Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Here are a few excerpts from several news articles from the past few years that give credence to the changing demographics of Harlem, the traditional "capital" of African Americans in the United States. I would like to know what you think about this change, do you approve or disapprove of this, and what do you think should be done in order to speed up whatever you think about the change (whether its speeding up the transition towards a new demographic or the conservation of "traditional" demographic). Share your thoughts.
In greater Harlem, which runs river to river, and from East 96th Street and West 106th Street to West 155th Street, blacks are no longer a majority of the population — a shift that actually occurred a decade ago, but was largely overlooked.
By 2008, their share had declined to 4 in 10 residents.
“There are people who would like to maintain Harlem as a ‘black enclave,’ but the only way to do that is to own it,” Mr. Dodson said. “That having been said, you can’t have it both ways: You can’t on the one hand say you oppose being discriminated against by others who prevent you from living where you want to, and say out of the other side of your mouth that nobody but black people can live in Harlem.”
Since1980, Central Harlem has become less black, and by 2006 a smaller percentage of the population was black than in 1930. Meanwhile, the white and Hispanic populations rose.
In Harlem, that means the black population may not be able to hang on to what has been its own turf for almost 100 years. This is the neighbourhood that boasts the Apollo Theatre, where generations of black stars, including Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and James Brown launched their careers. .
It is no surprise that the changes in Harlem anger some. Tarik Haskins, 61, makes a living by selling CDs from a stall on 125th Street, the long thoroughfare which is Harlem's Main Street and on which the Apollo stands. He is furious at the changes he sees around him. .
Change happens. Harlem started out White. The only way to preserve the neighborhood as is, is to organize. Maybe they could get part of it declared an historic landmark, or some similar status. Residents are free to use the democratic process as they see fit.
The only way for ethnic enclaves in the US to persist as just a concentration of one ethnicity are if:
a) You have a constant influx of immigrants or people of that ethnicity constantly moving in.
and/or
b) The neighborhood is considered undesirable and no one from the outside really wants to move in.
Harlem doesn't have the first one so much anymore(Harlem isn't the biggest destination for black Americans outside the region to move to, though some more upper class blacks in New York choose it). In greater Harlem you've had more Hispanics moving in for years.
And it doesn't have the second one either so much anymore as much of Harlem has become a popular neighborhood since gentrification has moved up from the Upper West and East sides into Central Harlem. So Harlem will always have a black cultural side and population but it's not going to have a black majority forever. It'll never be like Little Italy in New York(which at this point is like the single area of Mott Street surrounded by Chinatown and yuppies on the northside), but in areas as diverse as New York no area will just be one ethnicity anymore except for areas where you do have a constant influx of immigrants still moving in.
Why the heck would I care? If you want to call Harlem a nice place or "cultural" so be it, but it's really just a dangerous ghetto. Any change is good change.
“That having been said, you can’t have it both ways: You can’t on the one hand say you oppose being discriminated against by others who prevent you from living where you want to, and say out of the other side of your mouth that nobody but black people can live in Harlem.”
People focus to much on white people. Whites are still a minority in Harlem. If anything Harlem was taken over by Dominicans.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.