Mark Harris on Redevelopment In the Fillmore.
San Francisco is a city that has been the setting for many crime fiction novels and film noir murder mysteries. The City itself is often portrayed as a character in the story. Shortly after World War II San Francisco became the backdrop for a real-life crime spree, one of the longest running and most tragic of the 20th Century. The San Francisco Redevelopment Agency began urban renewal projects in the Fillmore District in 1953, slowly and methodically killing the economic, social and cultural hub for African Americans living there over the next 50 plus years. This cultural homicide was organized and carried out by city planners, mayors and business leaders through institutional systems in which African Americans at the time had little if any access to. Though valiant efforts were made by residents to resist the destruction of their community, urban renewal and the structural systems behind it wiped out the rich culture of Black Fillmore, and the impact of that is still being felt today. Mark Harris