first, i never told people to grin and bear racism. I did say that you live in a predominately aa community and are frequenting a prdomoniately aa site. so yes, you have to grin and bear that.

and as my statement is generalized (because i simply do not know everyone in harlem), but most statements are general on this site. so adam sit down, i do not condone racism. all i was saying that newcomers should be more open to being apart of something (which includes me) … but i guess your guilt got the best of you

and brownstoner, i have done more for this community, bridging people together than i care to talk about on this blog.

but it is typical that two of you (who i figure to be white) cry racism when someone else’s view doesn’t correspond with yours. i mean i never, ever said white people in my response.

It’s true. My viewpoint has changed, it’s evolved. I’ve been radicalized, by the bigoted double standard that prevails in the USA, whereby the far richer White majority demonize me and other Blacks for merely aspiring to the same prosperity and civic participation they enjoy and have long enjoyed, pursued via the same method of identity politics they have successfully utilized, a method now, somehow, dubbed “racist”?

Ask yourself, without massive urban Black and Latino neighborhoods in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia or Florida could Obama have won those states? Had their demographic been more “diverse”, might not Senator Mc Cain have been victorious?

Yes, it’s true, I abhor the national diminution of vanishing African American political relevance , with my tax dollars being used to enact rezoning, tax policy and other governmental interventions designed to uproot poor Blacks in favor of the well-to-do. This being America, statistically a disproportionate number of these newcomers will be Whites. But new affluent Black residents are no less guilty of displacement or gentrification.

Class or race, which is it that’s at issue with me, one might well ask? The questioner would be unlikely to be an African American however. Even the most deluded or bourgeois Black person is incline to acknowledge the overwhelming lack of parity between most Blacks and most Whites, or even most Blacks and the relatively fortunate few Blacks who are well off.

Generation after generation, European immigrants and their descendants, by sticking together, voting in solidarity, at the polls for representation drawn from their ethnic group, in the union hall, to exclude Blacks, have solidified and perpetuated real political and economic power. Blacks, on the other hand, are so poorly served by the African Americans we elect, that across the nation historically Black enclaves have grown steadily richer and Whiter?

For a long time, even realizing how this trend has led to fewer and fewer successful Black owned enterprises and a more diffuse cultural life too, I for one was pretty sanguine.

Change, we are told is inevitable. Harlem, once was predominately an Irish American community. One hundred and thirty years ago, the Irish American mayor lived here. Back then, most city commissioners, PS teachers, police officers and firefighters were Irish American also. Few, at best, of their great-great grand children live in Harlem now. Many, don’t even reside in the city limits. Yet, thanks to enduring political clout, they nonetheless dominate many civil service departments just as their antecedents did.

Adopting this model, in the 1960’s and 70’s, Black leaders secured cooperate and government subsidized affordable housing. Despite an average cost of a mere $20,000 for brownstones then, few Blacks acquired property in the thoroughly red-lined neighborhood. Harlem’s dense concentration of poverty, helped to deter speculative development.

Today, affordable housing is the exception Uptown. Many of those benefiting from this essential public initiative, figure among the area’s best paid residents, like Governor David Patterson or Congressman Charles B. Rangel, rather than the working class. The “change” these. bureaucrats have assiduously helped to foster will surely spell their demise. But this was hardly their goal. Neither was alienating the largely poor Blacks to whom they owe their position of privilege.

Promoting a new “Harlem Renaissance”, knowing most Blacks lack resources, they merely turned to people who do have cash. It was a logical calculation from their perspective and it’s helped to expand their campaign and fund raising coffers too. But changes wrought by this alliance of expediency has hardly been either inevitable, organic, fair, or remotely helpful to most long-term Harlemites. Ultimately, yes, those with advantageous incomes now displacing the poor, will likely suffer the same sort of indignity. Should that happen, right, might and money, will remain just as irreconcilable as they are now—only at this moment, it’s imperiled and disregarded poor people who most concern me—-people who in today’s Harlem momentarily remain disproportionately African American.

Aburke-That’s quite a broad statement in your last paragraph, and one that is categorically false. I participate regularly in community meetings and events. I’ve also invited my entire block to my home. Many came, and it was a great time. I’ll probably do it again soon. I’ve gotten to know my neighbors. What have you done to help bridge the gap between old and new in the community?

And Donald – you are praising Adams only because he spews his rascism in an open forum? That actually makes it less rascist? How do you know some of these bloggers haven’t written to the Daily News with a dissenting view?

There is no place or excuse for racism. Period.

harlem is a majority african american community, THIS site is towards an african american slant, so grin and bear it! so it is funny that people who recently moved to harlem claim to be here because they love the place, (which i do not doubt), but these people must keep in mind that when harlem was struggling, as a community we had to help each other. there were no resources, tax breaks, or even much police support. so harlem turned inward and the progressive people banded together to make this a heck of a place.

so people must understand, that prior to gentrification we had to stand on our own. if you moved here recently, like any other place, you should try to be part of the fabric of the community and not someone who can’t wait to get home.

i am black, i own, but what really gets me are the people who are shocked that they are not welcomed. well, once you get behind the gripes of your computer terminal and be a neighbor and not a resident, i am sure your silly anonymous rants will be a little less… well silly.

most new people say they have moved here for economics, but i cringe to hear that people who purchased here recently (1million+) to only find that there idyllic apt/townhome has lost nearly 30% of its value. people should be paying more attention to the fact that if you purchased with the last 2 years your home is probably worth less that your mortgage.

so people, stop spewing who is racist, because i am sure as the day is long, that none of you have welcomed any african americans into your overpriced/over extended homes, had dinner/drink with a person of color. so instead of being shocked as to why someone is questioning your existence in harlem… you should be the change yourself!

If the Internet has taught me anything, it’s that it’s relatively easy to have an opinion on a topic that you care relatively little about – especially when you don’t have to personally bear the brunt of the outcome once your opinion is questioned.

I am white, and through the lens of Michael Henry Adams and his ilk, a “gentrifier.” Maybe I am. But my parents had nothing, and, quite frankly, left this world the same way. I am trying to make something of myself, and only time will tell how that goes. Economics do factor in to my decision to live in Harlem, to be sure, but I also like the place. I like the location, and I like my neighbors. This is the closest thing I have to a home, and a community.

I know for a fact that Adams has more of a problem with _me_ than he does with the black middle and upper class residents who make up the lion’s share of Harlem’s “gentrification,” to the extent that it is in fact taking place. He has quite transparently (and recently) chosen to couch his “concerns” in some broader rhetoric about issues of class, simply to maintain credibility and currency as an expert. But I have no doubt that he is a racist, as plainly as that term can be applied to anyone.

It saddens me that a small handful of people who truly fall into this category have gone to such great lengths to position themselves as speaking for “the African American Community.” It saddens me that they are all too often uncritically accepted into this role by the media, by politicians, and by others. And it very much saddens me that the many people who do believe in racial integration and who believe in the value of _every_ person in contributing to “culture” have had, almost without exception, no voice at all.

His point now appears to be that African American’s will be culturally and politically powerless, unless there exists an enclave that is predominantly African American from which influence can be exerted. The window dressing is a bit different, but the point is still the same. Harlem must remain African American. He’s suggesting who should and shouldn’t live in Harlem based entirely on race. That is racism, plain and simple.