Gentrification
Part of the SJ Sounds Series
Written by An Bùi
Audio design by Sarbpreet Buttar
[AUDIO DESCRIPTION: A loose emulation of what a day in the life of Ái typically sounds like. Set in the future, we can now hear what a gentrified world sounds like. Issues from the past re-present themselves while new challenges have arisen. Day-to-day life is still just as mundane, but a bright future is still in Ái's hopes.)
The Future
January 14th, 2055. Today was Ông Nội's death anniversary, which meant that instead of the usual morning routine, Ái needed to make a pitstop to visit the old man. She grabbed her things and walked out the door toward the Monterey and Branham VTA stop. She walked in the small center to order a chai tea latte with oat milk, because despite the various probiotic techniques she tried, she couldn't get her body to naturally digest milk again. Give it up for her genetics, Ông's genetics specifically. Thanks, Ông Huy. She picked up a bouquet of white carnations, and 2 Heineken beers while she was at it. Just as soon as she finished her purchase, the light rail came so she hopped onto it. As she gathered her seat in the front car, she noticed an elderly man struggling to pay with cash for the train fare.
I haven't seen cash in forever. She watched the old man nervously adjust the newsboy cap on his head as the driver told him cash isn't accepted for payment anymore. The man looked back, confused. "No cash? Que?" he asked. He reminded her of her grandpa, and she felt like he must be from out of town. As they exchanged confused dialogue back and forth which felt like it was going nowhere, Ái couldn't take it anymore. "Señor, may I pay for you?" she asked as she got up to the front with them and pulled out her phone. The man, confused but relieved that someone was offering help, nodded his head. She tapped her phone to the machine for a day pass, and handed him the paper ticket once it printed. "Gracias, mija," the old man said, to which she replied with a smile. The VTA continued down East Capitol Expressway as Ái and the old man took their seats.
Now that I think about it, it is weird that we still print out day passes when we only use digital currency now. Then again, e-waste is a bigger problem than paper waste these days.
Her thoughts subsided as she reached her stop and walked to the memorial garden where Ông lay at rest. She set up the flowers and beer with him as she touched his photo and took a seat. "Chao Ông, it's been a while, huh? I brought you some goodies." She recited several prayers for his peace and protection in the afterlife. He had always taught her that you can never truly know when a spirit is at rest.
"How is life over there with everyone else?" She cracked open a bottle and clinked it with his. "On my end, well, you remember Sofía right? Former friend and current nemesis?" She took a swig as she continued. "Her team's been driving me nuts with their proposal. I know you would like for us to be friends again since you and her grandma were such great friends, but you should see what she's trying to do. My team's been working with the community for months to advocate for more affordable commercial estate for small businesses, but she's been our main opponent trying to sell off that commercial estate to billion dollar tech industries instead."
She took another swig. "If only they understood how much vibrancy and revitalization empowered small businesses bring to a community. I mean, they ARE the community, and no one invests in the community as much as the community itself. Plus, think of all the e-waste and pollution that big tech brings anyway. Did you know we're at iPhone 45 now? 45! Just imagine all the garbage lots full to the brim with trashed technology. You can't even burn that stuff!"
And another swig. "It looks like some things never change. We were able to revive the Berryessa Flea Market by spreading it out across more neighborhoods after they created the Urban Village, but still people keep coming for small businesses." Her phone buzzed with a text notification and flashed the time: 8:30 AM. "Well, I gotta get going now, Ông. Work calls. Here, you finish my beer for me too."
Ái made it to the coworking space just in time for her work bestie and roommate to greet her with her favorite thing: a batch of homemade croissants. "I made these just for you, because I know it's your grandpa's death anniversary," Gabriel said with a smile and a hug. Gabriel was Ái's partner in crime in advocating for small businesses and the best roommate because they always had baked goods for every occasion. "Annnd because our favorite coworker will be at the meeting today," he said sarcastically.
Ái's face quickly went from an elated smile to a groan at the thought of facing Sofía today at the county-wide meeting. "Ugh, I forgot about that, but thank you Gabi. You're the stinkin' best. Last I heard, Sofía was going to present today on how much the city would benefit by selling the last bit of unowned commercial estate to Meta instead of to the small business coalitions," Ái said with a major eye roll.
Gabriel shrugged their shoulders. "Well, you know how she doesn't think about the community impact behind her actions. She's so business oriented, thinking of profit, profit, and more profit. And certain people always side with her, because well, what system do we live in again? Capitalism."
Ái sighed, "I know, but I wish she would go back to how she used to be. Remember when we all worked on the Berryessa Flea Market revitalization together? That was powerful! But, over time her politics just kept changing, and now here we are." Gabriel nodded, "I guess that's one thing we can always count on: As cities change, so do people, huh?" Ai scoffed, "Funny, I was just talking with my grandpa about how some things never change, but you're right. Anyway, let's get ready for this meeting?"
Gabriel nodded and started loading mesh to holoport into the meeting. 35 years ago, they would have Zoomed in and awkwardly turned on and off their mics as they checked in square by square. But now, thanks to VR, they could just holoport into meetings to be "in person" without having to be in person. As Gabriel logged them into the meeting, the rest of the Office of Economic Development logged on until the room was filled with representatives from each neighborhood. Ái spotted Sofía on the other side of the room in her jade green power suit and glared at her. It irritated her that her business casual fashion was always spot on even though her proposals weren't.
The meeting started with some casual small talk before diving into the agenda. First, announcements, team updates, and then project proposal presentations. This week was Sofïa' presentation and next week would be Gabriel and Ái's presentation. After both sides of the project proposal were presented, the Office would make a decision, and the majority vote would decide the outcome. Gabriel and Ái were going to present on the benefits of reserving commercial estate for local entrepreneurs. They glanced at each other confidently, trusting in Mama Nevaeh's community organizing skills and their manifestations for the project.
As Sofïa gave her presentation, Ái felt her confidence steadily shift into irritation. She couldn't believe how committed Sofía was to selling out the city to big tech again, especially when her grandma had been a small business owner herself. Ugh, if only I had that Heineken to chug right now, she thought, glancing at her grandpa in heaven. The presentation ended with comments and Q&A.
"I can't believe the city is considering making the same mistake again… especially when they have proof from our last project of how investing in local business benefits the city in the long-term," Gabriel whispered to Ái. "Me either… It's like they can't see how history is repeating itself. But, it's all the more reason we need to get it together to show them the other side of the coin," Ái responded then grabbed her backpack. "Let's get outta here."
Gabriel and Ái logged off and hopped onto the light rail toward Vietnam Town: land of lion statues, blasting karaoke even in the middle of the day, and vibrant immigrant entrepreneurship through shops, food trucks, stalls, and carts everywhere you could see. Back in her grandpa's days, people would always get into fights over parking spots, but ever since they installed a light rail stop here and got rid of the parking lot, the only thing people fight about now is getting the last fresh loaf of bánh mì.
Today, Gabriel and Ái were linking up with Mama Navaeh for the last community meeting of the month, so of course it had to be in the food court to celebrate all the hard work everyone had done. It was a perfect setting: plenty of seating, standing room, food, and drink. Plus, many of the entrepreneurs were part of the community organizing, so they were able to kill 2 birds with 1 stone by meeting here while they kept their shops open. Here, in Vietnam Town's food court, the community felt safe, seen, and heard. Here, the adolescents and adults stepped up to take care of the children and elders who needed extra help. Here, it was a real embodiment of intergenerational community care.
"Gabi! Ái!" Mama Nevaeh warmly shouted as she waved two cups of nước mía (sugarcane) juice in the air. Mama Navaeh wasn't their mom, but everyone called her mama, because she loved and fought for the community like one. Her silver braids and quilt scarf bounced in the air as she walked over, eyes wrinkling as she smiled. She greeted them with kisses as she handed them the drinks. "Well now that y'all are here, the party can get started!" Mama Navaeh exclaimed.
Mama Navaeh called the meeting to order with a fiery call and response.
"When I say, San, you say, José! San!" "José!” "San!" "José!"
"When I say, People, you say, Power! People!" "Power!" "People!" "Power!"
"When I say, Can we? You say, We Can! Can We? "We can!" "Can we?" "We can!"
Everyone burst into cheers and applause. Mama Nevaeh waved her hands to calm the crowd, "Alright, alright! Community, it's great to hear and see y'all. Welcome back to another meeting today. Today is a great day, because y'all are here standing with me to fight for all of our creativity and entrepreneurship. The city is considering shutting us down again by selling even more of our buildings to big tech, but we will not be pushed out. We are trees with deep roots in the city. We have provided magic and medicine for past and present generations with our revolutionary entrepreneurship inspired by our ancestor's dreams, and we will not stop now. We have fought this battle before, and we will keep fighting it until there is no more question as to whether or not we belong here, because this is OUR city, and WE belong!"
Mama Nevaeh's speech moved the crowd to even lowder cheers and applause, and Ái teared up. Mama Nevaeh always knew the right things to say, and as someone who lived through the peaks and valleys of the city but stayed faithful to hope, she knew just how to bring people together. Gabriel made sure to take pictures and videos to document Mama Navaeh's words and community members' testimonies throughout the meeting to save for their presentation next week. They got just the perfect amount of remaining qualitative data they needed to accompany their quantitative data and strengthen their presentation. Everything was right in place.
As the meeting ended, people dispersed to have individual conversations with each other or small groups. Gabriel and Ái split up their remaining tasks for the presentation. Gabriel grabbed their bag and said, "I'm going to grab us some food to-go for the office, yeah? Be right back." "Oh yes, thank you!" Ái responded as she started making her way to Mama Neveah to thank her before heading out too. As she got closer, she couldn't believe who Mama Nevaeh was chatting with. It was the last person she would have ever expected to be at this meeting.
Sofía.
"What are you doing here?" Ái interrogated Sofía.
"It's a public food court, Ái. Everyone has the right to be here" Sofía retorted.
"Yeah, but this is our community organizing meeting, and your proposal is literally the reason why we're rallied up here to fight for our community."
"Last time I checked, I also want what's best for our community."
"And how is removing our community's commercial estates what's best for our community again?" Ái said sarcastically, her voice rising.
Sofía's voice started to rise too, "Just because I'm going about it a different way than you doesn't make me your enemy!"
"Uh, yes it does when your 'way' involves stripping our community of small businesses in favor of a major business!"
"Ladies, ladies!" Mama Navaeh intervened, "Let's calm down. We're all adults here."
"I'm not so sure about that," scoffed Sofía.
"Ugh!" Ái huffed, feeling her blood boil.
"Sofía! What a pleasant surprise," Gabriel said sarcastically, coming back with the take out food in their hand. "What are you doing here?"
"Again with this question? None of your business," Sofía responded.
Mama Nevaeh shook her head. "Okay, make it one adult in the room…" she mumbled to herself. "Anyway," she said, speaking sternly to the group, "Sofïa and I had separate, family business to discuss for Abuela Rosario's death anniversary coming up. Traditions are traditions, no matter our differences."
Gabriel and Ái looked at each other, knowing better than to argue about traditions with Mama Nevaeh, but they kept glaring at Sofía.
Sofía added, glaring back at them. "Yes, not that you would understand much about traditions would you, Ái? When's the last time you hosted a gathering in honor of Mr. Huy, again?"
Flustered, Ái shouted back, "How dare you even bring up my grandpa right now?! I've been stacked working on this project, and you know how passionate he was about community entrepreneurship. I bet he's rolling over in his grave right now just watching you sell out our people!"
Ái was pissed and about to go old school and punch Sofía when Gabriel interrupted and held her back. "Girl, it's not worth it! Plus, we are in public," Gabriel said looking around, noticing some eyes starting to watch them.
Mama Nevaeh gave a reassuring look to the curious bystanders to let them know everything was fine before turning back to the group. "Okay, that's enough of bringing the ancestors into our modern conflict, okay? Let's let them rest in peace, especially today on Mr. Huy's death anniversary. They both worked hard enough in their time," she said. "Sofïa, let's get ready to go. We've got a lot of work to do," she said, ushering Sofía to help her carry things. "And Gabi and Ái, just keep me posted if you need anything else for the proposal. I trust you both!"
Sofïa angrily looked at Ái one last time before she turned to walk away. As Mama Nevaeh and Sofïa walked off, Ái frustration continued to build. "Just what is up with her?" she asked Gabe as she grabbed her things. "I don't know, but I think I need a drink," Gabriel said, rubbing his temples. Ái laughed, "You know what, me too. Let's just work from home for the rest of the day." Gabriel nodded.
As soon as they got home, Gabriel opened the fridge and pulled out 2 bottles of beer to accompany their take out lunch. Ái set up their laptops and they both got to work as they ate, uploading the materials from today's meeting and editing their presentation. After a couple of intense hours, Gabriel stretched out and yawned, "Whew! I am beat. It's looking good, Ái."
She smiled and took the cue to stretch herself. "Yeah… but I can't help shaking that we're gonna need just one more thing to really drive this proposal home," she said.
Gabriel raised his eyebrows, "What?" they asked.
Ái rested her head in hands, "Okay hear me out here, because I know it's going to sound ridiculous," she started, Gabriel's eyebrows raising with even more caution, "But it's Sofïa. We're going to need to get her on our side."
Gabriel's jaw dropped. "Girl, did you hit your head on the way home from Vietnam Town? She's literally our main opponent for this case, remember? And y'all just had a fight in the food court!"
"I know, I know," Ái said, "But the fact that she's so opposed means that it'll have that much more impact on the county if we can sway her." She looked at the picture of her grandpa on their altar. "I just have this feeling in my gut that we need her to really make this happen."
Gabriel followed her eyes then looked back at her, "Okay, I know I'm all about trusting yourself, but this is next level Ái, you know that right?" They let out a big sigh. "You sure that's not just all the beer you've had today giving you indigestion?"
"No!" Ái said, rolling her eyes. "I'm being serious here."
Gabriel looked at Ái for a good moment, sensing the determination in her spirit. They took a deep breath and said with a shrug, "Ok then, I'm not gonna argue with your intuition here. But where do we even begin?"
"I think I've got an idea. Just let me handle it, okay?" Ái said.
"You're the boss," Gabriel responded, closing his laptop. "I'm going to veg out then for the rest of the day. Let me know if you need anything ok? I'll be in my room."
Ái nodded, closing her laptop too. She plopped down on the overworn couch in their living room and looked at Ông Huy again. Even in the afterlife, you find a way to push me toward difficult conversations, huh? If this doesn't work, I'm not bringing you beer next time.
The next day, Ái groggily got ready for work and hesitated to text Sofïa. She was exhausted from staying up all night thinking of all the different ways her conversation with Sofïa could go. The anxiety of reaching out to someone she just fought with yesterday that she hadn't had a personal conversation with in years was so high that she felt another headache forming.
"Okay, calm down Ái. Whether it is or isn't her personal number still, you've got to try. You can't keep this awkward tension forever," she muttered aloud to herself.
She wrote, edited, and rewrote different variations of the same text several times before she finally pressed send. "Sofïa, this is Ái. I don't know if this is still your number, and I know things got heated yesterday, but can we talk?" Ái paced nervously around her home, continuing to get ready as she waited for Sofïa's response. She sat down at the couch, shaking her leg anxiously as she stared at her phone and checked the time. The clock approached 8:30am. Agh, what was I thinking? Ái scolded herself.
She quickly grabbed her phone to head out of the house when it vibrated with a text from Sofïa. Ái held her breath as she quickly unlocked it with her fingerprint. "Well, this is a surprise. You're lucky I'm in a good mood today. Meet me at Eastridge's food court in 30 minutes. Don't be late."
Annoyed but relieved, Ái rushed out her door, onto the light rail down Capitol Expressway and Quimby until she arrived at the mall. The mall was almost 100 years old now and had gone through many transformations in the past decades, but it was still standing. It was a mega mall now, ten stories tall and hundreds more feet wide. It wasn't until Ái stepped into the mall that all the memories came rushing back to her. Ái and Sofïa had grown up here, using all their holiday money to buy cute holograms to send to friends around the world and try the latest flavor of artisanal chocolate bars from their favorite cafe.
Ái saw Sofïa sitting at a table. "Hey," Ái said, "Thanks for accepting my text."
Sofïa nodded, taking a sip of her coffee. "Take a seat."
The two of them sat in awkward silence for a bit. "So… what did you want to talk about?" Sofïa asked.
"Uh, well, look. You know our grandparents were good friends, right?" Ái asked.
"Stating the obvious this morning, I see. Yes, and what of it?"
Ái fought the urge to not roll her eyes but sat up with determination. "Well, I mean, we used to be such good friends too. Remember all our hangouts here? And well, with yesterday being my grandpa's death anniversary and your grandma's death anniversary coming up soon, I just…" she paused.
Sofïa looked at her, her expression softening a bit but still on guard. "Just…?"
"Just keep getting this feeling that maybe it's time we stopped being enemies." Ái let out, looking back at Sofïa.
"Hm. Now that's an even bigger surprise." Sofïa said, looking down at her coffee as she held it with both hands. "And how do you propose we do that?
"Look, I know we're on opposite sides of the same issue, but hear me out okay? Like you said yesterday, we both want what's best for the community, and I don't know how much of the meeting you caught yesterday, but there was so much energy. The community shared so many of their personal stories, and it was powerful. I mean, you should have heard it. It really reminded me so much of what our–"
"What our grandparents would have said," Sofïa finished her thought.
“Exactly," Ái said, surprised. "So you did hear it."
"I did," Sofïa responded. "Mama Nevaeh actually invited me to meet her at the food court yesterday right when the meeting started. She failed to tell me that our meeting time coincided with your community meeting, but I suspect she was on the same wavelength you're on too– hoping perhaps that I may have a change of heart."
Ái leaned in, "So… do you? Do you have a change of heart?"
Sofïa took in another sip of coffee. Ái waited anxiously for her responses, feeling like this silence was taking forever.
"I'm not too sure about that," she started, "But I guess the ancestral juju that's in the air for you is there for me too. Let's just say, I'm open to hearing a bit more."
Ái felt the tension in her shoulders release and excitement fill her face.
"Okay, don't get too excited now," Sofïa said. "If your research is half-assed and your data sucks, I'm still going to stick to my original proposal."
"Hah!" Ái chuckled and shook her head. "It's not, so be prepared to be blown away."
"We'll see about that," Sofïa responded, taking her final sip of coffee and standing up. "I've got to meet up with Mama Neveah again now, but text me when you're ready to talk more."
Ái stood up with her, "Most definitely. And Sofïa, before you go I just want to say: Thank you. Thank you for giving me and all of us a second chance."
Sofïa's face softened again, less of a guard up now. "Thank Ông Huy and Abuela Rosario," she said gesturing to the sky, "Looks like they're the real schemers here."
"Facts!" Ái responded with a laugh. Sofïa took off with a wave, and Ái watched her with so much hope in her heart. She sat down back in her seat, looked at the ceiling, and took a deep breath. I don't know how you did it, but you did it, Ông. One pack of Heineken coming your way, soon.
If you would like to take action to help those who have been affected by gentrification in the Bay Area, please refer to the following organizations that are working to help:
We would like to thank Issei Memorial Building for hosting this installation. A designated a San Jose Historic Landmark, and currently houses the San Jose Chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL), San Jose Taiko offices, and the Contemporary Asian Theater Scene.. To find out more, please visit their website.
SJ Sounds is a collaboration between More Más Marami Arts and Soundplay.Media. This installation is possible thanks to funding from the City of San José through the Abierto program, the support of our fiscal sponsor, The School of Arts and Culture.
