Today the local panaderia on 32nd and Lowell in the Denver Highland neighborhood still stands, but it is competing with the new frozen yogurt shop that moved in next door.
Historically, the Highland neighborhood has been home to Denver's immigrant population. What was once an old urban neighborhood has quickly become overwehlemed with loft living, trendy shops and expensive restaurants.
As a Denver native, I can't help but to stop and critique the gentrification that is happening in my own city.
In 2007 I began hearing more and more about the Highland neighborhood. But growing up in Denver, we always called it the "north side." Not anymore. Apparently, Denver's "north side" is now the "Highlands," and the neighborhood is undergoing mass gentrification that has occurred within the past five years.
The struggle is apparent as anti skyscraper signs stand in the front yards of old Highland residents, all the while new loft-like buildings continue to go up at rapid pace.
Traditionally, it has been known that people of color typically live in urban neighborhoods, like the Highlands. However, with the massive gentrification happening, Denver's Hispanic population is moving out of the city and into the suburbs. By contrast, the white population is moving into the city, where the cost of living is more expensive.
In relation to our class discussion about white privilege, I would argue that the gentrification that has occurred in the Highlands neighborhood directly relates to how white people have the ability, based on wealth and power, to push an entire population out of their homes.
In Peggy McIntosh's, White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, she referenced housing as a source of white privilege: "If I should need to move, I can be pretty sure of renting or purchasing housing in an area that I can afford and in which I would want to live."
Although there has been little news coverage about the gentrification happening in the Highlands, one Denver Post article did mention that when gentrification does occur "people of greater income move into a neighborhood and displace people of lesser income...homes move up in social standing."
You can read the full Denver Post article here, and learn more about the gentrification that is happening in Harlem, too.
Interesting article and observation about the Highlands. I currently live at 15th and Platte near REI downtown, or at the edge of what is now called "LoHi." While my roommate and I moved to this area a few years ago from the Govs Park area as a way to compromise on location (she was commuting to Boulder for work while I was working closer to DU), I have stayed here because of its continued growth and convenience (and yes, the froyo place across the street from me is certainly a perk!). I have noticed this area's gentrification in the same way I have noticed its certain lack of diversity, as I rarely see African Americans, Hispanics or other individuals of minority groups in the area (or even up further into the Highlands), though I had never connected it to white privilege until you have posed it on this blog - and I do feel you are making a valid point on this issue.
ReplyDeleteI grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, a pretty diverse city and multicultural environment, and upon moving to Colorado immediately noticed a certain lack of diversity in comparison to my former home. However it occurs to me now that perhaps my own "privilege" may have put me in a position here of choosing a "whiter" life with a lack of diversity - especially now, at DU and now knowing more about the incredibly diverse city that we live in. While none of this knowledge may prevent the gentrification happening today, at least with the awareness of this phenomenon, we can begin to understand more about the cultural makeup of Denver and work towards building a better community together.
the buildings are ugly. f'n people should've moved to highlands ranch, instead they took a crap on the north side.
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