PEOPLE, BEFORE YOU WATCH THESE VIDEOS I PUT UP, I HAVE TO EXPLAIN SOMETHING, PERHAPS
INSUFFICIENT HISTORY-WISE, BUT I'M NOT A HISTORY TEACHER, AND DON'T KNOW HOW TO WRITE HISTORY BOOKS
I FIRST MOVED FROM NYC TO SF IN 1966, SMACK IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SIXTIES, OSTENSIBLY
TO LIVE WITH MY PARENTS, WHO HAD JUST BOUGHT A HOUSE IN PARKSIDE, SOUTH OF THE SUNSET DISTRICT, WHILE ATTENDING THE UNIVERSITY OF SAN FRANCISCO ON FULTON STREET
THE UNIVERSITY KEPT THEIR MANDATORY ROTC PROGRAM A BIG SECRET FROM THEIR SCHOLARSHIP
STUDENTS, SO I QUIT SCHOOL IN PROTEST AND FOUND FRIENDS AMONGST THE 'HIPPIE'
CROWD, THEN FILLING UP THE HAIGHT DISTRICT AND FILLMORE DISTRICT
I GOT AN APARTMENT WHEN I WORKED THE SWING SHIFT FOR THE US POST OFFICE IT WAS RIGHT ON THE CORNER OF WEBSTER AND HAIGHT STREETS, A BLOCK AWAY FROM FILLMORE STREET
MY FORMER LANDLADY ON FULTON AND 22ND AVENUE HAD BEEN A MADAM DURING WORLD WAR II IN A HOUSE ON WEBSTER AND TURK STREETS, AND SHE SCRAPED ALL HER PENNIES TOGETHER TO BUY
A HOUSE OUT IN THE RICHMOND WITH A TWO-STORY ANNEX SHE RENTED OUT, ONE TO ME
THE 'WESTERN ADDITION' THEN, WAS 90% OLD VICTORIAN HOUSES OWNED BY AFRICAN-AMERICAN
FAMILIES LIVING IN THEM, BEFORE THE CITY DECIDED BLACKS BELONGED IN HUNTERS POINT, AN OLD NAVAL BASE NEIGHBORHOOD OUT BY CANDLESTICK PARK
OK, I PROMISED SOMEONE HERE NOT TO GET TOO POLITICAL, SO I'LL JUST TELL YOU ONCE, I'M MULTI-RACIAL, BUT I LOOK LIKE A WHITE PERSON, ENOUGH SAID
OH, AND I VOLUNTEERED FEEDING SCHOOLCHILDREN IN THE 'FILLMORE' IN A PROGRAM DESIGNED TO HELP FAMILIES BY THE THEN GROWING BPP (BLACK PANTHER PARTY)
THIS IS NOT SOME NIGHTMARE SOME OUTSIDER HAD, Y'ALL, I HAVE MORE TRUE TALES, FROM THIS AGE OF BURGEONING A.I.D.S., CRACK EPIDEMIC, ETC.
WHILE I LIVED IN THE 'FILLMORE' I WATCHED THE CITY OF SF 'WESTERN ADDITION REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY' FIRST BUY AT UNBELIEVABLY LOW PRICES, SOME OF THOSE VICTORIANS, PROMISING THOSE FAMILIES, I WAS TOLD, TO HOUSE THEM SOMEWHERE IN THE CITY, SOMETIME IN THE FUTURE
THEN I WATCHED THE CITY PRESSURE AND INTIMIDATE MANY FAMILIES WHO REFUSED TO SELL,
BECAUSE OF SENTIMENTAL REASONS OR JUST BECAUSE THEY DIDN'T FEEL LIKE SELLING, MANY DID NOT WANT TO LIVE SOMEWHERE LIKE HUNTERS POINT, A FOREIGN NEIGHBORHOOD
HEY IF MY GRANDMOTHER ALMOST KILLED HERSELF TO BUY A HOUSE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CITY,
WHY WOULD I WANT TO SELL IT FOR LESS THAN MARKET VALUE, AND MOVE OUT TO SOME WASTED NAVAL BASE IN BUMFUCK?
SO THE 'WESTERN ADDITION REDEVELOPEMENT AGENCY' AFTER HAVING DONE SOME AMAZINLY ILLEGAL THINGS, MANAGED TO MOVE A MASSIVE AMOUNT OF PEOPLE, I REMEMBER, PEOPLE WHO HAD OWNED THEIR OWN HOUSES, AND NO LONGER DID, THEY WERE PEOPLE CONVINCED TO SELL THOSE DWELLINGS
AND PROMISED HOUSING ELSEWHERE, TO WIT IN HUNTERS POINT, A DECREPIT NAVAL BASE IN DISUSE, BUT THAT HAD GOVERNMENT TYPE HOUSING, A LOT OF OLD HOUSES AND QUANSET HUTS BUILT ON IT
WHAT HAPPENED NEXT WAS THAT THE 'REDEVELOPEMENT AGENCY' WENT INTO STALL MODE, MULTIPLE BLOCKS BY MULTIPLE BLOCKS OF RAZED HOUSES JUST REMAINED EMPTY LOTS FOR AT LEAST A DECADE
AND THE PEOPLE? THOSE WHO SURVIVED I GUESS WERE HOUSED IN HUNTERS POINT
AN OVER SIMPLIFICATION OF EVENTS? I DON'T THINK SO, JUST A SIMPLIFICATION OF THE LANGUAGE USED TO DESCRIBE A BUNCH OF HORRID EVENTS
I'M JUST TRYING TO TELL YOU, AS I REMEMBER, WHAT HAPPENED
I'M NOT POINTING FINGERS OR BLAMING EITHER SIDE, I'M JUST SAYING, I GUESS, GENTRIFICATION HAPPENS WHEN CERTAIN PEOPLE DECIDE IT SHOULD, ITS NOT SOME ABSTRACT COMPONENT OF A CITY'S EVOLUTION, ON ANY PLANET IN THIS GALAXY
Black On Black Crime -- Where Are The Police? / Video
Straight out of Hunters Point Intro
STRAIGHT OUTTA HUNTERS POINT part2
ALSO, WHAT YOU ARE TOLD, YOU GUYS, ISN'T ALWAYS WHAT REALLY HAPPENED
JUST WAKE UP, SOME PRETTY IFFY PEOPLE ARE PAID TO WRITE THOSE HISTORY BOOKS, BY SOME OTHER BUNCH OF IFFY PEOPLE WHO BASTARDIZE THAT HISTORY, UNFORTUNATELY, FOR A FEW BUCKS,
AND ALL THAT IS CALLED EXPLOITATION
