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Ben’s Chili Bowl on U Street, Shaw District, Washington DC Photo Credit: Stella Levantesi<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n Today, Shaw looks nothing like a drug ridden community. Shiny glass buildings, modish restaurants and contemporary coffee joints rise are scattered among the multicolored, semi detached, two-story homes.<\/p>\n The Washington D.C. metro came to Shaw in 1991, and with it came new businesses.<\/p>\n “It became more diverse than ever and all of a sudden we had real estate development and the start of gentrification in our neighborhood,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n New development projects on the intersection of Vermont Avenue and Florida Avenue, Shaw District, Washington DC. Photo Credit: Stella Levantesi<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 1980 the community was 81 percent African American, but by 2010, the number of black residents had dropped to 30 percent, and 53 percent of the Shaw’s residents were white.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s totally changed,\u201d said Ashton Znaniecki, an employee of Polish origin who works at Compass Coffee. \u201cIt\u2019s just strange to walk around and see all these brand new buildings. And I mean I hate to say it, but to see all of these white people. And I know it was a majorly black neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n African American residents of Shaw walk down 7th Street, Washington DC. Photo Credit: Stella Levantesi<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n Compass Coffee is one of the many new, upscale eateries that opened in Shaw in the last decade. Professor Derek Hyra sees it as a spatial indicator of gentrification.<\/p>\n Hyra, author of \u201cRace, Class, and Politics in the Cappuccino City,\u201d holds that Shaw, once an \u201ciconic ghetto\u201d associated with poverty, crime and public housing has become a hip, edgy \u201cgilded ghetto\u201d that is now higher income and expensive.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s this legacy of the past in these communities that is commodified and sold at a higher price to gentrifiers,\u201d said Hyra.<\/p>\n \u201cBlack branding\u201d is the term that Hyra uses to describe this phenomenon, where business developers advertised Shaw\u2019s African American identity as a marketing pitch to attract white newcomers.<\/p>\n Doctor Hyra threw another term in the hat and said that white millennials are in search of that authentic, ghetto feel by \u201cliving the wire,\u201d a phrase inspired by the HBO series \u201cThe Wire\u201d about \u201cinner-city black life in Baltimore\u201d.<\/p>\n But there are disagreements in theorizing gentrification. According to Professor Bernard Demczuk, a historian of African American history, gentrification is a historical, natural process that in fact gained its name improperly. It should be called urbanization, the third of four great waves of American cities, which for Shaw started in 1991.<\/p>\n But gentrification for Shaw black residents \u00a0is less about theory and more about numbers. In the last decade, aggregate income has risen and property values have skyrocketed.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n A newcomer in Shaw jogging towards his new development project home off V Street, Washington DC. Photo Credit: Stella Levantesi<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n Alexander Padro, a Shaw resident since 1997, is chairman of the Advisory Neighborhood Commission and executive director at Shaw Main Streets, a nonprofit organization with the mission to revitalize Shaw\u2019s 7th<\/sup> and 9th<\/sup> \u201ccommercial corridors.\u201d<\/p>\n He bought his house in 1998 for $155,000. The house was identical to that of his immediate neighbor who bought his in the 70s for $17,000. When his neighbor passed away, his heirs sold the unrenovated house for close to $800,000 and the developers who bought it, renovated it and resold it for $1.3 million. But Padro thinks these sales benefits the neighborhood. Despite a decline in black residents, he said no one has been forced to leave Shaw.<\/p>\n \u201cThe great thing is we\u2019ve been able to keep the people here,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s rather remarkable when you look at most remodeling efforts in cities around the country, displacement is usually the order of the day.\u201d<\/p>\n A vacant lot next to the Howard Theater, Shaw District, Washington DC. Photo Credit: Stella Levantesi<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n Padro said gentrification can also be an opportunity for those longterm residents to resell their homes at over triple the price they first acquired them for.<\/p>\n And Ali of Ben’s Chili Bowl agreed that even with the changes, some longtime residents have cashed in.<\/p>\n \u201cAlong the way are there some casualties? Are there some senior citizens who had to sell their properties ’cause they couldn\u2019t afford their taxes anymore? Sure, some people are pushed out,\u201d said Ali. \u201cBut other people are sold out in a very favorable way because they never imagined their home to be worth so much money.\u201d<\/p>\n Amidst their \u201crevitalization\u201d efforts, Shaw Main Streets has helped some African American businesses, like Wanda’s, stay in their original spots.<\/p>\n Wanda Henderson, an African American woman, waltzed around her salon, Wanda\u2019s on 7th. It’s been here since 1997, but not without a fight. In 2010, a developer bought most of the block to turn it into a shiny, glassy project forcing her to move her store temporarily up George Avenue.<\/p>\n Wanda Henderson checking on her client in her beauty salon Wanda’s on 7th, Shaw District, Washington DC. Photo Credit: Stella Levantesi<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n \u201cI had to make my own positives because they gave me a terrible time to come back,\u201d said Henderson. \u201cBut it was still worth the fight because I was determined to come back. I have the right to be here, and other people do, too.\u201d<\/p>\n The nonprofit organization ONE DC helps organize Shaw’s tenant associations to protect African American residents.<\/p>\n Like Henderson, many longterm residents and business owners welcome change, and want to be a part of it, making sure they\u2019re part of the community, even with new development. But there\u2019s always a price to pay, and it adds up to much more than money.<\/p>\n \u201cTo say \u2018hey, here\u2019s some money. We\u2019ll just find you another place because we\u2019re gonna tear down these houses to build\u2019\u2026 you know, whatever. It\u2019s hurtful,\u201d said Lakisha Davis-Small.<\/p>\n Her family had a house on 5th<\/sup> and Q Street for 40 years, but in the end they were forced to sell.<\/p>\n \u201cThe house is still there, but they have built so much around it,\u201d said Davis-Small. \u201cI plan on buying it back one day to turn it into a transitional home for those who are less fortunate and don\u2019t have any support.\u201d<\/p>\n A house isn\u2019t the price you pay for it. It\u2019s a home, and for most people, whether black or white, the memories attached to it are priceless.<\/p>\n \u201cYou sell your home, you sell your history,\u201d said Henderson.<\/p>\n According to Padro, no one in the community has been forced to leave their house because rents have gone up. And those who had a hard time affording market rent were given housing vouchers that allowed them to stay on their properties or move somewhere else by paying \u201cno more than 30 percent of their annual income for housing.\u201d<\/p>\n Kenny, who did not want to give his last name, grew up in Shaw. He recently got a beard trim at Gregg\u2019s Barber Shop, one of the few businesses in the area that have survived for over 80 years. Kenny said he moved out because of rent increases.<\/p>\n \u201cTo me, a subsidy is the same thing as giving me a voucher,\u201d said Kenny. \u201cIt\u2019s demeaning and degrading.\u201d<\/p>\n African American residents in front of Gregg’s Barber Shop on 7th Street, Washington DC. Photo credit: Stella Levantesi<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n In 2014, Kelsey Gardens, a 54-unit garden-style apartment complex on 7th,\u00a0<\/span>was torn down and replaced with the Jefferson Market Place, a mixed-use development building that includes 281 luxury apartments and nearly 13,400 square feet of retail space.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone was going crazy cause you needed a place to go,\u201d said Carole Dun, a former resident in Kelsey Gardens for 20 years. \u201cThey finally gave us Section 8 vouchers, so we could get other housing, but they still charged us electric, water and trash removal. You had to really budget your money.\u201d<\/p>\n Gentrification in Shaw has encouraged investments, lessened crime and given the neighborhood more than a fancy makeover.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter those \u201868 riots we\u2019re talking 20 years of boarded up buildings, we\u2019re talking 20 years of rats and junkies and homelessness,\u201d said Ali. \u201cSo it\u2019s definitely positive that we got out of that and into a booming neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n However, according to Hyra, the displacement of long-term residents isn\u2019t only physical, it\u2019s also political. White newcomers have taken over the institutions and vouch for typical \u201cgentrified amenities\u201d like dog parks, bike sharing facilities and hip beer gardens, leaving behind the needs of the longterm African American residents.<\/p>\n A mural in parking lot behind U Street, Shaw District, Washington DC, December 2017. Photo Credit: Stella Levantesi<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cAlthough low-income people are living in what is perceived as a safer community, they\u2019ve lost their political representation,\u201d said Hyra.<\/p>\n Yet, like everything, gentrification has two sides.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Shaw dog park is an example of a place where people of all races and all economic strata go and walk their dogs,\u201d said Padro. \u201cHe (Hyra) makes it sound like the dog park is some kind of elitist place, that unless you drive up in a Maserati you can\u2019t walk your dog. It\u2019s ludicrous.\u201d<\/p>\n The disruption gentrification has caused to black longterm residents is undeniable, but even Gregg\u2019s Barber Shop owner Frank Love believes, \u201cit\u2019s progress.\u201d<\/p>\n Contrary to what Hyra defines as \u201cdiversity-segregation\u201d or \u201cmicro-segregation,\u201d today, the Kennedy Recreation Center, a crucial rendezvous for African American residents for years, looks integrated.<\/p>\n \u201cThis neighborhood is diverse and I think it\u2019s really reflected in this playground,\u201d said French-born Stephanie Pezard, a mother who moved to Shaw six years ago. \u201cI would never say that the most recent residents aren\u2019t coming (to Kennedy Recreation Center).\u201d<\/p>\n But not all that glitters is gold. And stereotypes are hard to dismantle.<\/p>\n \u201cThe white people, they\u2019re alright,\u201d said Dun. \u201cSome of them won\u2019t ride on the elevator with you. Or they close the door real quick, like they avoid us. I guess they\u2019re just trying to be cautious.\u201d<\/p>\n Shaw was once the beating heart of the Chocolate City, and today, according to Hyra, it has been replaced by a more expensive Cappuccino City, where white foam and black coffee are mixed together to create a new reality. But for some, it will take time for the two to blend together.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A proud Michelle Obama and smiling Barack stand together, painted on the side of Ben\u2019s Chili Bowl on U Street, the \u201cBlack Broadway\u201d of DC. The business, opened in 1958 by the Ali family, has become a landmark of the Shaw neighborhood and it has gone through most of the social and cultural changes in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":17,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/projects.nyujournalism.org\/washington-dc-2017\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/36\/2017\/12\/38818491831_bb4b11df40_z-300x200.jpg\")
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