RAB SOURCE ENTRY 1 — AJ

Source Entry for “What Gentrification Means for Black Homeowners”

Part 1 MLA Citation

Kerubo, Jacquelynn. “What Gentrification Means For Black Homeowners.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 17 Aug. 2021, www.nytimes.com/2021/08/17/realestate/black-homeowners-gentrification.html. 

Preparatory work for writing the Summary:  I used a graphic organizer to find MIs and SD.

GRAPHIC ORGANIZER

MAIN IDEA (MI) Black people feel that gentrification is pushing Blacks out there neighborhoods.

SUPPORTING DETAIL: Like other Black homeowners selling family homes in competitive ZIP codes, Mr. Holley feels like the sale is freighted with the burden of his race. He had hoped to leave the house to his only living child, a son in New Jersey, but his son isn’t interested in the brownstone. Mr. Holley fears that when he lists the house on the open market, he may unintentionally play a part in the continued displacement of the Black community in Crown Heights.

SUPPORTING DETAIL: Mr. Holley remembers when Crown Heights felt like it was “100 percent Black.” The area is now less than 50 percent Black. “That doesn’t bother me. It’s some of the people moving in that are problematic,” Mr. Holley said.

SUPPORTING DETAIL: Not too long ago, he said, “I noticed a neighbor putting up something out front and I was curious. I went over to strike conversation and before I could finish a sentence, he told me that he didn’t have any money.” Being mistaken for a panhandler by one of his new white neighbors sent a clear message about how the neighborhood was evolving

Part 2 Summary

The New York Times article by Jacquelynn Kerubo illuminates how Blacks feel toward gentrification in their neighborhood. According to the writer, one of the residents, Thomas Holley, doesn’t want to play a part in black displacement. He would like to leave something behind for his grandkids because owning a home as Blacks means a lot. The writer as well brought in an incident Thomas Holley experienced, he went to strike a conversation with one of his white neighbors and the guy assumed that Mr. Holley was a panhandler and that’s when Thomas knew how the neighborhood was evolving. That is when Mr. Holley knew the home would most likely not sell to a fellow Black person. Then Jaquelynn introduced like a devil’s advocate, Evelyn Polhill, going against the statement “Blacks being displaced”. She expressed “If you’re selling your house, how are you being displaced? If you’re selling, you must be moving somewhere else. If you’re not factoring that in, then you’re telling yourself a lie. You’re not being honest.”

Part 3 Reflection

I personally agree with Mr.Holley in Kerudo’s article because Mr. Holley really understands what it means to a Black homeowner, as well as he has first hand experience with gentrification. Such as Mr.Holley living in his Black majority neighborhood for 58 years and him witnessing the neighborhood going from feeling like “100 percent Black to less than 50 percent black”. I feel like that is factual as well because the majority Black neighborhoods are becoming to have less and less Black homeowners. As I learned from the writer in 2014 New York City homeownership was low beyond Blacks. Only 26 percent of Black households in the city owned their homes. So overall Black people in their neighborhoods that own their homes are aiming to keep these homes under Black families because they know it’s honestly harder for Blacks to obtain homes.  

Part 4 Rhetorical Analysis 

The author, Jaquelynn Kerubo, a writer who has written for The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Business Insider, etc had a very interesting writing style during her article “What Gentrification Means For Black Homeowners”. She used more of Pathos writing style but as well Logos. For Instance she brought in Mr. Holley’s incident when he encountered racial profiling by his white neighbor. That scene is what brings me to believe her target audience was Black people as well as the general public. I feel the target audience was majority Black because the topic she is speaking on mostly Blacks would be able to relate to. I also say the general public because it’s not only just speaking on how Black people feel toward it, but Kerudo brings statistics that were noted down about these changes in percentages. I believe her purpose for this article was to illuminate the changes that are happening in Black majority neighborhoods and Black people feel toward it. Overall Jaquelynn Kerubo and NYT are credible because Kerubo has an MFA in Creative Writing from New York University and The New York Times because 24% of the world consider the newspaper very credible.

Part 5 Notable Quotes

“Like other Black homeowners selling family homes in competitive ZIP codes, Mr. Holley feels like the sale is freighted with the burden of his race. He had hoped to leave the house to his only living child, a son in New Jersey, but his son isn’t interested in the brownstone. Mr. Holley fears that when he lists the house on the open market, he may unintentionally play a part in the continued displacement of the Black community in Crown Heights.”

“Mr. Holley remembers when Crown Heights felt like it was “100 percent Black.” The area is now less than 50 percent Black. “That doesn’t bother me. It’s some of the people moving in that are problematic,” Mr. Holley said.”

“Not too long ago, he said, “I noticed a neighbor putting up something out front and I was curious. I went over to strike conversation and before I could finish a sentence, he told me that he didn’t have any money.” Being mistaken for a panhandler by one of his new white neighbors sent a clear message about how the neighborhood was evolving.”