by Michael Doherty and Meryl Block
(© 2001. No portion of this essay, text or image, may be reproduced without author's consent.)

Abstract:

In 1948 the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency declared the Fillmore District blighted and—deaf to the continued and impassioned protest of residents—proceeded to raze swaths of what had been known as “The Harlem of the West.” Even though one of the criteria for assessing “blight” was “nonwhite population,” the city and the SFRA maintained that their intention was to ‘revitalize’ the neighborhood by replacing its aging housing stock with modern units, and by improving infrastructure so that the area could attract investment. But now, 40 years later, the area is still depressed, dotted with vacant lots that were housing units before redevelopment. This essay argues that the reason the redevelopment of the Fillmore was a failure was that the city and the SFRA were caught in a web of institutionalized racism. From this vantagepoint, they were able to rationalize the fact that they were imposing a plan without involving the affected community, a plan that ultimately sought to hold up property values near the Central Business District at the expense of the people who lived there.