by Contributing Writer Mana Tahaie

In the first part of this series, we looked at the historical policies that created an economic system hostile to Black wealth creation. In this article, we will explore how discriminatory housing and development policies paved the way for gentrification in the Greenwood and Near North neighborhoods.

Gentrification

According to the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC), gentrification “happens when lower-income neighborhoods receive massive levels of new investment, adding amenities, raising home values and bringing in new upper-income residents. This can lead to cultural displacement when members of a racial or ethnic group who were longtime residents of gentrified neighborhoods are pushed out.”

As discussed in this series’ prior installment, the conditions for gentrification did not come about accidentally. For decades, a combination of legal housing discrimination, exclusionary redlining policies, and White flight systematically segregated people of color into urban neighborhoods where disinvestment resulted in…