Opinion | Facing gentrification, D.C. residents fight to preserve historic Barry Farm neighborhood

The redevelopment of Barry Farm, a low income Washington, D.C. neighborhood, is erasing the city's rich black history and the people who grew out of it, former residents say. They want the community to be recognized as a historic landmark. Read more: wapo.st/2nbG02D. Subscribe to The Washington Post on KZbin: wapo.st/2QOdcqK
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[@jstreet2852]

Now we know what they meant when they kept saying, "We are going to take our country back". Now, how are you going to take something back that was not originally yours but they are doing it. One city at a time.

[@ls6king316]

Yeah black folks in that community is lazy

[@itsalex6459]

It's happening in the London too. I'm from Croydon(at the edge of London), and its being gentrified to the core. Now where I live is full of rich people who bought houses here because it's too expensive in central London. But they in turn raise the prices of houses for people who have grown up here thier whole lives. What's worse is they don't understand the culture nor how much the area means to people who have grown up here. Gentrification is a crazy and sad process.

[@WashingtonDC20032]

England is a white country by default. Can you honestly say it's being gentrified?

[@Xewgx92]

@@WashingtonDC20032 Are you seriously implying that all white people have one unified and cultural experience that can't vary between people?

[@scj3188]

@Sudhir Kakar You are a whitewashed sellout.

[@sharkseye9]

Its Alex damn! I’ve been to Croydon. 2005...It was the first place I’ve seen in the world where they were selling 700 sq ft row houses for 300,000€. I immediately recognized that the US was next!

[@BigWhite910]

​@Xewgx92 don't think that's what they're saying ay all. However, all white people in localized areas like cities, towns, and neighborhoods share one cultural experience though. A White person from Reykjavik and a White person from London will have two very different experiences but if either were the other's neighbor, they absolutely would

[@DSHite]

In 2007 I took my Bronx raised boyfriend behind Union Station on H Street and he didn't believe he was still in DC! They did the same thing with public housing in Atlanta during the mid 2000's.

[@techwood16]

Yup the old Atlanta is gone

[@radio3976]

They're doing it everywhere

[@chanelpreacher4635]

they don't care anything about the misplacement of the people

[@MrRemirem88]

Displacement

[@quakeroats5446]

duh, u think these white people want the capital where the president resides to be mainly black? hell nah, they kicking out all the black people

[@jobs.1518]

damn right we don't 🖕😂

[@thecraplordsell4575]

Jacob W. And we will make sure you fuckers never succeed lol

[@rmgdmv2786]

The "Farms" not being a part of the flavor of D.C., is a sad thought. It's like someone burning your grandmama's recipe book.

[@texasgun2731]

how so. barry farms was white before it turned black. oh but its a crime when the roles are reversed

[@radio3976]

I lived In Valley Green and Stanton Terrace. If they got those neighborhood, they were gonna get Barry Farms

[@jarmonmarmon7698]

​@@texasgun2731whites left voluntarily

[@mrt110883]

This video is inaccurate from in title as well as content. The redevelopment has included plans for 480 units of low income housing that should accommodate residents from the 440 units that were part of the Barry Farms public housing projects. Also, they completely leave out the reasons that a revitalization was necessary (i.e. the high crime and asbestos ridden buildings) while failing to mention that it was the New Communities Initiative that helped design the revitalization. All they want you to do here is focus on a couple of Boomers who want to remember the good old days of 1962 when you could leave your front doors open and forget about the days of 2019 when the homicide rate in Wards 7 and 8 are triple that of the other six wards combined. To suggest that no revitalization is needed in a place like this is grossly irresponsible.

[@radio3976]

I was born in ward 7, came up in Ward 8. They basically told everybody that to get them to leave, but never got them to come they gave some of the people vouchers (paid them to move out) to leave, but with everything so high, where would you go? Realistically, what's gonna happen is everything you see on the other side of bridge is what there were planning to do everywhere in the City, but nobody is going to pay the prices that you're paying for property uptown, in SE, so some of the new properties ended up offering low income housing, but people wouldn't buy in SE, they put Section 8 on some of the properties. The issue ain't kickin people out, the issue not schooling people to the game on how to be apart of the new money game that is coming up to the town, like letting residents know that DC has free school for DC residents so some of the residents can Atleast build themselves up to be able to afford and invest in the property. None of this really stopped crime, it just pushed it to another side of town

[@edwarda2033]

Lying media, what else us new. You can tell the guy has a drug problem.

[@cnichole1535]

@@edwarda2033 Nope alcoholic look at the color of his 👀. But I'm not here to put any brother down. I wish him the best and hope he gets to go back.

[@catalinacurio]

Don’t let them destroy your neighbourhood! Solidarity from Scotland! 🤛💖🇺🇸🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[@JohnSmith-il7jn]

The old neighborhood was a crime-ridden shithole and they are changing all that.

[@ob1934]

@@texasgun2731 DC's situation is way more complex than that. You are from Texas so I see why you can't understand

[@factsdc3719]

I’m a Native Washingtonian but truth be told NOBODY should live in public housing for any more than 2 years bcuz then ppl become comfortable and stop trying to achieve greatness.

[@MrTherater1]

Thank you

[@arsenalfan13]

Agreed.

[@Ftown1415]

SE DC does not need to be preserved....take a drive through / ride-along if you are unaware of what I’m referring to.

[@xxxx-ec3ol]

Wow I grew up here. This brings me to tears.

[@PaulGreen11]

I grew up there in the '70s.

[@mack....]

Some broke down public housing units being torn down brings you to tears? I understand you grew up there but Black people really need to stop romanticizing poverty

[@againstthegraingolf301]

@@mack....NOBODY is romanticizing poverty. Not wanting to see the place where generations of your family grew up being demolished is not romanticizing. Please read a book and stay out of conversations that don’t involve you if you have nothing of value to add. Thank you. CHOCOLATE CITY FOR LIFE

[@mack....]

@@againstthegraingolf301 I do have something of value to add...Black people need to stop romanticizing poverty. If anyone is crying over housing projects being torn down it should be due to tears of joy. These places are ALWAYS and have always been cesspools of violence and crime that Black people should have NEVER been subjected to. These housing projects across america have been a blight on the Black community, a place where Black progress stagnates, a place designed to keep Black people at the bottom and relying on handouts from the government. STOP ROMANTICIZING POVERTY!

[@mack....]

@@againstthegraingolf301 I do have something of value to add...Black people need to stop romanticizing poverty. If anyone is crying over housing projects being torn down it should be due to tears of joy. These places are ALWAYS and have always been cesspools of violence and crime that Black people should have NEVER been subjected to. These housing projects across america have been a blight on the Black community, a place where Black progress stagnates, a place designed to keep Black people at the bottom and relying on handouts from the government. STOP ROMANTICIZING POVERTY!

[@jonathanulloa1109]

Born in DC but the DMV raised me cause we moved a lot. Regardless I refuse to let my circumstances rule how I live my life. Family, friends and the underprivileged children I work with are my everything.

[@converse4pp]

Now seeing me used to live there, seeing my family in the video breaks my heart to see how we lived back then

[@moebettergrind8086]

You got people like John wall who signed a $170 mill contract, Bradley Beal $125 mill contract. How come they are not buying property and businesses to keep DC blk?

[@DzuhLRenu]

Because when black people become rich they don't see color until it deters them.

[@Krazyboi-bd9qr]

human being on earth stfu

[@7270terp]

Because they are not from here. So this means probably nothing to them. Plus you can't tell people what to do with their money.

[@KPnDC]

John Wall does A LOT for this community. You really shouldn't have included him. During the Pandemic, he paid their rent.

[@sancho7863]

I’ve pooled my money with friends to buy up property in southeast. Change is coming and it’s unstoppable because there’s just too much money to be made

[@radio3976]

So the best thing we can do now is be apart the money train 🤷‍♂️

[@deno2232]

Why save something that’s destroyed the community? it’s time to move on stop trying to save perilous history. I’m glad it’s gone all the souls lost in that neighborhood won’t have to give nightmares to the families affected by that place anymore.

[@JohnSmith-il7jn]

Gentrification means rising property values, reduced drug-dealing, reduced petty crime, reduced prostitution and beatification of the old neighborhoods. I lived off "H" N.E. for years and the transformation is amazing. Gentrification is changing D.C. for the better and everyone knows it.

[@RERK8]

Spoken like a true capitalist. It only betters people who can afford it...I'm a native and seeing folks that look like me get priced out is tragic.

[@JohnSmith-il7jn]

@@RERK8 There were plenty of black folks who did real well selling their old row-houses. Old man near me bought his house for 15K and his children sold it for over a million.

[@scj3188]

Gentrification is ethnic cleansing and neo colonialism.

[@kevinkent6351]

@@RERK8 If capitalism means reduced drug dealing, reduced crime and prostitution, then hooray for capitalism.

[@texasgun2731]

John Smith did they sell the house before or after gentrification

[@MrRemirem88]

Wealthy people dont care about your problems.. Fix up your neighborhoods or some other people will.. Make money there or someone else will.. Get money!$$

[@rembeadgc]

I've read most of the comments. There are respectable points on both sides. I live a few miles away from BF, closer to Southern Ave. I've been through BF when it was still occupied and I've seen it being cleared out. I'm sure there are some sad stories which may or may not have anything to do with the redevelopment. I grew up poor, in the South as did most of my relatives. For awhile we didn't have indoor plumbing or air conditioning. Out of habit people went to the town Dr's office and "whites" sat on one side and "blacks" sat on the other. I went to a predominantly "black" school because most "white" families in the county had put their children in the private "white" school. My folks worked on farms, in fields and later factories and plants. I was never taught that the world owed me anything. I understood clearly that to have a good and prosperous life I needed to have good morals, get educated, work steadily, avoid drug and alcohol abuse and not bring children into the world until I could afford to take care of them. I also understood that I had the right to be slothful, irresponsible, behave unintelligently and be poor. I had two uncles who both went to college, got married, had children and well paying jobs. I had no reason to believe that anyone gave them what they had except for the values my grandparents gave them and the opportunities they deserved. We all know that all African-Americans are not just one kind of people...and a particular person may be one type of person today and a different one tomorrow. Just as people have a right to have the opportunity to do well, they have the right to have an opportunity to do poorly. If we see our neighbor faltering, then we should offer our assistance. If our neighbor continues to falter, perhaps he should avail himself of institutional or governmental aid. If his faltering becomes a habit that he won't put down, becomes comfortable with it and threatens the potential of others in his community...he should be allowed to fail, even displaced. How do you know that won't be the "final straw" that motivates him to stand up and say "I'm tired of having my life controlled. I'm going to start controlling it by first controlling myself". If you stand in the way of his chosen regression, by playing "parental guardian" you will have robbed him of the opportunity to make his own decision about his future and will have furthered his infantile dependency. If you do that, you and he both will get what's deserved. I doubt that you would want to live in the neighborhood he has "built". But if you had the opportunity to live in the newer, safer, cleaner neighborhood that he was moved out of...I'll bet you would. I'm sure some former residents of BF will be thankful for opportunity go somewhere and start fresh, just like some feel their history is being taken away.

[@kinkiesse7736]

Y"all remember DC almost went bankrupt financially as result of too many public housings, high crime rate, too many low-income folks proportionally to sustain. In order to get out of that financial mess, DC had to bring in new "richer" residents in order to improve itself financially with improved tax base. And that has worked well for DC as it is more financially sustainable now. Folks you need to remember cities have bills to pay. If not healthy financially, they go bankrupt like Detroit did...

[@gameexpert2011]

Someday I gotta visit Barry Farms. Been living in DC my entire 20 years, and I've been across the Anacostia River no more than 4 or 5 times. I don't know if I should believe people, but I've always been told that it's dangerous to go there as a non-Black person. Been living around the Dupont Circle area my entire life, I know Northwest and Northeast quite well. I don't know much about Southwest besides the Waterfront area and having a bunch of government field offices. The only parts of Southeast I know quite well are Eastern Market and Capitol South area. But yeah, that's really about it.

[@rembeadgc]

You should go visit the places others only tell you negative things about, to decide for yourself, because no place is just full of "bad people". There's "bad" and "good" in poor and in rich neighborhoods. Anywhere can be dangerous at night. Drive through in the day. I do, all the time (at night too). I live just outside of SE DC. You don't have to go down every alley. Just drive down main thoroughfares. I'm a 50+, former military, federal employee, who's a musician and photographer on the side. When I came to the DC area 30 years ago I wanted to explore all of the DC Metro area because I love exploring and, as a man, I like to be familiar with all of my surroundings. I also don't want to think that I can't associate or be around people because of their economic status, because we're all human beings. If you're in your 20's and have no African-American friends or associates don't go by yourself. If only because it will probably lower your stress level in an unfamiliar place.

[@ErnieMitch-mx7ef]

I believe that the fence should come down and put few brick walls and fenced gates. Get old pictures of resident take some of the stores of berry farms place on Walls the building that are left. Make them into memorial museum. The story's will talk about where people came from and how they made berry farms their homes.. then put down how it later was closed I feel that should be movie and footage.

[@mattmalloy5433]

I worked on Coast Guard Head Quarters at St. Elizabeth's Hospital. The construction workers had to park in Barry Farm many were robbed, jumped, and cars were stolen. It was a terrible neighborhood

[@stevebeschakis9775]

Everyone should be able to live where they want, regardless of income. Welcome to Mars.

[@factsdc3719]

And that’s exactly what they will do. Erase you and your memories from the face of the earth. I lived around East Capitol Dwellings one of the largest public housing complexes in Washington. It does not exist any more either. Nor is there much from when my original African Americans who lived in shacks with tin roofs in present day Georgetown. The past 5 Mayors sold out to Developers, Construction, and Big Government. But can’t blame it all On them. My brothers and sisters who through the Heroin and Crack epidemic of the late 70’s, 80’s, & 90’s decreased the value of the city with violence and addicts sold their grand parents homes 💰💰💰💰 they gave up the DC❤️💯💪🏾✊🏾✊🏽✊🏿🤦🏾‍♂️ that we all knew

[@pwilliams2531]

Worst thing that has happened in this realm in my life.

[@kevinkent6351]

The area is a dump. I'm not sure why a city should limit progress to "preserve" an impoverished dump.

[@GratiaCountryman]

Kevin Kent Not always a dump. And, a group like Habitat for Humanity could help the residents fix the houses up by teaching them the skills to do that.

[@kevinkent6351]

No, it's a dump. They couldn't even get a decent shot of it in this video because the place is a complete dump.

[@GratiaCountryman]

Sudhir Kakar People are not trash. I don’t think you would be saying that if they were poor Whites. Poverty doesn’t turn people into trash.

[@GratiaCountryman]

Sudhir Kakar Which is all code for Blacks. Don’t think I don’t know the code. You are being irrational.

[@DarknessFalls29]

Margot Robinson Yes, it would be nice to remodel the apartments for the residents but it may not have been a good return on investment for the owners. If the tenants don't work or work just enough to be on housing vouchers, then the neighborhood won't grow economically.

[@brycebilliot]

Beautiful stuff.

[@redpillawareness2059]

This the thing folks, y’all need to own your land so at least y’all can get pay if corporations try to gentrify where you once live. Theres nothing wrong with upgrades. People just need to get with the program and stop wanting government help and handouts

[@Stinschen]

Watching from Denmark, and this makes me angry and sad to see :(

[@MrTherater1]

As long as shooting violence eliminated, and parks are safe

[@darthutah6649]

I did a bit of researching and found that the area was originally a place for newly freed slaves after the civil war. By the mid 20th century, it became a dilapidated area for low income individuals. Before the Great Society programs, the houses were in very poor condition. Barry Farm was also isolated from the city core, meaning that residents were more self reliant.

[@meekycc]

Barry farms 💪🏾

[@Thoralmir]

I remember White Supremacists making the same arguments during desegregation.

[@thecraplordsell4575]

We don’t care. We just want our neighborhood back

[@Thoralmir]

@@thecraplordsell4575 Then by your reasoning, the white people have the right to drive all non-white people out of the suburbs. You either support desegregation across the board or you're a dirty racist who doesn't support it at all. That's how I was taught in school.

[@shmoneyyk.8915]

woow why all these comments bein hateful af.

[@paullopez4840]

Cuhz white people are taking our homes

[@ussmonitor]

@@paullopez4840 Get a better education, a better job, and by the home back. Reclaim your neighborhood. If you can't everybody else will and will do a better job. That's not racism. That's Capitalism. Google it. Deal with it.

[@7270terp]

@@paullopez4840 You have no right to property you don't own.

[@elijahreilly9247]

It's a weed strip for real for real

[@sergpie]

Tabula rasa with that blight on the map; been a slum since the 1930s.

[@pwilliams2531]

….and they denied it of course smfh

[@KnowledgeBornMedia]

Most black neighborhoods in DC are Hispanic now, how did that happen????????

[@Donny.G1952]

Want to avoid people moving into your neighborhood and ruining the culture ??? Start by not ruining your credit so you can get a loan. You can’t get mad at other people for seeing potential in the bones of the neighborhood. Gentrification is part of life that can be avoided by purchasing homes in your communities. I’m a two time felon who owns real estate in my community. Nobody can kick me out but ME !

[@LonnellRich]

Ruining credit?

[@Donny.G1952]

@@LonnellRich Yes ruining your credit will prevent the banks or mortgage companies from giving you a loan.

[@LonnellRich]

@@Donny.G1952 most people don't have credit in the projects. Tbh credit and learning how to do taxes should be taught in high school

[@texasgun2731]

3:20 "black students showed up at a whites only school and demanded to be admitted" 0:44 my history is being taken away from me the lack of self awareness...

[@windowguylol]

@WORDto BIGbird lol blacks are funny

[@Free_Snooki]

The fella with the baseball cap is cute. 🙊💌

[@Free_Snooki]

@@sirjiggywitit7541 Yup. I'd sniff his brownie batter stains.

[@Free_Snooki]

@Sudhir Kakar Well, how do you even know if he's a thug? Does he look like he's in a gang or something?

[@ob1934]

U g@y

[@ecclairmayo4153]

Warning: many racists in this comment section. Enter if you can stomach it.