Them, by Nathan McCall and The Uncomfortable Questions of Gentrification
Friday, November 13, 2009
At times, I like to fancy myself a literary snob. It is completely delusional on my part, but for a moment I let myself believe that I truly am one of the intellectual elite. After all, my favorite novel is Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley. I wield that little fact like a weapon at cocktail parties, as I launch into the deeper themes of that dark story. It works. People view me as an academic, and I beam…that is until someone brings up other classic novels to discuss…novels I have inevitably never read…and reluctantly I realize that honestly, after a long day of work, I’d rather just read US Weekly.
So, when my best friend, Kathryn, gave me Them, by Nathan McCall, for my birthday earlier this year, I thanked her graciously and put it aside. As a mother of three little girls living in the suburbs, she spends most of her time reading rhyming books with pictures these days. How could she possibly choose a book that would feed my thirst for literary genius? As luck would have it though, I was headed to the beach for a week earlier this fall, so I decided to give it a try. To my surprise, I quickly discovered that the story is set in Atlanta’s Od Fourth Ward and focuses on the gentrification of that neighborhood over the past decade. Since I live on the edge of the Fourth Ward and practice real estate, I had to admit that it seemed like maybe it would be a pretty good fit. (Note to self: give Kathryn more credit in the future…she is my best friend for a reason.)
Per Merriam-Webster, gentrification “is the process of renewal and rebuilding accompanying the influx of middle-class or affluent people into deteriorating areas that often displaces earlier, usually poorer residents”. In Them, the author delves specifically into the potential racial tensions that may have and may continue to come to a boiling point in this historically African-American neighborhood where Martin Luther King, Jr. was born and raised.
At times, I thought the characters’ inner dialogues were a little too drawn out in detail, the back stories of some characters seemed irrelevant to the overall story, and the romantic story line of the central character, Barlowe Reed, was distracting. However, overall the racial and socio-economic struggles, both internal and external, that Barlowe, a working class black man, and his privileged white female neighbor, Sandy Gilmore, face throughout the story are compelling.
There were moments where I laughed out loud and others when I argued out loud with the characters and the author himself. I was uncomfortable, angry, sad and uplifted. Many questions were raised that weren’t easily answerer. As a real estate agent, living in an integrated neighborhood of mixed income levels, the specific questions concerning how we handle gentrification of neighborhoods as a city are the ones that are most engaging for me right now.
Gentrification should be a positive experience for all. Property values rise, crime rates drop, diverse cultures converge… But it’s that part of the definition, “often displaces earlier, usually poorer residents”, that poses problems. Islands of poverty breed crime. For example, consider the Boulevard corridor in Old Fourth Ward, or as Creative Loafing referred to it earlier this year, “The Lone Lawless Ghetto”. So, how can we as residents, business owners, constituents and politicians do more to encourage gentrification that doesn’t just move the islands of poverty around, but aims to break them up and integrate more of our neighborhoods on a socio-economic level? How do we target our homeless neighbors with respect, resources and support instead of disdain and contempt? How do we create truly diverse intown neighborhoods on all levels (race, religion, income) for the betterment of our city as a whole?
I don’t have all the answers, but I am thinking about them. I recently participated in the Master Planning for Poncey-Highland. These are all questions that were raised during this process, as I know they were in the Old Fourth Ward Master Planning as well. I guess that’s where we start - dialogue with our neighbors, local business owners, and elected officials. It is to our benefit to be active participants in our communities. This is a great city. We can make it better. It just takes a little effort - a willingness to engage, to listen, to care.
And, that was the tone set in the final paragraphs of Them. The characters didn’t have all the answers either, but they were thinking about them, talking about them, and reaching out with hope. - Ashlee Heath
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