The Amsterdam News covered the highly controversial anti-gentrification conference that took place last week. Apparently the conference started off a little rough due to the selection of panelist:
From the opening panel of the two-day conference, Bailey had to stifle potential dissent when a member of the audience expressed concern that only white men were on the panel. I’ve invited others, including Black men and women, Bailey said. They are just late arriving. Even so, Bailey continued, This is not about who’s Black and who’s white, it’s about analysis, and how we got in this situation and how we get out of it. Professor Neil Smith, among the leading authorities on gentrification, lived up to Bailey’s charge, quickly asserting his mantra: “Gentrification is the housing policy of the U.S. He said this was not an accident. And it’s not just about the displacement of African-Americans.”
The moderator of the event was “Like it is” host, Gil Noble:
Broadcaster Gil Noble, the event’s moderator and whose television show, “Like It Is,” has often been a popular forum for discussions about gentrification, said, “I love Harlem. Harlem is my home, and I don’t want it taken away from me. He then invited his friend Sikhulu Shange to join the panelists.
Recently Shange, owner of the Record Shack, won a temporary victory upon being served an eviction notice by his landlord. “We are no longer allowed to operate in the community where we live,” he began. “And it bothers me that more of our residents are not outraged by this. It is time for us to mobilize.”He evoked the loudest response from the audience when he declared, “We are not going to be moved like rocks. Our lives are on the line.”
To read the rest of the article go here.
healthconcious
June 14, 2007
I have always loved Harlem for both the asthetic beauty and it’s people. I have had the good fortune after many years of relentlessly looking, to be a home owner in Harlem for 5 years now. I take pride much in restoring my home that is rich in history and is surrounded by long time resident owners who are nothing but freincly and kind. We have a block association and there is a real small town feel that you cant find anywhere else on this Island. Yes, are there people who live off public assistance in Harlem, sure but they arent the only peolpe that live in Harlem. For that matter many of those people are victims of circumstance that do not have the resources and are without the good fortune of being surrounded by role models that would otherwise allow them to have the kind of opportunities historically found in more affluent neighborhoods. Harlem is alive and what I mean by that, is it has maintained a completely seperate identity to the rest of Manhattan for many years. I think that most people including Harlems residents are genreally happy to see many changes take place. We all have to come to grips with the simple fact that all change isnt good, regardless of how much better a block looks verse the way it looked 5 years ago. There are many responsible homeowners in Harlem and they have been here for many years. These folks grappled with who might even consider lending money on their homes. Remember, not to long ago few banks would even consider lending uptown. I’ve been in many homes in harlem and I have seen it all. I have seen rooming houses that would make you want to run away, home’s with elderly couples that managed to rasie 5 successful proffesionals as they percviered and made due. These are the harlem heroes that didnt let everything fall down around them while the government didnt offer anything to this blighted community. They kept their stoops clean and their kids off drugs, all while drugs were being sold on every corner. Lets stop painting this picture of Harlem as the new frontier, because it’s not!. Lets just consider ourselves lucky to live through this renewed interst in Harlem and accept that we all have to respect one another no matter where you fall in the mix.
Hugo
June 12, 2007
I’ve spoken my two cents on this issue so many times because it is one close to my heart. I live at the end of the block of 3333 Broadway where so many people have been evicted because of loopholes in the rent subsidy contracts the owners have (or had) with the city. I know many of these people. I’m also heavily involved with people who live in buildings where landlords are allowing the deterioration of their properties in hopes that the tenants will vacate the premises and clear the way for high-rent paying tenants. And while gentrification is not the sole cause of this, it has rapidly increased the velocity with which it is happening in anticipation of all the expansion projects. So I do worry about the effects on those of us who have been living here many years. I also realize that some changes must take place in order to improve our community. Like I’ve mentioned before there is a lot of gray area when it comes to the facelift harlem has and is undergoing.
Like Divine1906, I have no problem with newcomers moving into the neighborhood. However, they must realize that they are buying into an established community whose people they must recognize and eventually become of a part of. If they are coming with a mentality that they are ushering the cleansing of harlem by ridding it of economic “leeches”, they will surely meet an equal measure of resistance and disdain from those of us who do live here. And that would truly be sad.
ac
June 12, 2007
Devine–please don’t take those two comments as reflective of everyone’s attitude. im technically a newcomer, (although i’ve had family in and around the area forever) and that’s not my attitude or that of my neighbors in the building i live in. not that it matters if your rent is going up and you have to get out—but at least dont look at two anonymous posters on a website as a genuine reflection of attitudes.
Divine1906
June 12, 2007
The comments in posts #1 and #2 are ironic. They represent exactly the attitudes that long-time Harlem residents find repulsive and threatening about the “newcomers”.
It represents the typical views about the majority of Black folks, “they’re all on public assistance”, “they contribute nothing to society”, “they’re always complaining”.
As someone who has defended the changes in the community, I find the thoughts reflected above indefensible.
These two fools clearly have no respect for the folks who they’ve found here or the overall history of the Harlem Community. They’re not coming in the spirit of being neighbors, but more like conquerors.
With comments like “taking charge of the land”, I’m reminded of the folks who created Apartheid in South Africa. They took control of the land and then scattered the inhabitants like so much sand.
Is that what we can expect in Harlem?
I myself am not afraid of gentrification. And I don’t have a problem with newcomers as long as they respect the long time residents.
If you choose not to, I advise that you rent the movie “Hell Up In Harlem” because that is what you will be experiencing.
Admin
June 9, 2007
Noname poster: Okay, violation! Now we are getting personal and that’s not how we operate over here. If we can’t play nice then the comments thread will be closed for this discussion and you will be moderated. This is a controversial topic but we can discuss it in an intelligent and mature manner.
If you have questions please refer to the Conduct tab at the top of page.
Thanks.
Donald
June 8, 2007
To the editors of this website:
I was actually about to post a link to this page, but decided against it due to the environment that you allow these anonymous commenters to create. I’m assuming that you want to foster a community in this space where people can exchange ideas and actually participate in cogent discussions about the topics you feature – NOT just offer yet another space on the Internet where cowardly people with no identities can revel in their racist rhetoric.
I really do wish you would take steps toward actually manifesting the community you want here. It does not happen overnight or automatically; it actually takes work. Honestly, there are only a certain number of times that I’m going to subject myself to what exists here now in your comments before I decide not to participate at all.
In progress,
Donald Andrew Agarrat
K
June 8, 2007
I think people should stop complaining about gentrification. It’s gonna happen no matter what. Survival of the fittest. Who says that Harlem is only for blacks? If that was the case, then none of us would be here becuz AMERICA should be only for the Native Indians. So Harlem doesn’t belong to blacks. Face it. Noboby owes anybody anything. If you can afford to stay in Harlem, good for you. If not, get a job, get an education….DO WHAT YOU GOTTA DO TO STAY WHERE YOU WANNA STAY! STOP ASKING EVERYBODY ELSE TO PAY YOUR WAY!!!!
Noname
June 8, 2007
- “What we are trying to do is to save Harlem for those built it, not for those who have no experience in fighting against white supremacy.” The words drew a thunderous response.
- “The audience was also quite alert to Dr. Mindy Fullilove, a psychologist who has worked in the heart of the Black and Hispanic community for more than 15 years. The psychology of space was her subject and “place is like a second mother,” she explained. She said that heartbreak, the catastrophe of being torn from a familiar and comforting place, was devastating to a person.
_
Hilarious. Is the idea to pull at emotional heart strings with no meaningful or truly relevant discussion? Sloganeering? That’s the answer? Wanna bet the group comprised seniors on fixed income and many on some form of Government welfare (Medical, Food, something). Meanwhile Black income earners of 6 figures between 20 – 40 are absent I am sure.
The only voices that matter are the ones with money that are willing to invest in Harlem. If that person is white, yellow, black, or purple – they’re Harlem’s future. When people speak on this issue, I now view them through that filter: 1. Do you bring money into the community? Do you have a job in the private sector and are bringing dollars not currently in Harlem to Harlem? Or are you on public assistance of some kind or form? In otherwords, are tax payers carrying your weight and do you have little to invest in the community? Harlem will not even improve or gentrify from city, state, or federal employees. Teachers, Cops, MTA workers, people that earn money from “the system and taxpayers” – good people, but we’re talking economics here.
Private sector dollars need to be poured into Harlem. That’s how you get a Whole Foods, and new condo development. People who earn their living from the tax system are not the people that buy the $800K condo or $2M brownstone, just being real.
Harlem needs people who make money in the private sector and bring that money to Harlem. That’s how you gentrify, not by people who make money from me, a tax payer, that’s just cycling money and I am subsidizing your job, which I am pleased to do, but does not create growth.
Black Harlem’s been dead for 10 years now, everything must change, The Scandanavians and Jews had their time in Harlem and it ended to, the Blacks sorry, it’s over, time for money makers to take charge of the land.
ps. Don’t let the doorknob hit you on the way out.