If I had a timely reading list for #DecaturDinners this piece by @brian_goldstone in the @newrepublic would be at the top of the list. newrepublic.com/article/154618… It's a truly devastating piece on how racial capitalism produces housing insecurity for countless #ATL residents.
As someone who clearly went to school on Ta-Nehisi Coates's long-form, scholarly journalism, @brian_goldstone's portrait of Atlanta (as a boom city whose boom is destroying the lives of the people that make it possible) is remarkable for a number of reasons.
In a welcome departure, @brian_goldstone shows how state power is not merely impotent and incapable of addressing the Goodman family's plight but also how it facilitates, exacerbates, and often causes their housing insecurity.
It's another cautionary tale on why (generally) you never call the cops, even those that you think will enforce code violations on your landlord. Such building and safety inspectors are bureaucrats who care about clearing 'slums' for capitalists not tenants' lives.
Folks should take a note here from @OmahaTenants (who I heard about via @RevLeftRadio and @DeadIrishRebel). Their approach is to self-organize and directly fix unsafe housing to keep people away from state violence and hold off gentrification. revolutionaryleftradio.libsyn.com/otu
The Goodmans were evicted once by a capitalist landlord with the support of the state and a second time by the state itself interested in advancing the interests of another set of (redevelopment) capitalists. The state then continuously denied help for the problem it caused.
In short, this is a must read piece filed with ironies (capitalists working for non-profits, jails being renovated into housing assistance faculties, etc.), absurdities (if you abandon your kids and use drugs we'll give you housing if not, go be homeless), and deep research.
@brian_goldstone also stands in this piece as a clear example of why media outlets should be hiring as many brilliant humanities and social science PhDs as they can right now. CC: @afainatl @AuburnDSA @HJL_Atlanta @ChiAntiEviction #AcademicTwitter #Twitterstorians
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