Black People Don’t Work Together” — The Lie That Protects Theft

Let’s stop pretending this is about culture.The myth that Black people don’t work together exists for one reason: it excuses organized theft carried out through policy, bureaucracy, and capital. It turns displacement into a moral failure instead of what it actually is — a business strategy.

Neighborhoods don’t collapse on their own. They are starved.Police protection quietly pulls back before the headlines change. City services fade. Infrastructure rots. Banks disappear. Insurance becomes unaffordable. The area gets labeled a “slum” only after the damage is already done — and that label becomes justification for more neglect.Then the same system points at the wreckage and says, See? They couldn’t manage it.That’s phase one.

Phase two is where investors smell opportunity.Once property values are crushed low enough, outside capital floods in — not to help residents, but to replace them. Suddenly, the same streets that “weren’t worth fixing” are worth millions. Suddenly, police are everywhere. Suddenly, permits get approved. Suddenly, trash gets picked up on time. Funny how efficiency shows up right when money does.The people who survived the worst years — the ones who endured red tape, harassment, underfunded schools, and predatory fines — become the final obstacle.

So the pressure increases.
Property taxes spike overnight. Code violations appear out of nowhere. Rent jumps just enough to force a move. Developers “accidentally” buy the house next door. Investors offer cash, then intimidation.This isn’t revitalization. It’s removal.The same neighborhood that was called a “dangerous slum” gets rebranded as “up-and-coming” the moment Black residents are priced out. Coffee shops replace corner stores. Luxury condos rise where families once lived. And suddenly, the crime narrative disappears — because the people were never the problem.But here comes the insult on top of the injury.

After the displacement is complete, the same voices ask: Why didn’t the community build generational wealth?Because every time it tried, the rules changed. Because every time it endured long enough to matter, the land became valuable. Because survival was punished, not rewarded.Black people didn’t fail to work together. They worked together long enough for someone else to profit from it.Gentrification is not accidental progress. It is the final phase of a process that begins with neglect and ends with eviction — all while pretending it’s improvement.

So no, this isn’t about responsibility. It’s about who gets protected, who gets pushed out, and who gets paid.
And the lie that Black people don’t work together? That’s just the story told to make displacement sound deserved.