In many cases racial power works here too, the desire for the other, the desire for something that seems different and interesting in some way. But when white resident move into a neighborhood the things that seemed charming from a distance no longer seem charming to them - whether that's the sound of the music being played, food being cooked, the activities taking place on the street. And let's face it, there is a deeply rooted ideologically and structurally based fear of racialized minorities that white people grow up with that they are inculcated with through the media every single day, that presumed utopia that people say they want only exists in their mind. That sense of fear and otherness may lead to act in hostile ways towards the neighbors they once were so enthusiastic to live beside.
Environmental scholar Leslie Kern talks about her recent book "Gentrification is Inevitable - And other Lies." https://www.versobooks.com/books/4047-gentrification-is-inevitable-and-other-lies
Leslie Kern is associate professor of geography and environment and director of women’s and gender studies at Mount Allison University. She is the author of Sex and the Revitalized City: Gender, Condominium Development, and Urban Citizenship.