Brandon Gray has been a resident of North Carolina for over a decade. It’s only recently he’s found himself able to more actively engage in local politics due to a lifetime of physical and mental health struggles. It’s through these struggles he’s come to hope for a community that respects equity, empathy, and above all, each other. As we find ourselves stumbling through a life under politicians and businessmen who seek to keep the individual small and weak, it’s his belief that people can stand by each other to rise above them all. Most of his free time is spent volunteering for the mutual aid group Food Not Bombs of Raleigh. They offer food, clothes, toiletries, and other necessities with no questions asked through various projects. Please look into them if you or someone you know is in any need or have a desire to directly aid their community.
Brandon spoke at City Council on December 12, 2023. He had planned a 3 minute comment. But, due to the abrupt change by Mayor Baldwin limiting speaker time to only 1 minute, he had to change his comment. We are publishing his originally planned comments here:
Following the surrender of Confederate North Carolina, Black Americans showed unbreakable resolve in cultivating a safe community in a hostile land. Since 1865 it has been developed predominantly by Black Americans into what we now recognize as the South Park Historic District. We recognize it for its rich history, for the brilliant resolve in protecting their community against a system designed to destroy it, and for the invaluable culture offered to the city of Raleigh.
Historic South Park is surveyed largely by the Census Bureau in tracts 507 and 509. In a 2010 5-year survey, the population of those tracts averaged 88.5% Black; fitting for the historic district built on over a century of Black labor. Tragically, following the increased gentrification of Downtown since the early 2010s, those very same surveys indicate the average Black population plunged to 66.3% as of 2021.
This gentrification–cruelly forced to be funded by the council’s constituents through taxes and fees–is not done with respect to or value for the history, culture, and communities of Downtown. It’s for the investors; for the migratory wealthy who seek new investments for their capital in an expanding city.
In a continued attack on the people of Downtown, and Historic South Park specifically, on November 16th the city council began negotiations to sell public land within a mile of South Park in Moore Square to investors LODEN Hospitality and LODEN Properties. Council member Melton, upon hearing their proposal, remarked that he was unable to, and I quote, “think of a project that has more checked boxes for win, win, wins.” Among these privileged proposals are “a signature hotel overlooking Moore Square, retail shops and restaurants to grace street fronts, a boutique hotel, a ‘flips and dips’ concept, a karaoke bar and lounge,” and “400 apartments which will include approximately 160-190 affordable housing units.”
These are not wins for the residents of Moore Square or South Park. These are not wins for the impoverished, the homeless, or the vulnerable. These “investments” continue the unethical displacement of our neighbors, of their constituents, and even of Black Americans from the very community recognized as being built by a century of their own labor.
In 2021, the incredible non-profit CASA was able to create a community of 100 affordable housing units. This was largely in thanks to Raleigh donating a hotel they acquired along with $10m. Today, Raleigh has a planned $3.8b–not million, but billion–in investments for office spaces, residences, hotel rooms, and retail spaces. Imagine if those billions cultivated by the residents of Raleigh instead were used to empower the local communities and honor our existing history. That’s the real investment we deserve.
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