Black people, sold on propaganda that home ownership is the foundation of economic development and the antidote to gentrification, discovered after 2008 that an international market was consolidated to exploit them as the subprime mortgage was invented and weaponized into financial instruments to be sold to investors.
Even after 2008, many people continue to ignore the political reality that, like the entire capitalist economy, acquiring housing in black communities is a contest for power─a contest between the colonizer white nation and the colonized African nation for resources.
For example, one report stated that in Dallas, TX, “the share of homes sold to people who don’t live in them nearly doubled over the last 12 years.” (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-02-23/landlords-are-taking-over-the-u-s-housing-market)
The fact is people don’t simply rent from apolitical entities.
White Americans existing with 22 times the wealth of blacks have an exploitative colonial relationship with the black community and are able to consolidate land and housing in black communities allowing them to turn real estate property into rental income and appreciating assets for themselves.
One white ruling class representative stated the economic rationale of private equity firms buying property in African neighborhoods.
“Markets like St. Louis offer an opportunity for these out-of-town buyers… The yields are so low that they’re looking in markets like St. Louis.” (https://elmtreefunds.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/The-St.-Louis-Post-Dispatch-May-25-2017.pdf)
Some people openly invite foreign/colonial occupation, stating the solution is to “attract investors” (read whites).
It is also not enough to fight for so-called black developers to act as a buffer between the black working class and the white ruling class who they would rely on for capital and who in turn will raise them up as political representatives of the black community.
This is nothing more than neocolonialism, or white power in black face.
Smashing gentrification is also not just a matter of coming up with some good idea that the white ruling class simply never considered and which will miraculously allow them to reconcile their interests with the interests of the African working-class.
Likewise, there’s no magic tactic black people can employ to reform America. The reality is the white ruling class and white workers alike look to fund their retirements, send their children to college and enjoy immense wealth by turning the land, labor and resources of the colonized black community into rent, dividends and other forms of unearned income for themselves.
This is the 600-year colonial history of U.S. and the rest of Europe to black people.
The role of the African People’s Socialist Party is to expose the contradictions in the social system and organize the exploited African masses to end this colonial relationship.
This combination of economic and political solutions is beautifully demonstrated in the Black Power Blueprint project in St. Louis, MO.
International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement (InPDUM) President Kalambayi Andenet and members stand with Trish Harris of Jath Construction.
The Black Power Blueprint is an anti-colonial economic project which includes: the purchase and renovation of a community center with offices and a banquet hall, the demolition of properties to make way for an outdoor market for black vendors, a property to be renovated as a commercial kitchen, a bakery/café, an African Independence Workforce Program (AIWP) for Africans returning from prison and housing to provide a place to live for community organizer as well as participants in AIWP.
The fight against gentrification and for black community control of its own housing and economy is an anti-colonial demand for Black Power in direct contention with white ruling class colonialism.
