The establishment of “BOOST” buildings is the countermeasure to erasing decades of Gentrification.
Walking down the Confederate-friendly streets of downtown Greenville, South Carolina, on any given day, oftentimes you will observe random conversations being held by the older Black citizens who can be heard constantly complaining amongst themselves to lifelong friends about how the city government (in their words, the white man) has forcefully taken over their communities throughout the span of their lifetime.
While reminiscing about the old days and also expressing their grief, the locals often speak with heavy conviction and regret as they dismally recall everything from Businesses to land and homes that once belonged to family members and neighborhood merchants that are all distant memories now.
In fact, wealthy land grabbers have gotten so greedy for the land in Greenville, South Carolina that in some traditionally Black neighborhoods, you can find a nearly million-dollar home only two doors down from a lonely old shack that's barely holding on.
The old home that still stands amongst mansions now looks misplaced, only because of the refusal of the owner to give in to large contractors and sell his land and the small property that sits atop for pennies on the dollar.
In most cases, after living in the same communities all of their lives, the poor are abruptly forced to accommodate the lavish needs of their new wealthy neighbors who now make all of the rules, which are unfavorable, unrealistic, and unachievable for people who live just above the poverty threshold.
Ultimately, These drastic changes force the poor out, and therefore displace them from some of the only communities many have ever known. As a result, now the history and the people who were initially responsible for the cultivation of the land are no longer visibly existent.
Disappointingly, this same strategy, although used more effectively, has been utilized in corporate America, where big businesses have relocated next to smaller Black-owned businesses in areas of each city where Black businesses were once beneficial to the community. This unrestricted invasion has nearly caused the majority of Black businesses to become extinct in many of the busiest downtown districts in most major cities.
It's extremely disheartening once you realize that All across the country, America has traditionally played a major role in the disintegration of successful Black business districts in multiple cities, just as it once did to the people of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Black Wall Street, back in 1921.
After the massacre in Tulsa, America was much more careful while discovering craftier ways to wipe out entire communities of successful Black businesses without using the destruction of a bomb.
As you stroll down Main Street in Greenville, SC, standing nearly directly across the street from the Greenville City Hall, you will notice a marker that is positioned off to the side which identifies the county's first courthouse.
This marker also highlights a speech that was given by my 7th great grandfather and a former slaveholder, the 7th Vice President of the United States of America, John C. Calhoun. A concealed truth that the state of South Carolina continues to try to suppress and hide from American history. A dark truth which reveals that a very powerful American politician who was an unapologetic racist who fought to extend slavery for the better good of the White American people had children with my 7th great-grandmother, a Black Cherokee Indian woman, who was serially raped by Calhoun as a young girl.
After all, there is a reason that the John C. Calhoun speech is noted on the marker on Main Street in downtown Greenville. Calhoun is still the most secretly celebrated politician in American history below the Mason-Dixon line, who fathered the proud mentality of a confederate-minded South to succeed from America, all based on his racist ideals on slavery.
Despite the many symbolic gestures attempted by the city government to paint a story of unity, Calhoun’s philosophy of hate is still evident, and in ways, politically governs the city of Greenville, SC, who has failed to effectively incorporate Black businesses back into areas that were once predominantly Black owned. However, these Black businesses were later forced out, due to unjust regulations and the economic buying power of larger White businesses who desired the property of the smaller Black businesses.
How unfair has the city of Greenville been to its Black American citizens?
In the mid 1960s, during a period that most would like for you to forget, Black Citizens in the city of Greenville, South Carolina were forced to swim in the nearby Reedy River, only because White Citizens would not allow them to enter into the city's public swimming pool. Only after Federal laws mandated that the city must allow Black Citizens entry into the public pool, the city government, then chose to shut the pool down to the public by placing wildlife into the swimming pool.
Pictured below is a photo taken from the banks of the Reedy River, as I imagined how the Black Citizens of Greenville must have felt having to swim in the muddy waters of the river while having to contend with snakes and other wildlife, as they looked on and watched, as the White citizens played, laid, and swam in the city’s public pool that wasn’t even 50 feet away from the river.
(Below) current picture taken from banks of the Reedy River to show how close the distance between the swimming pool and the river. The black gates that you see, house a set of tennis courts that is currently under construction.⬇️
Unfortunately, some of the most unethical crimes committed against Black Americans nationwide have never been acknowledged or addressed by city, state, and federal government officials. Therefore, the damage done to the people is never rectified, and as a result, the challenges of overcoming these crippling setbacks are made that much harder.
Only because the Greenville City Council’s vote was responsible for making the decision to deny its Black citizens the right to swim in the city’s pool, and as a result of the stain left on city government and the pain that still remains with those who still remember; I believe that it is not only fitting but by naming the area of the tennis courts where the city’s pool once was located, EQUALITY COURTS at Cleveland Park does two very important things. It acknowledges and it also makes amends for a noteworthy wrong of the past committed by city government.
A Resolution for the city of Greenville⬇️
The city of Geeenville, SC should genuinely consider naming the area where the city’s public swimming pool was located and later transformed into a set of tennis courts to keep Black Americans out, “EQUALITY COURTS at Cleveland Park.”
Similar to how the immoral past of the city government and many of the people of the city of Greenville have been to its residential Black American citizens, the environment of the city workforce was even more brutal to Black-owned businesses of the past.
Nevertheless, attempting to track exactly what happened to Black-owned businesses can be a complicated task, yet, It is estimated that less than 1% of businesses in downtown Greenville are owed by a Black American.
Shockingly, even as latest as the late 1780s Black American Cherokee Indians owned all of the lands in Upstate South Carolina that included Anderson, Oconee, Pickens, and Greenville counties. Over time, all of these lands along with the majority of the businesses were all underhandedly stripped away from the Black American population. Woefully, nothing was ever done to rectify the devastating effects or to recover the Black businesses that were lost.
ONE SOLUTION THAT WILL RECTIFY THE UNADDRESSED ECONOMIC ISSUES THAT ARE THE RESULT OF GENTRIFICATION ACROSS AMERICA⬇️
The Answer⬇️
B.O.O.S.T. Building- a partnership between a city and its Black businesses working together to generate and produce more successful Black American business owners as a form of rectifying the wrongs of Gentrification.
The BOOST Building Developmental Plan- a five-year stimulus project intended to jumpstart, invite, and encourage Black American business ownership within the intercity around areas where the businesses have a greater opportunity to share the wealth of consumers who have been attracted by the larger corporations located within the innercity.
B.O.O.S.T.-
Building Ownership & Opportunities Successfully Together.
The City along with a panel of citizens from the community would choose 5-7 Black businesses out of a list of businesses who submit applications to be accepted as a B.O.O.S.T. BUILDING Developmental Plan recipient.
*Larger cities should fund between 10-20 businesses.
Each business would Sign an agreement with the city for three years to occupy the leasing space in which the businesses would be responsible for paying a substantially reduced monthly rental fee for the property for a period of 36 months. A rate that is more compatible with the average amount that is paid for a rental space outside of the city within the county.
Each business selected for the BBP plan would be awarded a sum of $20,000 from the city which can be applied to the securing of the down payment of the office space, monthly rental payment, or used to acquire useful products that are needed for the business within the B.O.O.S.T. building.
After three years, the business would then relocate to another rental space within the downtown district. This move is necessary, as it allows other businesses to move into the retail space at the BOOST building and receive at least 36 months of BOOST assistance. The relocation of the businesses after their 3-year term is up is also necessary so that Black business isn’t confined to just one area of the city.
In the following two years after the 3-year term has been exhausted, the city would then provide a slightly reduced fee for the occupancy of the business in its new permanent location within the downtown area for no more than 24 months.
This five-year commitment from the city is intended to fund and integrate Black business into the business districts of each city, where they are currently nearly nonexistent.
The BOOST Building Developmental Plan is a written proposal to the Greenville, South Carolina City Council from the Men Of Color Having Answers Foundation (MOCHA). It is my nonprofit organization's hope that the BBD plan be given consideration by every city government in America that still wears the scars of gentrification.
In downtown Greenville, SC there are multiple building projects going on which will cost the city and others over half a trillion dollars over the next five years. Discouragingly, not even one of these multimillion dollar projects have been created to address the absence of Black businesses to the downtown district.
At the snails pace of a rate that Black people are moving towards holding America accountable for centuries of atrocities committed against Black Americans, by the time that we all finally come together and address gentrification, the American government will say that no one alive is responsible for these unjust actions.
As a direct result of unaccountably, we have traditionally accepted several irresponsible excuses, while moving forward as if our resulted issues will somehow heal themselves overtime on their ow.
We cannot continue behaving as if there is no one alive today that is enjoying the benefits of the multitude of immoral actions committed against Black Americans, and as if Black people in America aren’t suffering because of these illegal measures.
Once you realize that there isn’t a political agenda that has been identified which addresses any type resolution for gentrification, then you will understand how extremely imperative it is that we begin to focus our efforts on supporting people and organizations who work to discover Solutions to end generational obstacles by Black Americans. The Men Of Color Having Answers Foundation (MOCHA) has been the ONLY One for the past five years. PLEASE add your support by donating below.
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