Reading and Writing for Social Justice: Looking at the World Through a Lens of Justice and Fairness 2

Scences/Situations going on in my neighborhood:

-Food stand venders standing outside in the dark, and the freezing cold

-New expensive/classy businesses opening up

-Reconstruction on buildings

-People waiting for buses in the dark, and the freezing cold

      There are a few things going on in my neighborhood that I think are unfair to someone’s human rights, but I think one of the most interesting ones is all of the new fancy businesses that are opening up. There has been a very expensive wood fire pizza place, a coffee shop full of young people and pricey coffee, and a classy bakery. This may sound fantastic, but it is these kinds of places that attracted the attention of people of a richer class, and they are driving poorer people out of the neighborhood. I am glad that the neighborhood is becoming more high class, but this is causing a lot of families to have to move out of their houses because the rent is too high, or they can no longer afford the services of the stores around them because they are too expensive. 

      This makes me think about the wealthier neighborhoods such as Park Slope and Carroll Gardens, and it helps me to know how all of these places probably got to be as wealthy as they are now. Perhaps it was because of businesses, but there are probably a number of reasons why neighborhoods become that wealthy. I feel like one day my neighborhood might become like Park Slope, and it will be littered with little kids being taken to the park with their nannies. There is a start to that in my neighborhood though, after all, I live directly across the street from the Parade Grounds, and a block or two from Prospect Park. Overall, it would be great if my neighborhood became like Park Slope, or Cobble Hill, but it is also forcing families with less money to move out of their homes.