In his presentation, Michael Higgins took us on a virtual tour through different cities and emphasized that they were social justice tours. He highlighted historical spots where social justice movements took place or had a huge impact on.
He spoke about the gentrification of Brooklyn, particularly in the MetroTech area where NYU Tandon is located. When he brought this up I brought me back to my freshman year when my second semester Expos. professor took my class on a historic tour of Brooklyn MetroTech. As a kid I would remember hearing the adults in my life telling me Brooklyn is dangerous and it’s especially not a place to go to at night. When I first started dorming, my freshman year, I lived in Othmer. When my parents found out that I would be living there, in that part of Brooklyn, they got scared and told me to be very careful especially if I was going out at night for whatever reason. Like anywhere in the world Davis at night but have you visited the campus a couple times already I don’t understand why my parents were so scared of me living in Brooklyn. When my freshman year professor and Michael Higgins took us it clicked in my head as to why my parents were so scared. Before new development and technologies took, this part of Brooklyn was very different. Gentrification has truly changed aspect of what MetroTech was and this is what Michael talks about. In some aspects gentrification can be positive because it brings new technological advancements that weren’t in place before and can “clean up” the area, however, it is mostly negative because it essentially kicks out people that were part of this community way before.