Brookhill Village in Charlotte, NC, is being demolished. Hundreds of African-American families are going to be evicted, and their are no plans to offer them any sort of affordable alternative to their homes, which are now being demolished.
Developers like Shook Kelley are actively demolishing the neighborhood and replacing it with higher-end housing that will “attract millenials” without a second thought of what will become of Brookhill’s current residents.
In other words, this is another step in the process of gentrifying Charlotte, making it essentially unlivable for all of the communities that have lived here throughout its entire history.
The developers and architects of this project to displace an entire community have continued shamelessly and unchallenged, what little publicity this event has received has been glamorous news reels, talking of plans to “revitalize” a working-class community.
This Thursday, December 13th, I hope that I can help change that.
A small organization has gathered around the purpose of offering some kind of meaningful resistance – I am proud to say that I have been doing what I can to aid in these efforts.
The main goal of everyone involved has been to organize a community meeting this Thursday in order to rally the community to defend their homes.
However, as you can imagine, this is not as simple as handing out flyers and expecting everyone to be there – I must once again stress that the residents of Brookhill are working class families who work long hours, and need a material reason to show up in opposition to a developer who is literally burning down flyers and posters that mention the event.
The organization, STP Charlotte, has vowed to do their best to
provide transportation to and from the meeting as well as provide food
and child care at the meeting itself.
As you can imagine, this costs money.
If you have the money to spare, I ask that you send what you can to help organize this meeting. This really means a lot to me, but it would certainly mean a whole lot more to the families living in such a precarious housing situation.
Google Pay: ServeThePeopleCLT@Gmail.com
Venmo: @STP-CLT
If you can’t spare any money, consider reblogging this post, and if you know anyone in the area, be sure to let them know.
How the fuck is this shit even “legal”?
Brookhill Village is technically an ‘apartment complex’ – it was built in the 1950′s, and everyone living there is technically a tenant that can be evicted at any time. Brookhill has fallen into complete disrepair over time, but with rent as low as $300 a month, it’s really the best option for a lot of people who live in Charlotte.
However, “in 2016, the federal government filed
a complaint to begin the process of seizing the Brookhill Village
apartments on South Tryon Street, due to allegations of repeated drug
activity — marijuana, heroin, ecstasy and crack cocaine. Before the end
of the year, the federal government reached
a settlement with the owners of Brookhill Village. Part of the
agreement called for Brookhill Village Two to demolish or
“substantially” renovate the run-down apartments on the property. The
settlement also called for a system to screen tenants, provide on-site
patrols and monitoring to eliminate crime, improve lighting and
communicate often with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police about crime-fighting
measures.”
Not to take the blame off of the owners of Brookhill or the developers currently tearing the place down, but the federal government absolutely played a significant role in this. And if you want my opinion, I believe the government made this decision fully aware of the profitability involved in replacing low-income housing with expensive millenial homes.
And that “screening process” is absolutely going to be used for evil.
Viking Asgardians blog 