Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Racial Tension

We've seen it before - housing prices in major metropolitan areas climb to the point where the average young professional can't afford to buy where they want. Being young, driven and optimistic, they decide to look "outside then norm." Areas that were once undesirable become "doable."

The typical real-estate questions that these yuppies begin to ask themselves are no longer "Is this place big enough to start a family?", "Am I going to be happy here?", or "How are the neighbors?" They become "would I feel safe walking home at night?", "Would my significant other actually spend the night here with me?", "Could I bring my parents here?" or "How long until this neighborhood fully transitions?"

And so it starts... "Progress" begins moving to neighborhoods that were once untouchable. The young optimists become "urban pioneers;" cleaning up neighborhoods and making areas safer to live. The truly disillusioned feel that they are bettering the lives of those around them. Where they may be helping to increase property values, what they don't realize is that their true intentions (hidden deep in their souls) have less to do with co-habitating with the individuals that made that area what it was to begin with, but rather change that area so that their friends can move in next door. This is where the problems start...

Our young yuppies become targets and they don't understand why. Vandalism and harassment ensue, forcing the optimists into action. They need to decide whether they a) stand for the harassment as the neighborhood "changes" or b) stand up for themselves. A) makes them look like weaklings, b) opens them up for further harassment and there are no guarantees that either is going to solve the issue.

It's a shame that more can't be done to ease relations and help both the new-comers and the incumbents live in peace, but could that really be a reality? Are either sets of groups ready to make the concessions necessary to ensure that both sets are happy?

We've seen it before, and this most definitely won't be the last time, but when does it end?