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Great perspective of the film

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The term "blindspotting" describes a perceptual dilemma best illustrated by Rubin's vase, that famous black-and-white image that tricks the eye into seeing either a piece of pottery or two faces in profile, but never both at the same time. As a metaphor for keeping your eyes and mind open, it's a pretty good one: We all see what we want to see, but if we're honest and open-hearted enough, we might be persuaded to see it the other way, too.

You will see a few different things when you watch "Blindspotting," director Carlos López Estrada's raucous and irrepressible debut feature. (Consciously or not, the title also evokes Danny Boyle's 1996 movie, "Trainspotting.") It's a buddy comedy, a hip-hop musical and a cracked valentine to Oakland, the latter an ascendant subgenre recently enriched by Ryan Coogler's "Black Panther" and Boots Riley's "Sorry to Bother You."

Like those pictures, "Blindspotting" embraces Oakland as both an object of love and a source of provocation - an opportunity to confront difficult, seemingly intractable problems of race, class and violence in contemporary American society. To say that the results feel wildly uneven is to suggest that the movie has done its subject some measure of justice. And its choice of targets feels unique and personal.

At the heart of the story are two longtime Oakland buddies: Collin (Daveed Diggs), who's black, and Miles (Rafael Casal), who's white. The two drive a van for the same moving company and spend a lot of their free time eating, smoking and freestyle rapping together. (Their friendship carries a faint, semi-autobiographical echo of the real-life bond between Diggs and Casal, who co-wrote the screenplay.)

But the pair might as well be their own living, breathing version of Rubin's vase, given their strikingly complementary differences in temperament and perception. Miles, played with ferocious energy by Casal, is a loud, swaggering troublemaker, with a hair-trigger temper and a cavalier attitude toward violence; he wears his mouth grill and his multiple tattoos like statements of aggression.

Collin, by contrast, is cautious and mild-mannered, steering clear of anything that might get him in trouble, and for good reason. He's already served time for his involvement in a crime (the nature of which is strategically withheld) and is in the last few days of a yearlong probation sentence.

Quite a bit happens over the course of those few days. Some of it has an episodic, sitcom-style flatness, as when Collin and Miles move boxes for a local art gallerist (Wayne Knight) or stop by a beauty salon to hawk some curling irons left behind by a customer. (Life for them is a steady stream of hustle and flow.) But much of it also forces Collin to consider his future and grapple with the external forces, visible and otherwise, that have shaped his history.

He tries to reconnect with his ex-girlfriend, Val (Janina Gavankar), who disdains him and especially Miles for reasons that will become clear in due course. He hangs out with Miles and his wife (Jasmine Cephas Jones) and their young son (Ziggy Baitinger) at the family's house, where all four of them will learn that not even the happiest home is completely beyond the reach of real-world violence.

Worst of all, when Collin is driving home alone one night, he sees a white police officer shoot a black man dead in the street - and, not wanting to endanger his already precarious freedom, decides not to come forward as a witness. Diggs, who won a Tony for his performance in the Broadway musical smash "Hamilton," quietly captures the swirl of emotions that seizes hold of Collin in that moment and continues to shake him long afterward: anger, grief and a helplessness verging on paralysis, compounded by the realization that the victim might just as easily have been him.

The strength of "Blindspotting" thus lies in its ability to make the political feel deeply personal, and to show how numerous competing aggressions, big and small, can turn a tense situation into a combustible one. Casal and Diggs are quick to poke fun, sometimes rather too emphatically, at the winds of social, cultural and economic change sweeping through Oakland in the wake of the Bay Area tech boom. Miles spends much of the movie's amusing first half railing against hipster gentrification, the most egregious example being the pricey vegan offerings now on display at his beloved local burger joint, Kwik Way. The real Oakland seems to be retreating before his very eyes.

But Miles, concerned as he is with hometown authenticity, will soon see his own authenticity called into question. It doesn't escape the movie's attention that Miles' identity, at once carefully constructed and entirely second-nature, has largely been conceived through the prism of various black cultural stereotypes. Miles wears this identity with a devil-may-care swagger and, conveniently, none of the constant fear or sense of personal risk that is Collin's burden as a black man.

"Blindspotting" is rarely scarier than in those moments when Miles is confronted with the reality of his privilege, and López Estrada and his actor-writer collaborators are good at steering their tone from the broadly humorous to the deadly serious, with an intensity that can induce whiplash. What makes those moments so devastating - whether they hail from the past, as we see in a harrowing flashback sequence, or the present - is that Collin winds up quietly paying the price for Miles' recklessness.

It's crucial to the movie's slow-gathering moral perspective that by the end, Collin is quiet no longer. "Blindspotting," true to the "Rashomon"-esque conceit of its title, grants both men the courtesy of their own perspectives, but it also knows that equivocation has its limits. And it is Collin, in the end, who pushes the movie forward into a surreal, angry moment of confrontation, abandoning plausibility and realism for a moment of pure, unbridled hip-hop catharsis.

It's a startling coup de cinéma, a bold formal rupture, and I can't help but wish it worked better. There is something about the calculation of "Blindspotting," a movie all too aware of its own impressive ambition, that somehow resists the poetic abandon, the electrifying spontaneity that López Estrada and his collaborators are trying to pull off. You can see and admire what it's doing, even as your better judgment, and the movie's own egalitarian sensibility, compels you to believe there might be another way to do it.

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'Blindspotting'
Rating: R, for language throughout, some brutal violence, sexual references and drug use

Running time: 1 hour, 35 minutes

Playing: AMC Century City 15, Century City, and the Landmark, West Los Angeles
ALSO Beyond 'Black Panther': Thanks to a wave of homegrown filmmakers, Oakland is having a Hollywood moment Summer movie survey: Four indie debuts worth watching out for The cast members of 'Blindspotting' talk about their love of Oakland See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour " justin.chang@latimes.com @JustinCChang

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Review: Race, class and violence intersect in the vibrant and uneven Oakland valentine 'Blindspotting'

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The term "blindspotting" describes a perceptual dilemma best illustrated by Rubin's vase, that famous black-and-white image that tricks the eye into seeing either a piece of pottery or two faces in profile, but never both at the same time.

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Housing to go up in Oakland vs SF.

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Contributing factors to the homeless crisis.

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The decline in the African American population and the factors that contributed

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Oakland, whose thriving African American community for decades shaped black identity for the nation, lost nearly a quarter of its black population in the past decade, U.S. Census data shows.

Now, Oakland has nearly as many white people as it does African American. It also has nearly as many Latinos.

The exodus left the city with a net loss of 33,000 African American residents and made Oakland one of the few big California cities to decline in size. Oakland, which had the second largest overall population decline in the state, lost about 2 percent of its population, which now stands at 390,724. Only Santa Ana lost more residents.

African Americans have been moving in large numbers from urban areas to the suburbs and beyond for the past two decades in California. But the migration has particular significance in Oakland.

Oakland was where the Black Panther Party was founded, the place that produced iconic black politicians, athletes and entertainers. Hall of Fame athletes Joe Morgan, Bill Russell and Rickey Henderson all grew up in Oakland. So did entertainers like the R&B group the Pointer Sisters. Black congressional leaders Ron Dellums and Barbara Lee are both from Oakland.

Oakland's black community "brought African American identity into the mainstream, instead of the margins," said Ishmael Reed, author of "Blues City: a Walk in Oakland" and a longtime resident. "I just hate to see the decline."

Black people remain the single largest ethnic group at 27.3 percent of the population, just slightly greater than the white and Hispanic populations, which are 25.9 and 25.4 percent of the population respectively. Asians account for 16.7 percent. In 1980, black people accounted for 46 percent of the city.

2nd largest population

Oakland has 106,637 African Americans, still the second largest black population in the state. Only Los Angeles, with 347,380 black people, has more - but they make up 9 percent of the population. All of the state's major cities, except Sacramento, saw declines in their black populations. Inland areas saw gains. African Americans make up 5.8 percent of California's population.

Some of the movement is out of state.

California's overall African American population been declining since 1980, when it was 7.5 percent, according to Hans Johnson, a demographer at the Public Policy Institute of California.

Integration a factor

The movement from traditional strongholds into new areas shows, in part, the continuing success of integration, some say.

"The traditional idea of a black community is dissolving," said Dowell Myers, a professor of policy planning and development at the University of Southern California. "That's the positive outcome of decades of racial equality. The downside is the breakdown of community."

African American ministers and politicians point to a variety of factors that have led people to leave Oakland for cities like Stockton, Fairfield, Antioch and Sacramento. A lower cost of living, the lure of jobs, frustration with schools and the search for safer communities all played key roles.

"African Americans are no different than anyone else: They want to live in safe neighborhoods," said Oakland Councilman Larry Reid. "They want their children to be able to play on the street, where next door neighbors look after children."

Too much crime

Crime was the reason that Stephen Shaw finally moved out.

In the seven years he lived in North Oakland, Shaw had his home broken into, his daughter's car broken into twice, and had two separate houseguests have their cars get broken into. He could hear occasional gunfire and car chases.

The final straw was when he had his own car broken into twice in one night last June. The next month, he moved to Walnut Creek.

"I love Oakland for the cultural value and African American history," said Shaw, 43, who still works downtown, goes to Oakland churches and socializes on weekends in the city. "But it's not a safe place."

That doesn't mean Oakland is not a destination.

On Thursday, there were well over a hundred elderly black people at the Ira Jinkins Recreational Center in East Oakland.

They came to play dominoes, line dance and shoot pool.

Many live outside the city, like Estrene West, who lives in San Leandro.

"San Leandro don't have it going on like they have it here," she said, taking a break from the dance floor.

Sherman Taylor, who was playing dominoes, said the decline of the city's black population was not something to be sad over.

Taylor, 69, has lived in Oakland for 66 years. His father came to Oakland in the 1940s to work at the naval base in Alameda during World War II.

At the time the family came, there weren't that many black residents. But by the time he went to Castlemont High School in 1957, black students were a quarter of the student body.

The black population grew substantially in later years. Now, the city has changed again.

"I see it coming full circle," Taylor said. "There's still a big, significant black community here."

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25% drop in African American population in Oakland

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U.S. CENSUS In past 10 years, 25% of African Americans have left - city's total population decline ranks No. 2 in state Oakland, whose thriving African American community for decades shaped black identity for the nation, lost nearly a quarter of its black population in the past decade, U.S.

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The closest comparable wage GINI for Oakland, CA is from California.

In 2017, the income inequality in California was 0.497 according to the GINI calculation of the wage distribution. Income inequality had a 1.1% decline from 2016 to 2017, which means that wage distribution grew somewhat more even.

The 2017 the GINI for California was higher than than the national average of 0.479. In other words, wages are distributed less evenly in California in comparison to the national average.

This chart shows the number of workers in California across various wage buckets compared to the national average.

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In 2017, Oakland, CA had a population of 425k people with a median age of 36.7 and a median household income of $70,577. Between 2016 and 2017 the population of Oakland, CA grew from 419,987 to 425,204, a 1.24% increase and its median household income grew from $68,060 to $70,577, a 3.7% increase.

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Living in the Bay Area has been a longtime dream for generations. California's incredible coastline, mild weather, and liberal mindset have drawn many for years, and its bubbling tech and art scenes have only added to the appeal in recent times. San Francisco is naturally the first major city that comes to mind at the mention of the Bay, but its neighbor Oakland is starting to give it a real run for its money with many creatives, artists and young professionals calling it home. Here are all the reasons everyone is moving to Oakland:

1. It's perfectly located

Situated just across the bay and a short BART ride away, Oakland enjoys easier access to downtown San Francisco than some neighborhoods of SF itself. This is thanks to the highly efficient public transportation connecting the two cities, which is faster and easier to access than the metropolis's own network of buses and trains. And you can also leave your car in parking heaven (aka Oakland, or simply home) and go about your city business before hopping a train back at the end of the day. It is also worth mentioning that Oakland is just as near to Berkeley, another hot town which offers tons of culture and entertainment to creative millennials.

2. And way more affordable

If you're living in San Francisco you already know- rents are insanely high and decent housing is hard to come by, even at over-the-roof prices. Oakland offers much more options for fit-for-humans homes and apartments, at much more reasonable prices. For example, the median rent in Oakland was at $1,812 in 2013, while in the Bay it was a staggering $3,396. That's a massive price difference for just a little jaunt across the bridge. A quick look at Craigslist will illustrate clearly the greater availability of decent apartments, too. Moving to Oakland means you no longer need to settle for a shoebox, or share your flat with a dozen roommates or so- better than San Francisco or what?

3. Job opportunities are more abundant than you'd think

Yes, Oakland is heavily saturated with young talent, but that doesn't mean it's tough to find a job. With huge companies like Pixar and Pandora, along with many independent publishing houses and an exploding startup scene, Oakland has been experiencing a massive growth in jobs, especially in tech and media. What's more, seven companies within Oakland made Forbes magazine's list of the country's top 100 fastest growing companies - including 3D printing specialist Fathom, which made #2 in the nation.

4. The weather really is better here

As weird as it sounds, Oakland does indeed have much better, warmer and sunnier weather than San Francisco and the West Bay. Temperatures hover around the 60's and 70's all year round, and on average there are 261 sunny days per year in Oakland- out of 365, mind you. Moreover, the weather is more predictable, so locals don't have to carry hoodies around in anticipation of a 10-degree drop when the fog sneaks up on the city.

5. Small businesses get a leg up

The Oakland community puts a big emphasis on shopping local and keeping revenue in the East Bay - and with so many small businesses to choose from, you can keep it local and take care of all your shopping needs. The local nonprofit Oakland Grown gives small businesses a wide range of support under the umbrella of the Sustainable Business Alliance, so if you're relocating to Oakland with a big idea brewing, this might just be a great place to plant seeds and grow your new project.

6. The landscape is simply gorgeous

When it comes to the great outdoors, Oakland offers a bit of everything: fresh salty sea air, rambling trails up to sunset views like the Claremont Canyon Fire Trail, urban parks with an assortment of amenities, and of course, Lake Merritt, the 155-acre lagoon in the middle of the city. Oakland's residents are pretty proud of their landmark tidal lagoon, which is surrounded by parks and 3.4 miles of shoreline.

7. Oakland loves to be green

Oakland and the West Bay are serious about making the world a better place, and being part of the green revolution. It is truly inspiring to see Oakland's empty lots transformed into urban vegetable patches, and buying locally grown food is such a simple and satisfying triumph- no wonder Oakland folks are hella proud. By restructuring agriculture laws the city has become the epicenter of urban farming, and organizations like City Slicker Farms are making growing food in the city accessible for everyone with education programs as well as assistance in creating your own backyard mini-farm. Sustainable Oakland represents the city's efforts at sustainability, from water protection and conservation to financing tools for clean energy projects.

8. It's super artistic and culturally minded

From fine art galleries to hippy-esque art collectives, avant-garde performance venues to experimental music ensembles, DIY everything to graffiti galore, Oakland is all about creativity. Local creatives say they find inspiration simply drifting on the wind here, emanating from the brilliant minds of their neighbors and colleagues. This is a huge reason to move here if you're an art lover or an artist yourself. Word also has it there is a burgeoning gnome population spreading in the city, so keep your eyes open as you wander.

9. Parking and driving are blessedly easy

In many modern cities driving and parking a car are closer to a biblical punishment than an everyday banality. If you've ever tried to find parking in San Fran, or you're relocating from New York, Oakland's driving and parking situation will make you rub your eyes in disbelief. No more circling the one-way blocks for half an hour to find a place to park for the day. No more insane parking fees. It's true: in a magical place called Oakland, you can have the city vibe without the city parking headaches.

10. It's very culturally and ethnically diverse

Oakland is one of the most diverse cities in the country and its population is a wild mix of races and ethnicities, which is exactly what a cosmopolitan city should be all about. The huge diversity also makes for a colorful blend of cultures and ideas, fueling the city's creative spirit and fascinating community life.

11. OMG the food

Oakland's food scene is definitely on the rise. Some may even go as far as to prefer it to San Francisco's, which is saying something. But actually, it's quite understandable- with the costs of opening and running a restaurant in SF skyrocketing, young and creative chefs are looking for more affordable yet equally cool locations- in short, they, too, are moving to Oakland. Just pay a visit to Calavera and Ramen Shop and see what these formerly SF based chefs are bringing to the Oakland plate. If you're as passionate about your conscience as you are about your palette, don't worry- spots like Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe and Doc's Classic make conscious and tasty bites that are reasonably priced, so you can stick to your budget and your culinary ethics. And how about some affordable eats in the Bay? You can find a few great ones in this blog post.

Moving to Oakland and want a little help? Check out our list of recommended movers in Oakland.

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11 Reasons Why Everyone is Moving to Oakland Besides the Weather | Unpakt Blog

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Living in the Bay Area has been a longtime dream for generations. California's incredible coastline, mild weather, and liberal mindset have drawn many for years, and its bubbling tech and art scenes have only added to the appeal in recent times.

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Crime stats for the city interestingly coincide with new building projects

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Oakland Crime Statistics: California (CA) - CityRating.com

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Oakland crime statistics including violent and property crime rates, with murder, rape, assault, arson, larceny, burglary and car theft data reports. Oakland, California crime report (CA).

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California, United States

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Oakland, city, seat (1873) of Alameda county, west-central California, U.S. It lies on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay opposite San Francisco. The city site is located on a flat coastal plain that rises toward hills to the east that parallel the shoreline. Oakland has a mild, Mediterranean-type climate with warm sunny summers and cool winters with rainy spells. Like its neighbour to the west, it experiences morning fogs in summer, though these typically burn off by noon.

© Index Open

Oakland is the eastern locus of the extensive metropolitan area surrounding the bay that, in addition to San Francisco, is anchored by San Jose to the southeast. Neighbouring communities include Berkeley (north), San Leandro (south), and Alameda (west, on Alameda Island), and Oakland completely surrounds the city of Piedmont. Area city, 78 square miles (202 square km). Pop. (2000) 399,484; Oakland-Fremont-Hayward Metro Division, 2,392,557; San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont Metro Area; 4,123,740; (2010) 390,724; Oakland-Fremont-Hayward Metro Division, 2,559,296; San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont MSA, 4,335,391.

History

The area was inhabited by Costanoan Indians when it was explored by the Spanish in the late 18th century. In 1820 a Spanish land grant known as Rancho San Antonio was established there. Logging began in the area in the 1840s, and, during the California Gold Rush (1849), it became a transit centre for goods and people. In 1849-50 Moses Chase, a squatter, and some associates leased and then purchased farmland and laid out the town of Clinton (later named Brooklyn). In 1851 Horace W. Carpentier started a trans-bay ferry service to San Francisco and acquired a town site (1852) to the west of Brooklyn, naming it Oakland for the oak trees on the grassy plain. Carpentier and his associates extended the area and incorporated it as a city in 1854. Oakland and Brooklyn-separated by a slough that had been bridged in 1853-amalgamated in 1872.

Chosen as the western terminus of the first transcontinental railroad (1869), Oakland began developing its harbour. After the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, it received a large influx of refugees, which boosted its population significantly. The 8.25-mile- (13-km-) long San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge to San Francisco (opened 1936) and military and naval installations (built in the 1940s) stimulated further population growth and heavy and diversified industrial expansion. Notable was the influx of African Americans seeking work in the city's factories during World War II.

© Index Open

By 1960, however, the city was in decline. The population, having reached a peak of about 385,000 in 1950, began to drop, and inner-city areas were beset by poverty, urban blight, and crime. Racial tension grew in Oakland's large African American community, and the revolutionary Black Panther Party was founded there in 1966 and became a leading force in the black power movement. One of its members, Bobby Seale, ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 1973; four years later Lionel Wilson became the city's first black mayor.

Efforts to rejuvenate the city began in the early 1970s, bolstered by the completion in 1972 of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) light-rail link to San Francisco. Over the next three decades, much of the city centre was rebuilt, and many run-down neighbourhoods were gentrified. Oakland's population rebounded in the 1980s and surpassed the 1950 level in the 1990s. Although the city's African Americans remained the largest component of the population, their numbers began to decline, and those for Hispanics increased to more than one-fifth of the total. Oakland's revitalization was dealt a setback on October 17, 1989, when a strong earthquake caused significant damage to the Bay Bridge and caused a section of a major highway along the bay (a portion of it double-decked) to collapse; repairs on these were completed by the late 1990s.

The contemporary city

Oakland's economy is now highly diversified. Although industry (food processing, light manufacturing, and high technology) is important, most economic activity is focused on business services, health care, transportation, retail trade, and other services. The city's deepwater port (on an estuary between Alameda Island and the bay shore) covers 19 miles (31 km) of waterfront in outer, middle, and inner harbours. Metropolitan Oakland International Airport fronts the bay to the southwest.

Oakland is the site of several institutions of higher education, including Mills College (1852), Holy Names University (1868), and California College of the Arts (1907); the Berkeley campus of the University of California is just to the north. The city has a symphony orchestra and ballet and numerous dance and theatre companies. Notable museums include the Oakland Museum (with exhibits of art, history, and natural science), Chabot Space and Science Center in the eastern hills, and the Western Aerospace Museum near the airport.

Jack London Square, an area of restaurants, shops, and other attractions along the inner harbour near downtown, honours the American writer, who lived in the city during his youth; a bar Jack London frequented, Heinold's First and Last Chance Saloon (1883), has been designated a national literary landmark. The USS Potomac, a yacht (dubbed "the Floating White House") used during the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, is docked at the square's wharf. Farther inland is the Pardee Home (1869), built by an early civic leader and preserved as a museum.

Lake Merritt, a saltwater lagoon near the central business district, is a wildfowl refuge surrounded by parkland. To the east is Morcom Rose Garden, a popular venue for weddings. Knowland Park, in the far south, contains Oakland Zoo, and a series of regional parks stretches along the eastern hills. The city is the home of the Golden State Warriors (basketball), Oakland Raiders (gridiron football), and Oakland Athletics (baseball) professional sports teams.

Jeff Wallenfeldt, Manager, Geography and History.

San Francisco earthquake of 1989

...suffered by San Francisco and Oakland, but communities throughout the region, including Alameda, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, and Monterey, also were affected. San Francisco's Marina district was particularly hard hit because it had been built on filled land (comprising loose, sandy soil), and the unreinforced masonry buildings in Santa Cruz...

...San Francisco Bay, across the Oakland Harbor Channel from Oakland, with which it is connected by bridges and underground tunnels. The site was originally a peninsula that was part of Rancho San Antonio. Long the home of the Ohlone Indians, the locality was settled by the Spanish in the 1850s,...

California, constituent state of the United States of America. It was admitted as the 31st state of the union on September 9, 1850, and by the early 1960s it was the most populous U.S. state. No version of the origin of California's name has been fully accepted, but there is...

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Oakland, city, seat (1873) of Alameda county, west-central California, U.S. It lies on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay opposite San Francisco. The city site is located on a flat coastal plain that rises toward hills to the east that parallel the shoreline. Oakland has a mild,

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Discusses why Oakland is gentrifying. Also gets into the negative and positive effects of gentrification.

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click to enlarge

Photo by Stephen Loewinsohn

Unless you've lived in the East Bay for a long time, it may be hard to understand the rapid shift that's taken place here in recent years: the explosion in the number of homeless people, the insane rent increases, the influx of wealthy young people - and the businesses catering to them.

Having grown up in the East Bay, I remember shopping with my mom in downtown Oakland in the '80s. The neighborhood always felt deserted, with empty storefronts and few people walking around. Now, it's filled with bars and restaurants and cranes constructing new housing. To many, this might feel like a welcomed change from the years of neglect. But these changes have coincided with evictions and the displacement of people from their homes and businesses - particularly those who are low-income and people of color. Many are forced to move far away or, worse, live on the streets. To those who aren't cashing in on the new tech economy, the Bay Area can feel like a hostile place.

This hasn't happened out of nowhere. Nor is it inevitable. Rather, it's the result of decades of deliberate actions: disinvestment, redlining, predatory lending, a lack of affordable housing construction and preservation, as well as too few tenant protections. These actions, coupled with the tech-fueled economic boom, are rapidly remaking neighborhoods into places where socioeconomic diversity is decreasing.

But trying to talk about "gentrification" often leads to polarizing debates. To shed some light on the complexity and wide-ranging implications of the topic, we decided to examine the issue. The goal? To get people to understand why this is something that impacts all of us - and to offer some solutions in the process.

But first, we need to understand what gentrification is.

What is gentrification?

There is no universally agreed upon definition of gentrification. The New Oxford American Dictionary defines it innocuously as "the process of renovating and improving a house or district so that it conforms to middle-class taste."

But if you ask the researchers at UC Berkeley's Urban Displacement Project, there's much more to gentrification than aesthetic changes: "a process of neighborhood change that includes economic change in a historically disinvested neighborhood - by means of real estate investment and new higher-income residents moving in - as well as demographic change - not only in terms of income level, but also in terms of changes in the education level or racial make-up of residents."

This definition, which accounts for historical disinvestment and demographic changes, paints a fuller picture of the forces at work that transform a neighborhood. Anna Cash, the associate director of the Urban Displacement Project, said the researchers came to their definition by reviewing existing research on gentrification. While acknowledging that the topic is complex, Cash said it's important to understand how past policies and practices make certain communities susceptible to change.

A lack of common understanding about gentrification would seem to make it difficult to talk about the issue. "The term is 50 years old and we still debate what it means," said Tony Roshan Samara, program director of land use and housing at Urban Habitat. He notes that the term has its roots in England, where working-class whites were displaced by higher-income whites. The economic implications remain today, but in the U.S., there's also a clear racial dynamic, Samara said.

Thus, while many people may identify new hipster boutiques as an example of gentrification, displacement is the more significant and harmful characteristic. "Some people talk about gentrification as investment ... but if lower-income people aren't displaced, then it's not gentrification," Samara said.

In other words, when we talk about the harms of gentrification, we're really talking about displacement. To that end, displacement also needs to be defined. Cash notes that the concept should be expanded to include "anytime anyone is forced to move against their will."

In the East Bay, that can look like a range of things. "It's not just eviction but a lot of other ways," Cash said, noting extreme rent increases and landlords pressuring tenants to move by, say, ignoring requests for maintenance. "That leads to exclusionary displacement," she continued, "so neighborhoods are designed as exclusionary to low-income people because rents are so high, people are excluded from moving in."

How did the East Bay begin to gentrify?

Although gentrification in the East Bay may seem like a recent occurrence, its roots go back much further. The Urban Displacement Project notes that there are several historic examples of institutionalized racism that created the conditions for gentrification, including redlining - a system of real estate investment that began in the 1930s and resulted in people of color being denied access to home loans. Cash said their research found that 83 percent of today's gentrifying areas in the East Bay were once rated as "hazardous" or "definitely declining" by the federal Home Owners' Loan Corporation - euphemisms referring to non-white neighborhoods where the financial system refused to extend credit to homebuyers.

Realtors sometimes rename these formerly redlined neighborhoods to make them more appealing to new residents. As Azucena Rasilla and Darwin BondGraham report, sometimes historic names are brought back while others are entirely made up.

Urban renewal projects, such as highway expansions that cut through neighborhoods, also paved the way for public and private disinvestment. In West Oakland, the BART tracks on 7th Street, which destroyed the area's Black business district, are one example.

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The Forces Driving Gentrification in Oakland | East Bay Express

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click to enlarge Photo by Stephen Loewinsohn Unless you've lived in the East Bay for a long time, it may be hard to understand the rapid shift that's taken place here in recent years: the explosion in the number of homeless people, the insane rent increases, the influx of wealthy young people - and the businesses catering to them.

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Article describing the effects on long time residents as gentrifiers enter into the city. Gives insight into the thoughts and attitudes of those residents.

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Dante Zedd can barely recognize Clawson, the West Oakland neighborhood he's lived in for more than three decades.

He calls Clawson Dogtown, a nickname he says was earned because of the stray dogs that once roamed the streets nuzzling for food.

The dogs barking in Dogtown these days are on leashes or in yards with sturdy fences.

"This ain't the neighborhood that I grew up in," Zedd told me one recent Saturday afternoon from the stoop where he watches Dogtown's daily transformation. "This the neighborhood I wish I grew up in."

Zedd, 41, is the single father of a 5-year-old daughter. He works as a nighttime janitor at Peralta Community College. I met him last year as he was emptying trash cans at the college, where I host a monthly music show for KGPC.

I'd been looking to tell a story about gentrification from the eyes of someone who's watched their neighborhood change. Zedd invited me to hang out on the steps of the house his mother owns on 32nd Street. She also owns the house next door. He says his family is among the last black property owners in the neighborhood.

Houses and buildings in Dogtown are wrapped in scaffolding, and the whirring screech of power saws every morning can substitute for an alarm clock.

"It just seemed like you wake up - bam! It's there," Zedd said.

More developments - and more new neighbors - are coming.

Two blocks away on Hollis Street, 124 apartments are on the rise. On Hannah Street, next to West Oakland Farm Park, the foundation of a four-story, mixed-use complex is being excavated and graded. When I walked by the other day, I asked about the dog tied to the fence surrounding the lot. I was told it belonged to the backhoe operator.

Seven decades ago, Dogtown was settled by blacks who migrated from the South to work in Oakland's shipyards during World War II. The industrial area was one of the handful of neighborhoods where blacks, who were subjected to public housing segregation and discriminatory lending policies endorsed by the federal government, could find adequate and affordable housing.

Once undesirable and bereft of outside investment, historically black and brown neighborhoods in San Francisco, Oakland, Richmond and other Bay Area cities are now inundated by housing and retail investors.

This, unfortunately, means people of color get displaced. But what about the black families like Zedd's who remain anchored in their neighborhoods?

This is what gentrification looks like when it knocks on your door.

When he was growing up, Dogtown was a neighborhood that wasn't safe for people to walk dogs. As Zedd told me this, a white couple passed walking a dog on their way to play fetch in the field near his house.

We laughed at the timing.

"It's like everybody dead or in prison so now it's OK for (white people) to move back in the 'hood," he said. "That's how it feel like."

He feels out of place at home, and he's worried about whether it's safe for a black man to walk the streets of the neighborhood he's lived in for 36 years.

"I'm an outcast now in my own neighborhood," he said. "I've been saying that for the past two or three years now. (New neighbors) drive by and look at me like, what am I doing here? How can I live here?

"I've been here."

The thing is, Zedd really didn't expect to be here - alive.

"I always had it in my head growing up that I wouldn't live any longer than 25," said Zedd, who recalled a white day care teacher telling him he wouldn't amount to much. "And when you're young, you think that's an old age anyway."

There weren't many jobs in the area, so he started slinging drugs in high school to earn money.

"I seen kids my age having nice things," he said.

Nice cars with flashy gold rims. Nice sneakers and nice clothes. And the attention from girls, of course, was especially nice.

"I didn't see anybody successful unless they were drug dealers," he said. "When I was growing up, they would give us money to go buy something from the store. They was the nice guys.

"I didn't register the risk of it all. I just saw all the glamour and glitz. I wanted to be a part of that."

Zedd's been shot once, with four bullets piercing his body. Even after he'd left the street life and gotten a job, there were years when he didn't leave the house without a gun because he feared retribution for the things his friends had done.

He told me only one childhood friend of his hasn't gotten shot. It sounded like a positive piece of his life - until he added the friend is in federal prison without a real shot at life.

Zedd understands that some people - some of you reading this right now - will have a hard time identifying with his struggle to build his life without access to resources. But it's a plight that many black and brown people in the Bay Area face.

"You have to live it to understand it," he said.

Dogtown was once a neighborhood to survive, a place to escape. Now it's an attractive neighborhood within biking or walking distance of Emeryville stores. Still, Dogtown's future residents won't be able to overlook the tent communities in the neighborhood, like the sprawling encampment on Peralta Street.

When Zedd drives past the camps, he recognizes people.

"I know they used to live in a home," he said.

There are no more crack houses set up in abandoned homes in the neighborhood. Sure, that's a good thing.

"It's good and bad everything that's going on in the neighborhood," he said. "It's less crime. It's a safer neighborhood. But it's just no identity. Everyone who deserves to be here or want to be here can't be here."

But his daughter will grow up here.

"I'm hoping that she'll grow up and run around happy," he said. "I hope she grow up not seeing race or color or anything and she'll be able to enjoy a new neighborhood."

And maybe when she gets older she'll get the pony she's been asking for. They already have a dog.

San Francisco Chronicle columnist Otis R. Taylor Jr. appears Mondays and Thursdays. Email: otaylor@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @otisrtaylorjr

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In Oakland, this is gentrification when it knocks on your door

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Dante Zedd can barely recognize Clawson, the West Oakland neighborhood he's lived in for more than three decades. He calls Clawson Dogtown, a nickname he says was earned because of the stray dogs that once roamed the streets nuzzling for food. The dogs barking in Dogtown these days are on leashes or in yards with sturdy fences.

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New York Times Review. Discusses the relationship of the "two Oaklands". Interesting perspective of those who grew up in Oakland and made it the vibrant cultural place gentrifiers gravitate towards.

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The names of slain Innocent black men written in memoriam and support of the BLM movement.

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Shows too often the racial demographic of police officers sent into communities of color. These predominantly white officers often are not from the communities they police, and have no connection with the communities they serve

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This picture shows racially diverse supporters. The media often times through news outlets show a very different violent nature of this group. Often times this group is portrayed as riotous and violent.

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Video Shows real interactions between Oakland Police and BLM activists.

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RAW VIDEO: Tense moment between Oakland law enforcement, protesters

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Sky7 HD caught tense moments between law enforcement and Black Lives Matter activists Friday night during a protest in Oakland.

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Great link on Advocacy for Empathy in Black Lives Matter Era. Discusses the purpose of the plot from the perspectives of the creators.

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Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal began working on their first screenplay around the time of the 2009 shooting death of Oscar Grant by a white police officer in Oakland, Calif. - nearly a decade later, their film "Blindspotting" feels just as relevant as ever.

"[The Oscar Grant shooting] was a highly televised case in Oakland because there hadn't been a lot of them," Casal told TheWrap. "Now is what happens when a country doesn't deal with the issues that it has. The conversation sort of gets to the point of exhaustion."

Diggs, a star of Broadway's "Hamilton," said the film comes with a definite message in the Black Lives Matter era. "There's an advocacy for empathy in the film," he said. "So if there's anything that the film is arguing for, it's this idea that you probably have blindspots no matter who you are. And it's worth investigating them."

Also Read: 'Blindspotting' Film Review: Ambitious Oakland Tale Suffers From Too Many Ideas

In addition to co-writing the script, Diggs stars as an Oakland man named Collin trying to make his last three days on probation when he witnesses a copy shoot a black suspect in the back during a chase.

"There's a feeling that I think every person of color feels in this country, I think that every poor person in this country feels to some extent, I think any marginalized group - women - where somehow your body is worth less than anybody else's," Diggs told TheWrap.

"There's a real fear associated with that and I think Collin, being on probation, leads him to be grappling with things in this particular way that feel stifling, they feel heavy," he added.

Also Read: We Need a Movie About Ira Aldridge, the Black Shakespearean Who Fought Racism From the Stage (Podcast)

Casal, who costars as Collin's best friend, Miles, said the film's focus shifted from outrage over the shooting of an unarmed black man to the silence that comes after numerous such events.

"Blindspotting" asks a lot of questions of the audience, and one of the only answers it gives is what blindspotting actually is: when someone can only see one of two, or many interpretations of an image or situation.

Diggs and Casal said they weren't interested in telling the audience what to take away from the film. "I don't think we were trying to prescribe an outcome that led you to believe one thing or another," Diggs said. "It's going to depend on where your point of entry is and in the discussions you have with your friends and neighbors afterward.

Also Read: 'Blindspotting': Inside That Unmissable Scene About the N Word (Exclusive Video)

"Blindspotting," released by Lionsgate and in theaters this weekend, has been praised critics. The film currently has a 91 percent on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.

As heavy as the themes in "Blindspotting" - there's an entire, tension-filled scene devoted to exploring the use of the N-word - the film is markedly funny.

"The beauty of showing the duality of comedy and drama - that's the currency of people in any sort of struggle and people in an oppressed group in this country - is to find the coping mechanism so that you can drive off into the sunset at the end of a story," Casal said. "You have to let people exhale."

'Blindspotting' Stars Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal Portraits (Exclusive Photos)

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'Blindspotting' Creators on the Film's 'Advocacy for Empathy' in the Black Lives Matter Era (Video)

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Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal began working on their first screenplay around the time of the 2009 shooting death of Oscar Grant by a white police officer in Oakland, Calif. - nearly a decade later, their film "Blindspotting" feels just as relevant as ever.