5 Reasons Why I Loved Spike Lee's Talk At Pratt!

Spike Lee left his Manhattan home to come back to the place he loves so much, Brooklyn. Just minutes away from his father’s apartment and his companies main building, Spike came to Pratt Institute to converse with students and many locals for Black History Month. Why I loved it, He ranted on about the gentrification of the neighborhood and how so much of Brooklyn has changed! We’ve always known Spike to be a no holds bar communicator and yesterday’s “rant” was no different!

Spike Lee referred to The New York Times “bullshit article” (in his lovely tone of voice) “saying the good of gentrification.” (See: Argument Over A Brownstone Neighborhood, by Constance Rosenblum). He goes on to say that he grew up in Fort Greene and how much it has changed. He pretty much had a debate (maybe not even a full one because he didn’t really let anyone talk) with a local who questioned him on the change of Brooklyn!

Why I loved it?

1. He held nothing back!

Why does it take an influx of white New Yorkers in the south Bronx, in Harlem, in Bed Stuy, in Crown Heights for the facilities to get better?…..The police weren’t around. When you see white mothers pushing their babies in strollers, three o’clock in the morning on 125th Street, that must tell you something.

2. He recognized that people with dogs have taken over Brooklyn.

When Michael Jackson died they wanted to have a party for him in motherfuckin’ Fort Greene Park and all of a sudden the white people in Fort Greene said, “Wait a minute! We can’t have black people having a party for Michael Jackson to celebrate his life. Who’s coming to the neighborhood? They’re gonna leave lots of garbage.” Garbage? Have you seen Fort Greene Park in the morning? It’s like the motherfuckin’ Westminster Dog Show. There’s 20,000 dogs running around. Whoa. So we had to move it to Prospect Park!

3. He argued that the people who have lived in Brooklyn for years, no longer can afford it.

And then! So you’re talking about the people’s property change? But what about the people who are renting? They can’t afford it anymore! You can’t afford it. People want live in Fort Greene. People wanna live in Clinton Hill. The Lower East Side, they move to Williamsburg, they can’t even afford fuckin’, motherfuckin’ Williamsburg now because of motherfuckin’ hipsters.

4. He doesn’t agree with the name changes of previously “bad” neighborhoods.

What do they call Bushwick now? What’s the word? (Someone says, “East Williamsburg”) That’s another thing, Motherfuckin’… These real estate motherfuckers are changing names! Stuyvestant Heights? 110th to 125th, there’s another name for Harlem. What is it? What? What is it? No, no, not Morningside Heights. There’s a new one.(Someone says, “SpaHa”) What the fuck is that? How you changing’ names?

5. He recognizes that everything is changing, not for the people who’ve been here, but those newcomers.
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So, why did it take this great influx of white people to get the schools better? Why’s there more police protection in Bed Stuy and Harlem now? Why’s the garbage getting picked up more regularly? We been here!

Here is the full audio of the “Gentrification Debate” as recorded by the Daily Intelligencer