Famous director Spike Lee entered into a heated discussion Tuesday night at the Pratt Institute when asked to comment on issues surrounding gentrification.
According to Daily Mail, the outburst began when a male audience member began defending the benefits of gentrification based on a recent issue in New York Times. Lee’s exchange focused on the influx of affluent whites moving into predominately black neighborhoods, forcing conditions to change in favor of the newer residents.
Lee commented, “Here’s the thing: I grew up here in Fort Greene. I grew up here in New York. It’s changed. And why does it take an influx of white New Yorkers in the south Bronx, in Harlem, in Bed Stuy, in Crown Heights for the facilities to get better?”
MSNBC reports that Lee described the condition as “Christopher Columbus Syndrome,” where new residents move into an area that is seemingly new and ripe for settlement, but ignores the long standing residents that have a historically rooted culture.
“You can’t just come in when people have a culture that’s been laid down for generations and you come in and now s*** gotta change because you’re here?”
The discussion was later transcribed by New York Magazine.

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