Anti-Black Racist American Woman Attacks Toronto Black Communities After Seeing Town Hall Flyer — Calls Them “Ghettos,” Defends Gentrification

It always starts with a flyer.

I recently shared a flyer on Facebook promoting an upcoming town hall for residents of Little Jamaica, a historically Black neighbourhood along Eglinton Avenue West in Toronto. The purpose? To address the very real threat of gentrification — the kind that displaces elders, shutters Black businesses, and erases generations of cultural memory.

The town hall has since been postponed, but apparently the mere existence of Black people organizing for justice was too much for one American woman. Unprovoked, she slid into the comments to label Little Jamaica a “ghetto” and boldly proclaim that gentrification is a “good thing.”

Let’s be very clear: This wasn’t commentary — it was anti-Black violence in text form.

When You’re Not From Here… But Feel Entitled Anyway – Nobody tagged her. Nobody asked for her opinion. But like a bad WiFi signal, racism finds a way to travel across borders and insert itself where it’s not welcome.

Little Jamaica — stretching across the Eglinton West corridor — is one of Toronto’s most important Black cultural hubs, home to Jamaican restaurants, barbershops, music studios, and businesses that have served this city for decades.

And yet, after enduring years of construction delays from the Eglinton Crosstown LRT, lack of government support during the pandemic, and now relentless real estate pressure, this community is still fighting to survive.

So when this woman called it a “ghetto”? That wasn’t ignorance. That was intentional erasure.

Gentrification Is Not “Progress”—It’s Displacement With PR – What she called a “good thing” is actually a violent process that replaces Black families and businesses with condo towers and cold brew cafés. The culture goes, the people go, and all that’s left is an overpriced shell where the soul used to be.

Gentrification in Little Jamaica doesn’t “clean up” a mess — it creates one. It pushes out the very people who built the community, then packages their culture for profit.

That’s not revitalization. That’s colonization with a rebrand.

Why Little Jamaica Is Under Attack – Developers have had their eyes on Little Jamaica for years. Its location on a major transit route makes it prime real estate, but its long history of underinvestment makes it vulnerable.

This is the playbook:

1. Devalue the community.
2. Underserve it.
3. Call it a “ghetto.”
4. Move in with money and marketing.
5. Push the original residents out.

And when Black folks resist — with town halls, advocacy, and collective organizing — here comes someone from out of town trying to gaslight us into believing gentrification is our savior.

No ma’am. We see exactly what’s happening.

A Message to the Commenter — and Anyone Who Thinks Like Her – You’re not from here. You don’t know this community. And yet, you felt entitled to disrespect an entire neighborhood based on one flyer?

That’s not just ignorance. That’s arrogance steeped in anti-Blackness.

You don’t get to label our communities as disposable just because they don’t look like the sanitized, soulless “urban renewal” brochures you’re used to. We don’t need your opinion — we need justice. We need protection. We need investment without eviction.

Little Jamaica Is Worth Fighting For – This isn’t just about buildings. It’s about identity, memory, and belonging. Little Jamaica is more than real estate — it’s our roots. And we’re not leaving quietly so someone else can rename it “Upper York West” and call that progress.

We are organizing. We are defending. And best believe — we are watching who shows up, and who shows their racism. 

Watch the Report: https://www.youtube.com/live/Pb7_ko-oxJ4?si=kuSHwVnQbmmCjIqf