I am not suggesting that people moving into working class neighborhoods are racist, or that no one should move into working class neighborhoods. I am not someone who believes neighborhoods can ever remain frozen in time; I am instead an proponent of simply being aware of history and sensitive to it in our policy.
And in that context, ignoring the racial element of gentrification as it typically plays out is tone-deaf, considering the fact that race, wealth, zoning, and housing policy have all been intricately wound together in this country since its inception. I wrote a lengthy post about why this crucial to consider when we talk about gentrification, which was moved to this other thread.
I don’t think it’s really helpful to pontificate about “what-ifs.” What if wealthy black people were moving into working class white neighborhoods, thereby displacing them? I agree with you – that, surely, would be horrible. I’d probably call it gentrification. But it’s also a thought exercise that’s completely distinct from the actual history and reality of this country thanks to the centuries of discriminatory policy that created the very conditions that enable gentrification. (And, by the way – middle-class black people moving to white neighborhoods causes property values to decline, even if they make a similar income. Again, we cannot categorize this solely as an issue of economics.)