Voices of the Unheard

Gentrification is when the original community in a neighborhood is changed due to the increase in affluent residents and business. Most locals who were in these certain neighborhoods for generations, have a strong resentment for this new movement. While others believe this is just evolution within the city to make it prosper. Growing up in California that is being gentrified before our eyes, I understand what most people go through just like Antonio López. Since gentrification is a controversial topic, lots of people steer away from bringing up the challenges most residents face when going through gentrification. When a city is being gentrified the cost of living increases and other citizens struggle and eventually have to move out of their hometown. This shift affects most minority ethnic groups and helps rich people more than anyone. Some people see gentrification as an investment while others see it as destruction to their authentic community. 

Most citizens are told to send letters or call their councilmen so real change can happen. In this letter Letter to the Editor Lòpez brought up points that many minorities think when they feel that they have been wronged. In the first paragraph Lòpez talks about how some people cut a ribbon due to a new health clinic opening. The diction that Lòpez used to describe the ribbon cutting, “a measly ribbon”, already sets the tone for this letter. Lòpez then goes on to mock the location they put the health clinic in, “The press bravely announced East Palo Alto as a ‘strategic location’ in the Silicon Valley…” as if he were mad they described East Palo Alto as a “strategic location”. The most impressive part of the poem is when Lòpez listed out five questions that this editor did not mention in her book. The question that was the most effective in my opinion was “4. Should I unlearn Spanish so I can take the SAT ॥ ‘fairly’?”, knowing how hard the SAT is for english speakers like me, I can only imagine how much non-english speakers struggled. However, as López pointed out, the city and state do not care how hard it is, you just need to pass it. Lastly, López ends the poem by asking a question, “Más que nada, cómo te parece if you and your colleagues wrote about us, and not just the negative shit?”. Having to ask someone what the first part meant, they explained to me López is asking, “More than nothing how would you like it if your colleagues wrote about us not just the negative shit”, he is wondering why can’t it ever just be positive, why only negative comments about people in his community. This poem and the rest of his poems not only cross the traditional borders of English poetry but also challenge it, while also challenging politics, politicians, and gentrification as a whole by showing true emotions within the poem. Cussing is not something that is typical for poetry, however, in this poem it brings it to life, and it makes the poem come true seeing how angry people really are about this whole process. These communities face grievances everyday, and they do not need to be burdened anymore then they already are.

Joseph Jordan