While traveling recently, I craved some good, solid, African-American fiction. I turned to two of my favorite authors and found a common theme winding through their very satisfying reads.
In these times, seems like most Americans have real estate on their minds—in one way or another. It’s a great time to buy a home, but a tough time to sell. Many folk who bought investment properties are watching them sit empty and/or losing them to foreclosure. Many more are losing their own homes to foreclose, thanks to the deadly combination of sleazy lending practices and the American Dream of living beyond our means.
But these two must-read stories – “Them: A Novel” by Nathan McCall, and “Seen It All and Done the Rest,” by Pearl Cleage, show two sides of real estate in the (former?) Black Mecca of Atlanta, aka, HotLanta, the ATL and A-town.
“Them” looks at gentrification from the perspective of a 40-year-old brothah who wants to buy the home he rents, and lives in with his nephew-on-parole. A resident of Atlanta’s Old Fourth Ward, home of the Martin Luther King, Jr., home, center and near the once-prosperous Auburn Avenue, the brothah finds his world askew due to gentrification and the young yuppie couple who buys the house next to him.
“Seen It All…” weaves the story of a world-weary but still teachable mid-life sistah, who returns from living in Paris to help her troubled niece get her life together, and check on the house she owns and has been renting out – or so she thought.
While “Them” tackles (White) gentrification of in-town ‘hoods, “Seen It All…” wrestles with African-American property developers whose greed overrules any regard for other humans and their quality of life.
Neither book is pedantic or preachy, which is why they’re both enjoyable and highly recommended. Their commonality starts with the general theme, and moves beyond to a peek into the soul of the human condition.
Who among us has not experienced, observed or thought about urban gentrification and real estate development? What do they mean for our neighborhoods, our communities and our people? Families may succumb to pressure to give up homes that are a prime source of wealth. Some folk I know dream of leaving a prime piece of property to their children and grandchildren; others are forced to sell to meet the costs of caring for aging parents.
We celebrate African-American ambition and entrepreneurial success, but what are the implications if one of us is the real estate developer offering shoddy terms to those who don’t have the resources to make it a fair fight?
Property has been a concern since we were promised, but not given, 40 acres and a mule. What is happening in your ‘hood these days? Is your demographic changing? Are houses sitting for months (or longer) with For Sale or For Rent signs in the front yards?
And in this game of real-life Monopoly, who wins, who loses, and who figures it’s okay to cheat to win?
