Kristen Jeffers, MPA ✊🏽🌈 (she/they)
@blackurbanist.bsky.social
Black, Queer, Dynamically Disabled, Southern USA, Spiritual, Working/Lower-Middle Class Feminist Urbanist freelance writer and editor and podcaster.
Pinned
On The Radical Faith It Takes To Defy Gentrification
Welcome back to Defying Gentrification, Crafting Liberation — an art, design, and policy newsletter/journal of myself Kristen Jeffers, a Black queer feminist disabled millennial (US southern)urbani…
theblackurbanist.com
ICYMI on other platforms, we’re going to try out being Greensboro residents together later this year. Her first time, and I, well, you know. My newsletter has all the details. theblackurbanist.com/on-the-radic...
here I am, publishing what I think is the first self-help architecture and planning workbook for Black folks of marginalized genders (and the people that love and support them).
theblackurbanist.com/the-defying-...
theblackurbanist.com/the-defying-...
October 8, 2025 at 3:13 PM
here I am, publishing what I think is the first self-help architecture and planning workbook for Black folks of marginalized genders (and the people that love and support them).
theblackurbanist.com/the-defying-...
theblackurbanist.com/the-defying-...
Friends, I'm back here because it's almost time for me to put a book in your hands. More here about The Defying Gentrification Playbook, its December 16, 2025, release date, and a major health update that's affected it's process over the decades -- theblackurbanist.com/im-autistic-...
I’m Autistic, I Have Trust Issues, and I’m Self-Publishing My Defying Gentrification Playbook on December 16, 2025
Regular readers and longtime supporters. I told you I would come back to this newsletter when I had a date for pre-orders and a place to launch the book. Well, I do have a release date, December 16…
theblackurbanist.com
September 3, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Friends, I'm back here because it's almost time for me to put a book in your hands. More here about The Defying Gentrification Playbook, its December 16, 2025, release date, and a major health update that's affected it's process over the decades -- theblackurbanist.com/im-autistic-...
My heart's no longer in leading my creative practice with urbanism and active defiance of gentrification. I will be sharing my creative art and of course, I'll be living happily in urbanized spaces for as long as I can afford to. www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKFB...
The Future of My Work As A Victim of Gentrification, In Need of A Space to Craft Liberation
YouTube video by Defying Gentrification with Kristen Jeffers
www.youtube.com
May 22, 2025 at 3:05 PM
My heart's no longer in leading my creative practice with urbanism and active defiance of gentrification. I will be sharing my creative art and of course, I'll be living happily in urbanized spaces for as long as I can afford to. www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKFB...
Reposted by Kristen Jeffers, MPA ✊🏽🌈 (she/they)
While some products like cars and mattresses are still made in the US, China basically makes most consumer goods we buy in the US, including kitchen appliances, electronics, and personal care items. Things are gonna suck because of Trump's stupid tariffs.
Your Home Without China (Gift Article)
We analyzed import data to show where Americans may see product shortages, fewer choices and price increases.
www.nytimes.com
April 27, 2025 at 4:50 PM
While some products like cars and mattresses are still made in the US, China basically makes most consumer goods we buy in the US, including kitchen appliances, electronics, and personal care items. Things are gonna suck because of Trump's stupid tariffs.
Reposted by Kristen Jeffers, MPA ✊🏽🌈 (she/they)
I threatened to beat up my white neighbor recently if she called the cops on the young Black men standing on our street listening to music, eating food and talking. “They don’t live on this street” ass bitch. They were literally just enjoying each other’s company and not bothering anyone.
Since we’re talking about why policing is so popular I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention some people like that idea of being able to threaten others with state sanctioned violence. Matter of fact thrilling to issue this threat is an animating current to the current fascist movement.
April 27, 2025 at 2:53 PM
I threatened to beat up my white neighbor recently if she called the cops on the young Black men standing on our street listening to music, eating food and talking. “They don’t live on this street” ass bitch. They were literally just enjoying each other’s company and not bothering anyone.
Reposted by Kristen Jeffers, MPA ✊🏽🌈 (she/they)
“In Ghana, Meta is displaying nothing short of a complete disregard for the humanity of its key safety workers upon whom all its profits rely: content moderators. They are treated as objects who can be used up, burned out and replaced with no care whatsoever...”
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Meta faces Ghana lawsuits over impact of extreme content on moderators
Workers at contractor in Accra say they have suffered from depression and anxiety as a result of their work
www.theguardian.com
April 27, 2025 at 4:52 PM
“In Ghana, Meta is displaying nothing short of a complete disregard for the humanity of its key safety workers upon whom all its profits rely: content moderators. They are treated as objects who can be used up, burned out and replaced with no care whatsoever...”
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Back on the mic this week with some major updates on moving, and how I'm feeling now that we are nearly 100 days in and some of the dust is settling -- open.substack.com/pub/theblack...
Gentrification is fascist, but it's not too late to stop either.
Defying Gentrification Podcast Episode 10
open.substack.com
April 27, 2025 at 4:53 PM
Back on the mic this week with some major updates on moving, and how I'm feeling now that we are nearly 100 days in and some of the dust is settling -- open.substack.com/pub/theblack...
Reposted by Kristen Jeffers, MPA ✊🏽🌈 (she/they)
This is getting fewer headlines than it should. After coming to power promising to help working people, the president is revealing his real priorities by actively making it easier for banks to rip people off.
The CFPB Has Been Gutted
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau terminated the positions of 1,406 employees at the congressionally mandated agency.
www.wired.com
April 19, 2025 at 2:13 PM
This is getting fewer headlines than it should. After coming to power promising to help working people, the president is revealing his real priorities by actively making it easier for banks to rip people off.
Reposted by Kristen Jeffers, MPA ✊🏽🌈 (she/they)
….. they hate everyone and we gotta just say it
Iconic Golden Girls actress Bea Arthur, who served in the Marine Corps, has had her contribution scrubbed from Department of Defence website
Web page about iconic Golden Girls actress becomes latest victim of DEI purge
Bea Arthur, who served in the Marine Corps, has had her wartime contribution scrubbed from the Department of Defence (DOD) website. The URL now reads "DEIBefore".
www.thepinknews.com
March 23, 2025 at 1:33 AM
….. they hate everyone and we gotta just say it
Reposted by Kristen Jeffers, MPA ✊🏽🌈 (she/they)
If empathy is a sin, sin boldly.
Sin often.
Sin with abandon.
Sin often.
Sin with abandon.
March 23, 2025 at 6:31 PM
If empathy is a sin, sin boldly.
Sin often.
Sin with abandon.
Sin often.
Sin with abandon.
Reposted by Kristen Jeffers, MPA ✊🏽🌈 (she/they)
I just reskeeted @prisonculture.bsky.social saying people don't know. I'm telling you people don't know. I keep having conversations, even conversations with people who are in media who are missing huge chunks of what's happening. People are busy and aren't directly impacted so they don't know
March 22, 2025 at 6:22 PM
I just reskeeted @prisonculture.bsky.social saying people don't know. I'm telling you people don't know. I keep having conversations, even conversations with people who are in media who are missing huge chunks of what's happening. People are busy and aren't directly impacted so they don't know
Reposted by Kristen Jeffers, MPA ✊🏽🌈 (she/they)
For folks who don’t know, ethnic studies programs like African American/Africana Studies, Asian American Studies, Chicano Studies and the like come directly from civil right era campus activism. Attempts to disempower such programs should be framed as attacks on civil rights same as much else rn.
March 22, 2025 at 3:57 PM
For folks who don’t know, ethnic studies programs like African American/Africana Studies, Asian American Studies, Chicano Studies and the like come directly from civil right era campus activism. Attempts to disempower such programs should be framed as attacks on civil rights same as much else rn.
Reposted by Kristen Jeffers, MPA ✊🏽🌈 (she/they)
A man slated for deportation has captured conditions inside the Krome Detention Center in Florida. He says some people have been confined like this for up to 30 days.
At least three men have died at Krome in the past five months.
www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8248mFR/
At least three men have died at Krome in the past five months.
www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8248mFR/
March 22, 2025 at 2:26 PM
A man slated for deportation has captured conditions inside the Krome Detention Center in Florida. He says some people have been confined like this for up to 30 days.
At least three men have died at Krome in the past five months.
www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8248mFR/
At least three men have died at Krome in the past five months.
www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8248mFR/
Reposted by Kristen Jeffers, MPA ✊🏽🌈 (she/they)
Good news! Protesting still works, so keep protesting 🗣️🗣️🗣️✨✨✨
Hunter College has reposted their search for 2 scholars of Palestine Studies. Both searches are open rank and the new deadline is April 21. Please share widely!
cuny.jobs/new-york-ny/...
cuny.jobs/new-york-ny/...
Jobs | City University of New York
cuny.jobs
March 23, 2025 at 5:48 PM
Good news! Protesting still works, so keep protesting 🗣️🗣️🗣️✨✨✨
Reposted by Kristen Jeffers, MPA ✊🏽🌈 (she/they)
I don’t see how, unless our entire profession stands shoulder-to-shoulder in unity, we successfully push back against this effort to break our profession and our democracy.
Cowering & compromising won’t work. He is attacking us for the success of our work.
www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
Cowering & compromising won’t work. He is attacking us for the success of our work.
www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
Preventing Abuses of the Legal System and the Federal Court
MEMORANDUM FOR THE ATTORNEY GENERAL THE SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY SUBJECT: Preventing Abuses of the Legal System and the Federal Court Lawyers
www.whitehouse.gov
March 22, 2025 at 5:32 PM
I don’t see how, unless our entire profession stands shoulder-to-shoulder in unity, we successfully push back against this effort to break our profession and our democracy.
Cowering & compromising won’t work. He is attacking us for the success of our work.
www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
Cowering & compromising won’t work. He is attacking us for the success of our work.
www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
Reposted by Kristen Jeffers, MPA ✊🏽🌈 (she/they)
Gift link, where the gift is “evidence that Columbia will need to get even more fashy in order to satisfy internal and external pressures to get more fashy” www.nytimes.com/2025/03/22/n...
March 23, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Gift link, where the gift is “evidence that Columbia will need to get even more fashy in order to satisfy internal and external pressures to get more fashy” www.nytimes.com/2025/03/22/n...
Reposted by Kristen Jeffers, MPA ✊🏽🌈 (she/they)
"Actions like boycotts are a form of pastoral ministry for those who feel ignored or forgotten. They show that churches care about whole persons and the communities in which we live." -- Esau McCaulley
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/23/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/23/o...
Opinion | Don’t Like What Trump Is Doing? You Have More Power Than You Think. (Gift Article)
Church-led campaigns against businesses for retreating from D.E.I. promises are a form of pastoral ministry for those who feel ignored or forgotten.
www.nytimes.com
March 23, 2025 at 6:26 PM
"Actions like boycotts are a form of pastoral ministry for those who feel ignored or forgotten. They show that churches care about whole persons and the communities in which we live." -- Esau McCaulley
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/23/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/23/o...
Reposted by Kristen Jeffers, MPA ✊🏽🌈 (she/they)
In The Dawn of Detroit, Tiya Miles begins by teaching readers that long before the fort of Detroit & Sandwich (later Windsor) existed, the unceded Anishinaabe village of Waawiiya-a-ta-nong existed on both sides of our strait.
In the beginning, this was one village.
thenewpress.com/books/dawn-o...
In the beginning, this was one village.
thenewpress.com/books/dawn-o...
March 23, 2025 at 6:26 PM
In The Dawn of Detroit, Tiya Miles begins by teaching readers that long before the fort of Detroit & Sandwich (later Windsor) existed, the unceded Anishinaabe village of Waawiiya-a-ta-nong existed on both sides of our strait.
In the beginning, this was one village.
thenewpress.com/books/dawn-o...
In the beginning, this was one village.
thenewpress.com/books/dawn-o...
Reposted by Kristen Jeffers, MPA ✊🏽🌈 (she/they)
As it’s now confirmed that Columbia is not getting their money back without collaborating with even more fascism, the only question at this point is whether the university’s leadership will roll back their fashy acquiescence or get even more fashy. Unfortunately I think we (still) know the answer.
March 23, 2025 at 1:58 PM
As it’s now confirmed that Columbia is not getting their money back without collaborating with even more fascism, the only question at this point is whether the university’s leadership will roll back their fashy acquiescence or get even more fashy. Unfortunately I think we (still) know the answer.
Reposted by Kristen Jeffers, MPA ✊🏽🌈 (she/they)
100%.
It’s so frustrating that Christian nationalists seem to be the only people who internalized the legal tactics of the Howard Law & NAACP. The Federalist Society is designed to undo the work of Howard/NAACP, & it’s largely succeeded.
March 23, 2025 at 4:13 PM
100%.
Reposted by Kristen Jeffers, MPA ✊🏽🌈 (she/they)
Think it’s important to highlight how everyday violence of the U.S. criminal legal system is making what ICE is doing possible: this man was convicted of a crime at *16*; he was *pardoned*; when ICE came decades later they claimed the conviction made him a felon w/ no recourse against deportation
Rodney Taylor is a beloved Georgia barber who came to the United States from Liberia with his mother when he was only two years old. He applied for citizenship but was denied. But this year, ICE arrested him, locked him up, and has scheduled him to be deported to a faraway country he's never known.
Recently engaged, beloved barber arrested by ICE | How his immigration story is questioning the system
Rodney Taylor, a Georgia barber, has been pursuing permanent residency for years. Now, he faces deportation to Liberia despite being in the U.S. since childhood.
www.11alive.com
March 23, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Think it’s important to highlight how everyday violence of the U.S. criminal legal system is making what ICE is doing possible: this man was convicted of a crime at *16*; he was *pardoned*; when ICE came decades later they claimed the conviction made him a felon w/ no recourse against deportation
Reposted by Kristen Jeffers, MPA ✊🏽🌈 (she/they)
Urgent: Illegal Activity Underway
Many undocumented immigrants file tax returns with the IRS, providing details about their residences, families, employers, and earnings. The IRS has historically encouraged tax compliance by issuing ITINs to those without Social Security numbers.
Many undocumented immigrants file tax returns with the IRS, providing details about their residences, families, employers, and earnings. The IRS has historically encouraged tax compliance by issuing ITINs to those without Social Security numbers.
March 22, 2025 at 11:58 PM
Urgent: Illegal Activity Underway
Many undocumented immigrants file tax returns with the IRS, providing details about their residences, families, employers, and earnings. The IRS has historically encouraged tax compliance by issuing ITINs to those without Social Security numbers.
Many undocumented immigrants file tax returns with the IRS, providing details about their residences, families, employers, and earnings. The IRS has historically encouraged tax compliance by issuing ITINs to those without Social Security numbers.
Reposted by Kristen Jeffers, MPA ✊🏽🌈 (she/they)
I'm going to say again: NYC doesn't function without the subway. The city doea not have the infrastructure to support the majority of residents (and suburban folks) commuting by car.
I'm not going to debate its cleanliness etc. It's a naked fact that without transit NYC dies.
I'm not going to debate its cleanliness etc. It's a naked fact that without transit NYC dies.
Sec of Transportation Sean Duffy apparently called the subway as a “shit hole” in New Jersey today. With Phil Murphy standing next to him. www.nj.com/news/2025/03...
March 23, 2025 at 4:41 AM
I'm going to say again: NYC doesn't function without the subway. The city doea not have the infrastructure to support the majority of residents (and suburban folks) commuting by car.
I'm not going to debate its cleanliness etc. It's a naked fact that without transit NYC dies.
I'm not going to debate its cleanliness etc. It's a naked fact that without transit NYC dies.