DON’T FEEL LIKE HOME

Theodore, 80 years old, at the time of this interview describes a black and white photograph of his family in a rural setting and reflects on how the change in his viewshed no longer makes him feel at home as a result of the development of tri-level townhomes (referred to by Theodore as condos) within less than 200 feet (61 meters), or the equivalent of 7 telephone poles laying tip to tail, from his front door, resting at a higher elevation than his single story, rancher style house. Displacement is not a new concept in this field. The native Youghtanund peoples were the first to feel its effects to make way for the Carter Plantation–used for tobacco production, followed by sharecropping. After Theodore’s grandfather’s emancipation in 1865, Theodore’s family worked to own ~154 acres (62,3216 square meters). This land was then cultivated and designed for the lives of Theodore’s family for generations to come. During this time, he has come to understand home and its inherent connection to the land.

This is understood as a “homeplace,” a vehicle for identity formation and attachment to place, as well as “sites of resistance and liberation” from the white gaze. Theodore is all too accustomed to the experience of being watched--now by the residents of the condos as well as the developers of these projects--every time he looks out his window or walks to his mailbox, due to the proximity of the condos’ construction and the towering views over his home. This surveillance has disrupted his sense of homeplace and his ability to feel a sense of belonging within his community. It highlights the power dynamics at play in urban development and how marginalized communities are often pushed out of their own neighborhood. This erasure manifests itself not just in the built environment but also the legacy of the people that came before.

Black men have the lowest life expectancy in America1, this is due to senseless gun violence, over policing or surveillance which can lead to incarceration, and a variety of health complications, this gets compounded by the media’s portrayal of the “looming” assumed threat of their pure existence. Aging in place is for too many brothers a reality never seen, experienced or considered. This is a result of displacement methods, today commonly referred to as gentrification. In her book Root Shock, Mindy Thompson Fullilove, MD describes Root shock as “the traumatic stress reaction to the destruction of all or part of one’s emotional ecosystem.”2

1 Bond, M. Jermane, and Allen A. Herman. “Lagging Life Expectancy for Black Men: A Public Health Imperative.” American Journal of Public Health, vol. 106, no. 7, July 2016, pp. 1167–69, https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2016.303251.

2 Fullilove, Mindy Thompson. Root Shock: How Tearing up City Neighborhoods Hurts America and What We Can Do about It. Second