Out In The Open

Gentrifying while black

Gentrification is a class issue, but how does race fit into the conversation?
Stock image of a man in front of a building in Harlem. (Getty Images)

Imagine your typical gentrifier — white, middle to upper class, often blamed for displacing the poor and people of colour from the communities they've lived in for generations. Morgan Jerkins does not fit this profile. 

Morgan — young, educated and black — moved to Harlem from New Jersey for the "cheap rent and rich history." 

Now, amongst the shifting class and race demographics of her new neighbourhood, she struggles to find her place — deep down wondering if she too is a gentrifier.

Morgan shares how she intersects race and class.