You know gentrification takes over when...

I was born and raised at 921 Broadway (corner of Melrose) in Bushwick... its funny how the map determines that it's the borderline of bed stuy and Williamsburg, but that's another subject I can go on about how throughout the years locations throughout Bushwick were reclassified so that more people can feel comfortable around the POC, ANYWHO. I remember very clearly how I saw the beginning of the end. My family and I lived in this building since I was born. A railroad apartment on the top floor, we lived in 4R AND 4L(we switched one time). The building didn't have a live in Super, the tenants got together and maintained the building on their own, with their own hardworking money at that. We were paying $450 at the time, we moved out 1999/2000. The longtime landlord who was an Italian guy who owned the travel agency that was right below called Valentino Travel, which is now Beauty Bar. He sold the building to a Jewish owner named Mr. Gold. Mr. Gold refused to exterminate or repair anything, only came around to collect the rent, but yet started to remodel the apartment next door to us after my neighbor moved out. Our new neighbor was a white Rastafarian woman with dreads who never said hi to us which made a very awkward situation. Somehow along the way we found out that she was paying $1250 for a 2 bedroom railroad apartment, same layout just like ours in the late 1990s. I could only imagine that she's probably not there anymore because I recently went to the building and saw that there's no longer a 4L OR 4R in that building. As the years went by and I passed my old neighborhood, I noticed that it still looks dirty and dangerous to when I was a kid. So I always think about my Latino friends who said that the "blancitos" would help reduce the crime and make the neighborhood better... I want them to step in my shoes for a second and think about what I've seen and felt on a daily basis still living in Bushwick. My old stomping grounds only became a place where everyone can shit on. It hasn't improved at all. In fact, it's more divided than ever. The implants refuse to live amongst us and haven't been much advocates for the POC who've struggled to live with their families in an already shitty neighborhood. I was a child back then and didn't know any better, but had I known of what's to become of my home, I would've started to fight earlier.  It's still dangerous with all the junkies hanging around close to the methadone clinic around the corner. The only difference I see is that it's now become party central due to the venues and bars around the area, as if living in front of the train tracks wasn't loud enough. I was fortunate enough to move to a rent stabilized building in Bushwick before being forced or kicked out of my building like many of my old neighbors. But even now with all the articles coming out about how NYCHA and section 8 tenants are going to be the next part of the city's gentrification process; I often wonder how much longer will it take before they will start to pressure our building management to buckle into what's about to happen city wide. So fucking scary. There's no culture left here in Bushwick.  The slap in the face that I've been feeling since then should be felt by those Latinos who thought that "whiteness" leads to greatness because now when they come back to their old hood, they're often puzzled and shocked that the Latino owned buildings and businesses no longer exist due to their own ignorance.