Take Back the Block

Mr. and Mrs. Henderson are Wes’s father and mother, with whom he lives. Mr. Henderson is smart, caring, and no-nonsense; he never sugar-coats his words, although he is a loving, moral person. From his dad, Wes learns to stand up for what’s right and to speak directly in support of his beliefs. Wes admires his father’s dedication and his ability to get results by talking; this teaches Wes the value of honesty and open communication. Wes uses skills that he learned from both his parents to succeed in his own missions, and so his parents act as donor characters, giving him the tools, skills,, knowledge, and moral drive to pursue his goals to completion.

Mrs. Henderson is also smart, caring, and passionate; she teaches Wes about The Significance of Community and Cultural Heritage and encourages him to participate in protests and community organizing. She also teaches him the finer points of effective research skills, which he uses to further social justice when he discovers how to get Kensington Oaks designated as a historic place and slow the process of gentrification. In return for the help that his parents gave him, Wes also helps his parents, because he saves them from having to move out of their house, which has great significance to several generations of their family. Wes’s relationship with his parents illustrates how families can be symbiotic, rather than the parents simply taking care of the children.

Alyssa is one of Wes’s closest friends, and she eventually becomes his romantic interest. Like most of Wes’s friend group, Alyssa lives in Kensington Oaks. Alyssa is smart, responsible, and morally inclined. She excels at school and also helps Wes to save Kensington Oaks. She is a peaceful friend to everyone throughout the novel and doesn’t fight with those she cares about, even when others do. Alyssa cares deeply about social issues like gender equality, racial equality, and gentrification, but despite her strong feelings, she doesn’t lose sight of the importance of keeping her friends close. Alyssa therefore helps to illustrate The Significance of Community and Cultural Heritage.

A soft-spoken, slow-burn romance develops between Alyssa and Wes, adding a romantic subplot that complements the novel’s main plot. Wes never directly says that he has a crush on Alyssa, but this can be inferred because he admires her, never says anything negative about her, and often looks forward to seeing her, especially at events where she’ll be dressed up. Wes and Alyssa’s romantic feelings are confirmed when they hold hands on their walk home after the community meeting about Kensington Oaks’s new designation as a historic place. This image implies that their romance and deeper connection are related to the social justice work that they have done together. Although Alyssa and Wes enjoy leisurely activities like video games and basketball, they also enjoy volunteering, doing research, and engaging in other activities that contribute to social justice in their community. The Importance of Youth Activism and Leadership is therefore at the heart of Alyssa’s relationship with Wes.

Brent is Wes’s “best best friend” (16), and at the beginning of the novel, Wes is even closer to Brent than he is with the rest of their core friend group. However, Simmons’s offer to purchase Kensington Oaks presents challenges for this friendship, because the two boys disagree about the moral implications of selling their houses in a historically Black neighborhood and allowing the community to dissolve and the area to become gentrified. Brent is funny, relaxed, charismatic, and fun-loving, but he doesn’t always understand the gravity of important situations, such as the Simmons offer to purchase Kensington Oaks. As a child, Brent is also limited in terms of how much he can defy his parents, and they make it clear that they plan to sell their house because they are less financially stable than Wes’s family and would benefit from the extra money. This situation illustrates the fact that those with less money are often more powerfully affected by gentrification because their financially precarious positions are often exploited. By contrast, those in a more middle-class position (like Wes’s family) can choose whether or not to sell their properties.

Brent’s developing friendship with Wes illustrates both The Impact of Gentrification on Communities and The Significance of Community and Cultural Heritage. Before Simmons offers to buy Kensington Oaks, Brent and Wes almost never fight or disagree, but the Simmons offer causes massive tension throughout the community, proving that gentrification is an important and highly sensitive issue. When Brent’s family sells their house and moves, this creates literal distance between the boys, and Wes feels somewhat abandoned. However, after moving, Brent redoubles his efforts to be there for Wes, showing up to volunteer events, remaining at the same school, and acting friendly towards Wes to show that he still values their friendship despite his family’s move. Brent argues that he is still part of the community, and this assertion complicates the meaning of “community” and shows that although gentrification may force people to move, it cannot always force people to sever their connections with each other or end friendships. Brent and Wes maintain their strong friendship even in the face of gentrification, which acts as the novel’s antagonist.

Kari is one of Wes’s good friends, and Wes has known him all his life. However, at the beginning of the novel, Kari is ostracized from Wes’s core friend group due to a petty argument with Mya that also creates distance between him and Wes. Further distance is created because Kari, his mother, and his younger sister Danica recently moved out of Kensington Oaks when his parents split up. Later, the apartment building that Kari’s family was living in was purchased by Simmons and torn down to make way for luxury condos, a loss that serves as the novel’s first example of The Impact of Gentrification on Communities. Whereas the residents of Kensington Oaks can choose whether or not to sell their individual houses, Kari’s family never had that luxury because they didn’t own the apartment building; this dynamic illustrates the fact that the most vulnerable populations are often made even more vulnerable through gentrification. Kari’s family has to move into a hotel, which puts them in an unstable, unsafe situation. They have to downsize their physical property and sever their emotional connections with former neighbors. Although Wes does not initially appreciate the significance of Kari’s building getting sold, he later comes to regret not showing more empathy and support for his friend; he also regrets not doing more to stop Simmons before they moved on to target Kensington Oaks. Kari’s troubles therefore illustrate how gentrification can impact families, friendships, and whole webs of communities.

Kari and Wes experience several ups and downs in their friendship, but they ultimately overcome these difficulties, illustrating The Significance of Community and Cultural Heritage. After being picked up by police because he was trying to help clean up trash after a block party, Kari is further oppressed by the police, who start patrolling his hotel so that his family has to move once again. This creates even more physical distance between Kari and Wes. Kari also becomes angry and withdrawn, getting in several fights at school and refusing to hang out with Wes even during his rare chances to do so. However, Wes’s family never stops supporting Kari, and at the end of the novel, he and Wes repair their friendship and clarify that they are like “brothers” who will always be there for each other. Gentrification can be a heartbreaking phenomenon, but the novel suggests that even moving to different neighborhoods cannot separate true friends and family. Kari’s moves change the dynamic of his friendship with Wes, but their connection endures.

Mya is another of Wes’s close friends. Although she and her family used to live in Kensington Oaks, they moved to the wealthier side of town a few years back when her dad got a new job. Mya still attends school with Wes’s friend group until about halfway through the novel. When her father hears that Kari was targeted by the police, he switches Mya to a school closer to her house. Mya is fun and organized, often providing structure and substance to group activities, but she is also superficial, privileged, somewhat inconsiderate, and oblivious to the microaggressions that she commits. When Mya and Kari fall out, Wes privileges his friendship with Mya over Kari for months because she has fun parties at her house and it’s “easier” to do what she wants. However, over time, he comes to understand that Kari not only needs him more than Mya does, but he has also been a better friend to him than Mya has been.

Despite being wealthier and more privileged than most of her friends, Mya faces her own challenges as the only one of Wes’s friend group who is of both white and Black heritage. Ultimately, Mya’s challenges help her to reconnect with her friends, illustrating The Significance of Community and Cultural Heritage. At first, Mya thinks that saving Kensington Oaks isn’t her business because she doesn’t live there anymore, but after moving to a different school where she is often the only girl of her cultural background in her various classes, she develops more empathy for her old friends’ plights. Tired of being teased by white kids about her race, Mya appreciates the fact that her old friends don’t reduce her to her racial identity. In return, she makes more of an effort not to reduce them to their socioeconomic statuses.

Jas is another of Wes’s close friends and also lives in Kensington Oaks. Jas is kind, fun-loving, passionate, and musically talented. Like Alyssa, Jas gets along with his friends and doesn’t fight with others when times get tough, illustrating The Significance of Community and Cultural Heritage. Jas never loses sight of the importance of friendship and community; therefore, he contributes to Wes’s efforts to save Kensington Oaks, and he’s also there for Wes during tough times, such as when Wes’s friendship with Brent suffers. Jas is more soft-spoken than Brent or Mya and he attracts less attention; this is portrayed as a positive quality because he always keeps the peace and tries to do the right thing.

Wes admires Jas for his incredible musical talent, regarding him as “powerful.” At first, Wes doesn’t believe that he possesses the same level of power that Jas does, for he doubts his own ability to be a community “leader” or to succeed in his middle-school classes. Instead of simply envying Jas, Wes draws inspiration from his friend and finds his own form of power. Wes’s power is different from Jas’s, for Wes is a community leader fighting for social justice through research, public speaking, and volunteer work, not music. However, the level of power that Wes develops is the same. Part of what makes Wes’s community and friend group so special is that each person has unique types of power and talent to contribute.

Mr. Baker is Wes’s sixth-grade homeroom teacher and social studies teacher. Initial rumors amongst the students suggest that Mr. Baker is mean, but he is actually friendly, smart, passionate, and a great mentor to Wes. Wes isn’t the most academically inclined student in his friend group, but he is also not a bad student, which means that he usually evades the attention of teachers and considers himself to be an average student. This changes when Mr. Baker comes along. Mr. Baker helps Wes to understand that some of the issues he cares about outside of school are actually academic topics, and that school and “real life” are not as opposed as Wes used to believe. This realization helps Wes to improve his performance at school and also achieve his goals outside of school.

Because he gives Wes new skills, knowledge, and connections that help him achieve his goals, Mr. Baker acts as a donor character. Wes first learns the word “gentrification” through an article written by Mr. Baker. Labeling the problem helps Wes to understand The Impact of Gentrification on Communities and start brainstorming solutions to solve the issue facing Kensington Oaks. Mr. Baker also connects Wes with another donor character, Ms. Monica from Save Our City (who also happens to be Mr. Baker’s fiancée). Mr. Baker gives Wes the confidence to succeed in his mission as part of a dedicated, knowledgeable team. Ironically, although Ms. Monica has certain information that Wes doesn’t, Wes is the one who finds the “key” to saving the community; together, Mr. Baker, Ms. Monica, Wes, and the rest demonstrate the power of teamwork and The Significance of Community and Cultural Heritage.