Race and Ethnicity Populations Shifts: One of the effects of gentrification is the replacement of exactly the populations of people who breathed life in, inhabited, and given life to a community. New residents are welcomed in based primarily on the extent of their economic privilege, while the cultural and community goods established residents cultivated are discounted. In the United States, the African American/black population lies at the intersection of many different dimensions of disadvantage, and blacks have often disproportionately felt the displacing effects of gentrification. This dynamic is also clearly visible in Oakland. Between 2010 and 2014, Oakland lost 4% of its black population. The loss of the black population in Oakland is particularly felt as African Americans have been a central part of Oakland’s culture, identity, and voice for many generations now. Closer examination of the above map reveals the shifting demographic landscape of Oakland.
