For a while, I was going to miss Annie Spiro. Without her crazy articles to blog about from ISU, what was I going to blog about now that I'm in Evanston? Thankfully, the Daily Northwestern has not left me without something to write on.
The article linked above is about a proposed TIF district in Southwest Evanston. TIF districts are typically used to encourage developers to build in areas needing economic development (In St. Clair County, we had a bigger problem of businesses demanding them of city leaders as "incentive" to build in their city or they'd move on to greener pastures . . . but that's another story).
However, the article is not primarily about the proposed developments, but residents' reactions to them.
Apparently, the residents in these neighborhoods, mainly black and latino, fear that the developments will bring in white people. This, in turn, will lead to whites owning and using the businesses in the area.
The writer lists it as "destroying the culture" of a neighborhood. He calls it "gentrification." I call it "racism." Unfortunately, you'll never hear that in this liberal, PC town. Only white people are racist. Black and latino people are "culturally sensitive." Ugh.
Let's imagine a hypothetical for a moment: Imagine that a neighborhood was all white, and proposed developments were being argued against because they would result in black people moving in, owning businesses, and using the businesses in the area.
Can you even imagine the backlash that would result? We'd be hearing about this on the CBS Evening News! Jesse Jackson would be holding vigils on the aldermans' front lawns!
I'm just outraged by this. This is reverse-racism at its finest, and only in liberal towns like this would people actually be able to say things like this and get away with it. Absolutely sickening.
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