(photo credit Matt Miner Twitter)
A Washington realtor faced major backlash on social media after writing a derogatory listing for a Black neighborhood undergoing rapid gentrification.
Get Happy at Home posted an advertisement on their website of a historically Black neighborhood in Central District and described it as “another hood on the rise.” The company added under the section “real talk” that the area is going through developments and potential buyers will have to “stomach growing pains while the neighborhood transitions.”
Twitter user Spek blasted Get Happy online and was disgusted with how “real estate is being sold in the Central District.”
“The CD[Central District] is one of Seattle’s historic Black neighborhoods, and it didn’t get that way by chance… it was redlined over several decades, and established as one of the few places black folks were even *allowed* to live in,” Spek added. “The blatant plundering of this neighborhood has been known for years, but to see it displayed with such callousness and disregard for its history, its people, and its legacy, is disgusting.”
The Seattle neighborhood was once a hub for several Black businesses and the home of the civil rights era in the 1960’s. The area was predominantly Black but has been gentrified over the course of years. The downtown rental property is becoming increasingly expensive to live at and the demographic shift changed in the late 70’s.
The owner of Get Happy at Home Matt Miner released a public apology on Twitter and wrote, “We call ALL of the neighborhoods in Seattle “hoods,” but we can now see how referring to Central District as a “hood on the rise” came off as culturally insensitive and offensive. We are sorry that we presented it in this way, and while we truly did not mean to reference Central District’s historically Black residents in a negative way, we also know that there is a difference between intention vs. impact. We can now see what our impact was. As two white gay guys, we know we walk through the world with a certain amount of privilege that is not afforded to many of our neighbors. ”
One social media user responded back, “That apology sucks and misses the point. Seriously.”
