Welcome to the radio magazine that brings you news, commentary and
analysis from a Black Left perspective. I’m Margaret Kimberley, along with my co-host
Glen Ford. Coming up: Gentrification is shrinking Black populations in cities across the
country. We’ll speak with a Black trans anarchist organizer who says poor folks need to
stop gentrification in its tracks, by taking over every vacant building. And, despite all the
high hopes among Black voters, President Joe Biden is already deporting huge
numbers of Black immigrants.
But first – David Stovall is a professor of African American Studies at the University of
Illinois at Chicago, and an organizer with the Peoples Education Movement. Dr. Stovall
is deeply involved in the fight to slow down and reverse the ongoing Black exodus from
Chicago. He’s author of an article titled, “Engineered Conflict: School Closings, Public
Housing, Law Enforcement and the Future of Black Life.” Dr. Stovall explained why he
thinks the conflicts affecting Blacks in the cities are “engineered.”
That was Dr. David Stovall, speaking from Chicago.
No big city has seen more gentrification and Black push-out than San Francisco.
Nevertheless, black trans anarchist organizer Jemma DeCristo is still there, in the city
by the bay. DeCristo is in full agreement with a recent Truthout article on the mostly
white and affluent folks that call themselves “YIMBYs.” These YIMBYs say “Yes” to the
proliferation of high cost housing in their own backyards and throughout the city. But
Jemma DeCristo says what the rich gentrifiers are actually saying when they call
themselves YIMBYs is, “Yes to white supremacy in my backyard.”
That was Jemma DeCristo, speaking from San Francisco.
SEE-ON Gurmu is Legal Director of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration, or BAJI,
which advocates for the rights of Black immigrants to the United States. BAJI is part of
the Black Immigration Network. SEE-On Gurmu says the new Biden administration
immediately showed its hostility to Black immigrants