ROANOKE, Va. – During Black History Month, gentrification in Roanoke City is the topic of a series of panel discussions every Thursday.
Gentrification is when a poor underdeveloped urban area is rapidly developed to attract wealthy people.
In Roanoke City, residents said the Gainsboro neighborhood was erased to build the Berglund Center.
Panelist Ronald Marsh, also the President and Chancellor of Bethlehem Bible College, said doing this impacted 1,600 people and about 250 black businesses. Marsh said many people were forced to move to make way for the Berglund Center.
Marsh said this is a history not everyone knows about, so he wanted to host the panel discussions, especially younger people.
“We can get this message out to our young people by this particular series of history. They will know their future. They will know how their future can be in a better way. To buy a home, to look at how the city is going, to invest in the future,” said Marsh.
He’s invited people impacted by the Berglund Center project to come and speak about their experiences.
Richard Chubb is one of the residents who was invited to speak. He grew up in Northwest but he went to Lucy Addison High School with many of the kids who were forced to move because of the project.
He said he wants people to know this history.
“I would like for people to carry the dream on because if you don’t know where you have been, you sure don’t know where you’re going and the history for the young people. They don’t know. They haven’t been taught this in high school,” said Chubb.
The gentrification panel is every Thursday at Bethlehem Bible College at 6:30 p.m. Marsh said he would like to host more panel discussions throughout the year about the project.