Captain Plan→it

Have any of you seen Flag Wars? We watched it in my Urban Design class yesterday. It was on PBS but it is set here in Columbus. Just, wow. It was pretty intense. I’m very familiar with issues of privilege, poverty & gentrification, but seeing it played out like this was very interesting.

Shot over a four-year period, Linda Goode Bryant and Laura Poitras’ Flag Wars is a poignant and very personal look at a community in Columbus, Ohio, undergoing gentrification. What happens when gay white homebuyers move into a working-class black neighborhood? As the new residents restore the beautiful but run-down homes, black homeowners must fight to hold onto their community and heritage. The inevitable clashes expose prejudice and self-interest on both sides, as well as the common dream to have a home to call your own. Winner of the Jury Award at the South by Southwest Film Festival, Flag Wars is a candid, unvarnished portrait of privilege, poverty and local politics taking place across America. 

If you’re interested in gentrification issues at all, I highly suggest renting this (you can get the DVD on netflix, other places too, I’m sure.)