May 19, 2026
Gentrification is planned obsolescence for people and places.
<p>I was listening to <a target="_blank" href="https://substack.com/profile/109512829-alex-elle">Alex Elle</a>’s most recent Insight Timer meditation series, and on day five of the series, she talked about ways of being and relationships being obsolete- not all in a bad way, but in a “ sometimes you evolve, and that makes things obsolete”.</p><p>Or maybe this was my reflection as I did said meditation, based on her new book The Company You Keep. Either way, I went down a deep dive of what it means to be obsolete or be made obsolete, especially in this current moment. And since I do care a whole lot about how gentrification has played into that feeling of being obsolete, that’s what I want to share with you this week.</p><p><strong>I share a lot of big thoughts around people, places, and things every week, with the aim to build a culture of stewardship and community, no matter your zip code. Make sure you’re subscribed so I’m always in your inbox. And even better, help me get my last few books shipped and more ordered to be gifted by becoming a paid subscriber!</strong></p><p></p><p>So much of the concept of obsolescence is rooted in the idea of controlled or planned obsolescence, which forces us to give up things that are actually good, but not to capitalists and oligarchs that need us spending constantly.</p><p>Reflecting back on my experience with losing jobs and contracts, which then made me too depressed to go to work, which then made so it was harder to pay our household bills, including our rent, then losing what I thought was a dream apartment, I came to the following conclusion.</p><p><p><strong>Gentrification is planned obsolescence when it comes to place and culture.</strong></p></p><p>Policy leaders can aid major developers in claiming that a neighborhood is a slum, then tearing it down and building over it, but only because said neighborhood has a lot of Black bodies doing well.</p><p>Some Black communities have watched lands sit vacant for up to 30-60 years, because those who decided they were unworthy to have community wanted to wait to build on it when the money is “right”.</p><p>And yes, even when someone loses access to income from a job, it’s still gentrification because often the person who is being replaced at work is Black or another undesirable person of color, disability, or gender/sexual diversity. Many companies that think like this will hire someone for said diversity, until the money gets funny because it takes time to build on that diversity, or they do the work better than expected, but jealousy builds up because the racism of expecting your non-white employees to do worse than you was exposed. </p><p>Then the company dumps everyone back out, and makes them struggle to pay their rent or mortgage; then the landlords and mortgage companies protecting their investments dump them out of their house.</p><p>And before you claim that racism isn’t always a factor, so much of our working world is built on white supremacist cishetero patriarchal capitalism. Anyone trying to contort themselves to fit that mold in the pursuit of not being obsolete, while not being fully embodied as a white cis straight racist patriarchal capitalist, is going to be obsolete, but then possibly spiritually bankrupt!</p><p>So many of us who lost our jobs in 2025, many with stellar work records and without prior warning, are really feeling this pain. Especially if for a hot minute, you did try to contort yourselves a little bit and you’re trying to regain your spirit and soul from the near purging.</p><p>I’ll admit that over the years, I had been taught certain ways of contortion, and they worked for a little while. But, later down the line, I’ve also been in situations where I’ve always done the right thing, and it still wasn’t enough. Both are painful for us as Black folks.</p><p>I wrote The Defying Gentrification Playbook especially for you, because I’m determined that none of us will be made obsolete, no matter what kinds of sacrifices we made to try to fit the mold.</p><p><strong>Take a moment to grab your copy and</strong><a target="_blank" href="https://bookshop.org/a/5060/9781733456210"><strong> support my Bookshop storefront</strong></a><strong>. Or ask your favorite Black and/or queer bookstore to order The Defying Gentrification Playbook. Those who ordered way back in November, we are finally shipping and hand-delivering; your wait is almost over!</strong></p><p>I also don’t want us to be luddites, but the way this change is happening is similar to what the original Luddites went through, and it’s tempting!</p><p>Having had this lived experience of losing my job for saying no to being complicit, especially this past year, I often feel like a luddite in the midst of this conversation around how gentrification is supposed to be a net positive.</p><p>I’ve heard for years from middle-class Black folks across the diaspora that gentrification is what we need, after we “tore up our own neighborhoods”.</p><p>Never mind that tearing up came from a rage of being made obsolete, after already having been enslaved into labor that we didn’t choose, denied reparations for how said system wreaked havoc on us across multiple continents.</p><p>And in this current moment, we are supposed to be ok with not being needed at jobs, because we don’t look or sound right or we do too much.</p><p>How the machines are supposed to do us better, at work and selling products on and offline and on music streaming sites.</p><p>And when it is a human involved, they better be as thin, light, white, and docile as possible.</p><p>Somehow I’m supposed to make enough money to pay the rent, and then eventually qualify for a mortgage in this environment.</p><p>If I do speak up for human rights, I need to do it as an ally, or I need to do it next to a white partner or with the bloodied flag of fighting for “my” country or with perfect grammar or diction. Stop stimming so much, so I don’t look like one of those people.</p><p>Or all of the above, all at once; otherwise I am obsolete.</p><p>And said obsolescence is the plan.</p><p>Again, I decided that I’m going to build my own plan as a shield. A Playbook. And even if no one else buys it, it’s at least my spiritual compass.</p><p>I’ll hold it in the fiery furnace, and neither it nor me will burn down or be put out.</p><p>We will emerge victorious, smelling nothing of smoke.</p><p>The machines and their makers will be melted and of ash beside me.</p><p>Our bellies will be full, and our heads will be sheltered, comfortably.</p><p>And everyone who refuses to conform to obsolescence and everything that makes this Earth an ecosystem without extraction will continue to thrive!</p><p>Until next time,</p><p>Kristen</p> <br/><br/>Get full access to Defying Gentrification, Crafting Liberation at <a href="https://theblackurbanist.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4">theblackurbanist.substack.com/subscribe</a>
