For my last event I went to the screening of a documentary that a few girls in my sorority worked on, entitled Exit 76. The documentary was extremely interesting and it talked about the Jackson Ward area and the gentrification that is occurring. The documentary talked about how the area of Jackson Ward was split by the construction of the highway, and the one side of it is experiencing gentrification, while the other side is extremely impoverished and facing a lot of problems. One man in the documentary explained how poverty in areas of Richmond was intentional.

Jackson Ward contains one of the worst public housing units in the city, Gilpin Court, and the people living here face many struggles everyday. It was really sad to see this one mom of seven talk about living here and their situation. She described what it is like to hear gun shots on a daily basis and how her children all know just to get down at this point, even her three year old daughter. One of the things I really took away from hearing the mom’s story is how much she really cares about her children and making a better life for them. I feel like there is this perception that poor parents don’t actually care about their kids or what not, but this mom truly was trying to make a better life for her family.