For most of its modern history, Old Brooklyn in Cleveland has been a working-class white neighborhood. But it’s changing. Over the last decade or so, it has become a destination for black and Hispanic families; Today, Cuban cafés and Guatemalan businesses are sprinkled among old-school coffeeshops and Polish restaurants. Some longtime residents are happy to see new energy injected into the neighborhood. But others have been wary of newcomers—in part, because of their race.
Jeffrey T. Verespej, the executive director of the Old Brooklyn Community Development Corporation, which has been working to revitalize the neighborhood, tries to assuage the anxiety of these residents by contextualizing that change. “We have this phrase: ‘Old Brooklyn has always been an aspirational neighborhood,’” he said. “Folks have always moved to Old Brooklyn because it’s a land of opportunity; it’s just that now, the face of that aspiration has changed.”
In some way, the story of Old Brooklyn is the story of America, where research shows that many white Americans fear losing ground to immigrants and minority populations. Indeed, the narrative of “white extinction anxiety” is often cited in explanations for the rise of President Donald Trump, and resistance to diversity has been one consistent theme among defenders of his administration. “In some parts of the country, it does seem like the America we know and love doesn’t exist anymore,” Fox News host Laura Ingraham recently declared. “Massive demographic changes have been foisted upon the American people—and they’re changes that none of us ever voted for and most of us don’t like.” (She later denied that her comments were about race.)
[For more on this story by TANVI MISRA, go to https://www.citylab.com/equity...hite-anxiety/572041/]
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