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Gentrification: A Not-So-Subtle Racism
1:23PM ON
07/06/2008
BY
Ariel Werner
I’ve often seen gentrification as a difficult problem to tackle. For many of my friends—young, working people trying to live in diverse areas and support themselves on small, non-profit or public service salaries—it is a struggle to find housing without becoming an agent of gentrification. But a New York Times piece today about Mount Morris Park, a traditionally-black Harlem neighborhood, explores one of the uglier examples of that phenomenon.
Timothy Williams chronicles the recent dispute over the neighborhood’s Marcus Garvey Park where, since 1969, drummers from Africa and the Caribbean have played an important role in shaping the social fabric and dynamic of the place. “The musicians,” he explains, “who play until 10 p.m. every summer Saturday, are widely credited with helping to make the park safer over the years.”
Across the street from the park however, at 2002 Fifth Avenue, is “a new seven-story cream and red brick luxury co-op with a doorman, $1 million apartments and a lobby with a fireplace.” Predictably, there have been some disputes about the character of the neighborhood.
Williams writes:
Their supporters, who acknowledge that the drumbeats can pierce walls and windows, regard the musicians as part of the city’s vibrant and often noisy cultural mix. But some in the building at 2002 Fifth Avenue, most of them young white professionals, have a different perspective: When the drummers occupy a spot nearby, residents say, they are unable to sleep, hear their television sets, speak on the telephone, or even have conversations with their spouses without shouting. Some say they cannot even think straight.
And so in this corner of Harlem, which is known as Mount Morris Park, two sides have formed, each with complaints that many agree are legitimate. The stalemate has bubbled over into a dispute about class, race and culture and has become a flash point in the debate over gentrification.
It is the talk of the neighborhood, and even beyond. The conflict received news media attention, but since then it has taken a darker turn: A racist e-mail message was circulated among residents advocating violence against the musicians, and the New Black Panther Party, which espouses anti-white ideals, has marched in support of the drummers.
And here’s the kicker:
Last October, an e-mail message was sent to residents from the address of one of the co-op’s residents. “Why don’t we just get nooses for everyone of those lowlifes and hang them from a tree? They’re used to that kind of treatment anyway!” read the message, a copy of which was provided to The Times.
It added: “I hope you all agree that the best thing that has happened to Harlem is gentrification. Let’s get rid of these ‘people’ and improve the neighborhood once and for all.”
At 2002 Fifth Avenue, it seems, gentrification is far more than subtle colonization…it’s blatant racism. Let’s be conscious of this as the Providence “Renaissance” continues to take form.
July 6th, 2008 at 1:56PM
ethan Says:
When the drummers occupy a spot nearby, residents say, they are unable to sleep, hear their television sets, speak on the telephone, or even have conversations with their spouses without shouting. Some say they cannot even think straight.
Then DON’T MOVE THERE. Jesus.
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July 6th, 2008 at 2:54PM
JOE BERNSTEIN Says:
Gentrifiers completely fucked up NYC and they are doing a pretty good job on Providence.In Brooklyn,where I grew up,they have pushed people out of liveable space in Williamsburg and now they’re even moving into Bushwick,where it used to be you lived there because it was cheap.
And they complain when they become crime victims.What did they expect,Welcome Wagon?
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July 6th, 2008 at 5:17PM
Roberts Says:
What’s so hard about realizing that the musicians were there first?
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July 6th, 2008 at 11:08PM
JOE BERNSTEIN Says:
And another thing-the developers aree trying to drop a monstrosity called the Atlantic Yards project into an old industrial/residential area just south of Downtown Brooklyn.The whole borough that I remember will be turned into Leggo-land before they’se done.Just check out Manhattan.
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July 7th, 2008 at 1:16AM
P. Says:
why is it wrong for yuppies and artists to move into poor neighborhoods and displace the native residents?
for the past 50 years (and it is still happening) poor blacks and hispanics have moved into formerly middle class neighborhoods bringing some pretty serious problems.
both groups displaced native residents.
yet no one talks about those residents who left due to higher crime, crappy schools, trash, etc..
parts of mount pleasant, silver lake, and the north end are just the most recent victims, today these neighborhoods are shells of what they were just 15 or 20 years ago. the south side, smith hill, and olneyville before them.
i’m not racist but i just see a HUGE double standard when it comes to discussing the other side of neighborhood transition. not gentrification but decline and ghetto-facation.
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July 7th, 2008 at 9:27AM
The Rest of the Story Says:
The thing about the NYT article that doesn’t make any sense is its timing. It makes it appear as if this “battle” is still going on. In fact, a compromise was reached months ago that both parties are happy with. (I’m a resident of the building and when this reporter called residents of the building for comment, my spouse told him the same thing - I guess he didn’t care. I guess you really can’t believe everything you read - but its sad that it’s the NYT and not a “gossip rag” that proves that point.)
The new drummers circle has been constructed with consultation by the drummers on location, design and landscaping, and is far enough from the building that the residents no longer have any issue. So why do this article now?
The thing that makes me the most angry about the article is the way this reporter presents the email that was sent - when that awful email hit my inbox, I was horrified, angry and offended, and I immediately emailed the resident back (and everyone else on the list) to express my outrage. Most of my neighbors did the same. But I guess the reporter didn’t want to report about those email responses. Instead, he paints us all with the same brush, and implies we all had a hand in those terrible words.
Articles like this only serve to fan the flames…and in this case the flames had long been reduced to nothing but a few simmering embers.
At the very least, readers should know that there are many “innocent bystanders” here in this building who had nothing do to with that email, and rejected its terrible racist comments immediately. It would have been nice to have a reporter do their job correctly and report that this conflict is resolved.
Also, on a side note - he didn’t even locate the drum circle on the map properly. (The former location was immediately across the street from the building and the new locationis opposite from where he showed it.)
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July 7th, 2008 at 9:36AM
Ariel Werner Says:
i think it’s harder to find examples of the displacement to which you refer, P. this is probably because wealthier neighborhoods have surreptitious ways of excluding those ‘poor blacks and hispanics,’ such as tax brackets and zoning laws and whatnot. meanwhile, there are far fewer barriers preventing yuppies and artists from being gentrifiers.
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July 7th, 2008 at 9:40AM
Ariel Werner Says:
Thanks a lot for your input, The Rest of the Story. Good to know that people responded appropriately to the hateful e-mail.
But isn’t it still problematic that the drummers’ circle was moved at all? Like Roberts said above, ‘the musicians were there first’…. no?
I also think articles like this, while they may ‘fan the flames,’ call important issues that many people are facing in America to the forefront, and force a conversation like the one we’re having now.
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July 7th, 2008 at 10:27AM
The Rest of the Story Says:
The concept of “there first” is not a particularly serious argument. Especially when - as the reporter made vague reference to, but did not really elaborate on - the drummers have moved all over that park in the 30 years they’ve been drumming there. They started out on the south end of the park and the folks who lived in the buildings across the street asked them to move - and they did. They then went to the east side of the park and were there for a number of years until a couple of affordable housing buildings were put up and the folks who moved in there asked them to move - and they did. Now, a building was put up in a vacant lot (the building in the article) and the same request was made - and unlike the prior requests and moves, it became an issue other than residents vs. aural rights. A little strange, no?
Nonetheless, the drummers and the parks department worked together to have a permanent spot for the drummers in a more central spot in the park - unlike each of their former locations where they were always on the exterior of the park near residences. Now, all of the residents living around the park can live peacefully and the drummers and the community that want to hear them and participate can do so.
I think the problematic thing about this whole thing, to use your word, is how people - the author of the article included, apparently - are trying to make this something that it is not: a referendum on race issues and gentrification. Especially when we have found a way to come together for a mutually beneficial solution to the original issue.
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July 7th, 2008 at 11:31AM
D. Bell Says:
Part of what people without background don’t understand is that this process for gentrifying that particular area has been happening for about 5 years. If we were to do a timeline, I think it would make it more clear as to when all the moving around started. Likely it was around the same time the area started changing. About 6 years ago there were vacate properties around the park. Now the area is almost completely redeveloped.
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July 8th, 2008 at 8:39AM
The Rest of the Story Says:
That might make sense (but wouldn’t change my opinion of why it’s all of a sudden a race/gentrification issue when it never was before), but in actuality, the first move from the south end to the east end was in the 1970’s. The next move from the east end to the north end was in 1996, when the affordable housing apartment buildings were built over there. The moves were always as a result of residents’ requests, since it is such a loud activity.
Despite all of the back and forth, the point is really moot. A mutually beneficial solution has been worked out with the parks department and both sides are happy. Which is what we should really want here, right?
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