Gentrifiers and Black Lives Matter yard signs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I'm black and live in neighborhood near yours. There are several BLM signs around us in the yards of people who are not black. Doesn't bother me in the slightest. I'm glad people feel strongly enough about the message to identify themselves as believing in it.

That said, people will form opinions of you that you don't like and if your husband doesn't feel comfortable with that, that matters too.

We're also gentrifiers, though I guess being black cancels out the impact of that. But having kids changes what you have to consider and I could understand if your husband is coming at it from that angle, even if he doesn't articulate it that way. It's kinda ironic that I don't feel that my kid, young as he is, is entirely safe around gentrifiers.

So put up the sign because it sends a message to moms like me. Don't do it if it makes your own family uncomfortable. They're more important, and there are other ways.

Maybe you should look up gentrification.

[Anonymous]

What will become of these signs when owners sell and move to Arlington for "better schools?"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I'm black and live in neighborhood near yours. There are several BLM signs around us in the yards of people who are not black. Doesn't bother me in the slightest. I'm glad people feel strongly enough about the message to identify themselves as believing in it.

That said, people will form opinions of you that you don't like and if your husband doesn't feel comfortable with that, that matters too.

We're also gentrifiers, though I guess being black cancels out the impact of that. But having kids changes what you have to consider and I could understand if your husband is coming at it from that angle, even if he doesn't articulate it that way. It's kinda ironic that I don't feel that my kid, young as he is, is entirely safe around gentrifiers.

So put up the sign because it sends a message to moms like me. Don't do it if it makes your own family uncomfortable. They're more important, and there are other ways.

No. Being black doesn't cancel out the impact of that. As a white non-gentrifier you are just as bad. You are pricing people out of their homes and doing the same thing. Own it.

Um...I did. Difference is that I don't give a sh*t about what you or anyone else thinks about where I choose to buy a house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do you need a sign on your front lawn to support a cause? More effective would be to volunteer or DO something rather than a shallow sign of status.

I agree that only having a yard sign is not enough. But I don't think that OP is suggesting that having a yard sign is her only form of activism.

Having a yard sign or bumper sticker or button or whatever is a very easy, very cheap, very small thing. But, I don't think it's harmful.

Actually, it IS harmful. Studies have found that people use small things like Facebook posts, signs, etc as moral self licensing- because they did a "good" thing, they rationalize later doing a bad thing. See PP on this thread- they put a sign up, so that justifies them not actually DOING something, like sending their kid to the school in their district and then fighting for improvements in the school. Much easier to do what's best for your own kid, then put up a sign to absolve your guilt.

If white people want to feel guilty about the treatment of black people in this country, that's totally fine with me, but don't do something trivial and then pat yourself on the back. Putting up a BLM sign is pretty much the modern day "I have a black friend".

Np. But I highly doubt that most of them have a "black friend." And made up ones don't count.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Virtue signaling is so obnoxious.

+1

Criticizing "virtue signaling" is just another form of virtue signaling. What, you want a pat on the back?

NP. This is a stupid argument. Try again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I'm black and live in neighborhood near yours. There are several BLM signs around us in the yards of people who are not black. Doesn't bother me in the slightest. I'm glad people feel strongly enough about the message to identify themselves as believing in it.

That said, people will form opinions of you that you don't like and if your husband doesn't feel comfortable with that, that matters too.

We're also gentrifiers, though I guess being black cancels out the impact of that. But having kids changes what you have to consider and I could understand if your husband is coming at it from that angle, even if he doesn't articulate it that way. It's kinda ironic that I don't feel that my kid, young as he is, is entirely safe around gentrifiers.

So put up the sign because it sends a message to moms like me. Don't do it if it makes your own family uncomfortable. They're more important, and there are other ways.

No. Being black doesn't cancel out the impact of that. As a white non-gentrifier you are just as bad. You are pricing people out of their homes and doing the same thing. Own it.

Um...I did. Difference is that I don't give a sh*t about what you or anyone else thinks about where I choose to buy a house.

Faulty assumption 1) I care or anyone else did until you decided to post that your skin color cancels out YOUR impact of gentrification (hint: it doesn't)

Faulty assumption 2) that white gentrifies care what other people think

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What will become of these signs when owners sell and move to Arlington for "better schools?"

It doesn't matter. They will already have served their intended purpose of making the gentrifier feel warm and fuzzy inside.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What will become of these signs when owners sell and move to Arlington for "better schools?"

They will get the sign that has messages in multiple languages -- that no one in their lilly white neighborhoods can read.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I'm black and live in neighborhood near yours. There are several BLM signs around us in the yards of people who are not black. Doesn't bother me in the slightest. I'm glad people feel strongly enough about the message to identify themselves as believing in it.

That said, people will form opinions of you that you don't like and if your husband doesn't feel comfortable with that, that matters too.

We're also gentrifiers, though I guess being black cancels out the impact of that. But having kids changes what you have to consider and I could understand if your husband is coming at it from that angle, even if he doesn't articulate it that way. It's kinda ironic that I don't feel that my kid, young as he is, is entirely safe around gentrifiers.

So put up the sign because it sends a message to moms like me. Don't do it if it makes your own family uncomfortable. They're more important, and there are other ways.

No. Being black doesn't cancel out the impact of that. As a white non-gentrifier you are just as bad. You are pricing people out of their homes and doing the same thing. Own it.

Um...I did. Difference is that I don't give a sh*t about what you or anyone else thinks about where I choose to buy a house.

Faulty assumption 1) I care or anyone else did until you decided to post that your skin color cancels out YOUR impact of gentrification (hint: it doesn't)

Faulty assumption 2) that white gentrifies care what other people think

I challenge the faultiness of your assumption that white gentrifies (sic) care what other people think. OP wants to put her BLM sign because she cares what other people think of her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have the sign that reads:
IN THIS HOUSE
WE BELIEVE:
BLACK LIVES MATTER
WOMEN'S RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS
NO HUMAN IS ILLEGAL
LOVE IS LOVE
KINDNESS IS EVERYTHING

Why you so stupid to have this shit?

Because utopians live in their imaginary world and are screwed up.

[Anonymous]

Who really cares? Cities are no longer cool anymore anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I'm black and live in neighborhood near yours. There are several BLM signs around us in the yards of people who are not black. Doesn't bother me in the slightest. I'm glad people feel strongly enough about the message to identify themselves as believing in it.

That said, people will form opinions of you that you don't like and if your husband doesn't feel comfortable with that, that matters too.

We're also gentrifiers, though I guess being black cancels out the impact of that. But having kids changes what you have to consider and I could understand if your husband is coming at it from that angle, even if he doesn't articulate it that way. It's kinda ironic that I don't feel that my kid, young as he is, is entirely safe around gentrifiers.

So put up the sign because it sends a message to moms like me. Don't do it if it makes your own family uncomfortable. They're more important, and there are other ways.

No. Being black doesn't cancel out the impact of that. As a white non-gentrifier you are just as bad. You are pricing people out of their homes and doing the same thing. Own it.

If they owned, they are not being priced out of their homes. If they live in committed affordable housing they are not being priced out of their homes. Renters of market rate housing may be forced out of "their" homes, though people like that moved before gentrification, and there is at least some evidence they live better in the suburbs. And certainly the district govt benefits from the rise in property values and tax revenues, which it uses to pay for schools, affordable housing, and social services. And to hire DC employees, most of whom are afrian american.

All in all the results of gentrification are mixed.

Kind of different from the results of policeman shooting a child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What will become of these signs when owners sell and move to Arlington for "better schools?"

They will get the sign that has messages in multiple languages -- that no one in their lilly white neighborhoods can read.

What lily white neighborhoods are there in Arlington?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I'm black and live in neighborhood near yours. There are several BLM signs around us in the yards of people who are not black. Doesn't bother me in the slightest. I'm glad people feel strongly enough about the message to identify themselves as believing in it.

That said, people will form opinions of you that you don't like and if your husband doesn't feel comfortable with that, that matters too.

We're also gentrifiers, though I guess being black cancels out the impact of that. But having kids changes what you have to consider and I could understand if your husband is coming at it from that angle, even if he doesn't articulate it that way. It's kinda ironic that I don't feel that my kid, young as he is, is entirely safe around gentrifiers.

So put up the sign because it sends a message to moms like me. Don't do it if it makes your own family uncomfortable. They're more important, and there are other ways.

No. Being black doesn't cancel out the impact of that. As a white non-gentrifier you are just as bad. You are pricing people out of their homes and doing the same thing. Own it.

Um...I did. Difference is that I don't give a sh*t about what you or anyone else thinks about where I choose to buy a house.

Faulty assumption 1) I care or anyone else did until you decided to post that your skin color cancels out YOUR impact of gentrification (hint: it doesn't)

Faulty assumption 2) that white gentrifies care what other people think

Hmmm. The only assumption I'm making is that they're irresistable to people who make a lot of assumptions.

The OP identified herself as a white gentrifier and then asked what others think. As a black gentrifier, I don't share the same concerns she outlined in her post.

What I do share is an awareness that just being who you are where you are is an invitation to others to make assumptions about what you are. So those little details about the who, what and where that I am are germane to the discussion. Your opinion on them is not germane to mine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Virtue signaling is so obnoxious.

This.