HANDS ACROSS HARLEM
On Saturday, April 12, 2008 the Coalition to Save Harlem will stage a massive demonstration as part of its ongoing campaign against the rezoning of 125th Street. HANDS ACROSS HARLEM will join organizations and individuals in a human chain across the length of Harlem’s Main Street, showing that the true River-to-River plan should be designed by Harlem’s people.
HANDS ACROSS HARLEM will assemble starting at 11: 00 AM on 125th Street from Broadway to Second Avenue. The HANDS ACROSS HARLEM Human Chain will take place at NOON. At 1 PM there will be a rally at the corner of 125th Street and Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Boulevard.
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The crisis of rezoning and gentrification of Harlem is emblematic of the redistribution of wealth that has taken place over the last thirty years in the United States. Our democratic republic and economic system has been usurped by corporatism. Our economy is geared to selling overpriced necessities and luxuries to overpaid, entitled people who are colonizing our communities. These homesteaders with the “green” who sip lattes in Harlem coffee shops and who sleep late in Harlem brownstones are way too comfortable in our community. It calls for action that requires us to use all the tools and methods at our disposal for political and economic justice. Protesting, civil disobedience, lobbying, petitioning the government are all good, start but we need to think more creatively both globally and locally.
where ever one chooses to live, white-black; past-present, you have to accept the ramifications of your decisions. so if your white and your complaining, then deal.
Oops I forgot. Brownstoner you mentioned” you don’t have to greet me on the street or roll out the welcome wagon.” Was that a freudian slip of sorts?
MMP Brownstoner, I hear you on the hate speech thing, we hear 24/7 in all manners of the media. So I ain’t feelin you too much on this point. And BTW, what exactly is hate speech here?
As to your point on ” White Gentrifiers, your words, not mine,” however, since you mentioned it, in my personal experience, these have been the only ones, to date, I’ve had negative interactions with, to the point of bringing litigation against them and prevailing. At least these ‘specific’ scumbags were pure rectums. Not all of ‘them’ obviously. Just the ones I’ve had the unfortunate chance of interacting with.
In fact, from the tone of your missive, you seem to have that ‘hate thing’ going pretty good as far as the protesters are concerned.
And alice I don’t know what your problem is, but……..
Anyway, I would not have, and did not move to the “suburBs. I felt, and other brothas/sistas such myself, felt we could do more good remaining in the “ghetto,” to use your charactization. In any event, I see you turned out quite well.
My wife and I have lived in Harlem for 3 years. we love the community, and culture. while I understand the concern many have about changes in the community, where has the hands across Harlem been when children have been shot and killed year after year?
How about a hands across Harlem protest to speak out against these senseless killings!
While we encourage a good debate we ask that you refrain from using vulgar language. Thanks.
The time alotted for this particular logistical exercise seems woefully slim. It’s probably about 2.5 miles from river to river. Assuming an average wingspand of 5 ft. per person , that requires over 2,500 people. It’s going to take more than 1 hour to organize 2,500 people over a 2.5 mile stretch.
In response to GDAWG, the exercise of free speech is great, but I frequently hear PUBLIC comments that border on hate speech. Why are only white gentrifiers objectionable? Why are only white gentrifiers seen as increasing rents? In my experience, whites are the minority of gentrifiers.
You don’t have to greet me on the street or roll out the welcome wagon, but please don’t suggest that I don’t have the right to live here b/c I’m white.
oh and by the way, they tried this exact same protest last year and 10 people showed up. let’s see if they can pull a whole 15 this year.
forget it. y’all are the assholes i gave you credit for not being.
Harlem homeowner, i just want to respond to you in particular. my parents grew up in the ghetto, got married and move to the suburbs. they were greeted with unfriendly faces who resenting their presence. this was because they were black, moving into a white neighborhood. would you EVER have said to them “if they don’t like it, they shouldn’t live here. if you are here, deal with it”????? no. this is exactly what happens to white people in Harlem and while i don’t shed a tear for them, i do recognize that while my parents didn’t HAVE to move to a white neighborhood they did…many white people don’t move to Harlem cause they HAVE to but for a better life of some sort. believe it or not, that’s what Harlem represents now for people. and I’ve seen many a white person yelled at and harassed on the streets of Harlem. reverse the colors of that scenario and you have some of the worst racist history of this country. but it’s ok in Harlem i guess. are we really all such hypocrites?
just trying to help us all see each other’s perspective but if we’re just hating on “these people” and ruminating on “keeping Harlem ghetto” im out. no hope for any of us.
Dutch ? Jewish? Original in habitants? How about the real original inhabitants! Indigenous Americans!!!!!!! Or, as they are commonly referred to in this culture, ‘Indians!’
As a Black property owner in Harlem, I like that my properties values have increased as any normal person would. But the arrogance/hubis some of ‘these people’ display is basically, pathological. Therefore, IMHO, intolerable. As such, these folks protesting, Iaint got a problem with. I’m down with them. And the last time I heard they are American citizens and are as such allowed to have opinions. And voice them at that. But hey, I could be wrong. Maybe they are not citizens anymore.
The very name “Coaltion To Save Harlem”. If there was truth in advertising their name would be, “The Club To Keep Harlem Ghetto”.
The name suggest they want to wind back the clock. How far? 1998? 1988? 1978? 1968? What era exactly are they seeking to save?
I am not assuming this is a coalition focused saving Black Harlem, they could be trying to save Jewish or Dutch Harlem I suppose.
Perhaps when they protest, they’ll do so in Wood Clogs on their feet, Yamikas on their heads, and they’re out to save Dutch & Jewish Harlem, the Harlem before the Blacks.
if white people feel a threat, they should not read this sire, moreover live here. if you are here, deal with it.
These movements are not about race – they are racist. There is a difference. Lots of signs and talking points from these groups link capitalism with white people. That is nonsense. Just google Stan O’Neil if you don’t know what I am talking about. Just look to Dick Parsons is you want more info. Capitalism and real estate is as american as apple pie – especially in NYC. Deal with it! And embrace change!
can we all just be honest with each other here?
if you are new to the area, you see a prostest like this as a protest to your arrival. to your choice to live where you have chosen to live, and likely a place where you have bought a home and therefore have an investment in. a protest like this has very thinly veiled hostilities towards you, your presence in harlem, and likely your race (white). no one in those shoes is going to look at this protest as a good thing. walk in their shoes, and you must be able to see why they are not happy about a protest like this.
in the other shoes…you have people who are not able to buy their homes, business, etc, so they are easily displaced. they are fearful of the change that has already begun to overtake harlem. they are fearful and also angry, for so many reasons, not necessarily any of which have to do with the individuals who have come to harlem in the past few years, but in the mass of what they represent.
i dont have a solution for anyone. but let’s not just fall back into the same take sides and fight pattern that always arises. let’s at least try to understand each other (Thank you brother Obama) before we continue to misunderstand and fan the flames of hatred.
If this “little movement” is no threat to you, why all the disparaging remarks?
And the last time I checked, capitalism (that ‘GREEN’ that you mentioned) in this country was founded upon the barbarism of slavery and the subsequent white privilege that remains with us today. Fool yourself if you want to, but the conversation about redeveloping Harlem features race quite significantly – as it should.
Hilarious, basically an anti-gentrification movement. I doubt they have enough supporters to form “Hands Across The Intersection of of Lenox at 125th St, The Human Chain from CVS to Starbucks”.
The demographics of the education level and income will tell the story of this little movement. While these kind people are holding hands, those of us in Harlem that worked 60 or 70 hours this week will be in bed resting. We will then get up and open our wallets and spend money at Harlem Coffee shops, we will then shop at the many Harlem boutiques, and perhaps that night dine at the many Harlem restaurants.
I invest and circulate about about $400 per week in Harlem merchants. I doubt a single one of these protesting spend more than a very small fraction of that. I am also quite sure the Harlem merchants I spend money with. The clothing shops, the restaurants, I highly doubt a single one of them support these people.
The new Harlem is not Black or White, it’s GREEN. Get with the program or move out.
Coalition to Save Harlem? There should be a Coalition to Save Harlem from the Coalition to Save Harlem.