn’t based on a law, rather, based on the post-civil rights era culture of the 90s. School and education was very important to my family, and me, as many of my family members were teachers. I can remember from a very early age seeing college as the end goal. Fortunately for me, I was able to accomplish that goal but it didn’t come with its own share of challenges. Challenges like being told by white teachers in middle school, that “black kids don’t get into college”, and I should give up my goal. In many ways, I face some of those same challenges today.

As a black American, you’re expected to fall into a certain role/category and stay there. It’s rare that black children are told or even shown that they can be more and can do more. I can imagine this is a challenge for many other children of color.

Years later as a professional in the work place, I was taught you must perform, present and prepare. Growing up I learned a lot about “black tax,” the notion that black people have to work and perform regular task twice as well as white people, in order to get half as much recognition. This point was driven home with me, when I learned that one of my white peers was being paid more than I was to do the exact same job. Not only were we doing the same job, we were also hired on at the same time.

I can also recall a time I grew my hair out into a hairstyle called twists, while working for a firm. Obviously, I had been growing this hairstyle out for a while, but no one seemed to notice until I cut it off. The very next day at work, I was pulled into the office by management and told, “We’re glad you cut your hair because we almost lost our client.” I was confused; my hair was never a point of conversation or attention, so I asked, “Why would the client leave?” The answer still haunts me to this day: “It made you come across aggressive and uneducated.”

My reaction to the hair comment was minimal, as I didn’t want to ruffle any feathers and at the time really needed my job for income. I think that many people of color find themselves in this type of dilemma. A) Do I say something and hope that they understand where I am coming from and the comment never happens again? B) Do I say something and they don’t agree with me, and then eventually find a way to get rid of me? C) Do I keep my mouth closed, continue to come to work and keep my job in the process?

In Trump’s America, I feel as though we all are in a position where we must look out for each other. In these days, it has become apparent that we must do what the government has chosen not to do. This change in leadership has driven me to be even more involved in my community, with the intent of helping those who need it. In times of hardship, it’s important communities come together and not divide.

3 Sabir M. Peele, Philadelphia, founder and creative director of Men’s Style Pro

Growing up as a black American is an experience. What I mean by that is as I’ve gone through the different phases of my life there have been moments of extreme consciousness of how the world views me and how I viewed myself.

As a child, I grew up in a predominantly black neighborhood of North Philadelphia. I knew that as a small child I wanted better for myself. My family roots were strong, so I decided that I would do my best and that no one could deny my greatness. At the age of 6, I turned my focus to my education. I got to school early and stayed late.

I’ve always been perceived differently because I valued my education more than my peers. Especially as a kid growing up in an area where the only options are selling drugs, going to jail or playing basketball – my focus was always centered around consuming as much knowledge as possible.

During my adult years, I think my work ethic has propelled me as being viewed somewhat favorably amongst most people. After college, I became a social media influencer. Being a part of the industry I do feel as though I’ve been passed over for campaigns because of my skin color. There have been instances where I’ve been contacted and pretty much handed the contract to see at the last minute brands will have had a change of heart. Then two weeks later, I’ll see that campaign executed with a white dude. That’s when I realize that many brands still think “black people” don’t sell well to the majority.

Other than business, I do feel how different life has become under Trump. For the first time in my life, I truly fear for my safety. The day of the Presidential election, I saw a white neighbor outside brandishing a gun, almost in a gesture of “This Is My Country Now.” I lived in my home for seven years and never felt that this country was more mine than his. It was a clear reminder that I have to continue to work hard and show the world that I’m contributing member of society, which is sad.

There’s a great opportunity to realize that the black experience is the American experience. We don’t need white people to apologize for things that happened in the past because most of them have nothing to do with it.

If we want to truly be good people, good citizens and good Americans we have to truly embrace the idea of this country being a melting pot. I bleed red, white and blue and it breaks my heart that the country that I love doesn’t show me and all of its people the same love we have for it.

4 Journey Streams, Los Angeles, Student

My childhood and adolescence don’t feel as though they’re marked by any feeling of prejudice, or even discomfort really. I come from a very small, diverse, and accepting school environment, so the racial barriers that I’d expect in retrospect were never really there. It wasn’t really until I was exposed to the Internet that I really acknowledged my blackness, and even then the environment I grew up in made it something to embrace rather than try to hide or stifle as I came into my own

Growing up I was always the loudest, the most energetic, the most out there. This obviously rubbed some people the wrong way, as I was always quick to say whatever was on my mind, but being an outgoing person usually led to more people wanting to support me than tear me down. While I haven’t yet entered my “adult years,” I expect some challenges as I enter the Ivy League world an face the obvious institutional biases that come with it.

My high school experience actually led me to be more proud of my flamboyant (somewhat feminine) behavior, my colorful wardrobe, and my quickly-expanding afro. My high school has an abnormal number of queer kids, so coming into my own and understanding how I want to express myself as a gay person was a process that was met with no resistance. I feel lucky to have a community where I can walk on to campus with gold nail polish on my fingers and my ‘fro piled high on my head, and have that be considered acceptable – or even normal.

The past couple months have been hard. Not only physically (I can only march to City Hall so many times!), but also emotionally as I watch the ideological tides turn within days against those with with I empathize. Looking forward I can only see the liberties of my fellow black and queer folk be diminished as this administration continues to press its bigoted agenda on its citizens. I’ve been down, but through marching and interacting with the LGBTQ community, I’ve felt more invigorated to be proud of my ideologies and identity, as it’s the only way I feel I can show continued resilience in these increasingly-frustrating weeks

5 Marcus Scott, NYC, playwright

James Baldwin once wrote, “To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time.”

On paper: I did everything right, more or less. After I graduated high school, I went to college and got degrees in Communications and Theatre Arts. During five years in undergrad, I interned at several publications and media outlets, writing over 200 hundred original stories.

Before my final year of undergrad, a mentor of mine, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, even said I rivaled that of most master’s degree candidates. I have since received my master’s degree and yet, in my profession I’ve often lost various positions to people with less experience. I don’t necessarily believe this is a race issue, perhaps it’s nepotism or that I came to this city with zero connections.

But there have been several times where I was told to shrink myself because “I come off way too strong” or that I am “way too defensive,” right after someone has just blatantly offended me. Nowadays, perhaps I overcomplicate things because I march to the beat of my own drum and I’ve been around the block a few times for anyone to speak down to me. That sends a message to some. It says that I need to “learn my place.”

There were three instances that really stand out over my career. I did an internship for an independent publication, and in conference, the publisher reached out to my mentor and told him that a person “like Marcus would never make it as a journalist and that he has no talent.” When my mentor pressed him, this publisher said something like, “because people like him are lazy.” My mentor told me this right after I received a fellowship with a major publication. Meanwhile, the editor that I worked directly under wrote me a stunning recommendation letter.

Another instance was when I worked as a part-time editor for a now-defunct publication that catered to women and the CEO, who at this point had lost several editors and assistants, embarrassed me in front of my interns. He called me “an imbecile” when I asked him who the target audience was; over the course of my time there, he changed the demographic all of seven times and questioned my experience and acumen at every turn.

Today, I actually find most black people have been very accommodating to non-diverse people who seem to be more enraged and flabbergasted. In fact, I’d be remiss to say that most black people are not surprised that Donald J. Trump and the alt-right Republican Party won the electoral vote. I’d say we’ve become more accommodating to the white fragility of well-meaning liberals who have had their minds blown after this “revelation” that demagogues like the 45th president of the U.S. were capable of taking the White House.

Since this election, I’ve never heard more white women addressing intersectionality nor have I seen more white people in transit on the subway reading black literature in hopes of being “woke,” nor have I seen more white people address disenfranchisement as I have seen in the last few months. This is all very good and for the people who have been doing this years before it was trendy, good for them. But for the others, I don’t celebrate their newfound awareness.

I think diverse people, especially people of black descent, have been waiting for the rest of the world to catch up. I know I have.

6 Oluwatomi Lawal (Tomi), Pinehurst, NC, student

I grew up in a predominately white community and have attended predominately white institutions for as long as I can remember. However, most my my parents’ social circles were black (specifically Nigerian), so my blackness has always been affirmed and grounded in a familial setting. Growing up, I got some of what I would consider to be the usual string of comments/micro-aggressions: do you play basketball, can you swim, do you know this other black person in the school, do you like the one black girl in class, do you like The Cosby Show, etc.? Most of these I could answer with some variation of “yes, but…” which usually helped curb the stereotypes.

During my high school years I became acutely aware of how common it was for black youth to be characterized as an adult. I especially noticed this once the shootings of unarmed black men permeated the news regularly from 2012 onward.

Thinking back, people seemed to say that I was “growing up so fast,” which by itself was not really an abnormal comment for a friend or relative to say. However, during my high school years I became acutely aware of how common it was for black youth to be characterized as an adult. I especially noticed this once the shootings of unarmed black men permeated the news regularly from 2012 onward.

I definitely believe that my high school experience allowed me to grow a lot as a person, because it was in high school that I began to learn how to articulate my feelings around the importance understanding difference, being open-minded, and valuing diversity and inclusion. I was fortunate enough to attend a more diverse boarding school in New England that gave me the exposure to be able to develop these new feelings in a setting that I would not have experienced otherwise. The proximity allowed me to connect with members of my high school community and find my voice. With greater exposure to people of color in an academic setting, I developed a propensity to want to keep cherish those connections that I would not have been able to experience outside of familial circles at home. Through this, I certainly became more Afro-centric (I spent most of my senior year with an afro, a necklace of Africa, and a metal hair pick in my pocket), and I loved being able to experience that.

In a “post-Trump fueled era” brought me back from a whimsical idealism back down to a mellowed optimism, which has been ultimately good. It has forced me to be more curious about understanding the differences within people in this nation, while hold firm to my values of diversity and inclusion. It has also made me think more critically about what kind of radical thoughts and actions need to be taken in order to understand and come closer to having a more perfect union.

7 Adam Hyndman, Brooklyn, broadway actor

Like many, growing as a black American was an experience of intersection. (I am of African American descent, and I am also bi-racial with Filipino/ Asian American heritage). I was raised in a rural and homogenous region. Apart from the presence of my own family, the world I looked out on was very white. That is what I became accustomed to, assimilating into the conventions, perspectives and behaviors of the community in order to find belonging.

Although, I had respect for my heritage, I was thought that being “white” was default, and therefore being properly white meant being properly accepted. This resulted in a degree of dysphoria as I began to mature, age, and becoming exposed to the world outside of my home town (especially during college and beyond). Growing up as a black man in America is a process of coming to terms with intersectionality, and a journey of finding belonging.

Overtime however, I did develop a responsibility to be good and be the best, in part because of a desire to be an example that black folks can be highly accomplished as well. I didn’t see images or representations of minorities being celebrated often, so I feel like I had to carry the torch whenever and wherever I had the opportunity. That responsibility can quickly distort into, expectation and then further into a burden, and that is not healthy or sustainable. This certainly carried over into my adult life until I started to diversify my network.

Going into my industry, as a professional performer, I was confronted with many mixed messages. Here I was, I had been this over-achieving “token” my entire life who was able to code-switch and gain access in different spaces… yet that is not what I was wanted of me. My intersectionality was confusing. My levels of complexity were not universally “black” enough. my authenticity wasn’t “black” enough. In the very onset of my career I certainly felt push back to compromise my authenticity in order to present a more stereotypical representation of my blackness in order to fit a particular idea or narrative.

Well, in casting there is no shortage of mirco-aggressions. Understandably for convenience and efficiency sake, casting departments need to send out short descriptions for the characters they are casting actors for. Often times these descriptions can become extremely over-simplified. There have been many times that the roles I am sent in for had descriptions that read simply: “early 20’s -late 30’s, African American. Drug Dealer.” Like, that’s it!

During this era, I am so clear of the need for visibility. The journey of my life and figuring out my place as a black man in this country has developed a deep love and respect for my heritage and contributions of many that have made me the man I am. To compromise the truth I have found because of fear would be antithetical to my purpose. I am empowered with the conceit that it is the stand we are for our authenticity that will hold us during these times, offering our integrity sustenance.

8 Alex Freeman, San Francisco, design researcher

I grew up in Palo Alto, or as I like to call it: The Land of Milk and Honey. It really does seem like a tech-fueled utopia, and for the most part, that’s true. However, only 2% of the population while I was growing up was Black. I felt like I was pulled between two cultures: my cousins on both sides of my family grew up in black neighborhoods and I found it hard to identify with them. However, growing up in such a white community also gave me an unsettling feeling of being ‘other’. I loved growing up in Palo Alto, but I often wonder what how much experiences of my white friends growing up there were different than mine.

I was the ‘token’. Almost all of my friends growing up were white or Asian. They didn’t treat me disrespectfully, but I was the sounding board for anything related to being Black. I took a more passive view to race while I was growing up, focusing almost all of my attention on forging ahead, getting into a good school, and landing a respectable job. When I got to Georgetown, I started to find my voice as a Black man in Washington DC under the leadership of President Obama. Now that I’m back in Silicon Valley, I’m far more outspoken about equality and equity for minorities in tech and the broader Bay Area.

I think my childhood prepared me for Silicon Valley much more than others. Those of us who grew up there are expected to end up in tech, and our education and social cultures focused on that expectation. I did grow more cognizant of my Blackness while working in technology, particularly the design field.

The really famous designers tend to be white, male, and more often than not, European. I’ve had a hard time identifying with those people and picturing myself rising to prominence in both design and in tech — there is simply no precedent. It’s exhausting walking the unbeaten path, but it’s also exhilarating. My mom was the first Black, female city council member in Palo Alto when she was elected, so if anything, I’ve learned to look to other people’s successes in order to find the motivation to stay the course.

I think the moments that really pain me, are the moments of omission. Silicon Valley takes the meritocracy very seriously (or so they say) but a meritocracy is a double-edged sword. Black people are so underrepresented in tech that a meritocracy only hurts us until we find equity. So the fact that so much of what Black people in Silicon Valley achieve is unrecognized even though it was done against the odds if particularly heartbreaking to me.

I am so lucky to work at a company that cares about the movement, and cares about black people on a deeply personal level. I’ve had several conversations with our CEO and our COO about the subject matter and their responses are so genuine and so empathetic and so personal, that I feel incredibly lucky to have them in my corner. This sentiment has permeated the workplace and it’s a magical thing to see the empathy and alliance that come from my coworkers on this front.

I feel more empowered if anything during this new Trump era. I feel myself getting more and more unapologetically Black and more and more cognizant about how I can influence the narrative of the Black citizen in Silicon Valley. There’s a long way to go, but I think this general mentality of #resistance in San Francisco is adding fuel to my fire, and I’m excited to hit the ground running.

9 Landon Dais, Bronx, attorney

I attended a Catholic High School, Fordham Prep in the Bronx. My school was mostly white. However, there was a decent black/latino population. During my younger years, I joined Jack and Jill, because I went to majority white schools, my parents wanted to ensure I had a social circle of black friends.

After high school, I attended an all black college (HBCU), Morehouse College. I wanted to go to an HBCU because I wanted to have the black college experience similar to my older brother. I also attended Columbia University for grad school and then to Hofstra Law School. At Columbia and Hofstra I was one of a handful of black Americans. Even with my education and resume, I have been profiled by police numerous times: stop and frisk, unwarranted search of my car, physically manhandled by a cop in HS, guns were drawn on me while working on a social program in Harlem, etc. I have never been arrested or charged with a crime but I was treated like a criminal many times by police officers.

In my professional career, I am usually either the only or one of the few black males in my office. Black women are outpacing black men in corporate America. I do not know how many times in the first 10 years of my professional career I have been complimented on the way I speak or conduct myself. I appreciate that was not an issue at my current law firm. Oftentimes, I am one of the few black males a colleague interacts with on a consistent time frame. I believe our interaction allows them to know more about the black American experience.

A former co-worker pissed me off during the anti-police shooting protests, the former co-worker would say why can’t “they” protest peacefully like MLK Jr.? I would calmly explain every MLK protest wasn’t peaceful and often the issues you see were escalated by another source and not by those protesting.

I realized that because of their one-sided positive view of police, they naturally took their side unless there was direct evidence to show the cop acted unprofessionally. Without evidence, it was assumed that they were in the right. I just could not understand how they couldn’t see the issue black America was facing with the police in America, and still don’t. Though, the introduction of camera phones and videos has begun to turn the tide.

10 Justin Fenner, NYC, editor

I had a really happy childhood. My dad worked for the government, and we moved around a lot: I was born in the Philippines, and by the time I was in high school we’d also lived in Guam, North and South Carolina, and California. Living in these different cultures and traveling from place to place gave me this exposure to the world that a lot of people don’t get until they’re older, if they get it at all. It took me a while to fully appreciate that.

I won’t lie: I was a pretty sheltered kid. My family employed live-in housekeepers until I was maybe 11 years old. I was the bougie cousin, and no one ever let me forget it. We lived in predominantly white neighborhoods, primarily because they were always the ones closest to great schools — and the one thing my dad wouldn’t compromise on was getting me and my little sister the best educational opportunities available to us.

I’m incredibly grateful for that, but I did have a lot of moments growing up where I felt like I was living between two worlds. I think that’s something all black kids experience regardless of where they live, how they’re raised, or who their parents are. If you want to make a way for yourself in a world that’s dominated by people who, at best, aren’t really motivated to help you succeed, you don’t have a choice about figuring out a way you can communicate with them. And that’s far from being the easiest thing in the world to do.

I got a lot of schoolyard teasing about how I “talked white” growing up, especially from other black kids. There was this perception that I thought I was better than other black people because of how fortunate my family was, but that was never the case.

No matter where you grow up or how much money you have, you always feel distinctly watched if you’re black and male. I can remember being followed around stores at the mall, for example, as if I might steal something, or teachers having me sit at the front of the classroom because that made it easier for them to keep an eye on me, like there was some inherent danger in putting me on the periphery.

I still feel those eyes on me now. I’m fairly confident I always will. I used to get really angry about it. But it’s just part of the territory now.

Dave Chapelle once said that “Every black American is bilingual. All of them. We speak street vernacular and we speak ‘job interview.'” I think that’s among the truest things anyone has ever said. Code switching is a pretty vital skill to have if you want to survive in a world dominated by people who don’t look like you. But because I spent a lot of my life surrounded by the kinds of people I work with now (namely, privileged white people), I think I had a pretty good idea of what to expect in the professional sphere.

I’m really fortunate to work in an industry that prizes diversity and inclusion, even if it doesn’t always feel that way in practice. I’ve never felt targeted or discriminated against at work, but I have had a number of moments where I’ve had to do some educating. Explaining the importance of Black Twitter to a white editor in his 40s who doesn’t really use social media, or reassuring someone that, no, headline option three isn’t going to mobilize the social justice mechanism is as much as I’ve had to take on in an office. And I’m glad to be around when those questions come up. Each one teach one, you know?

Sometimes I think the best response to the Trump era is to be who I am fearlessly and without apology. Maybe the best way for all of us to stand up to the extreme celebration of homogeneity that led to Trump’s rise is to highlight every single one of our individual nuances as joyously as possible.

11 Scott Pierce, Columbia, SC, attorney

I can’t really answer what it was like to grow up as a black American. I can answer as to what it was like growing up as me.

I’ve had a lot of experiences that link and bind me to the black community, but my upraising was quite different from the “so-called” average black American. I don’t mean that to indicate quality, but simply that in many ways, the world I grew up in was white.

As I grew older, and shed the innocence of childhood, my perception of America and the way I was perceived changed. I learned that certain privileges were taken from me without my consent due to where I lived. I learned that police officers looked at me a slightly different way than they did at some of my classmates, and I learned that this could be an advantage, on occasion, if I played my part well. I learned that any white girl who pledged in a sorority became off limits for dating and basically college life friendship in general. I knew that when someone yelled slurs out of a pickup truck window while I walked back from the bars, more likely than not the exact same words were being used in bars covered in Battle Flags of the Republic and long live the south graffiti. I knew that my state was hopelessly on the wrong side of history and proud of it.

So I used it to my advantage. I used my charisma and intelligence to open every door I could, sometimes just because it felt like someone put a door in my way. In a sense, I wish I could have given up on the anger that led to me jumping at opportunities like none others will come, but it’s made me who I am.

In the work world, I’ve never felt like a black man at the expense of my work, with the exception of this last summer of 2016. I was working in Texas with far too many Texans. And to hear people I had respected in the office uttering the most vile filth about black lives matter and police brutality broke me open.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but I became more or less a shell of myself, ruined a relationship that meant the world to me and slipped back into depression. White Texans, who should know better than anyone that racism still exists today, casually compared BLM to the KKK without seeing the shudder on my face every time they spit out black lives matter, clearly thinking the opposite.

I had friends try and calm me down, saying I shouldn’t be so upset over something as simple as “politics” in the office. It isn’t just politics. I feel like it used to be. I used to stay up watching re-runs of the West Wing with my dad and having such a noble view of politics and the world. Then 2016 happened and I had to address my normal average fear of getting pulled over for a speeding ticket or a broken taillight, and expand that completely rational irrational fear into a new terrified worldview as a black American and I broke.

I honestly think that I was never prepared to fear that many people that I got along with great on a professional level. I couldn’t see how I wasn’t the same level of American they were-and yet, I grew up in that country. I remembered being near that feeling, but never experiencing it. As soon as I graduated from the bubble of undergrad, I hopped in my car and drove out to California-never to return to the South…only ending up there again and again.

I grew up without a group. In middle school, a group of white kids in my neighborhood whom I’d been friends with for years had gotten in the habit of egging their friends’ houses for kicks. They’d write stupid jokes and cause minor mayhem but it was no big deal. When they egged my house, they also took the time to scrawl on my dad’s car, “NATOW” in shaving cream across the hood. I told my parents I didn’t know what it meant, but they’d invented a new slur for me since none of the others seemed to fit: Not A True Official White.

And the same year, on the track team which was nearly all black, they dubbed me, “Brady Bunch,” because they said I talked like I was on a sitcom for white people. Needless to say, I learned how to code switch like a magician, and there was never a “black” reference that I didn’t know because it cost too much hard earned social capital not to.

In the post-Trump era, which I feel like really started about a year ago, I just feel sad, scared and furious. Everyday my heart keeps breaking that my words are dismissed as whining and fake news and ‘libtears’ nonsense. But every time, my heart heals. It heals with anger. Almost malice. I know it’s unhealthy, but I can’t let it just wash over me anymore.

I’m almost glued to my phone for the next injustice, and with this administration you hardly have to refresh your twitter feed to find the next injustice. Yet I know that I’m just screaming into the void. Mainly, it’s made me get off my ass and actually act. I’ve marched. I took a government job. I am no longer complacent that my America is smaller than it is for a kid who grew up in the exact same family I did, but without my skin color. And frankly, I know I’m stronger for it.

Now, I just have to turn the anger down long enough to accomplish something and prove that I’m not just another black exception. I am exceptional, but we all are. We all have the ability to be. That knowledge cost more than I wanted to pay for it, but I’m proud to be me.

12 Ernest Bannister James, NYC, public relations

I was always seen as “soft” which automatically made me gay to my peers at such a young age.

In the African-American community, being soft is not the norm, so you’re automatically labeled gay if you don’t fight, constantly talk about girls, or have an obsession with sports. Being raised by three strong women definitely shaped my perspective on life, because they taught me to work hard, never complain, and take care of others before yourself.

I think that translated into my adulthood, because I remember employers telling me that I had a great work ethic even though I thought that working hard was the norm. Being perceived as gay in my adulthood doesn’t bother me as much now because, well, I am gay, and that’s just one of many things that define me in addition to being a man, a brother, a husband, a pet owner, a publicist, a friend, and the list goes on and on. But being young and given that title by others before printing it out and giving it to myself was harder and may explain why it took me a while to come out to my family and friends.

I have been blessed to never have been treated with blatant racism in the workplace. There have been times that my peers who were of different races felt comfortable to discuss/say things around me that could be perceived as racist, but I think it’s really in how you look at it. Since these were friends that I know and respect, I know they weren’t coming from a place of hate which never made it uncomfortable for me to be around them when those situations occurred.

My experience at work has always been, a hate issue is everyone’s issue. Being blessed to work in the fashion industry has allowed me to work alongside many groups that at one time or another were marginalized so we all stand in solidarity when something happens that affects a particular group.

I feel now more than ever I need to be more involved overall! I think we as people mean to do good in our lives, but we get so bogged down in our own lives that we forget to reach out and really lean in to help those around us who can benefit from our assistance. I’ve definitely been more attuned to what’s happening around the world in general because now is not the time to live in a place of ignorant bliss. Whether it’s a women’s rights issue, a gay rights issue, a black issue, etc. they’re all human issues and we need to remember that when we decide to choose who we stand up for and who we don’t. We can all be a little kinder and a little more open to each other these days and that’s my mission during the current environment we’re existing in.

13 JD, NYC, merchandising manager

I grew up as a person with black skin in America, but my family is Caribbean, which culturally, is a bit different than being black American. I found myself not understanding a lot of the historical context that was applied to the black American experience until much later in life, when I was old enough to experience it for myself.

As a first-generation American, I spent a lot of time highlighting the cultural differences between people throughout the diaspora because these differences are what make us beautiful, but here, in America, everything is skin-deep. You are forced to be conscious enough to know how you are being perceived by the world versus how you perceive yourself. How I perceived myself became low on the list of tools necessary to navigate America.

I was told by my mentor that I’m big [6’5″] and black, and that my job is to be as invisible as possible. That always stuck with me. “Your physical stature is drawing attention to you, so no need to bring more attention to yourself by not following protocol.” Being Caribbean, you live in a multi-dialect space. You speak one way at home, one way with your American friends, and another way at work. Code switching. A phenomenon that is intrinsically passed down, and also learned. If you work in banking, no tattoos, no long hair, no facial hair. I always took this personally. Forcing myself to shave felt emasculating. I now work in a more relaxed environment and one of the first things I did was grow out my hair and beard. I’ve had a beard for the last 3-4 years as a personal protest.

As insane as it may sound, I’ve had white co-workers use the word “nigga” in front of me. Once, reciting a Kevin Hart joke, and another trying to be “cute.” I didn’t think the person was racist, but I did think they were f***ing stupid and had no sense of awareness. The level of comfort you have to have, to say the word “nigga” in front of anyone, much less a black person, in the office, is a downright privilege. I was offended at their comfort level. There was zero concern to how I could respond. Deal with it. What did I do? Nothing. I was in complete shock.

Stand your ground is an interesting choice of words. The day after the election, I felt the way I did on 9/11. I’ve since recovered under the idea that, this whole shit is a joke. Americans should feel embarrassed about electing him. This is beyond governance, and political strategy. It’s about human decency.

#Very Good Light #David Yi #Marcus Scott

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