Black Friday: March Against Gentrification and Podcast Of Color's Debut

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Mar 31

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Welcome to Black Friday, y'all!

It’s not your one-stop shop for black news (prioritize black people all the time), but do check in for a corner of black-centric news—preferably of the queer and femme nature.

March Against Gentrification; We Won’t Be Fooled Again

In last weeks edition of Black Friday, I urged everyone to put on their marching boots to show out and support our black trans women, and boy did ya’ll answer the call! Don’t go letting those boots get dusty though, as there’s still much more to be mad and make a scene about.

This week, the March Against Gentrification will be another demonstration highlighting the rampant income inequality and diminishing affordable housing that so called “progress” has brought to our fair Atlanta, GA. The march organized by the Housing Justice League, Turner Field Community Benefits Coalition, Atlanta Economic Justice Program, and the American Friends Service Committee, will take place this Saturday at 1pm starting from the Rosa L Burney Park at 477 Windsor St SW, Atlanta, Georgia 30312.

The Housing Justice League’s list of demands include: a $15 dollar an hour minimum wage, mandatory inclusionary zoning that addressed 0-100% Area Median Income for ANY developer that receives ANY incentive from the city, a resolution supporting rent control and a resident led rent board, as well as stronger accountability for Beltline developers around affordable housing commitments and more.

Atlanta, consistently one of the nation's top cities for income inequality, has battled with new developments across the city that have rapidly pushed out many native ATLiens from neighborhoods they once called home. This has had the heaviest effect on poor black neighborhoods—skewing the the perception that Atlanta is a “black haven” in favor of white millennials, markets (food malls) and overpriced shopping. Projects like the Beltline, that were pitched with the intent of providing affordable housing, have only sped up this process and provided real accountability and few strides to fix it.

Podcast of Color

Podcast lovers feast your ears and act like you have friends with the new queer POC run Podcast of Color. Not to be confused with hetero The Podcast of Color, Podcast of Color stars two black men, one asian, and one latino serving unabashed insight on issues pertaining to the gay POC community.

The podcast’s quick and blunt humor creates a hilarious backdrop for commentary, from social justice issues to pop culture. The group is a mess/total trash (their words not mine) but the messy delivery they employ creates an atmosphere of familiarity that is unique to queer and especially POC queer environments. The podcast’s first two episodes were released this past Tuesday and we are clamoring to see it take off and inspire more POC-centric discussion and entertainment in the queer community.

As stated in their Soundcloud bio, “We wanted to offer our own ideas, thoughts, and commentary to the podcasting realm in hopes that we could connect with, heal, and inspire others to be the best they could be.”

Matt Jones is your average carefree black boi, community worker, and sensei. As an Atlanta based artist he dreams to foster community and advocate real change for issues involving but not limited to mental health, queer life, and POC disparity.

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