Rakeen Dow is an activist with the All Stars Project’s Committee for Independent Community Action. He is also a co-founder of Live Poet’s Society NYC performance ensemble.
A Tale of Two Cities is a poem that Rakeen wrote in response to the regressive Next Gen plan for New York City’s public housing.
A Tale of Two Cities
This is the tale of two cites,
One where you know,
The rich get richer,
And richer,
The poor get poorer and poorer
And consistently screwed!
De Blasio’s political platform,
When running for the Mayor ship
Was that he didn’t want
New York City,
To turn into
A tale of two cites
All the while
Gentrification was the master plan
To be implemented
Sort of like it was
When the true Native Americans
Where run off the land!
So here comes NYCHA
With their Next Generation/Infill plan,
A plan built to deceive
And is as stealth as a Trojan horse!
They’re gonna build
These luxury condo buildings
On the public housing’s under-utilized land?
They say don’t worry
Thirty percent of the apartments
Are earmarked for affordable housing usage
For those with a minimum income
Of forty thousand dollars.
Meanwhile the median income
Of the families who live
In NYCHA housing complexes is
Twenty-five thousand dollars.
So I ask,
Affordable for whom?
Not my sister Deborah,
Not my uncle Buddy and
Not my best friend Boo
Who I grew up with
They all still reside there
What are they gonna do?
It’s a damn shame!
People being forced out their homes!
Meanwhile where is our political leadership?
Last I heard
In some backroom
Cutting deals with
The Developers!
What has this world come to?
Again
It’s a damn shame!
When basic human needs,
Such as housing and shelter
Have become obsolete
Due to the love of money
Politicians’ and developers
Greed!
So remember, the next time
You pass by A Next Generation/Infill site,
Behind it is,
A Tale of Two Cites!
