Same-race gentrification

BLACK ON THE BLOCK

By Mary Pattillo, The University of Chicago Press, $29, 388 pages, illus.

Few topics stir the race and class pots as gentrification does. Black and white, rich and poor — pick your poison.

But Mary Pattillo’s “Black on the Block” asks what happens when middle-class blacks gentrify black neighborhoods. The Northwestern University sociologist researched North Kenwood/Oakland, or NKO, on Chicago’s South Side.

Same-race gentrification is no cure-all: Tensions over economic disparities, education, lifestyle and public housing persist. The newcomers morph into “middlemen” between the community and the outside world.

The book does a terrific job of documenting gentrification, but it provides less in the way of useful analysis. This is most clear in the author’s discussions of class conflict. In the introductory chapter Ms. Pattillo lays out the theme that black interests are not monolithic, and through the book she provides an impressive array of quotes showing that rich and poor blacks often see things differently.

This is true, but only to the degree it’s obvious. No one disputes that money can change a black person’s outlook, but blacks are a consistent political bloc. The author admits they “by and large, vote Democratic, support affirmative action, and agree on the need for some kind of reparations for slavery.”

The book also shows that rich neighbors are a mixed blessing. As demand for NKO land rises, so do prices. Most landowners love the increase in value, but renters have to pay more. Longtime homeowners who don’t want to sell face higher property taxes.

Similar tradeoffs apply to education. The new residents bring clout, so the schools improve. However, some schools do not guarantee entry, demanding kids who can pass tests and parents who can complete lengthy forms. Gentrifiers jump at the chance, but the system tends to exclude their poorer neighbors.

The author also addresses crime and disorder.

In one interesting debate, a police officer complains that residents barbecue on a public parkway, tying the practice into the larger fight for order. This evokes the “Broken Windows” theory, which posits that disorder causes crime. The author says the idea is “all but discredited.”

Ms. Pattillo is right that barbecuing is harmless, but she goes too far in dismissing “Broken Windows” entirely. It played a part in New York City’s successful 1990s war on crime, and William Bratton, who led the NYPD during the improvement, destroyed some of the studies the author cites in a recent National Review article (co-written with George Kelling, a longtime “Broken Windows” proponent). One of those studies even conceded “Broken Windows” might be right, “indirectly.”

Gentrifiers also complain about public housing projects. This debate is inter- as well as intraracial.

NKO was once home to six high-rises (the “Lakefront Properties”). The government emptied them in 1986, promising the residents could return to renovated structures. Five years later, only two reopened.

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