As poor Black and Brown neighborhoods become gentrified, Black and Brown residents are being priced out of the market, and out of their own communities. Black DC tenants have had enough, with @park7tenants, a collection of Ward 7 tenants, excoriating the mayor in a tweet for pandering to gentrifying White folk while displacing Black residents.
Similarly, artists from all over the District are fighting back. Channeling the situation they’re seeing in their neighborhoods, Black and Brown creatives are moving for political action.
Yaddiya, a Go-Go artist and an organizer with Long Live Go- Go, has gone a step further. Responding to years of neglect from elected officials, Yaddiya teamed up with local artists and organizers like Joseph Orzal to plan a political campaign under the hashtag #YaddiyaForMayor. Orzal, who is a visual artist, crafted a series of political posters, working with the group Current Movements to build a coalition of DC activists who want systemic change for their communities.
I got a chance to meet up with Orzal and ask him about the project. He told me that the campaign is Yaddiya’s idea and while the election isn’t until 2022, the duo is already making noise about the issues their communities are facing. Working from a song by Yaddiya, “Marion Barry,” which alludes to the charismatic leader and four time mayor of Chocolate City , Orzal went to work creating campaign posters with slogans like,“Invest In Black Youth Fully Fund Ward 7&8 Schools,” “Long Live GoGo, Keep Culture and Artists in DC” and my personal favorite, “Homes For People Not Profit: Build Affordable Housing.”
Orzal told me that his vision is to use art to connect people together. Tired of watching “DC get whiter and whiter,” Orzal tells me it like it is, “if you’re anti-poor, you’re anti-Black.”Orzal told me that his community isn’t represented in DC Council, and along with Yaddiya and other organizers, they are tired of seeing the people, businesses, music and communities that they grew up with disappear. As Yaddiya puts it in his song, “I got them very worried, that I’ma run for Mayor…Uptown don’t make no sense, who got 5k for the rent?”
Bringing together a community of activists, the Current Movements coalition brings together activists from across the city, and in a Facebook post called for six policies as part of a People’s Platform.
“1. ICE OUT OF DC- End Deportations & Detentions
2. WE KEEP US SAFE- Stop Over-Policing Our Communities
3.INVEST IN BLACK YOUTH- Fully Fund Ward 7 & 8 Schools
4. HOMES FOR PEOPLE NOT PROFIT- Build Affordable Housing
5. LONG LIVE GOGO- Keep culture & artists in DC
6. DC STATEHOOD NOW- Make DC the 51st State”
https://www.facebook.com/events/see-description/the-peoples-platform-poster-project/840623179674028/
Orzal and others want to see a DC Council that works for all people, not just rich, white dudes. DC natives fighting back to save their communities, saying Long live GoGo, and long live Black and Brown DC.
Housing for All 