Give as a gift
Going fast! Only 90 unlocks left
On July 17th, Next City will be screening "Razing Liberty Square," a feature-length documentary focused on Miami, ground zero for sea level rise. So the rich must move inland from the low-lying beaches, but where will they go? When residents of Miami’s infamous Liberty Square public housing project learn about a $300-million-dollar revitalization project, they brace themselves against gentrification. What they don't know is that their neighborhood is located on the highest and driest ground in Miami. But a young, local climate activist is prepared to fight this new form of racial injustice: climate gentrification.
Razing Liberty Square Q & A with Community organizer, Leader and Protagonist Valencia Gunder and Next City's Senior Economic Justice Correspondent, Oscar Perry Abello
Community organizer, Leader and Protagonist: Valencia Gunder, a multi-generational resident of Miami’s Liberty City neighborhood, is co-director of The Smile Trust, executive director of The Black Collective and The Freedom Lab, and founder of the Community Emergency Operations Center -- all of which reach across the US South and the Caribbean from their headquarters in Liberty City.
For the past 15 years, Valencia has provided coordination and support for diverse, low-wealth communities addressing climate change impacts. Together with the teams she leads, she has conducted 500,000 wellness checks and moved $7,000,000 in supplies to people in need across the US South and the Caribbean.
Known widely across the climate, environmental, and racial justice movements, Valencia has launched path-breaking climate and environmental justice initiatives including the Black Hive (which is the Movement for Black Lives’ climate and environmental justice program) and the Black Climate Manifesto (an organizing platform introduced at COP26 in Cairo and signed by CBO leaders worldwide). Her Arctic Blast Report enabled CBOs in 5 states to advocate for their communities. Her just completed Noir Project surveyed 10K black Miami-Dade residents to learn from community members their understanding of issues they face and their vision for their future in Miami-Dade.
Valencia’s disaster preparedness programs have been recreated by request in Minneapolis in the wake of George Floyd’s death and have been replicated with her help in more than 12 extreme weather events across the US South and the Caribbean. She has scaled these programs to 4 countries and 8 U.S. States.
Moderator: Oscar covers policies, programs and businesses that seek to address historical disparities in access to jobs, capital and space for economic use in cities. Oscar is the author of “The Banks We Deserve: Reclaiming Community Banking for a Just Economy.” Since 2011, he has covered community development finance, impact investing, economic development, housing and more for media outlets such as Shelterforce, Impact Alpha, Yes! Magazine, City & State New York, The Philadelphia Inquirer, B Magazine and Fast Company.
RAZING LIBERTY SQUARE is a character-driven verité documentary that weaves
personal stories in and out of the larger social justice narrative of Climate Gentrification.
Foremost it is about a community fighting to save itself from being erased in a rapidly
changing Miami.
RAZING LIBERTY SQUARE is set in the oldest segregated public housing project in the
South: Liberty Square, at the heart of Miami’s Liberty City. Underserved for decades and
suffering from chronic disinvestment, Liberty City has one of the highest poverty rates in
the nation. But as rising seas threaten Miami’s luxurious beachfront, wealthy property
owners are pushing inland to higher ground. Liberty City, which sits on a ridge, is now real
estate gold.
Our story begins in 2017, when the first homes of Liberty Square are being razed to the
ground and replaced by a new mixed-income development. Initially, there was hope in the
community that this development would be different from past urban renewal projects, but
residents cannot forget Miami’s long history of broken promises. For the past 5 years, we
have been filming with the people that are impacted by the developers’ bulldozers.
Sam Kenley is a single mother of seven who has lived in public housing all her life and
now has to decide what is best for her family, to stay or to go. Samantha Quarterman is
the founder and principal of Liberty Square’s only alternative school who was promised by
the developer that he would build her a brand-new school building. Local environmental
activist Valencia Gunder sees educating her community about Climate Gentrification as a
powerful weapon to achieve climate justice. Aaron McKinney is working as ‘community
liaison’ for the developer. Aaron is convinced mixed-income housing is the solution to
generational poverty, but he knows the ambiguity of his position: “My own family thinks I
sold my soul to the devil.”
The stories of RAZING LIBERTY SQUARE originate at the intersection of race, climate,
and gentrification. Our film interrogates assumptions of who matters—and who
doesn’t—and about land and who controls it.
- Year2023
- Runtime86 minutes
- LanguageEnglish
- DirectorKatja Esson
- ProducerKatja Esson, Ann Bennett, Corinna Sager, Ronald Baez
- Executive ProducerSumalee Montano, Grace Lay, Sally Jo Fifer, Sheri Sobrato, Matthew Sonsini, Lisa Sonsini, Anja Murmann, Leslie Fields-Cruz, Jody Allen, Megan Gelstein, Sabine Schenk
- CinematographerHector David Rosales
- EditorFlavia de Souza, Susanne Schiebler, Leigh Johnson
On July 17th, Next City will be screening "Razing Liberty Square," a feature-length documentary focused on Miami, ground zero for sea level rise. So the rich must move inland from the low-lying beaches, but where will they go? When residents of Miami’s infamous Liberty Square public housing project learn about a $300-million-dollar revitalization project, they brace themselves against gentrification. What they don't know is that their neighborhood is located on the highest and driest ground in Miami. But a young, local climate activist is prepared to fight this new form of racial injustice: climate gentrification.
Razing Liberty Square Q & A with Community organizer, Leader and Protagonist Valencia Gunder and Next City's Senior Economic Justice Correspondent, Oscar Perry Abello
Community organizer, Leader and Protagonist: Valencia Gunder, a multi-generational resident of Miami’s Liberty City neighborhood, is co-director of The Smile Trust, executive director of The Black Collective and The Freedom Lab, and founder of the Community Emergency Operations Center -- all of which reach across the US South and the Caribbean from their headquarters in Liberty City.
For the past 15 years, Valencia has provided coordination and support for diverse, low-wealth communities addressing climate change impacts. Together with the teams she leads, she has conducted 500,000 wellness checks and moved $7,000,000 in supplies to people in need across the US South and the Caribbean.
Known widely across the climate, environmental, and racial justice movements, Valencia has launched path-breaking climate and environmental justice initiatives including the Black Hive (which is the Movement for Black Lives’ climate and environmental justice program) and the Black Climate Manifesto (an organizing platform introduced at COP26 in Cairo and signed by CBO leaders worldwide). Her Arctic Blast Report enabled CBOs in 5 states to advocate for their communities. Her just completed Noir Project surveyed 10K black Miami-Dade residents to learn from community members their understanding of issues they face and their vision for their future in Miami-Dade.
Valencia’s disaster preparedness programs have been recreated by request in Minneapolis in the wake of George Floyd’s death and have been replicated with her help in more than 12 extreme weather events across the US South and the Caribbean. She has scaled these programs to 4 countries and 8 U.S. States.
Moderator: Oscar covers policies, programs and businesses that seek to address historical disparities in access to jobs, capital and space for economic use in cities. Oscar is the author of “The Banks We Deserve: Reclaiming Community Banking for a Just Economy.” Since 2011, he has covered community development finance, impact investing, economic development, housing and more for media outlets such as Shelterforce, Impact Alpha, Yes! Magazine, City & State New York, The Philadelphia Inquirer, B Magazine and Fast Company.
RAZING LIBERTY SQUARE is a character-driven verité documentary that weaves
personal stories in and out of the larger social justice narrative of Climate Gentrification.
Foremost it is about a community fighting to save itself from being erased in a rapidly
changing Miami.
RAZING LIBERTY SQUARE is set in the oldest segregated public housing project in the
South: Liberty Square, at the heart of Miami’s Liberty City. Underserved for decades and
suffering from chronic disinvestment, Liberty City has one of the highest poverty rates in
the nation. But as rising seas threaten Miami’s luxurious beachfront, wealthy property
owners are pushing inland to higher ground. Liberty City, which sits on a ridge, is now real
estate gold.
Our story begins in 2017, when the first homes of Liberty Square are being razed to the
ground and replaced by a new mixed-income development. Initially, there was hope in the
community that this development would be different from past urban renewal projects, but
residents cannot forget Miami’s long history of broken promises. For the past 5 years, we
have been filming with the people that are impacted by the developers’ bulldozers.
Sam Kenley is a single mother of seven who has lived in public housing all her life and
now has to decide what is best for her family, to stay or to go. Samantha Quarterman is
the founder and principal of Liberty Square’s only alternative school who was promised by
the developer that he would build her a brand-new school building. Local environmental
activist Valencia Gunder sees educating her community about Climate Gentrification as a
powerful weapon to achieve climate justice. Aaron McKinney is working as ‘community
liaison’ for the developer. Aaron is convinced mixed-income housing is the solution to
generational poverty, but he knows the ambiguity of his position: “My own family thinks I
sold my soul to the devil.”
The stories of RAZING LIBERTY SQUARE originate at the intersection of race, climate,
and gentrification. Our film interrogates assumptions of who matters—and who
doesn’t—and about land and who controls it.
- Year2023
- Runtime86 minutes
- LanguageEnglish
- DirectorKatja Esson
- ProducerKatja Esson, Ann Bennett, Corinna Sager, Ronald Baez
- Executive ProducerSumalee Montano, Grace Lay, Sally Jo Fifer, Sheri Sobrato, Matthew Sonsini, Lisa Sonsini, Anja Murmann, Leslie Fields-Cruz, Jody Allen, Megan Gelstein, Sabine Schenk
- CinematographerHector David Rosales
- EditorFlavia de Souza, Susanne Schiebler, Leigh Johnson