Gentrification in Pride by Ibi Zoboi Essay Example

In the book Pride by Ibi Zoboi we see the effect that gentrification has on the main character, Zuri, when the Darcys, A wealthy family, move into her neighborhood. Gentrification is “A process in which a poor area (as of a city) experiences an influx of middle-class or wealthy people who renovate and rebuild homes and businesses and which often results in an increase in property values and the displacement of earlier, usually poorer residents.”(Merriam-Webster). Ibi Zobois Pride demonstrates that one of the most devastating economic impacts of gentrification is when long-time residents can no longer afford their homes. 

In Pride Zuri doesnt agree with gentrification, as the Darcys move in she says “It’s a truth universally acknowledged that when rich people move into the hood, where it’s a little bit broken and a little bit forgotten, the first thing they want to do is clean it up. But it’s not just the junky stuff they’ll get rid of. People can be thrown away too like last night’s trash left out on sidewalks or pushed to the edge of wherever all broken things go.”(Ibi Zoboi 1) This shows how Zuri knows the effects of Gentrification on poorer neighborhoods, much like her own and she doesn't want her family and neighbors to go through it. At this point, she does not agree with gentrification because of its negative effects on the less wealthy people. Zuri begins to immediately notice the impacts of gentrification on her neighborhood “Do you see that rent is going up all over the place and people are not getting paid more?”(Ibi Zoboi) This demonstrates the disastrous impact of gentrification as rent goes up, people don't receive higher salaries and therefore can no longer afford to pay their rent which causes them to have to leave their homes in search of new residences. In the article “Stanford professor’s study finds gentrification disproportionately affects minorities”, It says “A new study by a Stanford sociologist has determined that the negative effects of gentrification are felt disproportionately by minority communities, whose residents have fewer options of neighborhoods they can move to compared to their white counterparts.” (Feder)  This indicates how gentrification not only affects families by not allowing them to afford their homes but it also affects them because it is harder for minorities, much like Zuri's family, to find new homes after gentrification has influenced them. 

 In the article “Examining the Negative Impacts of Gentrification.” It is written that “Additionally since investors can earn more money from selling buildings, real-estate dealers have less incentive to improve the buildings. The real estate dealers instead sell the buildings at higher prices.”(Chong)   This describes how instead of improving living conditions for the initial tenants real estate dealers can sell the homes for an increased price due to the increase in demand as a result of gentrification. This is shown to be true on page 266 of Pride as Ibi Zoboi writes “Colins selling the building. A developer offered him a lot of money.”(Ibi Zoboi)This once again showcases the negative impact of gentrification as it leads homeowners to sell their homes resulting in the eviction of many people. In the Stanford article“ “Stanford professor’s study finds gentrification disproportionately affects minorities” it is written that “Recognizing that a primary cause of gentrification-related displacement is increased costs for current residents, the authors looked at individuals with low or missing credit scores who might be more vulnerable to displacement and at the same time might face limitations in housing searches if they did move.” (Feder)  This portrays how if current residents were to move as a result of no longer being able to afford their homes due to gentrification it would be more difficult for them to find proper housing due to their financial status.

As shown in Pride by Ibn Zoboi a harmful impact of gentrification occurs when long-term tenants are forced out of their homes due to the rent increase. This is shown by the increase in rent and the difficulty for the tenants to find new affordable homes as a result of newly gentrifying neighborhoods.