I have seen
many comments made because rich “Ghetto Blaster” Director and Writer Spike Lee is not happy to see so many white people living in his old Fort Greene Brooklyn neighborhood.
As for
gentrification, I for one don’t see how to stop it short of restoring a lot of
old so-called obsolete Capital Gains Taxes and apply them to real estate.
In a way, a
lot of the beauty of nineteenth brownstones restored is expensive and now upper
class. In a way it is unfair that value is now given to a place that was
devalued over time simply because African-Americans ended up there and
inhabited the cast-offs of a bygone era. Spike in giving value to his own
memories is entitled to his 140 character opinions without all the new rich
white trash in Fort Greene getting into a tizzy and spreading it like Brie
cheese and or dog shit all over the media.
Who you calling rich white trash, boy? Who you calling boy, boy? Kind of like the giraffe calling the zebra "Zoo" as I see it.
I can
remember thirty-five years ago when some of the cheapest rents in New York City
were advertised in the Village Voice in Fort Greene. And I also heard the horror
stories of people seeking decent affordable housing in a decaying part of the city and not
being able to live there in Fort Greene because of constant burglaries while at work in
Manhattan.
I am sorry
that Spike cannot open his eyes without getting a rosy glass filtered image of the place he grew
up which was in fact a living hellhole by most middle class standards when
America was allowed the luxury of middle class standards, of and by their own
origins, and not standards now imposed on us from above by corporations.
I for one am
jealous when I see photos of Spike courtside at a Knicks game and have to
wonder how much money that kind of shit costs. But as J.P.Morgan once said to
riff-raff and middle class trash (like me) – “If you have to ask, you cannot afford it.” lol
Spike’s
bitter pill of words is sometimes reflected I think in the environment of
his youth that is perhaps too candy coated in memory to touch reality compared to the new global culture.
I have also taken a lot of Spike Lee’s bravado over the years with a big
grain of salt. I remember an interview of years ago about why there is no great
slavery movie(s) and he responded that American Blacks were not ready for it. In
other words not interested in digging up the nasty past. And or a middle class black POV? Valid point then or now?
I see that a
front runner for the Oscars this weekend is “Twelve Years A Slave”. I have to
wonder if Spike has in any way invested in such an old Brownstone of an idea as a producer in such a film.
Your guess is as good as mine.
.
