Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just read the whole column and I thought it was spot on. 14th street is literally unrecognizable from what it was even 5 years ago. I do think that U street is still a more multicultural scene than many places in the city, but the change is undeniable. It's not that white people don't have a right to move where they want - it's that it is a loss to the people who have been displaced. Another very important point he makes is that even though there was crime and disrepair before gentrification, that does not mean there wasn't also life and culture and neighborhood. That is what has been lost to some, undeniably.

Then he should have said so. Instead, Milloy can't hide his clearly racist bias where he views non-black residents in DC as being in some zero-sum game in which African-Americans are the loser. If one took his column and substituted white for black as the aggrieved and black for white as the supposed negative change agents -- and if Milloy were a white columnist -- he would have been told to clean out his desk already.

I guess that now that Marion Barry is dead, someone had to take up the role of crazy old racist uncle in DC.

FYI blacks cannot be racist toward white people. Just about everyone has preferences and prejudices, some are based on actual experience and others based on fear and misinformation, but racism is systemic...racism is institutional where one group has the power to take its prejudices and exercise them upon others with impunity. Blacks don't have that power. Sure blacks can dislike whites, but what can they do to subjugate whites as a whole and keep them down and disenfranchised? NOTHING. Our society isn't set up to allow whites to be in such a predicament; our society is set up to prevent whites from being in such a predicament. Our society was set up to keep whites in a permanent position of power and no matter how biased or bigoted blacks may individually the systems and institutions in place explicitly prevent blacks from collectively ascending to a position where they are able to keep whites down. Racism is about power not mere prejudice.

Oh...and I don't give a shit if you disagree - that's my individual prejudice at work but don't worry like I said prejudice doesn't make me all powerful and it doesn't enable me to keep any of you down.

That's absolute bullshit - blacks can indeed be racist toward white people, and in fact some are. And in fact there are even instances of institutionalized racism toward whites, instances where blacks are indeed in power. That was the case in DC for decades. There are indeed blacks who do take opportunities to put whites in positions of weakness wherever they see the opportunity. Any close observer of interactions in DC will see that regularly - on the streets and sidewalks, in business, many places, where blacks will treat whites like they don't belong, et cetera. Maybe this doesn't happen in the mostly-white 3rd Ward enclaves, but elsewhere, where neighborhoods are a lot more predominantly AA and transitional, I've been seeing this routinely. There is no society with a big 'S' - there is no global framework - it is a patchwork of local and regional views, even going down to a block-by-block level.

Yeah well just like you see all black perpetrators as thugs and all white perpetrators as poor misguided people who simply lost their way and no one can convince you other wise - same stubborn mindset here. Like I said I don't give a shit if you disagree you ain't omnipotent and your opinions aren't insusceptible to being full of absolute bullshit either. Cheers!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The city used to be much more eclectic and caring. Not so much anymore.

I'd argue that the 45/45/10 split between Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics/Asians is more diverse/eclectic than the 70/30 poor Black/rich White split of olden days.

If you want a mix of races, income levels, political points of view, etc., come up to Frederick.

the city or the county?

b/c I hardly think Thurmont, for example, fits your description

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just read the whole column and I thought it was spot on. 14th street is literally unrecognizable from what it was even 5 years ago. I do think that U street is still a more multicultural scene than many places in the city, but the change is undeniable. It's not that white people don't have a right to move where they want - it's that it is a loss to the people who have been displaced. Another very important point he makes is that even though there was crime and disrepair before gentrification, that does not mean there wasn't also life and culture and neighborhood. That is what has been lost to some, undeniably.

Then he should have said so. Instead, Milloy can't hide his clearly racist bias where he views non-black residents in DC as being in some zero-sum game in which African-Americans are the loser. If one took his column and substituted white for black as the aggrieved and black for white as the supposed negative change agents -- and if Milloy were a white columnist -- he would have been told to clean out his desk already.

I guess that now that Marion Barry is dead, someone had to take up the role of crazy old racist uncle in DC.

FYI blacks cannot be racist toward white people. Just about everyone has preferences and prejudices, some are based on actual experience and others based on fear and misinformation, but racism is systemic...racism is institutional where one group has the power to take its prejudices and exercise them upon others with impunity. Blacks don't have that power. Sure blacks can dislike whites, but what can they do to subjugate whites as a whole and keep them down and disenfranchised? NOTHING. Our society isn't set up to allow whites to be in such a predicament; our society is set up to prevent whites from being in such a predicament. Our society was set up to keep whites in a permanent position of power and no matter how biased or bigoted blacks may individually the systems and institutions in place explicitly prevent blacks from collectively ascending to a position where they are able to keep whites down. Racism is about power not mere prejudice.

Oh...and I don't give a shit if you disagree - that's my individual prejudice at work but don't worry like I said prejudice doesn't make me all powerful and it doesn't enable me to keep any of you down.

That's absolute bullshit - blacks can indeed be racist toward white people, and in fact some are. And in fact there are even instances of institutionalized racism toward whites, instances where blacks are indeed in power. That was the case in DC for decades. There are indeed blacks who do take opportunities to put whites in positions of weakness wherever they see the opportunity. Any close observer of interactions in DC will see that regularly - on the streets and sidewalks, in business, many places, where blacks will treat whites like they don't belong, et cetera. Maybe this doesn't happen in the mostly-white 3rd Ward enclaves, but elsewhere, where neighborhoods are a lot more predominantly AA and transitional, I've been seeing this routinely. There is no society with a big 'S' - there is no global framework - it is a patchwork of local and regional views, even going down to a block-by-block level.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just read the whole column and I thought it was spot on. 14th street is literally unrecognizable from what it was even 5 years ago. I do think that U street is still a more multicultural scene than many places in the city, but the change is undeniable. It's not that white people don't have a right to move where they want - it's that it is a loss to the people who have been displaced. Another very important point he makes is that even though there was crime and disrepair before gentrification, that does not mean there wasn't also life and culture and neighborhood. That is what has been lost to some, undeniably.

Then he should have said so. Instead, Milloy can't hide his clearly racist bias where he views non-black residents in DC as being in some zero-sum game in which African-Americans are the loser. If one took his column and substituted white for black as the aggrieved and black for white as the supposed negative change agents -- and if Milloy were a white columnist -- he would have been told to clean out his desk already.

I guess that now that Marion Barry is dead, someone had to take up the role of crazy old racist uncle in DC.

FYI blacks cannot be racist toward white people. Just about everyone has preferences and prejudices, some are based on actual experience and others based on fear and misinformation, but racism is systemic...racism is institutional where one group has the power to take its prejudices and exercise them upon others with impunity. Blacks don't have that power. Sure blacks can dislike whites, but what can they do to subjugate whites as a whole and keep them down and disenfranchised? NOTHING. Our society isn't set up to allow whites to be in such a predicament; our society is set up to prevent whites from being in such a predicament. Our society was set up to keep whites in a permanent position of power and no matter how biased or bigoted blacks may individually the systems and institutions in place explicitly prevent blacks from collectively ascending to a position where they are able to keep whites down. Racism is about power not mere prejudice.

Oh...and I don't give a shit if you disagree - that's my individual prejudice at work but don't worry like I said prejudice doesn't make me all powerful and it doesn't enable me to keep any of you down.

In DC government, there used to be a lot of institutional racism against whites, Hispanics and Asians. That started to change when Mayor Williams came in, but there are still vestiges of it.

Oh do tell I am dying to hear some examples!
Oh and make sure you don't misconstrue recruiting people from the community for employment and promoting projects in particular communities that need assistance as racism. The racist systems and institutions in our society are what contributed to the majority of the impoverished, underprivileged, deprived, and disenfranchised people in this city being black - but doing things to help those individuals who don't have shit as opposed to showering people in more advantaged circumstances who by no coincidence are by and large white isn't keeping them down.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just read the whole column and I thought it was spot on. 14th street is literally unrecognizable from what it was even 5 years ago. I do think that U street is still a more multicultural scene than many places in the city, but the change is undeniable. It's not that white people don't have a right to move where they want - it's that it is a loss to the people who have been displaced. Another very important point he makes is that even though there was crime and disrepair before gentrification, that does not mean there wasn't also life and culture and neighborhood. That is what has been lost to some, undeniably.

Then he should have said so. Instead, Milloy can't hide his clearly racist bias where he views non-black residents in DC as being in some zero-sum game in which African-Americans are the loser. If one took his column and substituted white for black as the aggrieved and black for white as the supposed negative change agents -- and if Milloy were a white columnist -- he would have been told to clean out his desk already.

I guess that now that Marion Barry is dead, someone had to take up the role of crazy old racist uncle in DC.

FYI blacks cannot be racist toward white people. Just about everyone has preferences and prejudices, some are based on actual experience and others based on fear and misinformation, but racism is systemic...racism is institutional where one group has the power to take its prejudices and exercise them upon others with impunity. Blacks don't have that power. Sure blacks can dislike whites, but what can they do to subjugate whites as a whole and keep them down and disenfranchised? NOTHING. Our society isn't set up to allow whites to be in such a predicament; our society is set up to prevent whites from being in such a predicament. Our society was set up to keep whites in a permanent position of power and no matter how biased or bigoted blacks may individually the systems and institutions in place explicitly prevent blacks from collectively ascending to a position where they are able to keep whites down. Racism is about power not mere prejudice.

Oh...and I don't give a shit if you disagree - that's my individual prejudice at work but don't worry like I said prejudice doesn't make me all powerful and it doesn't enable me to keep any of you down.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just read the whole column and I thought it was spot on. 14th street is literally unrecognizable from what it was even 5 years ago. I do think that U street is still a more multicultural scene than many places in the city, but the change is undeniable. It's not that white people don't have a right to move where they want - it's that it is a loss to the people who have been displaced. Another very important point he makes is that even though there was crime and disrepair before gentrification, that does not mean there wasn't also life and culture and neighborhood. That is what has been lost to some, undeniably.

Then he should have said so. Instead, Milloy can't hide his clearly racist bias where he views non-black residents in DC as being in some zero-sum game in which African-Americans are the loser. If one took his column and substituted white for black as the aggrieved and black for white as the supposed negative change agents -- and if Milloy were a white columnist -- he would have been told to clean out his desk already.

I guess that now that Marion Barry is dead, someone had to take up the role of crazy old racist uncle in DC.

FYI blacks cannot be racist toward white people. Just about everyone has preferences and prejudices, some are based on actual experience and others based on fear and misinformation, but racism is systemic...racism is institutional where one group has the power to take its prejudices and exercise them upon others with impunity. Blacks don't have that power. Sure blacks can dislike whites, but what can they do to subjugate whites as a whole and keep them down and disenfranchised? NOTHING. Our society isn't set up to allow whites to be in such a predicament; our society is set up to prevent whites from being in such a predicament. Our society was set up to keep whites in a permanent position of power and no matter how biased or bigoted blacks may individually the systems and institutions in place explicitly prevent blacks from collectively ascending to a position where they are able to keep whites down. Racism is about power not mere prejudice.

Oh...and I don't give a shit if you disagree - that's my individual prejudice at work but don't worry like I said prejudice doesn't make me all powerful and it doesn't enable me to keep any of you down.

In DC government, there used to be a lot of institutional racism against whites, Hispanics and Asians. That started to change when Mayor Williams came in, but there are still vestiges of it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just read the whole column and I thought it was spot on. 14th street is literally unrecognizable from what it was even 5 years ago. I do think that U street is still a more multicultural scene than many places in the city, but the change is undeniable. It's not that white people don't have a right to move where they want - it's that it is a loss to the people who have been displaced. Another very important point he makes is that even though there was crime and disrepair before gentrification, that does not mean there wasn't also life and culture and neighborhood. That is what has been lost to some, undeniably.

Then he should have said so. Instead, Milloy can't hide his clearly racist bias where he views non-black residents in DC as being in some zero-sum game in which African-Americans are the loser. If one took his column and substituted white for black as the aggrieved and black for white as the supposed negative change agents -- and if Milloy were a white columnist -- he would have been told to clean out his desk already.

I guess that now that Marion Barry is dead, someone had to take up the role of crazy old racist uncle in DC.

FYI blacks cannot be racist toward white people. Just about everyone has preferences and prejudices, some are based on actual experience and others based on fear and misinformation, but racism is systemic...racism is institutional where one group has the power to take its prejudices and exercise them upon others with impunity. Blacks don't have that power. Sure blacks can dislike whites, but what can they do to subjugate whites as a whole and keep them down and disenfranchised? NOTHING. Our society isn't set up to allow whites to be in such a predicament; our society is set up to prevent whites from being in such a predicament. Our society was set up to keep whites in a permanent position of power and no matter how biased or bigoted blacks may individually the systems and institutions in place explicitly prevent blacks from collectively ascending to a position where they are able to keep whites down. Racism is about power not mere prejudice.

Oh...and I don't give a shit if you disagree - that's my individual prejudice at work but don't worry like I said prejudice doesn't make me all powerful and it doesn't enable me to keep any of you down.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just read the whole column and I thought it was spot on. 14th street is literally unrecognizable from what it was even 5 years ago. I do think that U street is still a more multicultural scene than many places in the city, but the change is undeniable. It's not that white people don't have a right to move where they want - it's that it is a loss to the people who have been displaced. Another very important point he makes is that even though there was crime and disrepair before gentrification, that does not mean there wasn't also life and culture and neighborhood. That is what has been lost to some, undeniably.

Then he should have said so. Instead, Milloy can't hide his clearly racist bias where he views non-black residents in DC as being in some zero-sum game in which African-Americans are the loser. If one took his column and substituted white for black as the aggrieved and black for white as the supposed negative change agents -- and if Milloy were a white columnist -- he would have been told to clean out his desk already.

I guess that now that Marion Barry is dead, someone had to take up the role of crazy old racist uncle in DC.

It is what he said. And blacks are the losers here. This is not a colorblind problem.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just read the whole column and I thought it was spot on. 14th street is literally unrecognizable from what it was even 5 years ago. I do think that U street is still a more multicultural scene than many places in the city, but the change is undeniable. It's not that white people don't have a right to move where they want - it's that it is a loss to the people who have been displaced. Another very important point he makes is that even though there was crime and disrepair before gentrification, that does not mean there wasn't also life and culture and neighborhood. That is what has been lost to some, undeniably.

Then he should have said so. Instead, Milloy can't hide his clearly racist bias where he views non-black residents in DC as being in some zero-sum game in which African-Americans are the loser. If one took his column and substituted white for black as the aggrieved and black for white as the supposed negative change agents -- and if Milloy were a white columnist -- he would have been told to clean out his desk already.

I guess that now that Marion Barry is dead, someone had to take up the role of crazy old racist uncle in DC.

Anonymous wrote:I am White and have lived in Columbia Heights for 15+ years and I understand EXACTLY what he is trying to say. When I moved in Columbia Heights, it was generally an undesirable place for Whites to move. Thus, those of us Whites who lived there were "forced" to be more in tune with the culture and fabric of the neighborhood. It was not always a picnic but it was a net positive to me. Now, these areas that were undesirable for Whites a few years aog are now becoming havens for young White professionals. Good in that they are infusing money into these neighborhoods, bad because most of these folks are not really interested in putting roots down in these neighborhoods, will be moving out of DC in a few years and thus, care bery little about the history and fabric of these neighborhoods. Milloy makes it about race - I think it is a matter of other things too.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just read the whole column and I thought it was spot on. 14th street is literally unrecognizable from what it was even 5 years ago. I do think that U street is still a more multicultural scene than many places in the city, but the change is undeniable. It's not that white people don't have a right to move where they want - it's that it is a loss to the people who have been displaced. Another very important point he makes is that even though there was crime and disrepair before gentrification, that does not mean there wasn't also life and culture and neighborhood. That is what has been lost to some, undeniably.

Then he should have said so. Instead, Milloy can't hide his clearly racist bias where he views non-black residents in DC as being in some zero-sum game in which African-Americans are the loser. If one took his column and substituted white for black as the aggrieved and black for white as the supposed negative change agents -- and if Milloy were a white columnist -- he would have been told to clean out his desk already.

I guess that now that Marion Barry is dead, someone had to take up the role of crazy old racist uncle in DC.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am White and have lived in Columbia Heights for 15+ years and I understand EXACTLY what he is trying to say. When I moved in Columbia Heights, it was generally an undesirable place for Whites to move. Thus, those of us Whites who lived there were "forced" to be more in tune with the culture and fabric of the neighborhood. It was not always a picnic but it was a net positive to me. Now, these areas that were undesirable for Whites a few years aog are now becoming havens for young White professionals. Good in that they are infusing money into these neighborhoods, bad because most of these folks are not really interested in putting roots down in these neighborhoods, will be moving out of DC in a few years and thus, care bery little about the history and fabric of these neighborhoods. Milloy makes it about race - I think it is a matter of other things too.

What does "'forced' to be more in tune with the culture and fabric of the neighborhood mean"?

The PP here. It means any number of things. It means that we had to recognize that we were moving into an established neighborhood where there were neighborhood traditions and with residents who were already active on certain issues. We had to understand some of the issues our neighbors were facing and we could not be tone deaf to those issues. Our block had an annual barbecue/block party that everyone attended and contributed to. In order to be good neighbors, we learned the history of it (to honor a former resident's return from Vietnam) and we participated. I will give you another example that resonates today. When we moved in, people in our neighborhood were fighting for increased police resources, renovation of a rec center and what would later become the Bell/Lincoln campus. So...coming into that neighborhood and fighting tooth and nail for a dog park or a coffee shop would have been tone deaf at that time.

Although I do not think it solely is a racial issue, I will give another example in a racial context. If a minority family moves into a majority suburban neighborhood, that family generally has to assimilate the norms of the neighborhood to be "accepted." The family has to do the work to adapt to the established social and living coventions of the neighborhood. So I always think it is strange when Whites move into an emerging neighborhood and expect to be exempt from the concept. To me, it is like some of the young professionals today have the attitude that they are "above" the folks already in those neighborhoods.

Why wouldn't a paler newcomer be equally interested in better police protection and recreational facilities in the neighborhood? The community barbeque sounds like a great tradition, which should be embraced by all.

Some residents keep to themselves and some are born activists in their communities, whether they are old-timers or newbies. It's an overgeneralization to suggest that new residents don't care about those issues. Indeed, because some of them no doubt have made a substantial investment in their homes, they may care for pecuniary as well as quality of life reasons.