Older Brooklynites. I'm a gentrifier/yuppie/hipster. Please talk to me about how to contribute positively to my community/ be aware of my actions, because in all honesty I'm not going anywhere.

Its not "their" neighborhood. This is a city where people can move wherever they fucking please. Did "they" steal it from the germans and italians? No. This city is constantly changing and no one gets to lay claim to whole neighborhoods and tell people of specific ethnicities that they cant live there.

And do you think i have a choice in living in Bushwick? No. My family and I moved there because it's what we could afford to buy. We searched for over 18 months to find a house near a subway line. You can't find places for a family of 4 to live in safe neighborhoods near the subway for under 1.1 mil. In "somewhat" safe neighborhoods that price goes down to 900K. If i could live where i wanted, it wouldn't be in a neighborhood where the neighbors hate you simply for being white, it wouldn't be where the neighbors blast music so loud it rattles your teeth, it wouldn't be where groups of men armed with baseball bats come to your front door and try to intimidate you into giving them money and it wouldnt be in a place where i find fresh shell casings having been thrown in my backyard to dispose of them. My family and i have been nothing but quiet, warm and courteous. Yes we have made friends with our next door neighbors, but that's not some cure all for the problems. It sucks, i hate this neighborhood. I just want a place to live thats safe and quiet, it doesn't feel like a lot to ask for but apparently it is. But that's NY real estate and unfortunately my parents industry is a NY based industry, we can't move to another state, we cant move to a neighborhood thats not near transportation bc my parents work long hours and need to be in Manhattan for work early, they can't spend 1.5 hours commuting each way. We are where we are, and in real life i suck it up and pretend living here doesn't bother me, but sometimes like right now on the Internet i vomit up my feelings about it. Being a "gentrifier" has been a grinding source of stress and indignity. Were just here trying to live our lives but people act like were somehow terrible for having the audacity to buy a home in a neighborhood where our neighbors dont have the same ethnic background. The whole situation is shitty. I've lived in nyc my whole life, but I just want to leave. I wish i had money to buy my parents a house in a safe neighborhood, but that will never happen. By the time I'm making money as a veterinarian, it still wont be enough to support that dream. Ugh rant over

/r/Brooklyn Thread Parent