The "professional" media representations of Poppleton just don't focus on the stories coming out of the people in Poppleton. They are always a sidebar or an afterthought, typically not even mentioned by name. The journalists never ask hard-hitting questions of the developers, such as whether the cost of their "low-income" units is comparable to what the people they've displaced were paying for their preexisting homes or where they are spending the public money they earn locally or how they masquerade as locals to enable their own profit. The reporters never push back when the developers even lie outright, such as when Dan Bythewood claimed that they had doubled (!) the number of low-income housing units in Baltimore.
The phrase "community in transition" reminds me of relevant readings we did in Dawn Biehler's Environmental Justice course last semester. Just hearing the phrase immediately makes wary the people likely impacted by any transition, and justifiably so. They will be understandably concerned that they retain what they need after any transition. Another meaning of "transition" is, after all, death.
As I indicated in class, in the public documents for the Save Our Block movement, I would like to see more emphasis on the issues. In addition to what I mentioned in class (reorganization and a bit of explicit articulation of the broader context of robbing Black families of community, stability, and generational wealth without in-kind replacement):
- I'd like us to add the word "redlining" to the timeline in the zine.
- I suggest we add a bit of emphasis to crucial words throughout so that they jump out at a reader just skimming the booklet.
- Perhaps we could add a few adjectives.
- I'd love to be able to do a bit of proofreading too.
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