DC Tenants

If you're looking for the underside of capitalism, we don't have far to go.  We can see the consequences among farmers and farmland or in the depletion of rainforests.  Here in DC, I see it in the lives of my clients who fight for their communities in the midst of the rising cost of living and unemployment.  Many of have roots in DC that extended into generations... they have survived riots, crime, and poverty.  But they also see the changes as developers move like viruses throughout the city--they know that locations with metro access are targets for the latest development and that the new government building will bring jobs (primarily for outsiders) and transform their neighborhoods with little regard for those who have called those neighborhoods "home."  Frequently, I'm humbled and amazed by the amount of work DC's tenants pour into their communities--distributing school supplies to youth, spending days cleaning the neighborhood, holding movie nights for children, providing food, and even reaching out to local officials for assistance.  However, these very neighborhoods, which are the object of their affection and their home, are in danger.  My clients know that it's only a matter of time until they cannot afford to live there anymore...until their home, which was once the scorn of many suburbanites (from Georgetown to those around the beltway), becomes the new "hotspot" for development and is marketed to those of a higher income bracket.  They know that they are on the underside of capitalism--that their poverty and race robs them of their value in eyes of developers and government officials alike.  I struggle with them, but I know and confess that I benefit from the very processes they fight (I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy having a coffee shop within walking distance or the gym a few blocks from my home).  There are many low income black communities (and other communities) which are working hard to preserve and enrich what is considered little more than an "investment opportunity" to even the most sincere developers.  And I see their work, as small as it may be (holding meetings, providing food, connect to local services), as acts of resistance against our dehumanizing economics system and as participation in a healthy, vibrant common life.