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Comment by natrius | Hacker News Reader

> The abruptness of Austin’s success ... is causing a whole range of problems, unfolding in fast-forward — water supplies, electric supplies, gentrification.

We have to stop calling what's happening in Austin "gentrification." We are segregationists. Our laws prevent mixed-income neighborhoods from existing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZ0NzlQp0dc

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I agree that we are segregationists. I think it's in our nature as well as our laws. What's wrong with the term gentrification? It looks like it's a noun with two meanings, neither of which seem bad.

gentrification: 1. the process of renovating and improving a house or district so that it conforms to middle-class taste. 2. the process of making a person or activity more refined or polite.

Ahaha, that's bad, but nothing compared to Silicon Valley's terrible zoning laws.

You can call it whatever you like, but for reference, the laws that are being described as "segregationist" are laws regarding minimum lot size. These laws are no more inherently racial than "gentrification". In both cases they only affect black people disproportionally because (quoting from the video) "black people have less money"

Actually, he said that "minorities make less money" in the video. That seems like a racist statement, as he chose to ignore an important minority group, asians.

Why downvote this one? I corrected the misquote and pointed out how the speaker in the video chose to ignore asians to misconstrue his issue as being about minorities in a racist way. If the video had featured a white person whispering something disparaging (and false) about minorities would you feel the same way?

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