This month, The Last Black Man in San Francisco finally hit theaters after getting major buzz at the Sundance Film Festival, and it’s definitely worth the hype.
The story is co-authored by director Joe Talbot and actor Jimmie Fails, who also stars in the movie. In a semi-biographical narrative, Fails plays a man (also named Jimmie) who doesn’t have a home to his name. His dream house is the one that was once owned by his grandfather in the heart of San Francisco.
Due to gentrification and neighborhood politics, Jimmie’s family lost the house a while ago and now he’s fighting to get it back, despite White people already occupying the residence. Jimmie’s quirky playwright friend, Montgomery, tags along for the ride.
Though gentrification is a common issue across America, Last Black Man beautifully laid out the personal impact of Black people being pushed out of neighborhoods in three meaningful ways.
Hit the flip to peep three hard truths the movie took on to reinforces how gentrification impacts real people.
*Minor spoiler warning*
1. Black people constantly have to fight for ownership
Though there are plenty examples of Black people owning houses and businesses throughout the U.S., Black people are still more vulnerable to losing what they have due to things like predatory loans, racist violence, and Black people starting off with less capital as compared to White people.
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This makes the fight against gentrification that much harder because in some cases, Black people don’t own the buildings or neighborhoods they’ve been living in for years. And in other cases, they’re only two non-payments away from losing their property.
This is made heartbreakingly real in a plot twist for Last Black Man that leaves Jimmie devastated and once again…without a home.
2. Homelessness is a phenomenon Black people know all too well
In the movie, Jimmie reveals his past experience with homelessness including time spent in a group home. Meanwhile, Mike Epps plays a minor character who has to reside in his barely functional car in order to survive.
Though the movie doesn’t explain all of how these characters reached their homeless situations, scenes of them just roaming the streets — whether roaming in a car, or Jimmie roaming on his skateboard — make the message crystal clear…
With no ownership or adequate defense, many Black people must resort to being nomads…
Roaming the lands of America, finding a place they can call home in a country that was never set up to be homey in the first place.
3. Black people must constantly imagine
Throughout the movie, Jimmie fights for his grandfather’s house because he believes in his heart that it’s his birthright. He preaches that his grandfather built the house with his own two hands and therefore, no White person or million dollar price tag can take the house away from him.
But as the movie progresses, Jimmie soon discovers that fighting for the house is easier said than done. It almost feels like a fantasy to obtain it. It feels like some feel-good folktale that might not be reasonable, but in his family’s heart, it is forever fact.
Countless Black people who face threats of being pushed out have to imagine stories of ownership. But the funny thing is…
It’s not all a fairytale.
When you think about how our ancestors worked the land or even current efforts of Black people fighting for indigenous identity, it’s not far-fetched for Black people to believe that we truly own parts of this country, no matter what a deed says.
Imagining ownership is a hard truth that might seem naive, but it’s a thought that might gleam light at the end of the tunnel.
