August 6, 2025 • 34 mins
The documentary "Razing Liberty Square” shows what happens in Miami as sea levels rise and the rich move inland, encroaching on residents of the Liberty Square public housing project. The film tells the story of a historically Black community faced with a $300-million-dollar “revitalization” of their neighborhood. In this episode, hear from a resident and climate activist, Valencia Gunder, who says she’s fighting a new form of racial injustice: climate gentrification.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Straw media. We can't continue to lean on these systems right.
The government has shown people of color, poor people for
many years that they're not coming to save us, especially
(00:22):
after disaster, and it is time for us to stop
depending on that thinking that we're going to be able
to bolt our way up to this thing. We have
to dig deeper into building resiliency alternatives and building mutual
aid networks.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
This is Lucas Grinley from Next City, a show about
change makers and their stories. Truth is, there are solutions
to the problems oppressing people in cities. If you're listening,
I hope it's because you want to spread good ideas
from one city to the next city. Miami is on
the front lines of climate change, and for residents of
Liberty City, the biggest threat isn't rising seeds, it's displacement.
That tension is at the heart of Raising Liberty Sq,
(01:00):
a new documentary from OSCAR nominated director Katya Essen that
follows the three hundred million dollar redevelopment of Liberty Square
and the people fighting to stay in the neighborhood they've
called home for generations. Here is a clip from the trailer.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
So climate gentrification is happening in Miami is being effected
in the worst way. There's a change coming to this area.
They're going to come take Liberty City because we don't flood.
All the people that are planning this don't live in
this community.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Libby Square is the heart. Now, why you destroyed a hart,
You destroy the people. As rising seas threaten Miami's waterfront,
real estate developers have their eyes on the city's higher ground,
like Liberty City, and right at the center is Liberty Square,
the first segregated public housing project in the South in
(01:50):
twenty fifteen. The decision was made without input from residents,
to raise and rebuild it as a three hundred million
dollar mixed income development along the way. Many of the
residents left when they were offered the choice to take
housing vouchers rather than wait for the public housing to
be rebuilt, and they were promised the right to return,
but at least initially, as the film shows, almost no
(02:10):
one came back. Today's guest Valentia Gunder, is featured in
the film. She's a lifelong Liberty City resident and one
of the organizers leading the fight to protect her neighborhood
by building mutual aid networks. Reclaiming home ownership and showing
what real community power looks like. She's the co director
of the Smile Trust, founder of the Community Emergency Operations Center,
(02:30):
and part of the team behind Freedom Lab and the
Black Collective. Now, nearly a decade after construction began, she
joins us with an update on what's changed, what hasn't,
and what's still at stake.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
We have some not so good updates and some good updates.
So Liberty City, I mean, it's still struggling. It's still struggling.
Miami is not a most expensive city to live in
in the whole United States of America, so it's not
getting easier for people to stay here. Liberty Square that
I think that may be like eighty five percent finished
(03:08):
with the redevelopment of the property. When the film was
first released, there was only five families in there, which
was horrible. The county completely lied to the people, said
they we're not going to displace anybody, and they actually did. However,
after the film, we also created an impact campaign that
(03:29):
was those of Us that's a part of the documentary
and other organizations here in Miami, and we were able
to get with the new mayor. That's not the mayor
y'all seen in the film a new mayor, and the
new mayor actually was very open to figuring out solutions,
so she won worked with the housing director, the new
(03:51):
housing director who allowed us to work with him, and
we called through everybody who was displaced and let them
know they could come back. So now we have around
like two hundred and fifty five family's back in Liberty Square.
So that's a when when you know, we were at five.
We also were able to have the mayor and her
team actually walk the property because all of the complaints
(04:12):
people are having with the infrastructure in the mold and everything,
and the mayor actually kind of responded and got a
lot of things fixed, So that's one thing. However, it's
very disappointing that the back of Liberty Squares where the
public housing is and you could tell it's public housing,
and then the front they're building market rate apartments and
(04:33):
I mean different paint, different materials, different all of these things,
and it's been super sad to see that happen. Like
they even though they built the new development and we're
getting people to move back in, you can still see
that it's split between those who are low income or
need public housing to those who can afford real rent.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
So I think it's amazing that Sorry, I'm just gonna say,
I think it's amazing that you were able to get
many families back, and that there was an effort to
call people.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Yeah, shout out to the coalition. Like the coalition organization
came in. It was not playing, they were not playing.
They used the documentary as a tool. Of course, my
organizations are part of the coalition, but we weren't the
only ones, and they worked hard to reach out to
those community members.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
There are examples of resilience. The film Raising Liberty City
includes footage of this little orange building sitting amongst towering
new developments. In the building you would find the neighborhood barber.
His shop was called mop City.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Mop City passed away a few years ago, so he's
no longer there. However, I talked to his son yesterday
and they still own that property till this day, and
they have no intentions of selling. They're just trying to
determine what kind of business they're going to actually open
up in this space now that the father has passed away.
(05:59):
But they still are, you know, pushing against the gray
to ensure that small businesses, just like kids could actually
have a place in this new liberty city that they're building.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
The thing I like about the Mop City example is
that you say it's a powerful example to have something
like that that you can see in the city, in
the neighborhood. But you're also an example of a solution
that I think we learned about in the film, and
you make the case for home ownership. I'm wondering if
you can talk about your own journey toward home ownership,
(06:32):
because we didn't really delve into that into the film.
But I think, and I'm not sure about this, that
you worked with a group, the Miami Millennial Investment Group,
maybe played a role in that whole journey. And then
what if you just had a chance to talk about
the reason that you, you know, set this example and
like the effect that you think that it can have.
(06:53):
If you were talking to a neighbor, what would you
tell people.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Yeah, so shout out to the Miami Millennial Investment Group.
They did not help me buy my house, but I
lived in one of their properties to rent for three years.
They came at a very low race. I was able
to save the money to buy my house so that
was a great example of them supporting people into home
ownership because sometimes you just need a little break and
be able to put some money to the side, and
(07:16):
they allowed me to do that. So thank you to
that group, and a lot of them are my friends,
so shout out to them. But I ended up getting
a pre approved for a certain amount of money to
buy a house, and I was told father to come
by and look at this house. The house that I
live in actually belonged to my grandfather and he passed
(07:37):
away many years ago, and then my dad and his
siblings inherited the house, the house where it was abandoned
maybe almost seven eight years. And what was so good
about it was I saw a vision like I couldn't
make this into a home and everything it's beautiful, And
you know, I thought one of the things I could do,
(07:59):
like I did climate policy, I did lots of training
and education around gentrification. I did a lot of organizing
against horrible developers, lots of and you know, one of
the things I thought I could do was like invest
my money in my community and stay here. And I
have been successful in doing that. And also it has
(08:20):
been like this really really great experience. One the way
I was able to remodel my home did not impact
the other other community members, like I did it at
a very good cost, even though I was a proof
or a whole bunch of money. I found me a
house that was way under budget on purpose. And what
I noticed now my neighbors they're all fixing up the house.
(08:43):
Is they doing something beautify the community. But they're doing
it on their own and on their own time, you know,
And that's what I love about it. This was my
biggest piece of resistance. This was my biggest piece of resistance.
I put my money where my mouth was, and I
am here. I'm a resident of Liberty City. I mean
I grew up in Liberty City, but I brought my
house here. I work in Liberty City, and I shop
(09:06):
in Liberty City. So I think that is a good
example when people are like, what can you do personally?
You know, live in your community, spend money in your community,
use the amenities of your community, and that is another
way to stop gentrification.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
You know, you mentioned your grandfather, but you also mention
your grandfather in the film as having always said that
they were going to try and come for Liberty City
because it doesn't flood and let me watch that sort
of play out in the film.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
But I.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Know what it means to be a climate denier. But
I do wonder if when you're talking to developers in
this situation, if there's some sort of climate gentrification denial
going on, Like did they agree with the narrative as
you're describing it, like the lens that you're describing this
movement into Liberty City as being a reaction to climate.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
I mean, some people didn't know in twenty fifteen, the
first time I actually learned the term from his paut
At Richards. That's the woman who coined the term. She
still lives in Liberty City. And when I would go
down to the County Commission, I'll always talk about it.
I'm always talking about it because I feel as if
our people's voices and their stories are data. That's data.
(10:18):
And the mayor I was put out of the County Commission,
like literally handcuffed and removed from the County Commission because
they said it's no such thing as climate gentrification and
I was making up unnecessary fear. But shout out to
doctor Hugh glad when at FIU saught an international university,
and he just was a good resource for our community,
(10:42):
and he actually built us the map. So I went
back into County Commission, so I said what I said.
You know, so we always got pushed back about it,
but now all of a sudden, the county is now
like it's like a keyword. You know, everybody's using it.
Not everybody thought that climate had anything to do with it.
But if you look at the examples raw data, Mami
(11:04):
Beach is under that thing. Some of them is like
under one or at zero feet above sea level. And
we also already see the increase of water coming into
the city. So that's science telling you that. And then
because salt water intrusion, which you didn't talk about in
the film with the water coming in Miami is built
on limestone and not bedrocks, so the water's not just
(11:26):
coming from the side, it's coming from underneath. And what
people don't realize is that without us put in resiliency
and infrastructure for adaptation in our community, you have things
like surf Side right that was a con surf Side
beach that literally collapsed in the middle of the night
(11:49):
because the salt water is eating away at the base
of the city, and the city refused to listen, so
I think, like, what's happening now, because we honestly true
examples of the climate gentrification actually impacting. You know, when
we first were doing the film, they told us, hey,
this is not real, but now all of a sudden,
(12:11):
our communities are completely flipped, filled with people who are
not from here, and literally it's inaccessible to the people
who have been here for a very long time.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
After the Break, Valencia shares what it took to get
residents involved, from knocking on doors and canvassing neighborhoods to
helping people speak out even when they were afraid of retaliation.
Welcome back before the Break, Valencia gave us an update
(12:44):
on what's changed since Raising Liberty Square was filmed, including
a hard won return for about two hundred and fifty
families who had been displaced.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
That kind of.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Progress didn't happen on its own. It took organizing, door
knocking and helping neighbors find the confidence and safety to
speak up.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
So just a quick some quick notes and contexts. When
Liberty Square before they even chose to developer and me
and my friends we heard about it. We started camas
in the community, like do you know this thing? Is coming.
You need to start speaking up. You need to come
to the County Commission. And some of the things we
would do is like make sure they got there, give
(13:26):
them talking points and stuff like that. Even if they
didn't landed. It's just giving folks a way to have
a voice. We did lots of surveying, right, That was
another way to get people's voices in the room. We
organize people to those community meetings that y'all saw them
cussing out the developers. We would make sure that room
was packed every single time and they were allowed to speak.
(13:48):
It's hard sometimes because people who are living in public
housing are afraid to speak out because they feel as
if they're going to be punished or just evicted or whatever.
Right and the truth is something that did happen, but
it did not stop the rest of the residents from
speaking up. And I think like to make sure underresource
(14:08):
communities are at the forefront with climate change in the
fight against housing is to allow them to speak. Always
find out what it is that they want. Always believe
their stories over what anybody else says. Always believe their stories.
I go to my grave and whatever the people of
Liberty Square said to me, is the correct thing in
(14:31):
the truth, period, point blank. And as an advocate, I
make sure that they have space. They have space to
speak up, and if they are afraid to or don't
have the capacity or time to do it, then if
I am speaking, I am only speaking of the truths
that they gave me. Period. And I think also training people.
(14:54):
I trained lots of people on climate gentrification, climate change,
you know, doing those workshops at seven o'clock in the evening,
because that's when people are off making sure it's food
and childcare and everything, and they're breaking down the science,
very very boil it down so that not only that
they catch it, because these people are not stupid, right,
(15:16):
but they are able to get it and bite size
and take it with them and embed it in their
lives every single day. So when Surfside happened, I literally
had five hundred tweets telling me, fe Lissa, you said
this was going to happen, this is climate change, this
is sea level rides, all the things, and I was like, oh,
(15:36):
they're listening. They are listening, and it made sense. And
it's so sad that people will lose their lives, they're housing,
their jobs and everything, But you have to allow people
to speak where they're comfortable speaking at the time they're
comfortable speaking, and you give them the information the same
way you may have needed it when you first first
(15:58):
started getting into social justice.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
I wonder if you could talk about if there's any
version of how things could have unfolded since those community meetings,
like where you're giving folks to talking points to going
into the meetings and they're having their voice shared, if
not heard, where things could have gone differently and could
have had a version of development that was actually healing
(16:26):
and restorative in some way. But then also can you
talk a little bit about the disconnect between the reality
of people's lives and this solution being proposed that, oh,
I'm going to bring in some fancy new housing development
and that's going to make everything fixed and better. Where
I think it was you in the movie at some
point said, you know, this isn't going to change whether
(16:49):
or not people are experiencing poverty. It's just going to
change their apartment exactly.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
So the truth of the matter is it's nowhere in
US history where a new development and underserved communities actually
have been successful. That is a fact. And every community
it seemed like the developers are using the same tactics,
the same language to push our people out. And also,
new walls don't change people reality, it doesn't. It doesn't.
(17:19):
They still living in Liberty City, They're still living in
Liberty Square. The crime is still happening. Even in the
new Liberty Square. They are still being divested from They
had mold in their apartments. They were having leaks in
their roots only one year into the space. So like
a new building does not change my circumstances unless I
(17:41):
have new opportunities to change my circumstances self determination. And
also we have to get out this mindset that somebody
giving us something will fix it. Right now, we are
taxpaying citizens, so our government should be using our dollars correctly.
But they went public in private for these this development
(18:02):
and that just doesn't work because capitalism in America does
not work. It does not work for working class people,
it does not work for poor people, it does not
work for elderly trends, queer people, people of color. It
does not work. And we've seen this with this development.
I you know, I always one of the things we
(18:23):
advocated for is for them to like to programming, hey
train them up on how to like to construction, how
get them the job to do the construction, train them
up on how to do the maintenance, and then maybe
they're gonna be the maintenance folks of the land. And
that gives them like that joint ownership feeling, right that
like I'm maintaining this lawn because it's a job, but
(18:45):
I'm also maintaining this I'm gonna make sure it stays okay.
They went and got all outside people, even the people
who manage the property, that are not even from Miami,
let alone Liberty City, and they're coming in and then
all you see is police riding around there. And if
police not even stopping a crime, they're not even stopping
a crime. Like the crime has not decreased in Liberty City,
(19:06):
not one bit since Liberty Square has opened. I see
the new buildings, they look nice. I mean, you know, esthetically,
but literally at the Freedom Lab every day we have
at least fifty families walking up to the line to
get food. So you know, that's one thing. And then
also I seeing the question is what does development that
(19:29):
is actual healing, and we sort of look like that
is the question of a century. Baby. But I'll tell
you this in my mind, in my mind, and I'm
not the only person who lives in the community, so
I'm just giving you my personal opinion. I feel as
if it's something that we could co create and co
develop ourselves, and we have the ability to co governed
(19:51):
and manage the resources ourselves. I do not like the
idea that people from underresourced communities cannot govern them. That
is the biggest lie we have ever heard, the biggest
lie we have ever heard. And that's why I use
the term under resource sometimes because people don't how to
(20:12):
serve theyselves. They just don't have the resources. They don't
have the resources. And we already know science and statistics
told us that. You know, poverty brings, crime brings illnesses.
Poverty is attached to a lot of these things. And
if you has given me a brand new building, it
doesn't change my economics at as then what do we
(20:33):
really have? But I do feel as if we can
have beloved communities that we help co create and co
support it like we can do it like the county
could have also chose some local and grassroots developers, because
smaller developers went up for the RFP. Church of the
(20:55):
Open Door. They are historical church in Liberty City. They
also do development here. We also have the only urban
league in the United States that has four thousand units
of public housing built in Miami Dade County, all in
Liberty City. The Urban League could have easily developed Liberty Square,
but they didn't give them the property. And the person
who runs our urban League and that staff, those folks
(21:18):
are from Liberty City, you know, So this could have
been completely different. Not saying they would have been perfect,
but apparently they think with all their money, what didn't
come perfect either, you know. And I feel as if
our people would have been handled differently, that people would
have been cared for differently, and then they would have
been able to care for themselves differently.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
After the break, Valencia reflects on what could have gone
differently in Liberty Square and how even when someone from
the neighborhood tried to work within the system, the space
for real community leadership just wasn't there. Welcome back before
(21:59):
the break, the Alencia laid out a vision for what
true community led development could look like, where residents aren't
just consulted, but co create and co govern the future
of their neighborhood. She also made clear what went wrong
in Liberty Square, a redevelopment that brought new buildings, but
not new opportunities, no jobs for residents, no local ownership,
(22:19):
just the same struggles now mixed among higher priced housing.
It's a story that the new documentary Raising Liberty Square
helped bring to national attention. Valencia is featured prominently in
the film because as an organizer, she's helping build the alternatives,
and that work didn't start with the documentary.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
Yeah, you know, shout out to my parents. My parents
were addicted when I was a child. I was born
as a wad of the state. You know, the many
stories of many people growing up in the hood in
the late eighties in the nineties. But my father got
clean when I was about twelve, and my father introduced
me to volunteering and serving people at well, Like on
(23:00):
Saturdays I would be at the homeless shelter helping to
pass our cookies. Every Saturday, I had to be at
a community bent toys for tots, all those things, And
I think I got to understanding of people who were struggling,
understanding of people who were struggling. One to never play
what I would call oppression Olympics with people, because people
are experiencing differently, and everybody's oppression is valid because they
(23:24):
say so, right. I also from there. I think it
was twenty ten. I was still in Tallahasse. Yeah, I
went to school at Famu and the earthquake hit Haiti
and I was so upset, so upset on how the
(23:48):
news was talking about the people of Haiti. So that
was the first time I did something big. I was like,
I'm gonna turn my apartment into a donation center, and
crazy enough, I had to move all my furniture outside
gotas when I brought it down here to Miami, to
church in Notre Dame and to historical Haitian church here
and they got the stuff open to Haiti. It made
me feel good. It made me feel good. It was
(24:10):
like an endorphin, like I felt it in my body,
and I'm like, I'm doing this for the rest of
my life, the rest of my life. Ever since then,
like I've been organizing, like when people come to me
and tell when they need things, even when my resources
were very little. I mean, if I had five cent
you could get two of them and we're gonna be
okay together, you know what I'm saying. And I feel
(24:31):
as if you know, self determination. We can't continue to
lean on these systems. Right. The government has shown people
of color, poor people for many years that they're not
coming to save us, especially after a disaster. They have
shown us several times, right, and it is time for
(24:52):
us to stop depending on that thinking that we're gonna
be able to bote our way up to this thing.
We have to dig deeper into in resiliency alternatives and
building mutual aid networks. That's the only way that we're
gonna be able to save ourselves and survive any level
of any political climate that we're in, any disaster or anything.
(25:13):
Because the way I grew up, I don't know about
everybody else community, but like when I ain't had no sugar,
I went to the neighbor. You know, after Hurricane Andrew
in ninety two, it was my uncles who cut off
the tree, cut down the trees to get the neighbor
out of the house who was stuck. I've never even
seen a Red Cross or heard about a Red Cross.
Sois I got to college, it was no Red Cross
(25:34):
in my neighborhood. It was no no, no female or
anything like. We helped each other literally, the neighbors on
my block and that's where I got my thinking from
in my organizing, like block to bock, believing in getting
up people's community input. And then I realized that our
people are so resilient in that moment, because you know,
(25:54):
people were like, oh, we know how to make a
dollar out of fifteen cent, and that is a real thing,
and that is my model, Like we don't have to
have a lot, we don't need to be strategic and
trusting and share resources.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
That thing you're talking about, the community power and like
the value of having a community that as you're back,
I'm interested what your view of this is, which is
that sometimes I would say, oh, well, the people in
power and developers, they just don't understand the value of
a community, like they dismiss it as if it's not
the thing that people are relying on to get through
(26:33):
all these struggles that they face. But then I see
this movie, this documentary, and I'm thinking, well, actually, if anything,
they seem really clear on the power of that community's voice, right,
And when you have the section eight vouchers roll out,
you sort of get the sense that, oh, it's a
divide and conqueror strategy because the community is so powerful
(26:55):
So I don't know where do you fall on this
question of are the people in power unaware of the
value of these communities and people having each other's bag
like that there is the sort of network, or is
it that they're really aware of it and they want
to undermine it.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
They're very aware. They're not that none of them stupid either.
They know exactly what's going on. That's why they know
to go hire a black person or a LATINX person
or a migrant person to be the community faith. That's
why they know to show up in our community with
barbecue grills, so they use our own culture as a weapon.
(27:33):
They know exactly what's going on. They understand it. They
understand it enough to know when I go in certain
neighborhoods to take certain types of food. They know to
translate documents, They know and understand the levels of things.
And the truth of the matter is they just don't care.
They don't care, and I and honestly, I have yet
(27:54):
to be the developer except for like the smaller what
I guess you would call like a community developer. That's
the only time I meet a developer who actually supports
the community building piece of it. You know, but most
(28:15):
of the time they don't care. They don't care.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
I want to ask you about Aaron McKinney, who is
in the film, another protagonist, one who you grew up with,
and you mentioned that in the film. He's the local
coordinator who's at the start of the film working with
the developer.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
I'm a firm believer of mixingcome development and breaking up
concentrated poverty. And I'm not saying it's because I work
for the firm. I'm actually I am impressed with our plan.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
And it's a tough story to watch because it feels
like everyone around him knows how the story is going
to end except for him, and then in the end
he does quit, and he ends up sort of questioning
what they were really building there. Like that was I
think a version of the quote, And I wonder if
you've talked to him since then, kind of like what
kind of message you have for Aaron or people like Aaron.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
So Aaron and I are still close friends. He lived
down the street from me. I didn't knowing an Aaron
my whole life, so there's that. I also told him
to take the position because I was like, if we
had an inside person, there may be things would move.
You know, Aaron, I feel as if it's errand's in
every community. Like Aaron went to school for urban planning,
(29:24):
like this is what he has his degree in. He
went into the project to use his formal education to
try to ensure that things landed. And we also have
to understand that it is an error in every community.
And what it is is that although he ended up
finding out about what was going on, he quit his job,
(29:45):
which it was a hot paying job. Hello, And he
also spoke out like he didn't go leave quietly. He
spoke his peace. He said all the things, no matter
how scared he was, and even one thing about he
answered the phone every time, no matter the time of night.
He was talking to folks. But you know, eventually we
(30:06):
realized that Erin is to have power within that development firm.
You know, I think when you all have an Erran
in your community, I think it is safe to have
a deeper conversation like once you on. I didn't really
have to have that with Aaron because all of us
knew Aaron already, like before the whole Liberty Square thing,
like we do Errent, Aaron has been in community with us.
(30:29):
He actually is one of the co founders of the
Black Collective, my organization, Like he's been down in these trenches.
He grew up right down the street from Liberty Square,
like it's a thing. But I do believe he tried
his hardest. I just feel as if capitalism, when white supremacy,
just holds more power over a person like Aaron. You know,
(30:51):
he tried to do an inside strategy. We were doing
the outside strategy. We talked a lot through the whole project.
If I heard anything to call and rip ar one
every single time, but he answered the phone every time.
He said what he had to said. I remember the
night he chose to resign from the job. He came
(31:12):
to me and he's like, be I'm gone. He was like,
they're not listening to me. And he was like, I
tried my hardest, every idea, y'all gave me everything. I
took it to the thing. He's like, I have email
proof that they just denying everything and everything. So Aaron.
I know, some people say like they may think like
he sold the community out, but he really didn't. He didn't.
(31:34):
I think I believe and based off all the evidence
I've seen and all the cursing out we done did honey.
This man tried to really really implement the plan of
the people. They just wouldn't let him. But yeah, and
then at the top side of all of this, you know,
when we first started fighting for Liberty Square, we were young,
you know, we just learning ourselves and getting out here
(31:55):
and everything. It's not like a textbook somebody sit you
down to tell you how to fight against gentrificate. You
get out there as an organizer, as a concern community member,
with your talents and your education, and you start asking
questions and going to talk to people. And that's what
we was on and was what was Eron's on. So
I have a lot of grace for Aaron. And also
(32:17):
if you ever go into a position like Eron's, make
sure you stay grounded with the people because the people
will know. And you know what was so beautiful to
see at one of our local screenings, a lot of
community members came to errand was like, you know, we
apologize for those words. We said, like we now know
like you try everything, because errors tried, like he was
(32:40):
used to cry every time he come out of those
meetings that these people are not listening to him. Community
members tell them what they want going there and it's
a no. Yeah, it's hard to watch, but it's necessary
for people to see that point of view too. Because
you grew up in the hood don't mean that you
can't be an urban urban planner or a community developer,
(33:03):
you know. And that's what Erin focused at his whole education.
To come back to Liberty City and to help beautify it.
That's always what he said, and he thought being a
part of this project he could be helpful in that.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
Well. Thank you for continuing to fight gentrification and writing
the playbook as you go. We hope you enjoyed this
(33:37):
episode of Next City, show about change makers and their stories.
Together we can spread good ideas from one city to
the next city. Thanks for listening this week. Thank you
to our guest Valenti Gunder. She's the co director of
the Smile Trust, founder of the Community Emergency Operations Center,
and one of the organizers working every day to protect
and uplift Liberty City. She's featured in Raising Liberty Square,
the Emmy Award nominated documentary from director Katyasen. To find
(34:01):
a screening near you or learn more about the film,
visit Raisinglibertysquare dot org. That's r Azilibertysquare dot org. Our
audio producer is Silvana Alcala. Our show producer is Maggie Bowles.
Our executive producer is Ryan Tillotson. And I'm Lucas Grinley,
Executive director for Next City. By the way, Next City
is a news organization with a nonprofit model. If you
like what we're doing here, please consider pitching in to
(34:23):
support our work. Visit nextcity dot org slash membership to
make a donation. We'd love to hear any feedback from
our listeners. Please feel free to email us at info
atnexcity dot org and if you haven't already, subscribed to
the show on Apple, Spotify, Good Pods, or anywhere you
listen to your podcasts.
Straw media. We can't continue to lean on these systems right.
The government has shown people of color, poor people for
many years that they're not coming to save us, especially
(00:22):
after disaster, and it is time for us to stop
depending on that thinking that we're going to be able
to bolt our way up to this thing. We have
to dig deeper into building resiliency alternatives and building mutual
aid networks.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
This is Lucas Grinley from Next City, a show about
change makers and their stories. Truth is, there are solutions
to the problems oppressing people in cities. If you're listening,
I hope it's because you want to spread good ideas
from one city to the next city. Miami is on
the front lines of climate change, and for residents of
Liberty City, the biggest threat isn't rising seeds, it's displacement.
That tension is at the heart of Raising Liberty Sq,
(01:00):
a new documentary from OSCAR nominated director Katya Essen that
follows the three hundred million dollar redevelopment of Liberty Square
and the people fighting to stay in the neighborhood they've
called home for generations. Here is a clip from the trailer.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
So climate gentrification is happening in Miami is being effected
in the worst way. There's a change coming to this area.
They're going to come take Liberty City because we don't flood.
All the people that are planning this don't live in
this community.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Libby Square is the heart. Now, why you destroyed a hart,
You destroy the people. As rising seas threaten Miami's waterfront,
real estate developers have their eyes on the city's higher ground,
like Liberty City, and right at the center is Liberty Square,
the first segregated public housing project in the South in
(01:50):
twenty fifteen. The decision was made without input from residents,
to raise and rebuild it as a three hundred million
dollar mixed income development along the way. Many of the
residents left when they were offered the choice to take
housing vouchers rather than wait for the public housing to
be rebuilt, and they were promised the right to return,
but at least initially, as the film shows, almost no
(02:10):
one came back. Today's guest Valentia Gunder, is featured in
the film. She's a lifelong Liberty City resident and one
of the organizers leading the fight to protect her neighborhood
by building mutual aid networks. Reclaiming home ownership and showing
what real community power looks like. She's the co director
of the Smile Trust, founder of the Community Emergency Operations Center,
(02:30):
and part of the team behind Freedom Lab and the
Black Collective. Now, nearly a decade after construction began, she
joins us with an update on what's changed, what hasn't,
and what's still at stake.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
We have some not so good updates and some good updates.
So Liberty City, I mean, it's still struggling. It's still struggling.
Miami is not a most expensive city to live in
in the whole United States of America, so it's not
getting easier for people to stay here. Liberty Square that
I think that may be like eighty five percent finished
(03:08):
with the redevelopment of the property. When the film was
first released, there was only five families in there, which
was horrible. The county completely lied to the people, said
they we're not going to displace anybody, and they actually did. However,
after the film, we also created an impact campaign that
(03:29):
was those of Us that's a part of the documentary
and other organizations here in Miami, and we were able
to get with the new mayor. That's not the mayor
y'all seen in the film a new mayor, and the
new mayor actually was very open to figuring out solutions,
so she won worked with the housing director, the new
(03:51):
housing director who allowed us to work with him, and
we called through everybody who was displaced and let them
know they could come back. So now we have around
like two hundred and fifty five family's back in Liberty Square.
So that's a when when you know, we were at five.
We also were able to have the mayor and her
team actually walk the property because all of the complaints
(04:12):
people are having with the infrastructure in the mold and everything,
and the mayor actually kind of responded and got a
lot of things fixed, So that's one thing. However, it's
very disappointing that the back of Liberty Squares where the
public housing is and you could tell it's public housing,
and then the front they're building market rate apartments and
(04:33):
I mean different paint, different materials, different all of these things,
and it's been super sad to see that happen. Like
they even though they built the new development and we're
getting people to move back in, you can still see
that it's split between those who are low income or
need public housing to those who can afford real rent.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
So I think it's amazing that Sorry, I'm just gonna say,
I think it's amazing that you were able to get
many families back, and that there was an effort to
call people.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Yeah, shout out to the coalition. Like the coalition organization
came in. It was not playing, they were not playing.
They used the documentary as a tool. Of course, my
organizations are part of the coalition, but we weren't the
only ones, and they worked hard to reach out to
those community members.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
There are examples of resilience. The film Raising Liberty City
includes footage of this little orange building sitting amongst towering
new developments. In the building you would find the neighborhood barber.
His shop was called mop City.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Mop City passed away a few years ago, so he's
no longer there. However, I talked to his son yesterday
and they still own that property till this day, and
they have no intentions of selling. They're just trying to
determine what kind of business they're going to actually open
up in this space now that the father has passed away.
(05:59):
But they still are, you know, pushing against the gray
to ensure that small businesses, just like kids could actually
have a place in this new liberty city that they're building.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
The thing I like about the Mop City example is
that you say it's a powerful example to have something
like that that you can see in the city, in
the neighborhood. But you're also an example of a solution
that I think we learned about in the film, and
you make the case for home ownership. I'm wondering if
you can talk about your own journey toward home ownership,
(06:32):
because we didn't really delve into that into the film.
But I think, and I'm not sure about this, that
you worked with a group, the Miami Millennial Investment Group,
maybe played a role in that whole journey. And then
what if you just had a chance to talk about
the reason that you, you know, set this example and
like the effect that you think that it can have.
(06:53):
If you were talking to a neighbor, what would you
tell people.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Yeah, so shout out to the Miami Millennial Investment Group.
They did not help me buy my house, but I
lived in one of their properties to rent for three years.
They came at a very low race. I was able
to save the money to buy my house so that
was a great example of them supporting people into home
ownership because sometimes you just need a little break and
be able to put some money to the side, and
(07:16):
they allowed me to do that. So thank you to
that group, and a lot of them are my friends,
so shout out to them. But I ended up getting
a pre approved for a certain amount of money to
buy a house, and I was told father to come
by and look at this house. The house that I
live in actually belonged to my grandfather and he passed
(07:37):
away many years ago, and then my dad and his
siblings inherited the house, the house where it was abandoned
maybe almost seven eight years. And what was so good
about it was I saw a vision like I couldn't
make this into a home and everything it's beautiful, And
you know, I thought one of the things I could do,
(07:59):
like I did climate policy, I did lots of training
and education around gentrification. I did a lot of organizing
against horrible developers, lots of and you know, one of
the things I thought I could do was like invest
my money in my community and stay here. And I
have been successful in doing that. And also it has
(08:20):
been like this really really great experience. One the way
I was able to remodel my home did not impact
the other other community members, like I did it at
a very good cost, even though I was a proof
or a whole bunch of money. I found me a
house that was way under budget on purpose. And what
I noticed now my neighbors they're all fixing up the house.
(08:43):
Is they doing something beautify the community. But they're doing
it on their own and on their own time, you know,
And that's what I love about it. This was my
biggest piece of resistance. This was my biggest piece of resistance.
I put my money where my mouth was, and I
am here. I'm a resident of Liberty City. I mean
I grew up in Liberty City, but I brought my
house here. I work in Liberty City, and I shop
(09:06):
in Liberty City. So I think that is a good
example when people are like, what can you do personally?
You know, live in your community, spend money in your community,
use the amenities of your community, and that is another
way to stop gentrification.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
You know, you mentioned your grandfather, but you also mention
your grandfather in the film as having always said that
they were going to try and come for Liberty City
because it doesn't flood and let me watch that sort
of play out in the film.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
But I.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Know what it means to be a climate denier. But
I do wonder if when you're talking to developers in
this situation, if there's some sort of climate gentrification denial
going on, Like did they agree with the narrative as
you're describing it, like the lens that you're describing this
movement into Liberty City as being a reaction to climate.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
I mean, some people didn't know in twenty fifteen, the
first time I actually learned the term from his paut
At Richards. That's the woman who coined the term. She
still lives in Liberty City. And when I would go
down to the County Commission, I'll always talk about it.
I'm always talking about it because I feel as if
our people's voices and their stories are data. That's data.
(10:18):
And the mayor I was put out of the County Commission,
like literally handcuffed and removed from the County Commission because
they said it's no such thing as climate gentrification and
I was making up unnecessary fear. But shout out to
doctor Hugh glad when at FIU saught an international university,
and he just was a good resource for our community,
(10:42):
and he actually built us the map. So I went
back into County Commission, so I said what I said.
You know, so we always got pushed back about it,
but now all of a sudden, the county is now
like it's like a keyword. You know, everybody's using it.
Not everybody thought that climate had anything to do with it.
But if you look at the examples raw data, Mami
(11:04):
Beach is under that thing. Some of them is like
under one or at zero feet above sea level. And
we also already see the increase of water coming into
the city. So that's science telling you that. And then
because salt water intrusion, which you didn't talk about in
the film with the water coming in Miami is built
on limestone and not bedrocks, so the water's not just
(11:26):
coming from the side, it's coming from underneath. And what
people don't realize is that without us put in resiliency
and infrastructure for adaptation in our community, you have things
like surf Side right that was a con surf Side
beach that literally collapsed in the middle of the night
(11:49):
because the salt water is eating away at the base
of the city, and the city refused to listen, so
I think, like, what's happening now, because we honestly true
examples of the climate gentrification actually impacting. You know, when
we first were doing the film, they told us, hey,
this is not real, but now all of a sudden,
(12:11):
our communities are completely flipped, filled with people who are
not from here, and literally it's inaccessible to the people
who have been here for a very long time.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
After the Break, Valencia shares what it took to get
residents involved, from knocking on doors and canvassing neighborhoods to
helping people speak out even when they were afraid of retaliation.
Welcome back before the Break, Valencia gave us an update
(12:44):
on what's changed since Raising Liberty Square was filmed, including
a hard won return for about two hundred and fifty
families who had been displaced.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
That kind of.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Progress didn't happen on its own. It took organizing, door
knocking and helping neighbors find the confidence and safety to
speak up.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
So just a quick some quick notes and contexts. When
Liberty Square before they even chose to developer and me
and my friends we heard about it. We started camas
in the community, like do you know this thing? Is coming.
You need to start speaking up. You need to come
to the County Commission. And some of the things we
would do is like make sure they got there, give
(13:26):
them talking points and stuff like that. Even if they
didn't landed. It's just giving folks a way to have
a voice. We did lots of surveying, right, That was
another way to get people's voices in the room. We
organize people to those community meetings that y'all saw them
cussing out the developers. We would make sure that room
was packed every single time and they were allowed to speak.
(13:48):
It's hard sometimes because people who are living in public
housing are afraid to speak out because they feel as
if they're going to be punished or just evicted or whatever.
Right and the truth is something that did happen, but
it did not stop the rest of the residents from
speaking up. And I think like to make sure underresource
(14:08):
communities are at the forefront with climate change in the
fight against housing is to allow them to speak. Always
find out what it is that they want. Always believe
their stories over what anybody else says. Always believe their stories.
I go to my grave and whatever the people of
Liberty Square said to me, is the correct thing in
(14:31):
the truth, period, point blank. And as an advocate, I
make sure that they have space. They have space to
speak up, and if they are afraid to or don't
have the capacity or time to do it, then if
I am speaking, I am only speaking of the truths
that they gave me. Period. And I think also training people.
(14:54):
I trained lots of people on climate gentrification, climate change,
you know, doing those workshops at seven o'clock in the evening,
because that's when people are off making sure it's food
and childcare and everything, and they're breaking down the science,
very very boil it down so that not only that
they catch it, because these people are not stupid, right,
(15:16):
but they are able to get it and bite size
and take it with them and embed it in their
lives every single day. So when Surfside happened, I literally
had five hundred tweets telling me, fe Lissa, you said
this was going to happen, this is climate change, this
is sea level rides, all the things, and I was like, oh,
(15:36):
they're listening. They are listening, and it made sense. And
it's so sad that people will lose their lives, they're housing,
their jobs and everything, But you have to allow people
to speak where they're comfortable speaking at the time they're
comfortable speaking, and you give them the information the same
way you may have needed it when you first first
(15:58):
started getting into social justice.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
I wonder if you could talk about if there's any
version of how things could have unfolded since those community meetings,
like where you're giving folks to talking points to going
into the meetings and they're having their voice shared, if
not heard, where things could have gone differently and could
have had a version of development that was actually healing
(16:26):
and restorative in some way. But then also can you
talk a little bit about the disconnect between the reality
of people's lives and this solution being proposed that, oh,
I'm going to bring in some fancy new housing development
and that's going to make everything fixed and better. Where
I think it was you in the movie at some
point said, you know, this isn't going to change whether
(16:49):
or not people are experiencing poverty. It's just going to
change their apartment exactly.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
So the truth of the matter is it's nowhere in
US history where a new development and underserved communities actually
have been successful. That is a fact. And every community
it seemed like the developers are using the same tactics,
the same language to push our people out. And also,
new walls don't change people reality, it doesn't. It doesn't.
(17:19):
They still living in Liberty City, They're still living in
Liberty Square. The crime is still happening. Even in the
new Liberty Square. They are still being divested from They
had mold in their apartments. They were having leaks in
their roots only one year into the space. So like
a new building does not change my circumstances unless I
(17:41):
have new opportunities to change my circumstances self determination. And
also we have to get out this mindset that somebody
giving us something will fix it. Right now, we are
taxpaying citizens, so our government should be using our dollars correctly.
But they went public in private for these this development
(18:02):
and that just doesn't work because capitalism in America does
not work. It does not work for working class people,
it does not work for poor people, it does not
work for elderly trends, queer people, people of color. It
does not work. And we've seen this with this development.
I you know, I always one of the things we
(18:23):
advocated for is for them to like to programming, hey
train them up on how to like to construction, how
get them the job to do the construction, train them
up on how to do the maintenance, and then maybe
they're gonna be the maintenance folks of the land. And
that gives them like that joint ownership feeling, right that
like I'm maintaining this lawn because it's a job, but
(18:45):
I'm also maintaining this I'm gonna make sure it stays okay.
They went and got all outside people, even the people
who manage the property, that are not even from Miami,
let alone Liberty City, and they're coming in and then
all you see is police riding around there. And if
police not even stopping a crime, they're not even stopping
a crime. Like the crime has not decreased in Liberty City,
(19:06):
not one bit since Liberty Square has opened. I see
the new buildings, they look nice. I mean, you know, esthetically,
but literally at the Freedom Lab every day we have
at least fifty families walking up to the line to
get food. So you know, that's one thing. And then
also I seeing the question is what does development that
(19:29):
is actual healing, and we sort of look like that
is the question of a century. Baby. But I'll tell
you this in my mind, in my mind, and I'm
not the only person who lives in the community, so
I'm just giving you my personal opinion. I feel as
if it's something that we could co create and co
develop ourselves, and we have the ability to co governed
(19:51):
and manage the resources ourselves. I do not like the
idea that people from underresourced communities cannot govern them. That
is the biggest lie we have ever heard, the biggest
lie we have ever heard. And that's why I use
the term under resource sometimes because people don't how to
(20:12):
serve theyselves. They just don't have the resources. They don't
have the resources. And we already know science and statistics
told us that. You know, poverty brings, crime brings illnesses.
Poverty is attached to a lot of these things. And
if you has given me a brand new building, it
doesn't change my economics at as then what do we
(20:33):
really have? But I do feel as if we can
have beloved communities that we help co create and co
support it like we can do it like the county
could have also chose some local and grassroots developers, because
smaller developers went up for the RFP. Church of the
(20:55):
Open Door. They are historical church in Liberty City. They
also do development here. We also have the only urban
league in the United States that has four thousand units
of public housing built in Miami Dade County, all in
Liberty City. The Urban League could have easily developed Liberty Square,
but they didn't give them the property. And the person
who runs our urban League and that staff, those folks
(21:18):
are from Liberty City, you know, So this could have
been completely different. Not saying they would have been perfect,
but apparently they think with all their money, what didn't
come perfect either, you know. And I feel as if
our people would have been handled differently, that people would
have been cared for differently, and then they would have
been able to care for themselves differently.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
After the break, Valencia reflects on what could have gone
differently in Liberty Square and how even when someone from
the neighborhood tried to work within the system, the space
for real community leadership just wasn't there. Welcome back before
(21:59):
the break, the Alencia laid out a vision for what
true community led development could look like, where residents aren't
just consulted, but co create and co govern the future
of their neighborhood. She also made clear what went wrong
in Liberty Square, a redevelopment that brought new buildings, but
not new opportunities, no jobs for residents, no local ownership,
(22:19):
just the same struggles now mixed among higher priced housing.
It's a story that the new documentary Raising Liberty Square
helped bring to national attention. Valencia is featured prominently in
the film because as an organizer, she's helping build the alternatives,
and that work didn't start with the documentary.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
Yeah, you know, shout out to my parents. My parents
were addicted when I was a child. I was born
as a wad of the state. You know, the many
stories of many people growing up in the hood in
the late eighties in the nineties. But my father got
clean when I was about twelve, and my father introduced
me to volunteering and serving people at well, Like on
(23:00):
Saturdays I would be at the homeless shelter helping to
pass our cookies. Every Saturday, I had to be at
a community bent toys for tots, all those things, And
I think I got to understanding of people who were struggling,
understanding of people who were struggling. One to never play
what I would call oppression Olympics with people, because people
are experiencing differently, and everybody's oppression is valid because they
(23:24):
say so, right. I also from there. I think it
was twenty ten. I was still in Tallahasse. Yeah, I
went to school at Famu and the earthquake hit Haiti
and I was so upset, so upset on how the
(23:48):
news was talking about the people of Haiti. So that
was the first time I did something big. I was like,
I'm gonna turn my apartment into a donation center, and
crazy enough, I had to move all my furniture outside
gotas when I brought it down here to Miami, to
church in Notre Dame and to historical Haitian church here
and they got the stuff open to Haiti. It made
me feel good. It made me feel good. It was
(24:10):
like an endorphin, like I felt it in my body,
and I'm like, I'm doing this for the rest of
my life, the rest of my life. Ever since then,
like I've been organizing, like when people come to me
and tell when they need things, even when my resources
were very little. I mean, if I had five cent
you could get two of them and we're gonna be
okay together, you know what I'm saying. And I feel
(24:31):
as if you know, self determination. We can't continue to
lean on these systems. Right. The government has shown people
of color, poor people for many years that they're not
coming to save us, especially after a disaster. They have
shown us several times, right, and it is time for
(24:52):
us to stop depending on that thinking that we're gonna
be able to bote our way up to this thing.
We have to dig deeper into in resiliency alternatives and
building mutual aid networks. That's the only way that we're
gonna be able to save ourselves and survive any level
of any political climate that we're in, any disaster or anything.
(25:13):
Because the way I grew up, I don't know about
everybody else community, but like when I ain't had no sugar,
I went to the neighbor. You know, after Hurricane Andrew
in ninety two, it was my uncles who cut off
the tree, cut down the trees to get the neighbor
out of the house who was stuck. I've never even
seen a Red Cross or heard about a Red Cross.
Sois I got to college, it was no Red Cross
(25:34):
in my neighborhood. It was no no, no female or
anything like. We helped each other literally, the neighbors on
my block and that's where I got my thinking from
in my organizing, like block to bock, believing in getting
up people's community input. And then I realized that our
people are so resilient in that moment, because you know,
(25:54):
people were like, oh, we know how to make a
dollar out of fifteen cent, and that is a real thing,
and that is my model, Like we don't have to
have a lot, we don't need to be strategic and
trusting and share resources.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
That thing you're talking about, the community power and like
the value of having a community that as you're back,
I'm interested what your view of this is, which is
that sometimes I would say, oh, well, the people in
power and developers, they just don't understand the value of
a community, like they dismiss it as if it's not
the thing that people are relying on to get through
(26:33):
all these struggles that they face. But then I see
this movie, this documentary, and I'm thinking, well, actually, if anything,
they seem really clear on the power of that community's voice, right,
And when you have the section eight vouchers roll out,
you sort of get the sense that, oh, it's a
divide and conqueror strategy because the community is so powerful
(26:55):
So I don't know where do you fall on this
question of are the people in power unaware of the
value of these communities and people having each other's bag
like that there is the sort of network, or is
it that they're really aware of it and they want
to undermine it.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
They're very aware. They're not that none of them stupid either.
They know exactly what's going on. That's why they know
to go hire a black person or a LATINX person
or a migrant person to be the community faith. That's
why they know to show up in our community with
barbecue grills, so they use our own culture as a weapon.
(27:33):
They know exactly what's going on. They understand it. They
understand it enough to know when I go in certain
neighborhoods to take certain types of food. They know to
translate documents, They know and understand the levels of things.
And the truth of the matter is they just don't care.
They don't care, and I and honestly, I have yet
(27:54):
to be the developer except for like the smaller what
I guess you would call like a community developer. That's
the only time I meet a developer who actually supports
the community building piece of it. You know, but most
(28:15):
of the time they don't care. They don't care.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
I want to ask you about Aaron McKinney, who is
in the film, another protagonist, one who you grew up with,
and you mentioned that in the film. He's the local
coordinator who's at the start of the film working with
the developer.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
I'm a firm believer of mixingcome development and breaking up
concentrated poverty. And I'm not saying it's because I work
for the firm. I'm actually I am impressed with our plan.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
And it's a tough story to watch because it feels
like everyone around him knows how the story is going
to end except for him, and then in the end
he does quit, and he ends up sort of questioning
what they were really building there. Like that was I
think a version of the quote, And I wonder if
you've talked to him since then, kind of like what
kind of message you have for Aaron or people like Aaron.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
So Aaron and I are still close friends. He lived
down the street from me. I didn't knowing an Aaron
my whole life, so there's that. I also told him
to take the position because I was like, if we
had an inside person, there may be things would move.
You know, Aaron, I feel as if it's errand's in
every community. Like Aaron went to school for urban planning,
(29:24):
like this is what he has his degree in. He
went into the project to use his formal education to
try to ensure that things landed. And we also have
to understand that it is an error in every community.
And what it is is that although he ended up
finding out about what was going on, he quit his job,
(29:45):
which it was a hot paying job. Hello, And he
also spoke out like he didn't go leave quietly. He
spoke his peace. He said all the things, no matter
how scared he was, and even one thing about he
answered the phone every time, no matter the time of night.
He was talking to folks. But you know, eventually we
(30:06):
realized that Erin is to have power within that development firm.
You know, I think when you all have an Erran
in your community, I think it is safe to have
a deeper conversation like once you on. I didn't really
have to have that with Aaron because all of us
knew Aaron already, like before the whole Liberty Square thing,
like we do Errent, Aaron has been in community with us.
(30:29):
He actually is one of the co founders of the
Black Collective, my organization, Like he's been down in these trenches.
He grew up right down the street from Liberty Square,
like it's a thing. But I do believe he tried
his hardest. I just feel as if capitalism, when white supremacy,
just holds more power over a person like Aaron. You know,
(30:51):
he tried to do an inside strategy. We were doing
the outside strategy. We talked a lot through the whole project.
If I heard anything to call and rip ar one
every single time, but he answered the phone every time.
He said what he had to said. I remember the
night he chose to resign from the job. He came
(31:12):
to me and he's like, be I'm gone. He was like,
they're not listening to me. And he was like, I
tried my hardest, every idea, y'all gave me everything. I
took it to the thing. He's like, I have email
proof that they just denying everything and everything. So Aaron.
I know, some people say like they may think like
he sold the community out, but he really didn't. He didn't.
(31:34):
I think I believe and based off all the evidence
I've seen and all the cursing out we done did honey.
This man tried to really really implement the plan of
the people. They just wouldn't let him. But yeah, and
then at the top side of all of this, you know,
when we first started fighting for Liberty Square, we were young,
you know, we just learning ourselves and getting out here
(31:55):
and everything. It's not like a textbook somebody sit you
down to tell you how to fight against gentrificate. You
get out there as an organizer, as a concern community member,
with your talents and your education, and you start asking
questions and going to talk to people. And that's what
we was on and was what was Eron's on. So
I have a lot of grace for Aaron. And also
(32:17):
if you ever go into a position like Eron's, make
sure you stay grounded with the people because the people
will know. And you know what was so beautiful to
see at one of our local screenings, a lot of
community members came to errand was like, you know, we
apologize for those words. We said, like we now know
like you try everything, because errors tried, like he was
(32:40):
used to cry every time he come out of those
meetings that these people are not listening to him. Community
members tell them what they want going there and it's
a no. Yeah, it's hard to watch, but it's necessary
for people to see that point of view too. Because
you grew up in the hood don't mean that you
can't be an urban urban planner or a community developer,
(33:03):
you know. And that's what Erin focused at his whole education.
To come back to Liberty City and to help beautify it.
That's always what he said, and he thought being a
part of this project he could be helpful in that.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
Well. Thank you for continuing to fight gentrification and writing
the playbook as you go. We hope you enjoyed this
(33:37):
episode of Next City, show about change makers and their stories.
Together we can spread good ideas from one city to
the next city. Thanks for listening this week. Thank you
to our guest Valenti Gunder. She's the co director of
the Smile Trust, founder of the Community Emergency Operations Center,
and one of the organizers working every day to protect
and uplift Liberty City. She's featured in Raising Liberty Square,
the Emmy Award nominated documentary from director Katyasen. To find
(34:01):
a screening near you or learn more about the film,
visit Raisinglibertysquare dot org. That's r Azilibertysquare dot org. Our
audio producer is Silvana Alcala. Our show producer is Maggie Bowles.
Our executive producer is Ryan Tillotson. And I'm Lucas Grinley,
Executive director for Next City. By the way, Next City
is a news organization with a nonprofit model. If you
like what we're doing here, please consider pitching in to
(34:23):
support our work. Visit nextcity dot org slash membership to
make a donation. We'd love to hear any feedback from
our listeners. Please feel free to email us at info
atnexcity dot org and if you haven't already, subscribed to
the show on Apple, Spotify, Good Pods, or anywhere you
listen to your podcasts.
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