Pub Crawl

I will be there on December 10th! We will be joining in a neighborhood walking tour. Remember to bring your tape recorders just in case they don't treat us right so we can have documentation.

Oh and don't forget to come in your Sunday best. It is important that we look good. Remember the civil rights days? Always your Sunday's best so that the other side looks like jerks while you stand in your best outfits seeking justice.

Analysis: Ben only responds to emails from white males

This is rather off topic but I am a quite the news junkie. I love to write letters to editors and journalists because I think it keeps them on their toes. I am rather cordial in my correspondence and 9 times out of 10 I received a friendly response back from journalists even if I disagree with their points. That has not happened with Ben . I asked a few friends(all of whom are non-minorities) to email him as they also like to engage with those that report the news and of the eight of us, only the white men got responses. I do not like to throw the R-word around but it is a bit disturbing that someone in such a high profile position is a sexist and a racist.

Furthermore, if you look at Ben's daytime website, he rarely features photos of women but primarily features photos of white men. There are plenty of women politicians that he could feature and he has chosen not to. I sent Ben an email asking him for comment before I wrote this and he has not gotten back to me.

If he decides that he wants to respond, I will make an update to the post.

I just thought that everyone should know.

One Year Ago: Is Ditmas Park Blog Racist?

A year after our website was founded, the question still remains--is Ditmas Park Blog racist?

Although they have added one new contributor who is black, they still post stories about minorities robbing and raping. No matter how many times they post about a holiday church event or a black nanny rescuing someone's cell phone, the question still remains.

I think we all know the answer.

A question for the crowd

I keep getting emails about how unfair I am and that my complaints about what has happened to the neighborhood are unfair.

Here is my question: why is gentrification good? I want to hear from you. I personally think it is bad because of what it does to minority populations (see: our neighborhood) but I want to hear what others think.

You may leave your views in the comments or email me and I will post with permission.

I'm willing to listen.

A response

Frequent rabbler and neighbor Josh writes the following and my answers in bold:

1) "I moved into this neighborhood almost thirty years ago with my husband. We were just starting our family and I fell in love with the huge houses in Brooklyn." Don't you see the hypocrisy? You moved here because you were just starting a family and loved the huge houses. Now that others are just starting families and moving here because they love the huge houses, you have a problem? I have no problem with people moving in to expand their families. I do have a problem with them doing it at the expense of long-term residents. Wouldn't you?

2) "As they moved out a new crop of folks started to move in--whites. Not just any whites but whites with little kids with plans for more." This is an echo of my previous comments. Do you have less against whites without kids? Is it the procreation that bothers you? I have no problem with whites moving in but I do not like whites who move in to not celebrate and appreciate the history and culture of the neighborhood but seek to turn it into their own little utopia.

3) "There was a time when this neighborhood was predominantly white but middle-class african-americans and afro-latinos had turned the neighborhood to their own. That was no more." So you acknowledge that NY neighborhoods constantly change and indeed changed relatively recently from white to african-american and afro-latino. Yet, now that the neighborhood is changing once more, you have issues with it? How can you possibly justify such stubborness? Of course NY neighborhoods change but that doesn't mean that the new residents shouldn't work closely with the long term residents so that everyone will feel welcomed. The people over at Ditmas Park Blog have not done this.

4) "One half of the married due is not even an American and the other half is from one of the most elitist and posh backgrounds that one can ever imagine." What does their nationalities have to do with anything? You mention previously that the glorified Caribbean restaurant was a place to eat Caribbean food and discuss what was happening 'back on the islands'. If these immigrants posed no problem to you, why does another? If they were here to do good I wouldn't have a problem.

6) "Why is it whenever individuals get the idea to try to improve the community it involves blacks and browns being left out?" No where has there ever been evidence of community activities or imperatives that leave blacks and browns out. You make this up out of your own fears and then blame it on those trying to do good. We saw it when you refused to participate in a women's group, claiming that they were racist, when in reality, you didn't even open the door. We saw it when you boycotted Qathra because there wasn't a minority behind the counter. You're not being forced out. You're choosing not to participate. That is a huge and vastly important difference and one thta suggests you are the racist not they. That is simply not true. Countless studies have shown that gentrification pushes minorities out of neighborhoods. That is what is happening here. As for the groups and restaurants, the women's group only addressed the lack of color once it was brought to their attention. Why did it have to be brought to their attention?

6) "Some of us miss our old diverse neighborhood and want it back." You don't miss diversity. You don't like white people. The 'diversity' you fantasize about doesn't include anyone but your friends .That's not diversity. That's prejudice. Simply not true. I have white friends in the neighborhood.

7) "It's a tough subject but no one wants to seem to address what two wealthy and elitist individuals have done to the history of the neighborhood." This is simply not true. Everyday people post on the DPB what the owners have done to the history of the neighborhood. Everyday people discuss what's happening, what's in development and what's to come. Yet, it seems that I'm the only person who reads this blog. Who comments here. Why would theirs be so much more popular if they were as demonic as you say? And where's the outpour of support for yourself that you claim you receive? There isn't any. I get quite a bit of emails from people who are distressed with how the neighborhood is changing. I'm sure if I had some sort of counter like other websites it would prove that people do read. My inbox is filled with wonderful comments.

Face the facts. The neighborhood has changed. For the better. We'd love to have you as a part of it. See you around town! I'll be the one smiling with friends, sitting outside our new restaurants, enjoying the neighborhood I love and plan to stay in for a long long long time.

Purple Yams, Black Yams, White Yams

I moved into this neighborhood almost thirty years ago with my husband. We were just starting our family and I fell in love with the huge houses in Brooklyn. The neighborhood was kind of gritty but not unsafe. Obviously crime was high citywide but everyone in the neighborhood seemed to know and look out for each other. We didn't have fancy restaurants called Purple Yam that catered to the yuppie whites, we had a Caribbean restaurant where you could exchange stories about what was going on back on the islands over jerk chicken, yucca, plantain, and oxtail. It was heavenly to say the least.

During the 1990s when the economy was booming things started to change. The Caribbean restaurant was in decline and our friends and neighbors started to move to the suburbs or down south. As they moved out a new crop of folks started to move in--whites. Not just any whites but whites with little kids with plans for more. There was a time when this neighborhood was predominantly white but middle-class african-americans and afro-latinos had turned the neighborhood to their own. That was no more. With the fresh crop of new whites came new demands and old time store favorites started to close as rents started to go up and the new whites made more demands. In the mid-2000s it came to a breaking point when a husband and wife team decided to start their own website. They had gone around the neighborhood soliciting input from the new local businesses and presenting themselves as the voice of this neighborhood. They weren't and aren't. One half of the married due is not even an American and the other half is from one of the most elitist and posh backgrounds that one can ever imagine. There mission was to "improve" the neighborhood but what has happened is something horrendous.

Instead of retaining the charm of the area they have put their own little twist on "revamping the neighborhood." This revamping has involved the continued displacement of African-Americans and other minorities. They refuse to address this. Why is it whenever individuals get the idea to try to improve the community it involves blacks and browns being left out? Ben and Leina have done nothing to try to bridge the divide between the old and the new of the neighborhood. They shoot down any forms of criticism as petty griping. It's not. Some of us miss our old diverse neighborhood and want it back. Gentrification destroys the fabric of a neighborhood and that is what is happening to Victorian Flatbush.

It's a tough subject but no one wants to seem to address what two wealthy and elitist individuals have done to the history of the neighborhood.

A discussion on race and the neighborhood

I have been working on a piece and tweaking it a few times but I promise tomorrow it will be live!
I think it is time to have a constructive conversation about what is happening to this neighborhood and what we can do so that all races and classes feel comfortable living here.

More to come...

Racist Ben gleefully claims black AG candidate loses. Except she hasn't

In California, the African-American candidate for Attorney General is in a very close race with the Republican. Ben has stated numerous times that she has gone down in defeat with glee. The only problem--she is ahead by .7%.

No one should be surprised by this.

Racist Ben asks why Blacks voted Jerry Brown for governor

A racist.

http://twitter.com/#!/benpolitico/status/29540104189

Ben spends evening analyzing "the successful defeat of Barack Obama" with all white panel

But he isn't a gentrification troll or racist as I have been told.

Ben's favorite CANTOR is set to become House Whip

Well it looks like racist Ben has gotten his way by reporting for the last six months that Republicans would take over the house. I told my husband that this country would NOT let a black man succeed as President and here we are. Thanks Ben for all of your "objective" reporting over the last year.

I will have more on our anniversary tomorrow m0rning.