Smithfield State of Emergency: Organizing Against Gentrification

This is a state of emergency. After going to pick up my comrade in Smithfield today I got another shock to the heart. They are moving to gentrify Smithfield faster than I expected. They are not playing. This is not cute. This is not funny. This is colonialism.

We cannot combat this by simply having "white and black keys organizing together." Why? Because if we did, if we bring white people into Smithfield, it will only expedite the gentrification process of the community. We cannot be inviting masses of white folks into a poor black community and think that is a good organizing strategy.

White folks need to organize and fundraise from white folks. Brown folks need to organize and fundraise from brown folks. Black folks need to organize and fundraise from black folks. The black, white, and brown organizers should be the ones working and strategizing together to create one organized cohesive strategy, so when they go back to their own community they can be clear of what they need to be organizing and fundraising for.

Let me repeat, white folks, except for the lead organizers in appropriate ways and times, should not be in the black and brown communities. They should be in white communities organizing and fundraising from white folks to give to poor communities and black and brown communities around anti-racist and anti-capitalist strategies.

This is not a game. This is a state of emergency. This is colonialism, and colonialism is a war. We need to treat it as such. We need to be as intentional organizing for peace as those organizing for war. Gentrification is war. Poverty is genocide. We need to organize and stop this.