Friday, August 27, 2021

Faces on Broadway

 

 


 Buffalo Souljah

 

 

 
 
Walking South from Seventeenth Street
I noted the massive influx of photographics
along the way all recently installed
by businesses hoping to keep their display 
windows unbroken
Almost all shown are on only one side of Broadway 
Same sort of thing on the other side as well





 
Starting point
 

 
 
No shortage of pride
 

 
A bit of chinoiserie manages to squeeze in
 
 



Kind of an over-determined public service
ad campaign


 
I think a white person
tried to photo-bomb this one
Heaven forefend
 

 
My favorite
 
 


 
Faces on the other side as mentioned
 
 
The Sculpture Garden
 



This was a bust made
 perhaps unwisely 
of breakable material
Gone within a few days




 
 
Recently installed
 
 

 



Everyday People



 
Time to renew
 

 
Ideals of social justice
 

 
The Great Outdoors
and the Cannabis shop down the street
 
 


A constant militancy underneath


 
 
 Ironically this building The Rotunda
is owned by Phil Tagami
who's fighting to build a massive coal terminal
at the Port of Oakland bordered by a large
Black population plagued by particulate pollution
 
 

 
 
Shadow of the Panther


 
 The Awaken Cafe
 


If you ain't woke when you come in
you will be on your way out


 
Another peek across the street
 


 
Smiling faces going places
 
 

 
 She looks as skeptical as I feel
in a manner of speaking

 
Fourteenth Street
three blocks since starting
 


This was the single most destroyed business
Oddly I was there on 31 May 2020
Chatted with a Black security guard out front
We both knew what was in store for the City later that night
Without an alternative since then but wonders never cease
Walgreens has rebuilt it & a reopening is planned



The African-American population has long regarded Oakland as their city. 
In recent years Big Capitol led by property values and rents in San Francisco have been building market rate housing at a fierce pace and rents have really climbed. In a sense lower income and working class Blacks historically benefited by the rundown quality of the city and by its various social hazards. 
 It was keeping the city affordable. It is increasingly apparent that their situation is facing some drastic changes. The Black population has gone from 60% to 40% and the writing seemed on the wall. More and more displacement and homelessness. Couple that with a militarized police and the horror of the murder of George Floyd it is not difficult to see the onset of an existential crisis
This parade of photos, exclusively of Black people, suggests that despite the ongoing gentrification and the growing misery on its mean streets, the City is still theirs.







23 May 2021








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