BLM Invades Residential Neighborhood and Demands White People Give Up Their Homes
Gentrification is a touchy sociopolitical subject, particularly in cities where more affluent woke people move into neighborhoods previously occupied by less affluent woke people.
This becomes even touchier when you consider the racial dynamics of the issue.
For the unwoke, of course, the issue is moot. In the free market, neighborhoods evolve and real estate there becomes more or less attractive to prospective tenants and buyers. There are always historical racial dynamics to consider in certain neighborhoods, but the idea that basic laws of economics can be abrogated in order to achieve some sort of beau ideal of social justice is absurd.
Then again, we don’t live in Seattle, where the affluent woke — or at least the white ones — are being told to give up their homes by what one would assume are the more penurious woke.
According to the New York Post, footage from the Wednesday demonstration shows the protesters marching through an unidentified residential neighborhood harassing residents, informing them it’s high time to turn over their leases and/or mortgages to folks more oppressed than they are.
In one clip of the protest posted to Twitter, protesters are chanting “black lives matter” when the chant-leader stops to ask, “How about you give us your homes?” (It’s hard to tell whether she said “give us” or “give up,” though the point is the same.)
One of the other protesters then steps out of the Greek chorus in order to deliver a soliloquy on why white people shouldn’t be living there.
“Do you know that you are living in a historically black neighborhood right now?” he screams to some unidentified residents off camera.
“Do you know that before your white a– came here, this was all black people?” he continues. “Do you know people like you came in here and basically bought all the land from the black people for less than what it was worth, kicked them out so you could live here? Do you know that?”
“’Cause if you don’t, now you f—ing do, now do something about it!”
WARNING: The following videos contain vulgar language that some viewers will find offensive.
VIDEO: #Blacklivesmatter mob and menacing Biden Harris voters harassing the residents of Seattle suburbs tonight, demanding that white homeowners immediately transfer all their property and money to black people. #blm #antifa #JoeBiden #maga #kamalaharris pic.twitter.com/07MeYmlnnL
— Thought Soup (@ThoughtSoup1) August 13, 2020
Another demonstrator says it’s time for residents to “open their wallet.”
And then the megaphone-possessor goes after white people again, telling them it’s time to give up their houses.
“Give black people back their homes!” she yells. “You’re sitting there comfortably — comfortable as f— as if they didn’t help gentrify this neighborhood! I used to live in this neighborhood … my family was pushed out, and you’re sitting up there having a good time with your other white friends!”
In another video, a protester can be heard saying, “All y’all white motherf—–s get the f— out of our neighborhood so we can go back to our s—.”
Another said, “Pay the fee! Open your purse!”
“Get out of our neighborhood! Pay the fee! Open your purse!” to residents of the neighborhood #Seattle pic.twitter.com/j1QKSh8NFg
— Kitty Shackleford (@KittyLists) August 13, 2020
And here’s a call for reparations:
Ask not what you can do for your city, but what your city can do for you #Seattle pic.twitter.com/czyNeRVZJI
— Kitty Shackleford (@KittyLists) August 13, 2020
Earlier in the day, the protest crowd made it clear it was behind “black criminals.” Seriously:
So that wasn’t a mistake yesterday – this is a new chant apparently
“Who do we protect? Black criminals!” #Seattle pic.twitter.com/dOoRzuD0QQ— Kitty Shackleford (@KittyLists) August 13, 2020
But the predominant issue was gentrification.
Stolen black land. Sorry they sold their houses I guess? #Seattle pic.twitter.com/VEHTV6Tjz8
— Kitty Shackleford (@KittyLists) August 13, 2020
There was even the minatory chant, “Fire! Fire! Gentrifier!”:
From last night, another angle of BLM harassing residents at their home #Seattle pic.twitter.com/aoryX3M1au
— Kitty Shackleford (@KittyLists) August 13, 2020
This, apparently, is one of the new themes of the protests in Seattle. The Capitol Hill Seattle Blog reported that on Aug. 6, demonstrators urged a boycott of an, um, cannabis retailer because apparently the chain of Snoop Dogg-friendly shops is gentrifying the neighborhood.
Demonstrators outside the Uncle Ike’s shop in Capitol Hill demanded the owner have a meeting with them to “discuss his role in gentrification and the impact on the black community in Seattle,” stop construction on new outlets and donate 15 percent of monthly profits to what the outlet referred to as “an anti-gentrification land fund.”
These demands by the more radical elements associated with the Black Lives Matter movement aren’t anything new. In 2017, Louisville, Kentucky, Black Lives Matter organizer Chanelle Helm was invited to share her group’s demands with local alternative outlet LEO Weekly in the wake of the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Number two: “White people, if you’re inheriting property you intend to sell upon acceptance, give it to a black or brown family. You’re bound to make that money in some other white privileged way.”
Number four: “White people, if you can afford to downsize, give up the home you own to a black or brown family. Preferably a family from generational poverty.”
Number five: “White people, if any of the people you intend to leave your property to are racists a——s, change the will, and will your property to a black or brown family. Preferably a family from generational poverty.”
If the affluent woke and penurious woke want to have a conversation about gentrification, or if the woke want to drag the unawoken into the conversation, this isn’t the way to do it.
Stridency feels good in the heat of the moment. When our protester told residents in the neighborhood “that before your white a– came here, this was all black people,” I’m certain he thought he was changing hearts and smashing generational racism.
Watching these videos leaves little doubt these protesters thought what they were doing was effective.
And it was, if you’re a fan of gentrification. The evil gentrifiers no doubt shut their curtains, cranked up the volume on their Bose noise-canceling headphones and settled in for an evening of Ani DiFranco and Instagram browsing. Maybe they felt uncomfortable — but discomfiture isn’t going to make them engage with people who demand their property.
As for the unawoken, they’ll probably have a reaction like this one:
Tell them to go get a mortgage and move right in. Simple.
— Deplorable Steve (@roadatlanta951) August 14, 2020
Nobody will be surrendering their homes. Uncle Ike’s is still going to be there as long as Seattle residents like marijuana, which means Uncle Ike’s will be there for a long time.
Trying to change those bedrock realities is like King Canute trying to command the tide not to come in. It doesn’t matter how loudly you say it or how irksome you make yourself.
All this will do is ensure social distancing among the factional woke will remain in place long after any viral threat has passed.
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