Authentic Brooklyn: Spike Speaks and I'm Confused

It would be remiss to not address the wonderful gentrification discussion sparked by a Spike Lee commentary this past week. After all, this is the home of the Authentic Brooklyn discussion. For once, it is not incendiary to denote a series of remarks as a rant. Spike Lee took it to the moon in his discussion.  And yet, beyond understanding the nature of Mr. Lee's comments, the critique has been all over the place and nowhere. It went from quick praise to derision, to the emergence of thought pieces that say a whole lot of nothing about the issue of gentrification. No one can deny the misfortune of pushing people out of neighborhoods, and no one can deny the benefits that higher incomes bring to a neighborhood. The battle for Authentic Brooklyn is reaching a boiling point, and neither side is willing to concede the finer points that the other has to offer.

Somehow in using expletives, Spike Lee brought out the finer points of race and paternalism that the "gentrification" conversation likes to ignore in favor of discussing schools, class, and coffee shops. Let's have a discussion about what's hidden. Discuss what really makes people angry Trust it is not just some imagined reverse racism.