The Corner Project

The Corner is 23rd and Union. The Corner is an experiment in community storytelling. These are photos of the storytellers, installed at the intersection.

23rd and Union is emblematic of the Central District in flux. It is the current home of Earl's Cuts and it used to be a bustling center of commerce. Now, and especially after the 2008 murder of the owner of Philadelphia Cheese Steak shop, it is a relative ghost town in a whitening neighborhood.

Between the months of June and August in 2009, The Corner set up a phone line and asked for stories. People shared their experiences via special phone lines at the Corner. Their stories and photographs have been preserved forever on this website. Check it out.

A confession

The ugly truth: I have a personal motivation for writing this blog. Last week, I moved to the CD. I have been anticipating this day since I moved away from the neighborhood three years ago. There are seven Ethiopian restaurants within blocks of my house. We have Sunday morning church traffic. The Greenlake "let's walk around the lake in a HUGE gaggle with our double strollers and dogs" posse is nowhere in sight. Sigh. It feels good to be back.

So now you know all my secrets. Another one: I enjoy trolling the internets. Recently, I stumbled upon a documentary about the CD that's in production.

From the website: "23rd & Union is docu-drama that weaves real interviews with fictional characters to investigate the 2008 murder of Degene Berecha in the popular Seattle restaurant “Philadelphia Cheese-Steak”. The director was a friend of the victim and shares mutual acquaintances with the convicted murderer. He completed interviews with a wide range of people familiar with each man to help interpret the circumstances that led to the shooting. The film is an ADAPTED story and is used as a vehicle to discuss gentrification and the tension between young African-American men, Ethiopian immigrants and gay couples in Seattle’s Central District."

You can see the trailer here The film will be released Summer 2011.

I am drawn to this docu-drama not only because it explores the issues of gentrification and African Americans in the CD, but also because it delves into dynamics with the gay and Ethiopian communities. These are two groups that I did not give much thought when I conceptualized this blog. Yet, their inclusion in this subject makes sense. Neighboring Capitol Hill is the historically gay area of Seattle. Not unlike the Central District, real estate has risen and prompted migration. The nearby and comparatively affordable CD presents a natural housing choice for the gay community.

Seattle has also been a center of resettlement for Ethiopian refugees and immigrants. The location of services has influenced families to live in the Central District. The coexistence of African Americans, homosexuals, and the Ethiopian community represents a heady mix of diversity. I'm hoping the film imparts us with a sense of hope.

Central Intelligence

Charles Muede in his article Human Remains mentions a local band C.I who had to move out of CD in 2006 due to rising costs.
"The members of Central Intelligence can't afford to live in the CD; they and others in their situation have to move south because they'd "rather pack up than be financially strapped." The mood of "Aim for the Sky" is one of hopelessness, a sense that, no matter what, blacks will always be on the losing end. First, blacks were confined to the CD, then, in the 1980s, neoliberal policies and deindustrialization brought the neighborhood they were forced to live in to an economic standstill, and now that the CD is being revived and redeveloped, blacks are being forced out by escalating property values—"I know you want me out of the hood/so you can change the shit, like Pleasantville/making it hard for me to make my scrill/it's a cold feel..."


Sabeen

Affordable housing at 12th and Jefferson

Looks like the CD will gain an affordable housing complex. Capitol Hill Housing is constructing a building at the site of a vacant gas station at 12th and Jefferson. The complex will serve individuals earning up to 60% of the median ($36,000 for an individual, $41,000 for a couple). There will be 40 apartments and 5,000 square feet of commercial space. Read more at the Seattle PI website.

Moving Boundaries of Segregation

The forging of a black community: Seattle's Central District

One of the rare books of history of Seattle’s  American African is ‘The forging of a black community: Seattle’s Central District..’ .The author, Quintard Taylor, explores the evolution of black community from its first few residents in the 1870s to much larger population in 1970. Although the entire book is useful, but most relevant to our blog is the last section called ‘Past, present and future’. Link

The author explains that Central District emerged as a racially segregated by 1910 and remained so for almost the entire century. The community has historically suffered from “rigid housing segregation and de facto school segregation” .The neighborhood has been marked by “deteriorating building, crimes, drugs, Intergenerational poverty and welfare dependence”. This has led to anger, alienation and despair among the Black community. Yet “black Seattle’s collective synergy created a distinctive African American culture” which provided a “psychological safe haven from the hostile world”.

What is happening now? “The central district is no longer the center for blacks”. American Africans fear displacement at hands of upper income whites who are moving into the area for the inexpensive housing and the proximity to downtown. The apprehension is that this will drive up the real estate prices making it necessary to find housing elsewhere. The numbers seem to indicate that large number of African American community have been pushed out of CD towards the southernmost part of the city.

Looking at the history it seems racial residential segregation has a moving geographical boundary. In addition to facing racial residential segregation, low income African Americans also face the risk of racial displacement.

Sabeen