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The discomfort based on race is experienced all over the city, it just depends on who you are and what neighborhood you're in. I was in Clinton/Hell's Kitchen this weekend and got so many: What are you people doing here? looks, it was just too funny. I'd forgotten how that feels as I live in a diverse Harlem nabe now. And yes, I am a multi-racial person.
I am disturbed that there is a few people here who seem to think Harlemites acting in a racially discriminatory way is somehow acceptable becuase they're poor/black. How many of you would defend an Upper Class/White nabe unleashing racial anomosity upon newly arrived Low Income/Minorites? I doubt you would.
Lulz @ white kids wishing for the ghetto to return. Trust me, if things were ever to pop off like during the Crack Epidemic, you'd be the first ones running for your lives over the bridges
A lot of his has to do with perceived gentrification. Harlem for a good forty years has been largely minority, and for a long time the City neglected it, allowed it to become run down, no stores wanted to open in any area above 96th street etc. Now, thanks to lack of affordable housing on the island below 96th Street, you see more and more Whites moving in. A lot of people aren't welcoming of that.
I wouldn't live in any part of Harlem. The bottom line is, no matter how many "whitey" move in, Harlem is Harlem is Harlem..... It's a crime and drug ridden area and whitey aren't welcome by the people who've lived there their whole lives. The noise, the dirt, etc doesn't make it worth it to have a "New York, NY" address or a "convenient" commute.
I used to work in East Harlem and it was disgusting. Garbage all over the sidewalks, people blasting music at all hours, people outside drinking/smoking weed at 8am, men catcalling, etc. Absolutely disgraceful. When I left that job, I said I would never set a foot in Harlem again.
Wait, you don't see crime, people drinking/smoking weed, men catcalling, whatever it is you're posting, in areas below 96th street (don't usually use smilies, but this sums it up). You could have fooled me. People openly take drugs in Greenwich Village. People privately snort coke on the UES. Crime is an urban issue period. Many People who live outside of New York think the City as a whole is one crime filled cesspool.
Wait, you don't see crime, people drinking/smoking weed, men catcalling, whatever it is you're posting, in areas below 96th street (don't usually use smilies, but this sums it up). You could have fooled me. People openly take drugs in Greenwich Village. People privately snort coke on the UES. Crime is an urban issue period. Many People who live outside of New York think the City as a whole is one crime filled cesspool.
If you think that now, I wonder what you would've thought of it circa 1975-1980 or so, it was much much worse then.
Wait, you don't see crime, people drinking/smoking weed, men catcalling, whatever it is you're posting, in areas below 96th street (don't usually use smilies, but this sums it up). You could have fooled me. People openly take drugs in Greenwich Village. People privately snort coke on the UES. Crime is an urban issue period. Many People who live outside of New York think the City as a whole is one crime filled cesspool.
It's not limited to urban areas only, lol. Suburbs aren't utopias.
I'm sorry for this to be happening to you. People who are racist to other people are ignorant. People should be open to new changes around the neighborhood. However, I could understand somewhat their point of views. They feel threaten that Whites are coming to W. Harlem, because they feel that if a lot of White people are coming in, they will get kicked out from W. Harlem. Also they feel that the rent will go up. Hence, W. Harlem will not any longer be their home, because they will have to move to another neighborhood to live.
I am disturbed that there is a few people here who seem to think Harlemites acting in a racially discriminatory way is somehow acceptable becuase they're poor/black. How many of you would defend an Upper Class/White nabe unleashing racial anomosity upon newly arrived Low Income/Minorites? I doubt you would.
Lulz @ white kids wishing for the ghetto to return. Trust me, if things were ever to pop off like during the Crack Epidemic, you'd be the first ones running for your lives over the bridges
I don't think anyone thinks it's acceptable, it's just a reality that you have to deal with. If I know that a place has a reputation for being dangerous and I move there anyway, whose fault is that? I don't see anyone here wishing for the ghetto to return, especially those who have lived through the bad days, and trust me, if things go back to the way they were it won't be just whites running for the hills.
I don't think anyone thinks it's acceptable, it's just a reality that you have to deal with. If I know that a place has a reputation for being dangerous and I move there anyway, whose fault is that? I don't see anyone here wishing for the ghetto to return, especially those who have lived through the bad days, and trust me, if things go back to the way they were it won't be just whites running for the hills.
This is a really truthful post. Parts of Harlem were always nice and stayed that way even through NYC's darkest days of the heroin and crack epidemics. Now a lot of it has been revitalized, most people that stuck it out through those times, moving forward to the light at the end of the tunnel are very happy about the changes.
People are happy about the mixed economic levels now in Harlem. Except most want more housing for the working/middle class. Most of West Harlem is now coops and condos. Old buildings have gone coop, made affordable for the existing and future tenants. Newer condos have been built on vacant land, where abandoned buildings once housed shooting gallaries, and crack houses. No one misses those things.
The working middle class would like to stay in Harlem, have the chance to send their children to the new high school being built on the new section of Columbia Universities campus that is extending up to W 135th St, this high school will be mostly for the residents of the community. Or the current specialized high school located on City College Campus. They don't want to be pushed out to an area where they won't have these good choices after sticking it out for so long, and working so hard to make the changes that everyone is benefitting from now.
The worries about being pushed out may be more for renters, but this probably all over the city.
A lot of his has to do with perceived gentrification. Harlem for a good forty years has been largely minority, and for a long time the City neglected it, allowed it to become run down, no stores wanted to open in any area above 96th street etc. Now, thanks to lack of affordable housing on the island below 96th Street, you see more and more Whites moving in. A lot of people aren't welcoming of that.
Gentrification is a reality in Harlem. Far from perception.
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(don't usually use smilies, but this sums it up). You could have fooled me. People openly take drugs in Greenwich Village. People privately snort coke on the UES. Crime is an urban issue period. Many People who live outside of New York think the City as a whole is one crime filled cesspool.
