Kool and the Gang has a song called “Summer Madness” that signifies the beginning of summer in every predominately black community across America. You may recognize the song as the sample track used in DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince’s popular hit “Summertime.” The feel good hook to the song, “summer, summer, summertime, time to sit back and unwind,” is known by just about everyone.
Last week, while our attention was drawn to the new openings, real estate rumblings and upcoming events that punctuate what is being termed the “new Harlem” abruptly we found ourselves forced to refocus on the issues that still plague what is often defined as the “old Harlem.”
As families in the area celebrated the first weekend of summer with cook outs and good times, a number of local families were struck by tragedy and now they mourn the loss of loved ones who were senselessly gunned down within a matter of hours. The familiar sound of Mister Softee’s theme song was drowned out by the jarring sound of shots ringing out and shortly thereafter the piercing screams of police cars in hot pursuit. As usual this eruption of violence has torn a deep hole into the fabric of the Harlem community.
Although all of the incidents were very disturbing, the most heartbreaking of all was the killing of a doting uncle who was fatally shot in front of his five year old nephew inside of “Mount Morris Park.” The case is being called a robbery attempt that went wrong.
Other incidents that resulted in violence include the fatal shooting of a transit worker in front of a Kennedy Fried Chicken, followed by a trio of double shootings along the125th corridor that are still unclear.
It is always a sickening dose of reality when incidents of this caliber hit the community. The uptown family embraces the families of the victims in their thoughts and prayers.
Despite rapid gentrification, the community as a whole still has a lot of healing to do. The rash of violence that took place this past weekend is further evidence of the fact that Harlem still has a lot of work to do within itself. Making buildings look pretty is only a band-aid solution in the long term goal of restoring Harlem to its glory. It won’t be easy but if we all do our part to bring positive experiences into our community and let people in the community know that Harlem has good things to offer, then we are already doing our part to help heal the community. As much as the incidents of this past weekend hurt everyone, just remember that love (still) grows in Harlem. Have a positive and productive week.
Watch: WCBS :: WABC :: My Fox :: Summertime [YouTube]
Photo: Daaron via Flickr
anon
June 25, 2007
tuesday nights mt morris park community association meeting has been changed—now will focus on the shootings this weekend. see email from Don Williams below:
Fellow Harlem Residents
My name is Don Williams, President of The Mount Morris Park Community Improvement Association.
We have all been deeply disturbed by this last weekends violence and we are seeking an organized response to combat these episodes. To that end New York City Councilwoman Inez Dickens will conduct an Emergency Community Meeting on Tuesday June 26 @ 6PM at Rice High School ( 124st and Lennox Avenue ). The Honorable Councilwoman Dickens will be accompanied by the Commanders of the 28 Precinct, the 25 Precinct and the 32 Precinct, the Parks Department, and Community Boards 10 & 11 Officialdom to propose their plan of action.
This Emergency meeting is an adjunct to our regularly scheduled General Meeting; we are suspending our regular meeting’s order of business in order to give precedence and voice to our larger community concerns.
I have been a silent witness to the concerns and opinions voiced on this site and invite all members of the Greater Harlem community to attend.
I hope to see you all there.
Kind Regards
Don Williams
President
Mount Morris Park Community Improvement Association
anon
June 25, 2007
I was there later, never seen so many detectives, good to see the police all over it.
There are always people on Lenox at that time, must have been more than one witness, hope they where not the kind of witness that wears a no snitching shirt.
Hope they catch the perps.
ac
June 25, 2007
im not sure if you’ve not been watching the news all weekend-but these shootings were the lead stories on every local news broadcast and on NY1 all weekend. plus all over the papers, etc. and it’s all anyone in the neighborhood was talking about all weekend. everyone i saw, ran into, talked to.
what is it you feel you’re not getting in terms of coverage?
Anon
June 25, 2007
This shooting, the shooting Saturday night on 125th & Lenox of 2 people, the killing of a person on 11th & 5th Ave. a couple of weeks ago.
It’s all “hush hush”, not to be talked about, the real estate industrial complex does not want the White folks who are putting their toe in the water to have this component of Harlem in the news, on the pages, talked about.
Just wait, one of these days one of these shootings, one of these murders is going to be of a White person in Harlem. When that happens look out! The media will have then care – have a frenzy and it will be front page news.
The difference in attention and concern, public awareness, if you are murdered depends on if you are Black or White.