Keep on keeping on

A week ago I was visiting a friend in the bay area who lives in a predominantly black neighbourhood. He used to organise in the Bay View area and since he knows my obsession with black communities and gentrification he suggested we go check out Bay View along with Hunter's Point. I had never heard of Bay view or Hunter's Point before, but heard people speak of certain black neighborhoods that have been gentrified creating more of an exodus with a decrease in the black population year after year.

When we were on the train to visit the area, this was when I learned the very train we were on,

Third Street Light Rail Line,

had been one of the reasons the community has changed.

The train goes right through 3rd street. The construction of the train moved out businesses, etc. that were owned by OR were popular hang out places of the local residents. Of course the area isn't being 'revitalised' for the folks who have lived there for over 50 years, but for the new residents – hence the condo development that goes hand in hand with the train track construction.

We got off earlier than our destination point so my friend who hadn't been there for a while could see which businesses were still there. I found the area to be a tight knit community, lots of folks on the streets, fathers and daughters holding hands taking walks, magnificent murals, young boys taking their little sisters out to play, barber shops, bakeries, lotsa soul food, people conversing, a stunning community centre, manicured walkways and lanes. We walked further and heard music, which was coming from a side street and there was a small crowd watching, dancing and listening to several men playing drums right in front of their home. In the middle of the street was a huge compost and fresh greens growing. Next we arrived at a community garden that was right along 3rd avenue that was built on a steep hill and being supported by tires.

Of course if you ask an ignorant San Franciscan what they will have to say about Hunter's Point, they will say it is full of gangs and homeless and there isn't much going on and in fact warn people to stay away from the area.

The black population is declining steadily not just in this area, but all over the bay area. Not declining as much as being displaced. We don't disappear. We WONT disappear.

There was a huge migration in the 1940's that brought many African Americans to the bay area after WWI for blue collar jobs – in fact my Dad's immediate family was indirectly part of that migration. They didn't reside directly in the bay area, but near by at a town called Seaside, not sure if it's called that anymore. Obviously folks back then weren't moving due to 'job opportunities' but more of a way to escape imminent racism in the south. Bay View at the time was for whites only and Hunter's Point was where black folks were housed close to their work at the shipyard, but that changed.

Well, my friend and I ended up at the Jazz Room for a beer and most folks were my Dad's age, which means the music was fanTABulous. Al Green, The O Jays, Roberta Flack, Sam Cooke, Micheal Jackson, The Gap Band, Minnie Ripperton and various other oldies that you rarely get to hear unless in the comforts of your own home.

We sat at the bar and sang along with everyone, grooving in our bar stools. Just goes to show

- us folks, you can take us away from our motherland, you can enslave us, you can make us migrate, you can displace us; and we'll keep on moving to the music –

Or music at that.