[White] Boy in the ‘Hood
Posted on January 5th, 2010 in Uncategorized | 7 Comments »
My neighborhood (Harlem) is getting whiter, thanks to me. And, um, people like me.
It’s a fascinating sociological shift.
My neighborhood (Harlem) is getting whiter, thanks to me. And, um, people like me.
It’s a fascinating sociological shift.
Copyright © 2010 Shots in the Dark
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7 Responses
1/5/2024 4:01 pm
I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that the blight designation that came with Columbia’s proposed expansion just happened to coincide with this fascinating sociological shift.
1/5/2024 4:05 pm
Actually, if you read the article, puh-lease, you’ll see that the trend isn’t due to white displacement of African-American residents, but an African-American exodus out of Harlem.
Which, well, yes, would lead to blight.
1/5/2024 5:36 pm
I would just consider it a totally cool place to live, from a historical sense alone. It is unfortunate that the fact that it is black history should have anything to do with it at all and that’s the way I feel. That’s how it would be for me and I am white. I realize however, that this may be neither practical nor realistic for everybody…I don’t know.
1/6/2024 7:48 am
You don’t live in Harlem though. You live next to it in Morningside Heights. Why do keep saying you live in Harlem when you don’t?
1/6/2024 11:38 am
Um…solidarity?
Sorry about the pun, but this is a gray area. When I moved to Broadway and LaSalle Streets, real estate brokers called it NoCo, for north of Columbia, to downplay its association with Harlem. When Harlem started becoming chic-er, brokers started calling the area SoHa. (You can figure it out.) Used to be that if I told people I lived in Morningside Heights, they’d say, “no you don’t, why don’t you say Harlem? Are you some kind of racist? “Now the reverse is true-ifI say I live in Harlem, I get reactions like yours. (By the way, creepy that you claim to know where I live but don’t identify yourself.)
Anyway, the Times article defines “greater Harlem” thusly: “river to river, and from East 96th Street and West 106th Street to West 155th Street.”
So…that’s why.
1/6/2024 8:04 pm
Well, that was a very reasonable explanation. Thanks for the answer. I was honestly curious. And don’t get your panties in a wad, I don’t know you. Just gleened your area from your blog posts. I think you mentioned Morningside Heights before. If not, it was lucky or I’m just a good guesser.
1/7/2024 11:37 am
When Malcolm X was shot at the Audubon Ballroom (166th St. & Audobon Ave.) in 1965, the Times reported it correctly as being in Washington Heights. Most out-of-town media reported it as being in Harlem.