My New Old Neighborhood

In 1999 my classrooms in Somerville were mosaics of colors and cultures, with students from as far away as Tibet to students whose families had lived in town since the Revolutionary War. Today in Somerville, hipsters are the name and gentrification is the game.

I’ve had a hard time seeing this insidious gentrification of Somerville occur over the past five years, but two recent festivals have really topped it off for me: Somerville’s Fluff Festival and HONK! During these festivals, an area still belonging to minority races and classes as much as anyone was suddenly engulfed in ersatz-Bohemian whiteness while the working class and non-whites I saw were selling food in food stands to aloof festival-goers. When I went to HONK!, dancing white folks filled the streets while their counterparts, who were poorer or people of color, waited for buses to get home from a Saturday work day. Worse, some looked on with horror. I realized this is a race and class divide that’s always loomed over Somerville, but now will surely worsen.

It was Somerville with no Villens.

In ’99, my neighborhood Union Square was a working class mecca: A tire store up the street, a Market Basket supermarket with low prices, the veterinary clinic at the corner of Bow and Somerville Ave, The Girl From Ipanema where my mom got her hair straightened for important events, and a Korean stationary store where I bought stickers for my Trapper Keeper.

I don’t want to talk about 2013-- about all the whitewashed beer gardens, all the homogeneous music festivals playing funk, all the doughnut shops and coffee houses that might as well have signs saying, “This is for non-Villens or at least people who behave as if they aren’t originally from here.”

I mean, don't get me wrong. Even as trendy as Union and Davis are, I recognize there are still working class individuals living nearby. But they've been pushed to the shadows of early morning buses, weekend work commutes and vending tents at festivals. I realize, of course, that doesn't mean these people don't exist. I am not saying you don't interact with them; I am not saying they don't come out in broad daylight; and I am certainly not saying you're the enemy if you are white or if you have enough money to stick around and see the green line come in, enjoy the nightlife, go to beer gardens, or for any other reason.

I don't think all of Somerville is the way I described the Fluff Festival and HONK. I don't think nothing good is happening in Somerville. I also don't think the festivals themselves are culpable. What I saw at the festivals is an indication of which inhabitants of Somerville (and surrounding cities) have the most free time and the most money. And in the past three to five years, I've seen less and less people of color and working class people at these festivals, which means there are more upper class white people moving in, displacing these families by renting and buying at higher prices, and then coming to these festivals. That means less working class families in Somerville, meaning less people of color, and less diversity. Yes, unintentional segregation, racism, and classism. You have to allow gentrification to terrify you. You just have to.

Can the sons and daughters of Somerville really rent and live here only if their parents don’t sell during these real estate rises, only if they find themselves with secure finances and careers? What happens when Union Square is all coffee shops and bars, and English is no one’s second language? What happens to the Somerville of Brazilian hair salons, Portuguese sweet rolls, meat markets, our community access channel SCATV, and artistic endeavors like HONK! and the Fluff Festival once their current attendees white out those who fertilized the city’s perfect conditions, not looking back even once as they bite into our fruits?

Villens, immigrants, and newcomers alike: This city and I are depending on you to start acknowledging what's happening and to think about the small things you can do. Remember the diverse things you encounter every day, at every festival, and ask yourself if they are happening less often. Look around, be aware, and be honest with yourself. Ask yourself if, without the help of your parents or a partner, you would be able to rent in Somerville currently. Think about your love for what Somerville still is, and ask yourself if it will be the same in another 10 years. Don't be wishy washy. Don't just hang your head and say, "I guess it's time for the Somerville I loved to go away, since I have no power.” We don't often get a chance to fight for what we love. It's a perfect time. Let's do it.