Educational Media Reviews Online

The title Priced Out could lead one to expect an anti-capitalist film, but while it has elements of that, it actually goes deeper. It acts as a follow-up to filmmaker Swart’s 2002 film, NorthEast Passage (included on the DVD as a bonus feature), in which both Swart, a white man, and his main subject Nikki Williams, a Black woman, voiced support for the process of gentrification, specifically in Portland, Oregon's historically Black neighborhood of Albina. Fifteen years later, Williams’ opinion has changed completely, as she’s become jaded by the affluent whites displacing her African American community.

What makes Priced Out special, and effective, is the context it gives to the present situation, exploring Oregon’s racist past and explaining how it led to the large Black community in Albina. Swart also demonstrates the parallels between the Black migration into Albina during the 20th century and its shrinking Black population in the 21st, as more African Americans move to East Portland. In the past, Swart explains, African Americans were displaced by “urban renewal” projects; now they are being displaced in the same way by rising housing costs caused by gentrification.

Priced Out is a thoughtful examination of the ways in which classism, racism, and simple greed intersect to affect multiple populations in multiple ways. It is highly recommended for public and academic libraries.