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by bsanr 2610 days ago
It's naive to think that violence and laws that are onerous or disadvantageous to current residents are not employed in the process of gentrification. Suppose, for example, that you close a grocery store that serves thousands of lower-income, often low-mobility, residents, in preparation for building luxury apartments. Or you increase "broken windows" arrests in such a away that existing residents are disproportionately affected. How is that not duress? You have introduced conditions for continued residence that threaten life, comfort, and freedom.

Colonization is a fine word for it.