
Death by gentrification: the killing that shamed San Francisco (2016) - radmuzom
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/mar/21/death-by-gentrification-the-killing-that-shamed-san-francisco
======
deogeo
> When they arrive in a flood, as they have during economic booms since the
> 19th-century gold rush, including the dotcom surge of the late 1990s and the
> current tech tsunami, they scour out what was there before. By 2012 the
> incursion of tech workers had gone from steady stream to deluge, and more
> and more people and institutions – bookstores, churches, social services,
> bars, small businesses – began to be evicted.

Flood, scour out, incursion, deluge... it's very rare for a liberal
publication such as The Guardian to describe immigration in such negative
terms!

~~~
wwweston
The idea that several forms of social influx (immigration vs gentrification)
have some things in common despite being received differently along a
political continuum is probably worth some examination.

But I'd start by looking at whether "flood" or "deluge" are justified not in
terms of positive/negative connotation, but whether they accurately represent
the scale of what's going on.

IIRC, post-civil-war in-migration to the US hasn't ever resulted in more than
15% of the _total_ population being immigrants. The CIA World Factbook says
the US had 3.9 migrants per 1000 citizens in 2017. Wikipedia says there's a
recent rate of about 1 million immigrants per year, about half of which are
changing status for people already here.

I'm less sure where to get observations about the portion/influx of tech in
the Bay Area or SF itself. But if I were guessing, I'd bet tech pushes up to
20-25% of employmees and activity, and that the influx over the last decade
(or in the 90s) is a _considerably_ steeper curve.

One might also consider some qualitative factors. An influx of people of
average or perhaps even lower than average means primarily represents an
impact on (a) competition in the labor force and (b) demand. Those two things
ought to cancel each other out in terms of general economic impacts (or
perhaps even work in tandem to drive growth), except where there are supply
bottlenecks... say, real estate/housing, especially in a geographically
constrained area. So, one might expect the impacts to be outsized in a place
like San Francisco vs the United States at large (which has plenty of places
with modest population destiny). An influx of people of average to higher-
than-average means (say, workers in a field commanding a larger salary than
many past residents) would massively magnify this problem.

So... perhaps there are good reasons to treat the volatility and dynamics of
tech-focused in-migration to SF/Bay as distinct from the volatility and
dynamics of immigration to the US.

~~~
deogeo
> Wikipedia says there's a recent rate of about 1 million immigrants per year,
> about half of which are changing status for people already here.

Would that mean they weren't counted as immigrants when they first arrived,
because they had the wrong 'status'? Or are they counted twice, first when
they arrive, and again when they change status?

Edit: It occurred to me, immigration to the US is probably concentrated in the
south, so the "15% of _total_ US population being immigrant" is not the most
relevant statistic to compare to.

------
crsmithdev
This is from 2016, but you can see that even three years ago, the Guardian was
already busy milking every possible story for outrage. Nothing can happen,
clearly, without it being connected to _something_ bad caused by tech.

------
solidsnack9000
Police officers are killed on the job at something like 60x the rate of the
regular population. There is a lot of material to work with here, but if the
guy really pulled his Tazer on the cops, he more or less engaged in death by
cop.

~~~
bruceb
It is a challenging job, no doubt. But for some perspective:
[https://thefreethoughtproject.com/cop-top-10-dangerous-
jobs-...](https://thefreethoughtproject.com/cop-top-10-dangerous-jobs-country-
tanks/)

~~~
raws
I like the updated source data better it has actually changed quite a bit.
[https://www.bls.gov/charts/census-of-fatal-occupational-
inju...](https://www.bls.gov/charts/census-of-fatal-occupational-
injuries/number-and-rate-of-fatal-work-injuries-by-
industry.htmhttps://www.bls.gov/charts/census-of-fatal-occupational-
injuries/civilian-occupations-with-high-fatal-work-injury-rates.htm)

~~~
solidsnack9000
The page says:

    
    
        Sorry, the page you're looking for can't be found;

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randyrand
This is a huge stretch. It’s not only white people that call the cops when it
looks like someone has a gun.

However, the guardian salivates at the opportunity to blame rich white people
for our problems, so im not surprised.

~~~
throwaway91232
You're absolutely right. One of the murderers was asian, as were three of the
jurors. But this isn't purely a matter of race, it's very much a matter of
class.

~~~
treis
I don't think poor people are ok with guns being pointed at them either.

------
TheOperator
Police Officers "He was coming right for us" defense is a bit suspect
considering the mixed up stories. Nevertheless this article is leaping to a
whole ton of conclusions. He was carrying a weapon when the cops were called
on him and there is no indication who called the cops on him.

Quite a xenophobic leap to conclusions to blame this on some racist newcomer
for such a woke progressive newspaper.

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scandox
This is from 2016. It is included in a collection of Rebecca Solnit's essays
the name of which escapes me right now.

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cavisne
More like death by pointing a gun like object at police...

------
Simulacra
IMO non-whites can’t trust the police, they can’t trust white people, and they
know interactions with either is likely to lead to their death. How much
longer before they say it’s better to die fighting, and start shooting first?
I’m angry at those men walking their dogs. They are just as much to blame for
this as the police.

~~~
true_religion
I am curious if you are non-white, because I am not and I can’t agree with
this. All my interactions with the police have been curtious and professional
on their behalf even if I am clearly in the wrong, even if I am discourteous.

I can’t think of a single person of color that I know, and I know many that
has had a poor interaction with the police.

America isn’t a bastion of racial equality, but by and large the police are
okay.

I used to have the same feelings as you did from watching the media, but it’s
like the medias portrayal is not representative. Just look at their coverage
on violent crime, if you watch it you’d believe that everyone is at risk all
the time but my county hasn’t had a single assault in the past 5 years.

IMO people are better served looking at these problems as local issues to
which the aegis of greater government can help.

~~~
bruceb
If you are on HN then you probably are White/Asian/Indian and middle class or
above now, or in upbringing. You are less likely to mix with who have bad
interactions with the police.

I agree broad statements like minorities can't trust the police are
ridiculous. Very rarely do you hear Asian man shot by police.

Clearly black Americans(mostly men)have a problematic history in interactions
with police , with some great abuse by some departments. Unfortunately, bad
cops get protected, so abuse doesn't lead to punishment....BUT also CNN and
clickbait media/Twitter outrage manufacturers turn every white cop/black
citizen encounter in to a racial episode when it isn't, which further makes
black men/boys feel under siege. Even though that isn't the case most of the
time. When actual abuse does happen, the well is poisoned already by the
clickbait, and (some) of their fellow citizens are not as empathetic.

~~~
true_religion
> If you are on HN then you probably are White/Asian/Indian and middle class
> or above now, or in upbringing. You are less likely to mix with who have bad
> interactions with the police.

I'm actually a black man.

Those friends I was mentioning who have gone their entire lives without a poor
interaction with the police?

Also black men. Worse yet, some of them are _immigrant_ black men with
accents.

Racism exists. Police corruption exists. It's a known issue, but its not so
systemic that it affects all jurisdictions equally.

As I said, I believe its much better to look at your current locality and ask
"can I trust _my_ police?" rather than think about the situation as a national
problem.

Now, you might say that I'm lucky, or that I have never broken the law so its
a non-issue.

Let me tell you a story. Once, I and two of my friends were in a car smoking
marijuana. The police, having heard recent burglaries in the area, were on the
look out, and thought it particularly sketchy for a poorly maintained looking
car to be parked inside such a good neighborhood. As they turned on their
lights, one of my friends gets the bright idea that he should run---yes run
from the police. He doesn't get very far, and we're all gathered together and
the story comes out in torrid detail. We're sure we'll all go to prison, but
the worst that happens is that we are driven to our parents' houses and given
an unofficial warning.

That's it. No writes ups, no tickets. The worst part of that night (for me)
was that our stash was confiscated.

This is the kind of story you'd expect to only happen to a white guy? Perhaps
even a rich white guy, right?

Nope, it happened to 3 black guys who ended up going to university on
scholarships.

This stuff isn't rare. Lot's of time, the police are reasonable but people's
bias colors their view of it. One of my friends, who was in the car with me,
used to say (when we were younger) that this night was an example of the cops
unfairly brutalizing us because we were frisked and he was handcuffed
initially---he's the one that ran. Yet if you look at it from another angle,
we were the criminals caught in possession of drugs who got a slap on the
wrist.

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ivanbakel
And the HN comment section has all the surprises of a box of biscuits: loyal
belief in police testimony, and a complete ignorance of the point of the
article in favour of pedantic point scoring. If anyone is looking for a
position to fill, whataboutisms and supporting the right of the rich to walk
all over you are still up for grabs.

~~~
throwaway91232
> If anyone is looking for a position to fill, whataboutisms and supporting
> the right of the rich to walk all over you are still up for grabs.

I dunno, the comment framing this article as "anti-immigration" is firmly
straddling the two.

