Terrifying Generifying By Dontae Washington
- Dontae Washington
- Mar 13, 2022
- 3 min read
I am an African American male who lives in Pittsburgh. Many people would ask why is that I big deal? Well, it's a big deal because I feel like that end of the sentence will change. Not because I want it to, but because I have to. According to Root.com, Pittsburgh is the worse city to live in if you are black. This is largely due to the rise in rent and redevelopment of communities. You may be saying how does that make sense. You just said that they are making communities look better. Yes, they are, but to them making a community look better means that the people have to look better. The best-looking people to them are white people. You see me and my family are in a low class. That means that it's hard to afford things because the job opportunities presented to us are not enough to live comfortably. Unfortunately, we are not the only ones.
According to Data USA, the average salary for white people who are in management positions is nearly double compared to black people's. Don't let me get started on the salary for black females. Most jobs require you to get a degree. The average cost of tuition in Pittsburgh is $ 32,000. That is a lot of people's annual salary in Pittsburgh. That explains why less than 10% of African Americans are enrolled in a college in Pittsburgh. There is hope though. Banks are willing to give out loans for people to go to college. So as long as you pay it back and that can average around 100,000 or more. It is so nice how banks will give you 100,000 for college, but will not give you it for unnecessary things like buying a house or starting a business. I talked about all those finical factors and I did not even get to rent, food, and transportation. Lawrenceville and East Liberty are both neighborhoods that look absolutely amazing. For East Liberty that was not always the case. East Liberty was run down and mainly populated with African Americans was promised change. They were going to build a target in the area. That was supposed to bring jobs and income to that community. In addition to Target, they were going to get more housing. All that sounded great, but what the community did not know is that they were not going to be part of it.
They could not afford the prices of the new houses and many of the owners of the current houses sold their properties. According to Financial Times, the average price for a 1 bedroom apartment is 1,500$. So imagine people who have children or people that want to start a family. Imagine those same people having the income that I mentioned earlier. Pittsburgh is turning into a modern city. With beautiful houses, businesses, and tourist attractions. However, the way things are looking Pittsburgh will also be a city that is lacking diversity. Black people are leaving Pittsburgh because they realize that they cannot make it here. Their neighborhoods are no longer affordable and what they can afford are usually environments that are inhumane. Yes, I said Inhumane. They are filled with rodents and bugs. The infrastructure is horrible.
The word Gengerfication is a bad term now, but that always wasn't the case. According to Oxford Dictionary, Gengerfication originally meant the process of making someone or something more refined, polite, or respectable. That means if developers were going by this definition then we would be talking about how black neighborhoods are prospering. However, thanks to those same developers we now have a new definition. Gentrification is now widely recognized as the process whereby the character of a poor urban area is changed by wealthier people moving in, improving housing, and attracting new businesses, typically displacing current inhabitants in the process.
To me this process is disgusting and it should be illegal. It needs to stop and I would like to be one of the reasons why it stops too. I am a college student at Point Park in Pittsburgh. Meaning that I am defying the odds right now. It's sad that is the case, but I will continue to do it.
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