Hi, my name is Kim. I created TalkOakland.
People of color deserve the power to control their own narratives. I'm an Oakland native. And for me, the rapid gentrification of Oakland evokes an incessant sense of loss. For years, I refused to be present. Instead, I coped by abusing alcohol. Many people were traumatize by my actions. Eventually, I was arrested, fired, sent to psychiatric wards, evicted, etc. But ultimately, I replaced my alcoholism by recognizing a passion for filmmaking. And since then, I've obsessively studied the art. Now, I channel my emotions into TalkOakland - stories aimed at healing generational trauma.
Other platforms focus on elitist perspectives. But my goal is to capture content that feels raw, unrehearsed and compelling. In addition, I strive to contextualize the content with an analysis on how historical oppressive patterns reinvent themselves.
Analysis
Academically, I strive to substantiate the sentiments expressed through my work with an unapologetic analysis of the systemic history of racial oppression and how those patterns continue today. In all, I created a digital framework to empower an authentic Black experience not portrayed in contemporary media.
Academically, I strive to substantiate the sentiments expressed through my work with an unapologetic analysis of the systemic history of racial oppression and how those patterns continue today.
This American Life interviewed a survivor of Hurricane Katrina who revisited the 9th Ward after the devastation. When she came across the canal, she realized that the loss Hurricane Katrina created was much more than the physical buildings, but most importantly, the people who she grew up with who had been displaced because of the disaster. Without that same community in place - who informed her identity as she grew up - she questioned who she was. And gentrification acts in a similar way. The loss accrued in the process of gentrification is similar for natives of Oakland. We aren't just losing the physical space that we grew up in - but a core part of our identity that shapes are understanding of ourselves. Gentrification, like Hurricane Katrina, is a man-made disaster designed to disproportionately affect communities of color.
Gentrification, like Hurricane Katrina, is a man-made disaster designed to disproportionately affect communities of color.
Hurricane Katrina is known as the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes in the history of the United States. And we can use what happened in Hurricane Katrina to understand a lot of the negligence towards communities of color.
The racial and class dimensions of the Katrina disaster have impressed themselves on the collective unconscious, but it isn't entirely clear how this is so. We saw the failure of the levees and the unresponsiveness and mismanagement from the US Government and various emergency and relief agencies as race and class influenced. We saw how these distressed communities of color were treated. We felt it deep inside.
The racial and class dimensions of the Katrina disaster have impressed themselves on the collective unconscious, but it isn't entirely clear how this is so. We saw the failure of the levees and the unresponsiveness and mismanagement from the US Government and various emergency and relief agencies as race and class influenced. We saw how these distressed communities of color were treated. We felt it deep inside.
Deep Prejudice
These are deep feelings because the roots of these issues run very deep. To begin with, we can now agree that the evils of slavery were never truly addressed or repaid. An estimated 620,000 soldiers lost their lives fighting a war that was fought on the basis of eliminating the slave economy, and African Americans were indeed declared free, but other than having a formal legal declaration, they were largely abandoned to their fate amongst a deeply divided and bigoted nation.
To begin with, we can now agree that the evils of slavery were never truly addressed or repaid.
In the South, African Americans faced Jim Crow and segregation, as well as political terror from the Ku Klux Klan, which was largely tolerated by the authorities. In the North, African American's were hypocritically welcomed to the land of their more progressive neighbors, while outright being denied FHA loans by the US Government and shunted into neighborhoods with inferior housing, infested with loan sharks, among other discriminatory practices.
It wasn't until after the Civil Rights movement that people of color were able to secure desegregation, equal protection under the law, anti-discrimination laws and practices such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which helped to get more people of color registered and voting fairly. Certainly these gains were major victories and hard-fought, but still there was a long way to go, and much more work to be done, especially on the part of the oppressors.
Riding on the momentum of the civil rights movement, and also the counter culture movement, black radicals like the Black Panthers became more bold and militant. There were more people of color who were willing to fight for their basic rights and equal standing in society, and demand for reparations for all of the injustices inflicted against them, and not just for a couple of formal but hollow guarantees and cheap concessions like affirmative action.
It wasn't until after the Civil Rights movement that people of color were able to secure desegregation, equal protection under the law, anti-discrimination laws and practices such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which helped to get more people of color registered and voting fairly. Certainly these gains were major victories and hard-fought, but still there was a long way to go, and much more work to be done, especially on the part of the oppressors.
Riding on the momentum of the civil rights movement, and also the counter culture movement, black radicals like the Black Panthers became more bold and militant. There were more people of color who were willing to fight for their basic rights and equal standing in society, and demand for reparations for all of the injustices inflicted against them, and not just for a couple of formal but hollow guarantees and cheap concessions like affirmative action.
The establishment had to figure out how to keep oppressing people of color without being called out as lawbreakers or even as racists.
The establishment had to figure out how to keep oppressing people of color without being called out as lawbreakers or even as racists.
Open discrimination and prejudice gave way to all manner of subtle prejudice and quieter means of discrimination, which continues today.
From the state, we saw the gradual expansion of the prison system, combined with a 40 year drug war that continues on. Crack cocaine was introduced into black neighborhoods, which saw skyrocketing drug sentencing and prison terms. The press has largely declared the War on Drugs a failure, but from the perspective of a racist establishment, it can only be seen as a success. Though people of color make up 30 percent of the population, they make up 60 percent of the prison population.
In the private sector, we see egregious instances of redlining by the banks, a practice in which banks mark out Black neighborhoods on a map in order to deny them financial services, or else target them with predatory loans and high interest rates. A large proportion of the middle class wealth that was destroyed after the 2008 financial crisis belonged to people of color, due to the fact that African American households were especially targeted with predatory liar's loans.
Redlining has also been used by insurance companies to deny insurance or wring out high premiums, and it has also been used to deny health care and keep higher quality stores out of certain neighborhoods.
Open discrimination and prejudice gave way to all manner of subtle prejudice and quieter means of discrimination, which continues today.
From the state, we saw the gradual expansion of the prison system, combined with a 40 year drug war that continues on. Crack cocaine was introduced into black neighborhoods, which saw skyrocketing drug sentencing and prison terms. The press has largely declared the War on Drugs a failure, but from the perspective of a racist establishment, it can only be seen as a success. Though people of color make up 30 percent of the population, they make up 60 percent of the prison population.
In the private sector, we see egregious instances of redlining by the banks, a practice in which banks mark out Black neighborhoods on a map in order to deny them financial services, or else target them with predatory loans and high interest rates. A large proportion of the middle class wealth that was destroyed after the 2008 financial crisis belonged to people of color, due to the fact that African American households were especially targeted with predatory liar's loans.
Redlining has also been used by insurance companies to deny insurance or wring out high premiums, and it has also been used to deny health care and keep higher quality stores out of certain neighborhoods.
A silent and invisible war on communities of color by the state and by the private sector has left African Americans and other minorities in stressed neighborhoods that are devoid of basic public and economic services, as well as decent food, utilities, and public parks.
A silent and invisible war on communities of color by the state and by the private sector has left African Americans and other minorities in stressed neighborhoods that are devoid of basic public and economic services, as well as decent food, utilities, and public parks.
In many neighborhoods where people of color move in and attempt to better their lives, affluent whites flee for outer circle suburbs further and further from the inner cities, which is how the term “inner city” has taken much of its meaning.
These inner city communities then are left to wallow in inescapable cycles of poverty, all of the cards stacked against them. They are the most heavily patrolled, where police use discriminatory tactics and brutalization to keep people of color in and out of prison and otherwise demoralized.
Today ongoing economic stress, increasing inequality, continuing discrimination and brutality, and a variety of other stressors have aggravated these issues even more, to the point at which it seems that we are actively regressing to a more backwards state of race relations.
At its base however, we refuse to address our problems at the root level. We continue to rearrange the game pieces, in the hopes that we do something right. We make formal concessions, we make legal niceties, and carry around feel good ideologies about color blindness. However, until we truly confront our race problem head on, and implement the proper reparations for people of color, we will continue to make the same mistakes. And we will show that this requires a radical change of our way of living.
In many neighborhoods where people of color move in and attempt to better their lives, affluent whites flee for outer circle suburbs further and further from the inner cities, which is how the term “inner city” has taken much of its meaning.
These inner city communities then are left to wallow in inescapable cycles of poverty, all of the cards stacked against them. They are the most heavily patrolled, where police use discriminatory tactics and brutalization to keep people of color in and out of prison and otherwise demoralized.
Today ongoing economic stress, increasing inequality, continuing discrimination and brutality, and a variety of other stressors have aggravated these issues even more, to the point at which it seems that we are actively regressing to a more backwards state of race relations.
At its base however, we refuse to address our problems at the root level. We continue to rearrange the game pieces, in the hopes that we do something right. We make formal concessions, we make legal niceties, and carry around feel good ideologies about color blindness. However, until we truly confront our race problem head on, and implement the proper reparations for people of color, we will continue to make the same mistakes. And we will show that this requires a radical change of our way of living.
Climate Change and Race
We need to properly understand the enormity of the task ahead of us. We need to understand how deep these problems actually run in our society. It may be helpful to get back on the topic of Hurricane Katrina, and climate change in general. So let's talk about the racial dimensions of climate change.
It is a well-known attribute of hurricanes that they are fed by heat energy, and so the more heat that is present in the ambient environment, and the more warm the ocean water in the region, the more powerful a hurricane is going to be when it forms. What this implies, and this has been repeated over and over again by climate scientists and meteorologists, is that a warming earth is going to lead to more frequent and powerful storms. The 100 year storm that is Hurricane Katrina is going to become the 10 year storm, and so on.
It is a well-known attribute of hurricanes that they are fed by heat energy, and so the more heat that is present in the ambient environment, and the more warm the ocean water in the region, the more powerful a hurricane is going to be when it forms. What this implies, and this has been repeated over and over again by climate scientists and meteorologists, is that a warming earth is going to lead to more frequent and powerful storms. The 100 year storm that is Hurricane Katrina is going to become the 10 year storm, and so on.
Communities of color are going to be the most adversely affected by rising heat, rising sea levels, and intensifying storms, as we saw with Katrina. This is because communities of color tend to be stuck with bad and decaying infrastructure, for the reasons mentioned in the previous section above, and bad infrastructure pollutes, injures, and kills when subjected to hurricane forces
Communities of color are going to be the most adversely affected by rising heat, rising sea levels, and intensifying storms, as we saw with Katrina. This is because communities of color tend to be stuck with bad and decaying infrastructure, for the reasons mentioned in the previous section above, and bad infrastructure pollutes, injures, and kills when subjected to hurricane forces. As a recent geographical study observed, poor neighborhoods tend to feature urban environments, with a greater proportion of concrete and asphalt. Poor communities tend to have far less trees and vegetation. Environments like these tend to heat up especially, and flooding is a much more serious problem.
Wealthy communities are able to make preparations for heat waves, hurricane forces, and rising sea levels. Infrastructure can be outfitted. Communities can relocate. Poor communities, communities of color are less prepared.
And that isn't all. Globally, climate change is a racist phenomenon. The most intense effects of climate change are going to be happening in the tropic zones, regions closest to the equator, where there is a far greater proportion of communities of color globally. In these regions populations will experience greater heat, deadlier storms, and a failure of public services and utilities, which is attributable to the sorry state that the imperial West has left the global poor in.
Wealthy and predominantly white nations are the ones contributing most of the energy waste (though nations such as Brazil, India, and China are quickly catching up), with poorer global communities of color bearing the worst effects of climate change. For example, there are regions in Africa constantly on fire, regions in Asia and the Caribbean constantly hit with hurricanes and typhoons, and regions in the Middle East that may become uninhabitable in the coming decades due to rising heat levels.
We are beginning to understand how deep these problems run; they are global and systematic in nature. But we must also see how these problems are connected to our collective behaviors. Next we turn to a phenomenon that can be considered a sort of social storm: gentrification.
Wealthy communities are able to make preparations for heat waves, hurricane forces, and rising sea levels. Infrastructure can be outfitted. Communities can relocate. Poor communities, communities of color are less prepared.
And that isn't all. Globally, climate change is a racist phenomenon. The most intense effects of climate change are going to be happening in the tropic zones, regions closest to the equator, where there is a far greater proportion of communities of color globally. In these regions populations will experience greater heat, deadlier storms, and a failure of public services and utilities, which is attributable to the sorry state that the imperial West has left the global poor in.
Wealthy and predominantly white nations are the ones contributing most of the energy waste (though nations such as Brazil, India, and China are quickly catching up), with poorer global communities of color bearing the worst effects of climate change. For example, there are regions in Africa constantly on fire, regions in Asia and the Caribbean constantly hit with hurricanes and typhoons, and regions in the Middle East that may become uninhabitable in the coming decades due to rising heat levels.
We are beginning to understand how deep these problems run; they are global and systematic in nature. But we must also see how these problems are connected to our collective behaviors. Next we turn to a phenomenon that can be considered a sort of social storm: gentrification.
Gentrification
Meanwhile, a slow motion storm of a wholly different kind is surging its way through Oakland, as well as the greater Bay Area, though the nature of this storm is not limited to the Bay Area region by any means. It is something that happens all the time.
In brief, Oakland and other cities in the bay that are in close proximity to San Francisco or San Jose - and the tech bubble those regions imply - are in a state of simmering turmoil, in which displaced wealth, which can't even compete with the extreme concentrations of wealth in urban areas, is flooding in, and lower income communities are finding themselves severely strained in their own neighborhoods, or otherwise priced out and displaced.
In brief, Oakland and other cities in the bay that are in close proximity to San Francisco or San Jose - and the tech bubble those regions imply - are in a state of simmering turmoil, in which displaced wealth, which can't even compete with the extreme concentrations of wealth in urban areas, is flooding in, and lower income communities are finding themselves severely strained in their own neighborhoods, or otherwise priced out and displaced.
Needless to say, gentrification as a phenomenon has been happening for as long as capitalism has existed, and probably even further back in some form or another. But as a phenomenon it reveals the soft violence of wealth stratification and what it can do to communities.
Needless to say, gentrification as a phenomenon has been happening for as long as capitalism has existed, and probably even further back in some form or another. But as a phenomenon it reveals the soft violence of wealth stratification and what it can do to communities. The establishment doesn't think of gentrification as a man-made disaster; it is simply a migration of individuals expressing their individual preferences. But the way in which our society is structured, gentrification becomes a destructive force that ruins lives; it is a man-made economic storm that takes on a life of its own.
Forming graduated tiers, wealth and power enjoys a freedom of movement in which it flows to the geographic and social locations of desire and overtakes them, displacing those of limited means in a lower tier. It is the process in which a stratified society settles onto itself as it changes, doing violence to itself.
The wealthy and predominantly white can move in where they want, bringing their wealth into the region and driving up real estate and commodities, while the poor are priced out and forced to leave because they can't find housing or keep up with prices.
These effects are attributable to the way capitalism works. Where there is more wealth, real estate owners and businesses can ask for more. Landlords and land owners can charge more for their properties, driving up property values. As property values go up, local governments receive more tax dollars and are able to provide more services and maintenance to an area, and they will do so in order to continue attracting wealth and increasing their tax base.
Wealthier businesses move in who can pay the rent and expect to get a return profiting off of the wealth flowing into the area.
Forming graduated tiers, wealth and power enjoys a freedom of movement in which it flows to the geographic and social locations of desire and overtakes them, displacing those of limited means in a lower tier. It is the process in which a stratified society settles onto itself as it changes, doing violence to itself.
The wealthy and predominantly white can move in where they want, bringing their wealth into the region and driving up real estate and commodities, while the poor are priced out and forced to leave because they can't find housing or keep up with prices.
These effects are attributable to the way capitalism works. Where there is more wealth, real estate owners and businesses can ask for more. Landlords and land owners can charge more for their properties, driving up property values. As property values go up, local governments receive more tax dollars and are able to provide more services and maintenance to an area, and they will do so in order to continue attracting wealth and increasing their tax base.
Wealthier businesses move in who can pay the rent and expect to get a return profiting off of the wealth flowing into the area.
These movements of wealth put significant strain on the various strata of society, setting them against each other and provoking them, much like minor earthquakes sending waves of motion which jostle the various materials and geological layers that are set upon each other, making them grind. Landlords demanding higher rents kick out disadvantaged tenants who can't pay. Police drive out elements that make wealthy whites uncomfortable. Wealthy businesses refuse lower end services to the poor.
These movements of wealth put significant strain on the various strata of society, setting them against each other and provoking them, much like minor earthquakes sending waves of motion which jostle the various materials and geological layers that are set upon each other, making them grind. Landlords demanding higher rents kick out disadvantaged tenants who can't pay. Police drive out elements that make wealthy whites uncomfortable. Wealthy businesses refuse lower end services to the poor.
Rich businesses buy up the real estate and develop higher-end retail and restaurants, and nicer condos and housing are built. It is a self-amplifying cycle. The poor are driven out, and the wealthy establish another insulated stronghold.
What we must understand about this is that this kind of thing is happening all of the time, and it is happening most to communities of color that are caught in cycles of poverty, who are vulnerable to gentrification and the prejudiced opinions of wealthy, white communities. All of this because of the way our society is structured, and the way that it operates.
Rich businesses buy up the real estate and develop higher-end retail and restaurants, and nicer condos and housing are built. It is a self-amplifying cycle. The poor are driven out, and the wealthy establish another insulated stronghold.
What we must understand about this is that this kind of thing is happening all of the time, and it is happening most to communities of color that are caught in cycles of poverty, who are vulnerable to gentrification and the prejudiced opinions of wealthy, white communities. All of this because of the way our society is structured, and the way that it operates.
Greater Changes
What we are seeing here is a very basic failure of an entire way of living, a failure which is primarily affecting communities of color first.
We are here because we refuse to break our deepest, most fundamental patterns of thought and action.
We keep having these conversations about race and yet no matter how many words we spend trying to illuminate the subject, we continue to face the same recurring problems, and the existing problems even seem to worsen. Our prison population is bursting at the seams, and a large proportion of that population are people of color. Slavery, segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement have returned, only it has taken a different form.
Similarly, no matter how many conversations we have about increasingly extreme weather patterns, we keep continuing on the same course, doing very little to address our deepest problems, and the bad weather continues to get worse, and the unpredictable weather events continue to become even more unpredictable. The temperatures rise. The sea levels rise. All sorts of other complications and problems are introduced by these changes. And poor communities of color are being hit the hardest.
The dynamics of capitalism itself are only intensifying and amplifying these deep rifts. Capital functions on the expectation of a return: if a people are poor and have no resources, capital will not seek to help them, it will only exploit them up to the point of near destruction, and sometimes it even goes that far.
People of color are being left to fight for their lives because as a society we have lost a greater feeling of collective responsibility. With each individual left to herself, the predatory business is the entity that accumulates power.
Many of the deaths from Hurricane Katrina were attributable to the failure of the levee system, which was determined to be a completely avoidable situation. The levees were reinforced with weak steel so the government could save money, a government whose public functions are being bled dry by the wealthy and predominantly white, who demand more and more wealth at the expense of everyone else.
A greater pattern emerges: a greater proportion of wealth is being concentrated in wealthy, predominantly white communities, while poor communities of color are getting by with less, and are receiving more of the negative effects of that wealth. Relatively speaking, much of the wealth of Western civilization is based on the burning of petroleum and the assorted industrial processes associated with that, all of which are directly contributing to the intensifying climate.
Which brings us back to our opening paragraph.
So what did Hurricane Katrina do for our collective unconscious? What are these economic stresses and these ongoing instances of police brutality doing? They are casting into clearer relief these deep injustices that are ingrained in our society, and which have not gone away. Under extreme stress, the relationship of Western civilization with global communities of color has been shown for what it is, starting with the original sins of slavery and economic imperialism: an abusive and exploitative relationship that has to fundamentally change.
And for this relationship to fundamentally change, we have to change fundamentally ourselves, as a collective, and as individuals.
We are here because we refuse to break our deepest, most fundamental patterns of thought and action.
We keep having these conversations about race and yet no matter how many words we spend trying to illuminate the subject, we continue to face the same recurring problems, and the existing problems even seem to worsen. Our prison population is bursting at the seams, and a large proportion of that population are people of color. Slavery, segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement have returned, only it has taken a different form.
Similarly, no matter how many conversations we have about increasingly extreme weather patterns, we keep continuing on the same course, doing very little to address our deepest problems, and the bad weather continues to get worse, and the unpredictable weather events continue to become even more unpredictable. The temperatures rise. The sea levels rise. All sorts of other complications and problems are introduced by these changes. And poor communities of color are being hit the hardest.
The dynamics of capitalism itself are only intensifying and amplifying these deep rifts. Capital functions on the expectation of a return: if a people are poor and have no resources, capital will not seek to help them, it will only exploit them up to the point of near destruction, and sometimes it even goes that far.
People of color are being left to fight for their lives because as a society we have lost a greater feeling of collective responsibility. With each individual left to herself, the predatory business is the entity that accumulates power.
Many of the deaths from Hurricane Katrina were attributable to the failure of the levee system, which was determined to be a completely avoidable situation. The levees were reinforced with weak steel so the government could save money, a government whose public functions are being bled dry by the wealthy and predominantly white, who demand more and more wealth at the expense of everyone else.
A greater pattern emerges: a greater proportion of wealth is being concentrated in wealthy, predominantly white communities, while poor communities of color are getting by with less, and are receiving more of the negative effects of that wealth. Relatively speaking, much of the wealth of Western civilization is based on the burning of petroleum and the assorted industrial processes associated with that, all of which are directly contributing to the intensifying climate.
Which brings us back to our opening paragraph.
So what did Hurricane Katrina do for our collective unconscious? What are these economic stresses and these ongoing instances of police brutality doing? They are casting into clearer relief these deep injustices that are ingrained in our society, and which have not gone away. Under extreme stress, the relationship of Western civilization with global communities of color has been shown for what it is, starting with the original sins of slavery and economic imperialism: an abusive and exploitative relationship that has to fundamentally change.
And for this relationship to fundamentally change, we have to change fundamentally ourselves, as a collective, and as individuals.
