Take Back the Block

“I got why we were there, but I was a little tired of fighting battles that didn’t have anything to do with me, though Mom thinks we belong in the middle of every fight.”

In this passage, Wes is obeying his mother’s insistence that he attend a protest against the construction of a luxury condo. This condo will replace the apartment building of Wes’s friend Kari. The building was recently torn down, displacing Kari and his family to a hotel. At this early point in the story, Wes believes that this “battle” has nothing to do with him because his home was not torn down. This quote contains foreshadowing and irony because unbeknownst to Wes, the same development company that purchased Kari’s building is about to make an offer to the residents of his own neighborhood, Kensington Oaks. At that point, the battle against gentrification will seem very real and personal to Wes.

“My breaths got lighter as soon as I saw the rickety K SINGTON OAKS sign. The E and N were missing, but I was home. Entering Kensington Oaks is like being hugged by a grove of oak trees and sunshine. I’ve lived in the Oaks my whole life, and I’ve known all my neighbors since the days of tricycle races. The houses and yards are small, but that just means I can hop from one yard to the next quick enough to make it home before the streetlights come on.

The Oaks is an inner-city neighborhood–well, that’s what they call it on the evening news. I guess that means it’s a neighborhood full of poor Black people. To us it’s a cocoon in the middle of a crowded city, just eight blocks from the center of town.

Even though we’re surrounded by noise, the Oaks is calm–quiet, even. That’s mostly because of the community’s board of organizers. Mom is the board’s director. Yep, that means I’m a volunteer, by default.”

This quote develops The Significance of Community and Cultural Heritage by showing why Wes loves his community so much. It doesn’t matter that the yards are small and the neighborhood sign is missing letters (things that gentrification would likely aim to “fix”). What matters to Wes is that his neighbors are supportive, loving, and communal (things that gentrification wouldn’t be able to replicate). To Wes, a community is not measured by the value of their material things, but by the depth of their connections to each other.