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I’m Watching My Neighborhood Grow Whiter Through the Window
I wonder how much longer my 13-year-old Black son can run freely through a neighborhood that is growing whiter
Gentrification of the Black Beverly Hills did not start with Covid-19, but it feels like it. A slow whitening of Windsor Hills/View Park began in the late 1990s and then gathered steam during the Great Recession of 2008. Now, 12 years later, the area is teeming with baby strollers pushed by white hands. Before the world ground to a halt, I saw the white residents in passing — a wave here, a smile there. Though we shared a street, our lives remained separate. But then mid-March came and school closed. For the foreseeable future, we would be safer at home. The pandemic had not only brought sickness and death, but it also arrived with a Spike Lee Double Dolly shot that forced me to see our surroundings, that is, white neighbors, up close.
From the 1960s through the 1990s, Black families lived and loved in this bedroom community. I grew up here, knowing my neighbors well and taking comfort in the fact that they were watching out for us, even when we couldn’t see them. Now, I am the adult on the street, peeking between blinds, keeping an eye on the younger kids, and admonishing them to look before crossing the street. But I know I’m not the only adult peeking through blinds — and increasingly, many of my neighbors keeping watch are white. Thinking of them, I wonder how much longer my 13-year-old Black son can run freely through a neighborhood that is growing whiter with each home purchase.
These new residents are making it clear that these streets, my streets, are now theirs too. Needless to say, the rapid gentrification is rankling some of the older Black homeowners, (though the real issue is predatory white realtors, who pretend to care about the character of View Park’s historic designation). But to my kids, a friend is a friend, and their increased free time has led them to rediscover the friendship of the white kids who live across the street.
The Shaws, all 10 of them, are a nice family. The kids range in age from seven to early twenties. They are friendly, well-behaved, great athletes, and homeschooled. They have lived in Windsor Hills/View Park for more than a…
