On The Radical Faith It Takes To Defy Gentrification

Defying Gentrification, Crafting Liberation for February 2, 2025

We were at IKEA Bingo the other night and they had this room set up. I think it speaks to having radical faith that we can still see the light amid the doom of oligarchy.

Welcome back to Defying Gentrification, Crafting Liberation — an art, design, and policy newsletter/journal of myself Kristen Jeffers, a Black queer feminist disabled millennial (US southern)urbanist. In each of these newsletters, I share a reflection on how I see one of my six principles of Defying Gentrification work in my life and I share some insights from my art practice (that’s the Crafting Liberation part). This week, I am sharing about the principle of faith and how I need more of it in myself.

My longtime followers (and family and friends) will know that I have a lot of creative ideas. But for a while I’ve been lacking in faith that many of them will and can come to pass.

I know the prayers are coming, but I also would love some metta and good vibes too! And just for the record it’s not because I’m gay, broke or disabled that I’m inherently undeserving of faith.

I hate that I have to say that in 2025, but then again, am I really alone in my feelings alone?

In fact, to be transparent, I made a pretty intensive video about it a couple of weeks ago. I’ve been writing status messages about it. Oh, and I made the video just over 12 hours after coming home from the hospital after being taken there in an ambulance after having a ferocious panic attack. Yeah. This is where we are.

For years, I loved my hometown, but I felt like it wasn’t good enough and a strong enough proving ground for me.

I got to DC, after declaring KC wasn’t enough either.

Then realized that my creativity was so good, I had imagined relationships and connections that didn’t exist.

Not that that’s bad, but now, the kind of faith I need, the kind that we step out on in the Black Church, is lacking and I’m working really hard to get back.

Even as I was writing this up, I anticipated that folks would try to challenge the receipts of my 15 years of doing this work and having my faith and humanity challenged, so I googled racism in urban planning and while there were some scholarly articles, I was looking for an article by a fellow advocate, preferably a white one.

The Racist History of Urban Planning
As founder of Po Campo, I feel I want to share my excitement on the future of cities embracing sustainable…www.pocampo.com

And yes, it hit everything it needed to hit, but it’s so triggering to:

1. Still be talking about racism, especially mobility and land use, and to do so divorced from all other forms of racism that play into it.

2. Read about folks who just discovered this particular flavor at the same age (this article was written in 2021 and I too had just turned 35 a few months prior).

3. And then not get a leg up in being a person who was listed as a professional who can help heal it (even though I realize that not being on this list is protection from rejection because talking about racism rips me in half).

This is why I’m so glad I had a chance to talk to a Black Christian Socialist pastor for my latest podcast episode, Rev. Dr. Andrew Wilkes!

You should watch the last part of the PBS Black Church documentary …

https://www.pbs.org/show/black-church

…to see him and his wife Rev. Dr. Gabby Cudjoe-Wilkes in action, activating a welcoming on all fronts Black church service in an alley garden in Brooklyn. And after this jump for this newsletter’s Crafting Liberation moment, I’ll have a video of that episode and how in the last few days since my hospitalization, I’m going to step out on faith.

 — 

This Crafting Liberation Art Reflection is brought to you by Bookshop.org. Purchase the books I refer to in my podcasts and emails from a company not committed to our demise. Plus I get affiliate income and can continue to pay my rent in case opportunities like paid subscriptions are out of your budget at the moment.

So let’s talk about my Kristpattern block. At first, I wasn’t trying to mirror the technique I did for the Defying Gentrification (DG) banner. I also didn’t expect to tessellate a photo of one of my motif/granny square works in progress. However, when I started playing around with those same tools I used for the DG banner, I found that I looked pretty good in green and my tiles made a fun, imperfect tesselation. I’ve loved tesselations since my fifth-grade art class introduced me to them and M.C. Esher.

When I came back to fiber arts, I first thought granny squares were one thing, but quickly learned they have lots of properties. And next week, I can’t wait to show you some of what I am working on this year to merge my twin obsessions of fiber and transit. Now, back to urbanism.

—

Here’s how you can watch and listen to the next episode of Defying Gentrification.

Apple

Spotify

Zencaster

YouTube

With everything going on, now is the time for radical faith in believing in your moral compass, and to be there for others. And remember, all radical means is going back to your roots, and then growing in the most fruitful way. Here’s my full conversation with Rev. Dr. Andrew Wilkes.

Plus, I couldn’t let the first week of February pass without honoring the legacies of both the original Greensboro Four and the movement they launched, and now upon hearing the news that the Triad City Beat is shutting down, this moment in time that happened with me and a few others.

Two of the “new four” are currently stepping up to run for Greensboro City Council, after spending the last ten years doing all kinds of necessary and needed community work. Two of us went to DC over the past decade to do our best to make a difference.

Meanwhile, I think it’s a good time to tell everyone I am absolutely ready to spin this block again. For good. We have details to work out, but if you read this far, yes it’s true, I’m coming home. You definitely want to stay tuned to the newsletter to learn more about my timeline and how that’s going to happen.

Oh, and I’ll be on the Carolina Transit Roundtable on February 4 at 1 pm, which will stream live right here on the Transit Equity Network YouTube page for Transit Equity Day.

www.youtube.com/@TransitEquityNetwork

In my next email, I’ll be back with the concept of cultivation, but in the meantime, share with me in the comments, how do you keep your faith? How are you stepping out on faith?

Until next time,

Kristen