When reading the first three chapters, I immediately thought of the term “root shock” as a form of gentrification of a wider scale. I remember taking a road trip with my parents back to Cincinnati, Ohio in order to see our old neighbors and friends. I was surprised to see that many of them moved away, but when I visited my godmother, I was told that it was because the mall nearby closed down its most important stores. Macys, JC Penny, and the theater section of the mall closed and what remained was an empty “For Rent” sign at their former locations within the mall. I also realized that the elementary school I attended closed because of depopulation and a newer school was built in the more populated area in the county where I used to live.

It is also a little important to look at the four major options that Mindy Fullilove brings up on page 65 on what American cities could do to open up housing for blacks. As a believer of racial integration, my idealistic side supports her first idea, allowing open housing. However, if such an event occurs, it doesn’t fix the underlying problem of economic inequality. If open housing were to exist in all communities, a diverse gentrified population would form, followed by an equally diverse population of a lower class taking hold in a community. While I do agree with the advantages and disadvantages for her second option, allowing wealthier whites to live in suburbs, I ultimately disagree with the option because if every wealthy individual leaves an area, that area filled with economically and socially disadvantaged individuals would be labeled with a stigma and will eventually become a slum. For the third option of building housing projects in existing black communities, it varies depending on the community that the housing project is built in. If the community was thriving and there was some sort of life, it could be done. However, building a housing project in a dangerous area would not be the best idea. Finally, for the fourth option, leaving everything the way it is, I fully support her idea that it is disastrous because an increasing population without increased housing would eventually push many individuals into homelessness.