POSSESION
Today my family lost possession of the restaurant they’ve invested 15 years of their lives and everything they had into building. As shocking and painful as that is, un/fortunately, I have been preparing for today for two years since the building in which my parents ran their restaurant, Bintimani, was acquired by Boston Real Estate Collaborative (BREC).
Two years ago, when BREC acquired the building, they presented a vision for the building that included adding an additional story, updating and upgrading this dilapidated and undesirable piece of real estate in the heart of Dudley Square (now Nubian Square, interestingly) with the ultimate goal of converting the space into luxury co-living condos, whatever those are. What the plans didn’t include was an explanation or depiction of what would happen to the dozen or so Black businesses, mostly East and West Africans, and mostly women, that inhabited it’s first floor. When my parents and their fellow tenants asked about the fate of their businesses, they were vapidly told that BREC would do their best to let them stay however would need them to vacate “temporarily” as they made the necessary renovations. For anyone who understands business tenancy, or is well versed in the history of displacement, or even anyone who has ever been a tenant, knows a tenant, or can Google “tenant”, as well as anyone who has taken a elementary school course on history, has access to the internet, or a window, can understand clearly that BREC’s aims, aligned with historic displacement/destruction of Black businesses and communities, were to kick out these Black businesses and posses this central piece of real estate in Nubian Square.
Again, we saw this coming. Generations ago. Nonetheless, being on a zoom court hearing, listening to other tenants, whom weren't of color, disputing the same issues we were disputing, and being granted extensions and sympathy, we made the mistake of developing some hope. Hope that maybe this judge will give us a little more time, that they’ll show us the mercy others have seemingly been getting, we’re in a pandemic after all … Hope can be dangerous, it can cause one to go against their nature, everything you’ve known to be true as long as you’ve known it. We were not granted an extension, we were not shown mercy, I was barely allowed to speak, as we did not have our own legal representation. My dad, whom my entire life, has been the most confident, articulate, and prideful man I’ve known, begged the judge to let me speak on his behalf, explaining that he did not have the mastery of the language, legal or procedural understanding to represent himself and thus needed my support. He was denied. My inability to watch my dad be rendered powerless and voiceless, is what caused me to disobey the judge’s ruling against our preposition to have me serve as representation, and thus caused the eruption of words from within me in his defense. However, it was fruitless. We lost.
BREC was granted right to “possession” of the space my parents have spent more time in than our actual home. The place my little sister came after school, did homework in and slept in until late night when it was finally time to go home. The place I came to when I got my acceptance letter from MIT and watched my dad shed tears as he read it and swelled with pride. The place my brother celebrated the birth of my niece and goddaughter. This familial foundation as of today, is now in their possession, and we have 30 days to vacate from it.
As I reflect and process, I realize that being evicted I was prepared for, we’ve been evicted numerous times over the course of our lives. Being required to vacate, is a familiar request to understand and adhere to, but this legally sanctioned immediate transferring of possession was a new concept to me. As of today, as my parents return to the place they’ve ran their businesses for 15 years, a place they leased, they never owned … they now no longer posses. To have your property, your memories, your life’s investment held within something you no longer have claim to posses, regardless of the legal definition and function of the term, was something I wasn’t prepared to grasp … because it’s fundamentally wrong.
Possession is an idea that something belongs to you, regardless of your ability to actually “have” it. My parents actually have it, but BREC possesses it. They owned it once they bought the building, but now they posses it, which I’ve struggling to accept that it means they have now more than they physical space, they have what it represents, what it means, who it’s for, who it will serve, what it will become, and most interpersonally challengingly, what it shall no longer represent, who it will no longer serve, who can no longer feel its theirs.
This, I wasn’t prepared for at all.