October 4, 2011

Just how far will white liberal gentrifiers go?

From my column in Taki's Magazine:
On August 31st, I extolled Clybourne Park (now playing at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre), Bruce Norris’s 2011 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama about white flight in 1959 and white gentrification in 2009. That same day, in an example of life imitating arts criticism, liberal gentrifiers sent a 40-man SWAT team to smash down the door of an extended family of about 30 underclass blacks still living in Chicago’s Lincoln Park on the 1800 block of N. Sheffield Ave. (That’s right between Steppenwolf on N. Halsted and the Crate & Barrel on N. Clybourn.) 
Answering a question left hanging by Clybourne Park -- Just how ruthlessly far will today’s liberals go to make the desirable parts of the inner city white again? -- Mayor Rahm Emmanuel's city government evicted the pit bull-owning Harris clan from the two adjacent homes they’ve owned since 1970. ... One Lincoln Park resident explained, “People don’t pay $20,000 a year in property taxes to have neighbors like these.”

Read the whole thing there.

43 comments:

Thrasymachus said...

I have been planning to write something about New York vs. Chicago, with New York representing authoritarian liberalism to preserve the elite's turf and Chicago where permissive liberalism still rules. But maybe Chicago is not so permissive.

The elites are willing to tolerate all kinds of chaos in somebody else's house, but not theirs. If Detroit, or Cleveland, or Kansas City degenerates into a black hole, so what. They not only love but *need* New York as their meeting place so there, no way. Is stop and frisk "constitutional"? Probably not. Is RICO "constitutional"? Probably not. But the Masters of the Universe don't like squeegee guys, which ends up being good for middle and working class New Yorkes as well.

Nanonymous said...

Liberal hypocrisy knows no bounds. But that's not exactly news, isn't it?

OT: Georgia as a text font on Taki. Hooray! Finally.

Lugash said...

I am Lugash.

Wow the Pritzker house is hideous.

I am Lugash.

Steve Sailer said...

Ironically, the Pritzker Prize is biggest money prize in architecture.

Fred said...

Awesome article. I wonder to what extent electing Obama has absolved these white Obama voters of any lingering racial guilt that might have prevented them from ethnically cleansing their underclass black neighbors.

Steve Sailer said...

Dear Thrasymachus:

I'm also going to write about why Chicago hasn't had the big improvement in safety that New York has had. I've got this great Chicago story about Eddie the coke-dealer and Officer Tony Delucca, and a theory to fit my anecdote.

Tarvaris Jackson said...

New York City is full of Wall Streters, business tycoons, elite journalists, intelligentsia, and other powerful people. Chicago...... not so much. These people can make tough-on-NAM-crime policies intellectually respectable enough to get put into action.

Compare the praise of Giuliani with the scorn thrown on another tough-on-crime Italian-American mayor, Frank Rizzo. The difference? Rizzo was mayor of gritty and mean Philly, which is where blue collar ethnic nobodies (Rocky Balboa Italian Stallion types) live. Giuliani was mayor of hip and happening New York City, home of the movers and shakers of our country.

Anonymous said...

The New York media has always been averse to anti-semitic NAMS, such as Al Sharpton, Farrakhan, the Crown Heights rioters, Professor "Ice People" Leonard Jeffries. However, it could be pretty sympathetic to NAMs when they faced off against Italian ethnics in Bensonhurst or Howard Beach. There was often even a tendency to portray Italians as unsophisticated old country buffoons with thuggish, guido tendencies.

For a somewhat realistic (though sometimes exaggerated) look at how blacks relate to Jews and Italians in NYC, watch some of the Spike Lee movies, such as "Do the Right Thing" (blacks and Puerto Ricans v.s. Italian storeowners and white police), "Jungle Fever" (Italian and black interracial love), and "Mo Betta Blues" (Jewish jazz club owners exploiting black musicians). They're not a bad portrayal of how things used to be before the gentrification forced out a lot of underclass NAMs and tough ethnics.

Unfortunately for Spike Lee, his portrayal of Jews as greedy and shrewd ("Mo Betta Blues") was received very negatively by the media. Though he seemed to not face the same scrutiny from "Do the Right Thing"
or "Jungle Fever." Hmmmmm...... I wonder why........

A takeaway lesson that a lot of black activists took during the 1980s, early 1990s was that being anti-Jewish was not very good for your career standpoint. Being merely anti-white, on the other hand, wasn't much of career killer. So there has been a tendency to stay away from the anti-semitic stuff. Al Sharpton, for example, has gone from talking like David Duke to being just another type of Jesse Jackson/NAACP mainstream type of black leader.

Barack Obama ran into controversy from the Democratic establishment not over Wright's anti-white, anti-American, anti-"garlic nosed Italians" (blacks and Italians seem to beef with each other a lot) rants, but over his vitriol against Israel. Fortunately Obama assured us that he loves Israel, so all's well that ends well.

Steve Sailer said...

Yeah, Rev. Wright's "garlic-nosed Italians" line about the Roman centurions who crucified Jesus was pretty funny, but it got almost no play in the media.

dearieme said...

What's afoot in London.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/8806977/London-being-turned-into-apartheid-era-Johannesburg-says-head.html

Anonymous said...

"Famous athletes, whether black, white, or brown—such as Kobe Bryant, Ben Roethlisberger, or Mark Sanchez—routinely escape prison time when charged with sexual assault. But God forbid that a superstar abuse a canine bitch."

OK, that was funny.

Tarvaris Jackon said...

Italian-Americans, especially of Sicilian descent, can be fairly tribal people themselves and not shy about asserting group interest. They also have a tendency to be suspicious of outsiders and a willingness to fight (often physically) for themselves.

Of all the white ethnic groups in America, Italians seem to be the most willing to go to the mat with NAMs. Just look at Rizzo and Giuliani. It's no coencidence that Spike Lee makes so many movies about them. They really are the anti-SWPLs.

I'm sure over the years, Rev Wright has had his fair amount of tussle with rough Italian-American ethnics over spoils in Chicago. Chicago itself is infamous for infighting between black and white aldermen. Growing up in Philly, which has a lot of roughneck Italian Stallion types, maybe he encountered some amount of tension there too.

On a sidenote, unlike Jews, Italians are pretty sensible on immigration. Joe Barletta, Sheriff Arpaio, John Tanton, Tom Tancredo, and Carl Paladino are all Italian.

Anonymous said...

The race rant from "Do the Right Thing" (blacks vs Italians vs Puerto Ricans vs Koreans vs police vs Jews) is pretty funny. It's only 3 minutes long, so go ahead and watch it if you got the time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOxOR3x8FBQ

Conatus said...

On Capitol Hill in the early eighties they had the exact same situation on the 600 block of D St. N.E. by Stanton Park. All the other houses on the block had been gentrified, gutted and retrofitted with duct work and new pipes. But this place was dark and old with 15 people living there. There would always be disturbances which was entertainment for us Park strollers but a nightmare for the gentrified, immediate party wall neighbors.
I remember one kid who lived in the house, William, who was about 10 and would come by the Park and ask for money because his grandfather died. He had a lot of grandfathers. One time he asked, I gave him the quarter and asked him to stand on the park bench seat with me and sing a hymn, "Onward Christian soldiers," in memory of his dead grandfather. I still laugh at the wide eyed look on his face as me and him are standing on the park bench singing.
I think the house got gentrified, as most of these eyesores do, when the real grandfather or probably more likely grandmother, died, and they sold it to split the money up.

Anonymous said...

I actually think that a moderate Republican like Romney has a shot at getting the votes of some of the white liberals this time around. The Flat Earthers like Perry, Huckabee and Palin have no chance.

Heliogabalus said...

Tarvaris says: "New York City is full of Wall Streters, business tycoons, elite journalists, intelligentsia, and other powerful people. Chicago...... not so much. These people can make tough-on-NAM-crime policies intellectually respectable enough to get put into action."

However, there's got to be enough of such people in Chicago to get such things done should they want to do so, above all the powerful business community which needs to preserve the viability of downtown and adjoining nice neighborhoods. Crime has in fact been going down in Chicago (though not as steeply as NY), and they've been shutting down the horrible housing projects there for years now.

As for your Giuliani/Rizzo comparison. When Giuliani was mayoring, he came in for constant criticism from liberals in NY (it was common to deride him as a fascist). Read the Village Voice from around 1997-2000 for a sampling. People forget this because of the glow that surrounded him post-9/11. Also, most of G's electoral support came from "blue collar ethnic nobodies" in the outer boroughs.

syon said...

Steve Sailer:"Famous athletes, whether black, white, or brown—such as Kobe Bryant, Ben Roethlisberger, or Mark Sanchez"

Mark Sanchez is brown? He looks really White to me.

Anonymous said...

But maybe Chicago is not so permissive.
if you've ever visited there you'll realize its much more segregated than NY, blacks rarely even 'day trip' to white area
Compare the praise of Giuliani with the scorn thrown on another tough-on-crime Italian-American mayor, Frank Rizzo..
selective memory Rudy was widely criticized by liberals up until 9/11 you can find tons of village voice articles abou ti.

Anonymous said...

Chicago is becoming heavily gentrified with many areas full of white professional types. River North, South Loop, West Loop, Pilsen, Logan Square, Wicker Park/Bucktown, West Town, Ukie Village, Roscoe Village, Lincoln Square are all better than they were ten or twenty years ago. Blacks are being pushed to the suburbs and other areas of the city. It reminds me of San Francisco without hills and with seasons these days.

AMac said...

From Steve's article:

> The 40-cop raid on the Harris compound certainly looked spectacular: “I felt like I was on ‘The Wire!’ Fantastic,” exulted an award-winning mommy blogger who lives nearby.

Amusingly, that 31 August 2011 post, Things that go bang in the morning, now generates an "Error 404 - Not Found". At the moment, you can still find it via Google Cache. Snark vs. SWPL, I wonder which will win.

Rainforest Giant said...

Thrasymachus said, 'Is stop and frisk constitutional'? Probably not.

This is a solved question. Any police officer or judge can answer that question. Yes, no, maybe.

If the stop in question meets the standard of Terry v Ohio 1968. The SCOTUS decided this issue before most of those reading this were even born but you've determined 'probably not' without anything to support your contention.

If you want cops on the street the ability to preform 'Terry stops' is one of their necessary tools.

If you mean random stops and searches those are probably illegal and unconstitutional as are the searches at the airports but those are different issues.

Chicago said...

They'll gentrify as long as they can use the power of the state to do things like this on their behalf. They certainly wouldn't want to do any of the dirty work themselves; better to have the police do it for them. Lots of these yups have been strangely pro-police, pro-strict-enforcement-of-the-law types in recent years, at least insofar as these local issues go. They've found the police to be a useful tool.
A white person I know bought a run down home in the area in the early '70's fairly cheaply and spent the ensuing years fixing it up. Now, with property taxes having gone up and up over the years, he and his family can't hack it and may be forced out. They may be displaced by those of higher social standing and thus be forced to live in an area of greater "diversity" and "vibrancy".
Forty cops to raid some place for something like animal cruelty seems like a waste of taxpayer money and resources. But not if it's on behalf of the yups, I suppose.

Fred said...

"New York City is full of Wall Streters, business tycoons, elite journalists, intelligentsia, and other powerful people. Chicago...... not so much. These people can make tough-on-NAM-crime policies intellectually respectable enough to get put into action."

It's too early to tell if it's a blip or something significant, but there's been a jump in shootings in NYC recently (starting, I think, with the West Indian parade last month, in which some Latin cops were dirty dancing with parade goers).

Georgia Resident said...

“People don’t pay $20,000 a year in property taxes to have neighbors like these.”
Yes, having to actually deal with the consequences of integration falls to poor white trash like me. You know, the ones who can't afford $20,000/yr. in property taxes to live in a place that most blacks are priced out of.

White liberals can insulate their precious little darlings from the effects of the policies they promote, while patting themselves on the backs for being more civilized than us knuckle-dragging rednecks who oppose their policies.

Carol said...

Believe me, people in Seattle are deeply embarrassed about the situation, too.

Anonymous said...

"As for your Giuliani/Rizzo comparison. When Giuliani was mayoring, he came in for constant criticism from liberals in NY (it was common to deride him as a fascist). Read the Village Voice from around 1997-2000 for a sampling"

But of course, what else would you expect? Gays adopted the strategy of claiming victimhood by studying racial and ethnic politics. To be a victim, one must claim some sort of Nazi or Plantation oppressor.

Anonymous said...

"Mark Sanchez is brown? He looks really White to me."

And gay.

Duncan said...

Most whites, even tough whites consider going toe-to-toe with blacks as more or less unseemly.

If you have to fight with them over turf you have already fallen too far. Indeed you may be forsaken.
This is why the scrappy Italian storeowner squablling w/ the local Spike Lee type is not noble at all but a sign of overall decline.

Anonymous said...

Jewish settlement in the West Bank, or the establishing of Israel itself, might be an analogue.

bjdubbs said...

Armenians seem like a higher-achieving version of Italians. Mark Krikorian and the Kardashians are both Armenian, which must mean something.

Anonymous said...

Steve,

what we hear over and over again in the comments section of this blog is that the white gentile Americans are being hurt by the actions of the liberal elite.

However, the liberal elite gentrification of selective inner cities has made many white gentile working class people in to white gentile wealthy.

Steve, have you spent much time in the neighborhoods of NYC or Boston or Chicago that are rapidly gentrifying? Typically the white gentiles in the neighborhood bought 40 or 50 years ago, own the property outright, and can sell for a million or more.

They can then take the money and move to any place in America that they want, including a whiteopia like Idaho.

Indeed, the liberals are sorting themselves out in to living conditions in the heart of the city where there is almost no family formation while the paleo conservative white gentiles are more likely to move to a distant exurb where family formation is affordable.

Indeed if you look at who the biggest net tax payers are you will find that childless liberal professionals living in the central city contribute dramatically more in net taxes than your typical exurban paleoconservative gentile.

Anonymous said...

Chicago probably has more Master of the Universe types than any city outside of London and New York. Chicago has the world's three biggest futures exchanges (which cooperatively own all electronic exchange as well ) one of Bloomberg's chief competitors, Morningstar Funds and I believe the 2 biggest law firms in the US, and more big law firms than any city other than New York. Additionally like Boston and New York, Chicago has two world class research universities as well. Plenty of high income SWPL liberals for a mayor like Rahm Emanuel to appease. Regarding Lincoln Park, having spent more than one vacation in the bohemian section of that area, I agree with Steve, about 85% white sounds about right.

ATBOTL said...

Crime in NYC has largely gone down because American blacks and Puerto Ricans have been replaced with less crime prone Caribbean blacks, Dominicans, Mexicans, Ecuadorians, Chinese, Indians and Eastern Europeans.

Upstate NY and Eastern Pennsylvania have suffered as former ghetto trash from NYC have overrun most of their small cities.

Anonymous said...

"if you've ever visited there you'll realize its much more segregated than NY, blacks rarely even 'day trip' to white area'

NY is pretty segregated if you look at the NY Times race map,especially Manhattan.

Chicago has always been mostly segregated. The suburbs are changing. There are many blacks moving into certain suburbs. I probably have many more foreigners and minorities in my suburb than many people living in Manhattan or parts of Chicago have to deal with.
There are burbs of Chicago where 50-100 languages are spoken in the schools. In the 70's and 80's it was all white, not now.

Anonymous said...

NY is pretty segregated if you look at the NY Times race map,especially Manhattan.
not compared to chicago and we have section 8 housing all over the place so it may look like that on paper but try telling that to people on, say 24th and second who live near projects but pay 2000 for a studio.

Anonymous said...

Chicago--"It reminds me of San Francisco without hills and with seasons these days."

I would much rather live in San Francisco than Chicago and I don't live in San Francisco. There are nice areas in Chicago proper but it doesn't compare to San Francisco. Lincoln Park vs Nob Hill or North Beach,I'd take Nob Hill or North Beach.
There are so many things close by that you can do like the Sierra Nevada Mts., Big Sur, the Redwoods and just the city itself.

Anonymous said...

@Carol, thanks for the link. That was a classic article. (overly long though, as all alternapress things are.)

Funny, fascinating stuff.

Munch said...

I lived in NYC in late 70's and it was pretty bad. When my suburb family came to visit we always saw major unpleasantness on the street.

I moved back in the late 80's after law school and it was nicer.

Now my daughter is going to school there and it is like Disney World.

Expensive housing sure seems to clean up a place. I went to SF last summer and I could not believe I was in a city. Everywhere and everyone was civil and moneyed.

By the way, Chicago may have a couple of the largest (by number of lawyers) law firms in the US, but that is deceptive. The big firms have branch offices in other cities. The Chicago HQ is not getting a share of the money the Houston lawyers are billing. NY law is special in one sense only - in NYC you can raise huge amounts of money - more than any place else on earth. If you wanted to do a hostile takeover of Microsoft, the only place on earth that you cold raise the money is NYC. This derives from history. After the Erie Canal was completed most midwest farm and industrial production could travel to NYC and middlemen merchants and financiers could make a killing. NY became the biggest market for money, and once at the top of the heap it was hard to unseat. Imagine someone going to Chicago ti try to raise a billion dollars. My first year on Wall Street I did a NYC Tax anticipation note deal for 100 million dollars. I remember the lead underwriter gave me a check drawn on the Federal Reserve Bank of NY. A Chicago law firm is not going to offer anything like that experience.

Anonymous said...

"They can then take the money and move to any place in America that they want, including a whiteopia like Idaho."

Heck, even Boise is only 92% white.Salt Lake City,UT, which I thought was all white, is only 75% white. Even these places aren't what they used to be.

Anonymous said...

Munch,

I guess you didn't get to experience the vibrancy of mid-Market St., the Tenderloin, and/or much of SoMa.

Peter A said...

"Upstate NY and Eastern Pennsylvania have suffered as former ghetto trash from NYC have overrun most of their small cities."

True. An underreported American tragedy. Lancaster, PA was a hell hole last time I visited, and even the Poconos are being trashed. It's also sad how many towns on the Hudson, probably one of the most scenic rivers in the world, are unlivable. Although gentrification seems to be moving up that way.

Chicago said...

They "can take the money and move", according to one commentator.
Why should people become refugees in their own country? Who wants to be forced to leave family and friends and move to other parts of the country where they have no roots? Using the term "whiteopia" in this case was just sarcasm.

epobirs said...

Wait a sec. Thirty people living in two adjacent homes? Are these place really big? I'd think they'd be able to get them on a zoning violation more readily than the animal cruelty charges.

In LA we call that a clown house but those are typically in poor neighborhoods with a few dozen illegal aliens sleeping in shifts on the limited floor space. If the cops show up for some reason, humans start pouring out of every windows and door, ergo the name.