Thanks to Elise Chance for sending this sad news to me. You can read the NY Daily News article. I will run to 4W today to talk to Selma, who has been a Fort Greene fixture for nearly 20 years. You know how I feel about the gentrification and displacement in our communities, including Fort Greene, Bed-Stuy, (shoot, Bushwick), and Harlem. Here is what two other sisters, including Laurie Cumbo of MoCADA, say about 4W’s displacement. I think they articulate our collective frustration well:
1st – From an anonymous Brooklynite (not Elise):
Greetings all:
It is with great regret that I am forwarding this e-mail about the closing
of 4W Circle. Has Brooklyn become the New Palestine? Are the new weapons
of mass destruction the exorbitant rents and prices? Black and Brown folks are being pushed out…what are we doing about it?
Are we being lulled to sleep by the gentrification of our communities and our *RELATIONSHIPS*? As long as we can socialize with the newcomers at the latest hipster joints…our music and culture used for backdrop/our bedrooms used for infiltration/our men seduced by multicultural P…we are suffering from the *illusion of inclusion*. WAKE UP!! Our communities are gone.
A Luta Continua
2nd – From Laurie Cumbo:
*Laurie A. Cumbo’s*
*Response to the Closing of 4WCircle – A Brooklyn Landmark*
As a business owner in the Fort Greene community, I was devastated and
heartbroken to learn that after 17 years, 4WCirlce was going to close its doors. I am most concerned that many people will simply look at this as just another business closing. Losing 4W Circle to gentrification warfare is a devastating blow to the community. Selma Jackson, a founding member of 4W Circle has devoted the last 17 years of her life to keeping our community together, fighting for the rights of all business owners, opening the doors of opportunity for others and providing jobs for people in our community. We will never understand the type of sacrifice that Selma Jackson has made on behalf of her people in an attempt to preserve our communities and to open the doors of opportunity for young entrepreneurs.
The closing of 4W circle marks a fatal wound to the community and the
cultural diversity that made Fort Greene what it is today. Unless we
recognize how important it is to make a conscious decision to support “our” businesses, the domino effect that has been planned for us will progress with rapid fire.
It is so unfortunate that so many people like Selma Jackson, that have
devoted their lives to creating community and connections are often the
first to be sacrificed for the new comers who have big ideas, lots of money and no historical record of achievement within their “new” community. Before they build their new companies, high rise condominiums and generic franchises, they never take the time to find out about the community or who or what makes the community special. They never ask, “How can we become a part of this community and help make what is already here special”? They never ask, “How can I invest in this community in order to preserve what is already here? Instead in no time at all, brown and black people will be made to feel unwelcome in their own communities that they were born and raised in. The new comers will start off by walking down the streets in our communities looking away from us without a hello, good morning and forget about a how are you doing?
I often wonder what was the process of removal like for the Native Americans that inhabited this beautiful country. Did they try and carry on the regular day to day tasks of life like marriage, raising a family, planning for the future even though they knew their days were numbered. As our businesses continue to close up and down Fulton Street and as less and less of us are coming up out of the train stations in historically Black neighborhoods, I ask where are all of my people going. I didn’t here anything about a reservation being created like the government did for the Native Americans so many years ago. It seems that all over the country there is a gentrification war and no one has told me, where are we expected to go?
In closing, I salute Selma Jackson for contributing towards making Fort
Greene and Brooklyn what it is today. As all of the international magazines quote Brooklyn as being the “hottest”, “trendiest”, “coolest”, and “hippest” place to be right now, despite the warped speed of gentrification that will displace thousands of Black and Brown people, I pledge to tell the future generations who and what was really the “Heart of Brooklyn”. I ask all people, whether you are white, black, yellow or red to support Selma Jackson’s 4WCircle enterprise with your heart, soul and wallet until its closing on February 1st and to let her know that you appreciated her commitment to the community. Moreover, I ask that we wake up to the fact that our local businesses are what makes our Borough unique and sets us apart from everywhere else. This must be preserved, which thereby fosters the very definition of community. My best of wishes to Selma Jackson in her new endeavors and to all local businesses owners, I support you in your struggle to fight for our right to have a community.
With warmest regards,
Laurie A. Cumbo
Founder & Executive Director of MoCADA
*About 4W Circle of Art & Enterprise*
More than a unique boutique-style shopping experience-offering one-of-a-kind Afro-inspired designer fashions, art from around the world, hand-crafted jewelry, greeting cards, wedding accessories, a natural hair salon, a showcase for local artists, community space for programs celebrating African-American culture, and much more, 4W Circle of Art & Enterprise is an incubator of dreams.
Open in Ft. Greene, Brooklyn since 1991, 4W Circle is the dream-realized of four African-American women, including it’s current owner Selma Jackson, to contribute to the community by providing home-based African-American entrepreneurs, especially women, the opportunity to realize the dream of establishing their own retail stores. Over the past decade, scores of aspiring entrepreneurs have found a home, expertise and a supportive environment under the roof of 4W Circle’s cooperative collective. An encouraging number have spread their wings and enriched the neighborhood by establishing their own business spaces.
4W Circle of Art & Enterprise is located at
704 Fulton Street
Between South Portland and South Oxford
Brooklyn, New York 11217
Comment(s)
no, those were not my words although i agree with many of the sentiments. i’ll have to ask julia who wrote it. i’m glad you put it on your blog. it’s just so sad!!! they have been talking on the news about crime going up in central brooklyn, and i am certain that the gentrification of ft. greene, clinton hill, and bed-stuy has a lot to do with that surge in violence. when people are being displaced to neighborhoods that are disenfranchised while other communities are being “developed” and thriving, what more can be expected? we have to take back and invest in our communities.
e
Comment(s)
In 1992 I directed Elice Chance in a “Get Out The Vote” video and have been trying to locate
her. To my surprise when I googled her name I not only found her but found this article written about 4W and Selma Jackson whom I also worked with as a community activist promoting Black Fashion Designers. To anyone who reads this I would like to be in touch with both of these amazing women once again to celebrate our recent collective victory. My e-mail address is PatriciaDeArcy@cs.com.
Thank you for your help
Comment(s)
I hope you find the person you’re searching for here, Patricia. Is it Elise Chance, with an s?
Eisa