IT’S GONNA BE BRICK

There are countless movies, books and songs that highlight New York City during this time - the crack epidemic, state violence, and the golden age of hip-hop. Yet there are few expressions in popular culture that shed light on the communities thriving during that time. I grew up with parents that converted to Islam in enclaves of pride and cooperative economics built throughout the Bronx, Harlem, and Brooklyn. These formative years, between Allah and riots, I developed a sense of self that would prepare me for the drastic shifts to come.

During this time, I got out the hood and was introduced to architecture. Our family was one of the many immigrant families who moved out of New York City as soon as we could afford to. I was no longer Ibrahim Muhammad visiting the masjid with my Muslim community. I was now Ibrahim Greenidge, the six foot one inch goalie and lacrosse player with a squad that looked like the United Nations. The drastic shift from a 4 story walk-up to a backyard built for well-to-do whites opened my eyes to what I’d soon learn is a global inequity.

In School Daze & Beef Patties, I demystify the uphill battle as a young architectural student. During my college years, the hardships created a fire in me to change the experience for others. Beyond the shock of the financial investment and the academic rigor, for the first time outside of sports, I was one of the few Black faces. It was hard to tell the difference between the degradation that is embedded in the practice and that which was meant to keep me out - specifically. I relied on the culture to pull me through - the music, the food, and the audacity.

As a young designer, I was exposed to the ways the profession contributes to the marginalization and disenfranchisement of poor and Black communities. In the corporate sectors of architecture and engineering, white men dictate the terms and aesthetics. In this chapter I reflect on the school-to-prison pipeline that I was helping to design and maintain, the ways I used JAY-Z , Notorious B.I.G., and MOP lyrics to motivate me, and how I transitioned from a Manhattan cubicle to a licensed architect with my own firm.

This chapter is an Inhabitants Bill of Rights. If you’ve ever been to a hospital or clinic you have been exposed to a Patient’s Bill of Rights. What about our rights as it pertains to the spaces where we live, work, and play? Much like physicians, Registered Architects agree to rules of conduct, the first of which is our primary duty: “to protect the public’s health, safety, and welfare." Injustices in public health, safety and welfare are first experienced in the built environment. We must honor our primary duty with this chapter's principles, or we will die.