Oral History Archive
Statements from the Community
Cam
Can you tell me a little about yourself?
I am a community organizer, I've been organizing most of my life. I use a Black, queer, feminist, Black radical tradition, disability, justice, all the things. So like overlapping of like ideologies related to liberation work. That's what my background is and how I think about housing. I am originally from Chicago, which is sort of a political city in the sense that it's a long history of community members getting involved in politics and requiring responses from politicians and requiring accountability. And so I think, in many ways, I was politicized, just through growing up in Chicago, especially thinking about the history of policing. And things like that, which I think informed how I thought about DC a lot when I moved here. And obviously thinking about the political sphere being unique, and like the mayor being sort of, like, bought out by developers.
How do your frameworks fit into your organizing work at Baldwin House?
We have done just a lot of work around like building the politic for the value for the property, but also like, been really struggling, that we have an older building. We can't like, add an elevator, for example, we have to have stairs. And we've been thinking about alternatives to creating inclusive spaces, like we can build some sort of like in-house zoom system, so that people can always be virtual and join us, and alternatives like that. So I think in this particular project, I'm thinking about what it means for someone to, like, have an autoimmune disease or not being able to use stairs, what that means for them to be able to access our space and organize with us. But I also am also thinking about the people that sort of live at the margins because of their ability or experience with poverty. And it feels like the people that are most marginalized are the ones that are fighting for freedom, but also impacted by like, lack of affordable housing in DC.
I would say that in Chicago, gentrification just looks a little differently. But I mean, I think having parents that are working class, but you could be experiencing poverty and like, impacted by those same systems. So I mean, rent has always been high as hell. And I think it's only getting higher. I mean, in DC, I lived on close to Howard's campus and like, rent in that area is like astronomical. And if you aren't working a full time job, that pays a particular amount, you're gonna either have to have a roommate, or potentially face eviction. And so I have faced potential eviction at some point. And I mean, I do think that those moments radicalized me. And I've also been able to build community with some people based on like, our experiences with landlords, our experiences with sort of renting structures, our frustrations with not having accommodations that the building may need, but having a high rent. And so I've also experienced people that I knew that no longer live in DC, they may live in Maryland, or they may have just been have to move back home with family because of like, the high rent and everything actually going on in this moment.
What would justice look like for you?
I think justice will look like some form of reparations, acknowledgement, and some ties to land liberation, like giving the land back - stewarding and having some sort of concrete connections to those indigenous to the land. And I also am thinking about Black people who are indigenous to D.C. as well - Black people who've been here for generations and generations. Accountability from the State and giving land back and figuring out how to use the land in ways that are beneficial to those who are indigenous to it.
I'm also thinking about just a world where people don't have to worry about paying rent. I think just all of the sort of financial needs that generally people have to face. I think especially as people who do pay taxes and people who may be engaged politically, but it feels to me that everybody should have access to a house, everyone should have access to a safe home. And that people also should have access to all their basic needs: food, home, therapy, psychiatry. I do believe that if we are able to get like our basic needs met, that we'll be able to attend to each other in a better way. I think that liberation is possible. And I do think that we are going to have to have our emotional needs met. I just think even in this moment that like, it's hard to feel grounded without sort of being supported in mental health. It also feels important that like, if you don't have mental health support, even if you do have housing that that it will be difficult to maintain. And so I'm thinking about how we get each other's basic needs met, and like build responses to harm and incidents of violence. And those being ways that we can sort of build deeper communities. I've heard stories about people who sort of have bigger families living in homes together. But I do think that it's some relevance in like communities of people who are taking care of each other's needs in a particular way - communities of people that are responding to violence, and needs in a very important way and seeing each other. I also think there are like contemporary examples of that happening now with like, Black trans-led housing projects that are happening. I mean, even like community violence interrupters, so people that are like grandmothers and aunties making space in their communities to address gun violence and things like that. So I think it's happening now in some ways that communities are building the intentions and networks to be responding in moments of harm, but also in political climate.
Mekdes
Can you tell me a little about yourself?
My name is Mekdes. I'm 28 years old. I am an Ethiopian-American second generation. I grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland. I went to school in Montgomery County. I was a women, Gender, Sexuality Studies major with a special emphasis on Black Women's Studies at UMD.
Are there any specific experiences that have stuck out to you as an eviction prevention canvasser?
My first experience going canvassing doing eviction prevention, like, I remember, we talked to this woman, and she told us that she'd been living there for 12 years. And she was getting evicted, you know, she was experiencing eviction. And she was just asking us, like, how, where should I like, what should I do with my things? Like, is there a storage place? And that really hit me hard? Because like, I just- just the idea that you can live somewhere for like, 12 years for a really long time. And then be, I don't know, maybe you get behind on rent? What if something happens? And then you can get evicted?
So yeah, that those experiences are have really stuck out to me. Just like the experiences of elderly folk who are seniors who live in these apartment complexes owned by nonprofits who are also experiencing eviction, and I don't think you should be a senior and experiencing eviction. I remember one time we were talking to an older woman and she was telling us about she had already been planning on moving but there were all these issues. The building just wasn't accessible for her. And she had also just recently been attacked in like a grocery store and in like a Giant by someone who was dealing with mental health issues, so she was dealing with a lot of trauma. I think that she seemed to be alone, but she was moving. I think knowing about people who you know, have disabilities or, you know, that reason they can't work. Like the people who come through to the eviction defense hub, you know, they deal with different things. For one person, he lost a lot of family members over the pandemic, and because of that he fell into a depression and wasn't able to pay his rent or work. And now he's like working himself out of that the repayment plan. But, yeah, so situations like that or this other person who splits with his brother and can't make his part of it because he had cancer and was disabled. And yeah, just knowing that the courts really don't care. Like they don't care about people's extenuating circumstances What they do care about is what your defenses are like you're applying to ERAP, or you're looking for a lawyer, or there were conditions issues and or your landlord didn’t follow the proper procedure. And but when it comes to like extenuating circumstances, realizing like the courts really don't care about the things that are impacting tenants. I was in a court hearing once and they were like losing work is not a legal defense. And I was just like, but it really should be what it really should be, because now you've lost your ability to pay rent, because you don't have work for whatever reason.
Shani
Can you tell us about yourself?
I originally was born and raised in New Jersey, and I came to DC in 2011 and have been a resident of DC since then. I introduce myself usually as an artist, I work primarily in public art and murals. I work really at the itnersections of public art, community organizing, and arts education. I spent seven years as a full time tenant organizer supporting tenant associations across the district. As a part of that work I was able to work really closely with two of the main tenant associations in Chinatown.
What did you see during your time organizing in Chinatown?
I think what I really got to see up close is the day to day mechanisms of displacement. All the different mechanisms and institutions that interlock to create a space that stacks up against the people of DC to have safe, habitable homes, and also long time security in homes they’ve been in for generations.
What do you think are the strengths and weaknesses for the organizing community in Chinatown?
This is a neighborhood that used to have thousands of Chinese American and AAPI families. There were hundreds of small businesses that cater towards the community and that the community relies on. And since the construction of the Capital One Arena, or at the time it was built, the MCI Center, the community has gone from that dynamic, strong, healthy, thriving community to a community of just about a few 100 Chinese Americans and less than a dozen small businesses. So you know, residents, they have to basically be bussed out to Virginia to get their groceries that they are comfortable with and that they know. It's a very small community. There are just a few social support institutions left. The issue has been that there lacks an infrastructure of support. Before Chinatown Solidarity Network was formed, there was no group that was dedicated to addressing the displacement in the neighborhood.
I think the strengths lie in the residents resolve and their endurance and their resilience, particularly at Museum Square. It's a 300 unit building. It used to be Section Eight, where the whole building was affordable, but in 2013 the landlord opted out of their Section Eight contract. Now there's less than 70 families left out of the 300. The building is sitting 75% vacant on purpose. There's a tenants association that are organized. They're extremely strong. The remaining residents, a lot of them are very committed to fighting for the preservation of the building. And I think that's absolutely the biggest strength there. And they're very committed to working with their advocates, which included myself when I was working as a tenant organizer and they have legal counsel from Asian Pacific American Legal Resource Center. And I think that the Save Chinatown Solidarity Network is also a very positive and hopeful kind of presence in the community, because kind of the issue in Chinatown has been this lack of language accessible organizing support. For a long time, it was really just me. Now you have this network of folks, many of whom speak the different languages and dialects that the residents speak, and are committed and excited to support the residents in fighting for their goals.
There’s a block in Chinatown, the 500 block of H Street, where it’s really kind of the last continuous row of small businesses. The [proposed] hotel is going to displace most of that block on H Street. We basically worked with residents of Wah Luck House, which is a senior home at 6th and I. We worked with them to try and oppose this development, to the zoning process, and we were able to get some small victories, and that’s something we’re going to continue to work on, and that something can be done to preserve the small businesses on that block. And that whatever is built responds to neighborhood needs instead of just displacing people.
Can you share more about your work as an artist, and the role of artists within social movements?
Artists have this unique ability to comment, interpret, and speak on collective experiences and to tell stories, uplift stories, to make the unseen visible and legible. That’s extremely important when it comes to navigating a world where false narratives or violent narratives are dominant.
I think public artists have a very unique power in that space because the size of what we do and it translates to the space we’re able to take. We’re able to really reclaim space in very powerful, very visible, and accessible ways.
Public art is super intertwined with the forces of displacement. The biggest funders of public art and facilitators of public are the city and a lot of public and private initiatives that basically use it to further development agendas. Big developers that are directly responsible for the displacement of poor, working class, Black families and communities of color across DC.
I think my background has definitely given me an extremely critical view of what art is used for and helped me to engage in a way that aligns with my values and that is also kind of more connected to the reality of what residents are facing in a neighborhood.
What would housing justice, and broader racial and economic justice in DC, look like for you?
For our city to truly put people over profits. I think that’s at the root of it. What that would entail is this acknowledgment and contending with history, with racist histories of redlining and economic disenfranchisement, of exclusion, of siloing communities of color and immigrant communities. The most impacted community is the longterm Black Washingtonian community.
A more just allocation of money. We cannot possibly pat ourselves on the back for tenant friendly laws when there’s no possible ways for tenants to actually exercise their rights in a way that allows them to stay in their homes. Money needs to be put where politicians mouths are and where institutions mouths are. Communities need to be funded, not just for housing, all basic human needs: from health to education to food. The amount of money that passes through the mayor and the city council that goes straight into developers and development agendas to make DC a “world class city,” to continually create these “economic engines” and “tourist neighborhoods;” if even a fraction of that money could be used to take care of the people of the city and basic human needs, we would have a much better city. It would be a much better place.
Jenari
Can you share your experiences with displacement and the impacts it has had on your life?
So my family, we grew up on housing programs because we didn't have much to survive with. But we were a big family, so we had to stay in, like, very dangerous, or just, yeah, very dangerous parts of DC, because that's where the housing programs that they do provide, they put you in the worst part. So that was my childhood growing up, but also living that lifestyle, like being growing up in poverty, I didn't really have much once I took off as an adult, but I was lucky enough to go through a certification program and get an IT job. I think I was like 19 when I graduated the program and 20 when I started the job, but my salary started me off like $500 over the poverty line, so I was no longer considered living in poverty. So I wasn't able to access any of the government resources like at that age and just getting my first real job and but I also cannot afford just living in DC at all because I was only $500 over the poverty line. Like $500 more, y'all can't round me down? So it was like, I'm kind of like a group that is often forgotten. People at home, they see me as like "I made it out," or I like, got enough to take care of myself, but in reality, I don't make enough and I don't have access to any other resources that other people have access to to help them get through. So, yeah, it pushed me into housing insecurity, like being homeless, basically I never had to sleep outside, because I'm a resourceful person, but I haven't had a stable place to call home since Covid started really -- stable and safe.
What was your childhood in Ward Eight like?
Growing up in Ward eight was crazy, very traumatizing. As a child, it was fun, because, like, kids make fun out of whatever they're giving but over time, like, things started to happen to people around me, like kids started dying. Cousin got killed. My friends started getting killed as I grew up and like, just me, just growing up to see more stuff or understanding more things and trauma, like, the fun, like, stopped after a while, and it was just like survival for the most part. So I would say the word that comes up growing up in southeast is just survival, right? Yeah, the odds are completely against me. Like I'm surprised every year that I survived. I was surprised, like I did not expect to make it to 16, 18, 21, now I'm like, how much violence has been brought into my life since the start of it. Right?
Have you interacted with any specific state housing programs or organizations?
But I've been, like, a youth advocate my whole life. Like, now I'm 24 but like, even when I was a kid, I've been out, working with programs, protesting with programs, yeah, just doing a lot of stuff. I'm connected to a lot of council members. I'm connected to a lot of activist groups, a lot of nonprofits, a lot of people who are so-called bringing the resources into DC. I've been begging for help this whole time, and I find help in Southeast, but Southeast isn't safe enough for me to stay. Council member Trayon White connected me with people who own, like most of the apartment complexes in Southeast. So like when I was struggling with housing insecurity, and I reached out to him and a couple different housing programs for help, he was one of the people who really showed up for me, but it was just he's controlling Ward Eight, and I grew up in Ward Eight, and I just don't feel safe enough there. So it's like the resources that are available to us that would give me affordable housing, I will be risking my life to stay there, right?
What changes have you seen to the city?
Even though I’ve lived in about eight different places, every time before I moved to a different place I came back to DC to figure out what my next palce is going to be. So I always come back and everything looks so different, like the violence gets worse every year. And as the violence gets worse, the gentrification gets worse. It’s like they’re intentionally letting us kill each other, all so that they can just come and arrest the rest of us, raise the rent, and build up what they really want. Every time I come back, I see less people here that I grew up with, more violence. It's like they're filling every piece of grass with an apartment building like they're not going to leave no stranded grass. It's so different that I went to school at KIPP DC, that's right by NoMa metro station. One time I was walking around DC like after moving away and coming back, and I got lost around NoMa because it looked completely different. And then I had to ask a white woman like, “Hey, could you show me how to get to the station?” It was two blocks away, like all I had to do was turn a corner and walk down. It was right there. And I went to that station almost every day going to high school. But I could not recognize that neighborhood because it was completely different.
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