Black gentrification in Harlem: complicating the racial narrative
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 ต.ค. 2024
- Morgan Jerkins and John Pressley, two young African Americans living in Harlem, debunk the common conception of gentrification as a strictly black and white issue.
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Don't let this video fool you into thinking there are large pools of wealthy African Americans changing the economics of a neighborhood. Like someone said here, the black people with money have always been there. There is no new african american money.
1890s-1920s Harlem was a rich Black neighborhood
Hey Jessica. Harlem did have a small amount of African Americans living in Harlem during the timeline you gave but it wasn't til the great migration (took place after ww1 ) that a huge portion of African Americans from the south begin residing in the North and Midwest seeking work. And obviously the Harlem Renaissance took place in the 20s. My ex is from Central Harlem and she pointed out a church on the corner of 120 and Lenox Ave was once a synagogue! And how the Italians covered much of east Harlem..
I was more intrigued by the huge number of harlemites of the 1950s migrating to bed stuy Brooklyn seeking better and larger homes. Apparently it was very congested which gave many families the motivation to move.
Just so much history of Harlem!!!
The same people that stole it then, r stealing it again.
@@FCm-tq2ho And the mass destruction of the great American cities began in the 50's when the whites were all forced out.
This is like The Trail Of Tears/The Black Wall Street warmed-over..!
@@debrabenoit5062 you dont belong here
Problem with gentrification it pushes all the poor people out.
Its not about Black vs White, it was never Black vs White. Its about the Green and the Greener!
Yes. It's always about the money. Creating race problems is the way to deflect from the real purpose. Displacing the poor and stealing/hiking up the resources.
th-cam.com/video/FBFguNeImhQ/w-d-xo.html
It is about race and class. The two are interwoven.
@@LoveTruth86 Yeah but we have to understand that not all white people are rich and all black folks aren't poor. And that's not the same as a system of racism, either. There are well-to-do black folks out there and that's what this piece is about. Richer black folks moving into Harlem and other areas and that's driving up rents that lower-income black folks after a while can't pay and they have to move out.
@@benjaminsmith2287 I agree with you. I would consider myself a gentrifier in the Brooklyn neighborhood where I live. This is what I mean by race and class being interwoven. It is more complex than the dominate narratives.
This is happening everywhere in America... I live in Florida and I see the same thing happening in the city I grew up in... in the next 40 to 50 years who knows what America will look like
Hope it's great I'm ready for a change.
Europe.
MEXICO AND CHINA.
India and China.
Hopefully not the ghetto.
Black people should have pooled together and owned instead of rent 40 years ago, instead they partied the money away, we are behind the 8 ball now.
This is the honest truth that they never want to admit.
They relish in being \/ictims instead of being 💪 \/ictors 💪…
''''whites moving in
taking our land''''''
it's not your land
sorry
I’ve been wondering why people keep looking back at the old neighborhoods as ideal? The one guy said it himself - the old hood was a lot of trash, empty buildings, and violence. Anybody who looks back on that fondly saying it was the way things should be is out of their minds! I’ll take coffee shops, upscale eateries, and no violence over the old hood any day of the week.
infinitycrops I think when people reminisce to about the old days they’re referencing the culture and vibe the place had - amid the negatives such as violence, gangs, drugs, etc. I mean if you think about it that made NYC. But life goes on...
Mandy Williams: Culture is overrated as it is no more than living off dead people’s baggage. It’s one thing if it brings you wealth...but most of the time all it does it hold people back.
MrNckissfan that’s a really Caucasian thing to say lmfao. Culture is what keeps a marginalized group unified and unique. You thinking that means nothing shows that you do not come from a background of culture yourself
Bron’s Plan: I beg to differ considering that my parents are grandparents were born in Puerto Rico. An overly romanticized island in which the culture itself is simple minded, submissive, cowardly, helpless and conceited. if culture is so great then why are those who take pride in their heritage choose to leave their place of origin, as opposed to staying and aiding in a recovery that will never take place? At least descendants of African slaves have an excuse considering that their ancestors were taken against their will.
MrNckissfan yeah, again a very Caucasian mentality has infiltrated you. Considering a place with a rich history in that light shows your ignorance, Self hatred, and Caucasian worship
Unless you privately own the whole neighborhood, the reality is you dont have a say who wants to come in and stay.
Nathaniel Carreon Truth!!!
@dwone jones Because unless you have a physical deed to the neighborhood you have no say on who's allowed to move in. Segregation's over!
we said the same thing to the whites who left it to escape minorities and they were big tripping. the fact is there should be laws to protect renters otherwise how great is this country? how useful? oh Moneybag USA but a whole city is homeless. You got a point. Wonder what's gonna happen when we combine resources and form partnerships and buy back the block. Drive the, we'll say, hipsters out by increasing the rate a couple thousand dollars and take the city over.
Gentrification is another word for *Whites are moving back* .
You mean White liberals
@@oochiewally2783
Pretty much. White conservatives are not the ones pricing poor Blacks out of the city.
Whites are moving back sounds like heaven
EXACTLY MY FRIEND! Many of these black neighborhoods were originally built by European settlers who lived their but were eventually moved out through block busting. Now the whites, are finally pushing back and block busting their way back in.
@@PR-bl5jy sounds like hell
I moved to New York from Raleigh, North Carolina seventeen years ago. I lived in Harlem for a couple months and I loved it. I lived on 149 st and 8 ave, I used to love getting my hair braided at the Africans on 126 st. I stayed in micro braids. I remember the record shop and seafood place on 8 ave between 125 st and 126 st. I went there for the first time to get a fish sandwich, so I order the fish and chips. I’m so country, the guy gives me my food and I’m like where is my chips? He’s like you have your chips, I didn’t know french fries was the chips lol, I thought it came with a bag of potato chips. 😂😂😂😂 I like 110 st and Lenox ave by the two train, that’s my dream area to live. It’s definitely different now, when I seen the Whole Foods grocery on the corner of 125 st and Lenox ave, I gagged. Harlem will never be the same, it becoming very gentrified. Smh
Yeah a Whole Foods and way less nightly drivebys. It will never be the same again. 🤦♂️
@@kevinc8955 You thought you ate that, your opinion don’t matter here!
That woman has spent way too long in college studying useless things about privilege etc. One buz word after another. I knew what she was saying, but it was all nonsense.
I agree. It forces people to step their game up. Lower single parent household rates, gang activity, improve quality of life. You can be black and brown and still live well.
But I don't wanna :(
@@jzk2020 then leave
Yeah gentrification is more complicated/complex than 'white people moving in'.
But I think the most educated and wealthiest of us moving in to a space have a responsibility to give back to any community they choose to live in.
Giving back is everything. The question is what is the definition of "giving back"
@@continuouslylearning6152 giving back my ass……..I don’t owe anybody anything, especially when I’m viewed as an “outsider.”
What? It should not matter. If you are in a community, you give back.
@@amablackacre1543 So it doesn't bother you, if you found out a mother with children had been kicked out in order for you to acquire "This" house. No, it probably wouldn't if this was your dream house.
One of the more rational presentations on the subject I've seen. Dominate and cultivate the environment/geography. Don't let it dominate you. The patch of land you live on doesn't make you who you are. It's only a part and a small part at that. If you get hung up on it...when it's torn down or lost... so are you. That shouldn't be. You are more than your environment. You can create your environment or at least understand yourself to be something/somebody essentially other than your environment. Doesn't mean you can't love where you came from, but time moves forward and so should you.
Wealthy people dont care about your problems.. Fix up your neighborhoods or some other people will.. Make money there or someone else will.. Get money!$$
New York is always evolving, it's the nature of the beast, neighborhoods aren't like little towns where you can go back and see the same people that were there when we're young, you go back and your lucky if you see anybody from the old days, and that's what makes you feel sad. Its if we came from a different world, one that no longer exists. My old neighborhood will always be a part of me, I will always recognize it as my home. I was born and raised in Washington heights, but my heights was from 181 st to 193 st, east of Broadway all the way to the Harlem river. It was an unbelievable place to grow up in. It had every race and creed that there is, and we really did get along, black, white, brown, whatever. It changed as I grew up but those changes enriched my life. I look at Harlem and I feel sad, but it's legacy will always live on in the memories of the people born and raised there.
gentrification happening every where in the states but yes definitely in NY all 5 boroughs and we need more colored people to invest time into buying property own some buildings and keep our people with in the community.....or harlem won't be harlem any more or any boro for that matter it will feel and be different. .....that goes to show the power of the dollar people!
Same thing whites in the inner city said In the 1950s and 1960s...But they were called racist for saying we got to keep our people within our neighborhood and not let them blacks take over....your statement is racist.
so is yours
Billy Craig racist these are facts you moron......no one said anything racist till u added your 2 cents .....lack of education smh?
$tack din3ro it's racist to not want or worry about white people moving in an area of a city. So this video is racist in nature
RobinHoodAZ no one whites can't move anywhere who said that here? But they're moving in poor neighbor hoods and developing and raising rent where minorities live and grew up for years and that's not right! Not once had i made a comment about racism or am talking about that? You guys are the ones mentioning racism why i don't know??? But nothing racist about gentrification only that it's wrong and sorry that im stating facts or being truthful here.....like the saying goes no one likes to hear the truth and maybe you're one of them Idk?
Nobody can force you out if you own your house. Wishful thinking doesnt help.
If the state or govt is going to “develop” with roadways, a bridge, train, or just some major change and your home(s) are in the way… they will offer tou money, but you will be displaced. Its happened quite a few times
@@lynnec3372 yeah but in those cases you get overpaid for the value of your property.
Maybe don't let gangs rule the communities.
You mean like italian mobb??
Typical 'hwyte' man talking about things in which they have 0 experience.
@@Superdogg23 You got something better?
@@oochiewally2783no he meant the russians
Gentrification is way way more about economics than race. It's just like
'house-flipping" but instead it's neighborhoods. You get a higher
return on investment if you buy up a run-down house and flip it than you
do from trying to flip a house in a middle class neighborhood. If you
don't want gentrification in your neighborhood, clean it up and keep it
from becoming a good place to 'flip'.
Goondock Saints 13% of America's population is Black but Black people are 75% of those effected by gentrification. You can say gentrification is not so much about race all you want but with numbers like those....
Its all about money not race......looking at a good investment the only color a person sees is green.
@@MrZBlackneffect since the peak of racism is over it allows the problem to be stated as a money issue… which isn’t wrong… but this is just the fallout of it
@@mikedodo3210 facts it's all about money it's the bloodline of our economy and it rules all.
if you had seen harlem in the 70s and 80s you wouldnt complain.
The movie: Across 110th Street. Heroin destroyed Harlem.
Respects to the Harlem residents. BUT you cannot be satisfied with impoverished communities and think it's part of culture. CHANGE is everywhere. You need to seize the moment. Let this be a lesson. Push EDUCATION EDUCATION EDUCATION. You will NEVER prevent this kind of change. You must become an active participant.
It's called progress
PROGRESS FOR WHO??
@@dwannbrown280 it's betterment of the community
makes it better over all
like all ideas or events it has down sides
one is that it moves lower income people out of housing
join together and demand more low income housing from the mayor
Really nice contribution to the current debate and, as John (the guy in the video) said, it's all about progress and moving forward, and we need to make our society understand that there are different ways of doing that
Excuse my typo's I have glaucoma and it affects my typing. I need to train myself to type without looking at the typing keys.
This segment is horrible. You have one woman who's also a gentrifier and doesn't explain how or if she contributes to the preservation of Harlem. And you have a Harlemite that doesn't seem to be doing much. This is a poor explanation about the effects of gentrification in Harlem and what's really happening.
> *and what's really happening*
By "what's really happening", I assume you mean the part she left out about how black leaders are involved in the gentrification of Harlem?
You don't "preserve" a run down place. You build it up. You aren't allowed to just sit around for 50 years and not do anything to make it better and then feel threatened when someone finally says " Im gonna fix this sore spot and make it more appealing. Tho world is not reserved for men and women to keep dibs on a status quo. Progress is human nature and making things clean and nice is natural. Gentrification helps all people who allow themselves to take part in it but invollved leveling up.
A friend is no friend at all who allows you to stay in your own slothful or self harming ways right? So look at it as a mass consciousness way of challenging you to level up, BE better, and stay that way. Nobody is preventing you from that.
I watched my own friend whos black go from making $10 an hour with me at Starbucks to starting his own "handyman business" on one of those apps, to havign his own client base and going solo. He now makes $150k a year doing something le absolutely loves, has his own enterprise, bough a Lexus, a nice new appt and has over $10k in savings. Took him 2+ YEARS. If he can do it there just aren't any excuses left for people. Get creative. But more importantly, GET RESOLVE to make it happen.
I was broke with my dude too and learned to trade ONE currency pair and started making $2k a week. Whole life changed in 7-8 months. Now we get to enjoy Starbucks as customers. LEVEL UP!!
@@continuouslylearning6152 THIS IS NOT A PLATFORM, 2 DISCUSS YOUR FRIEND, WHO IS BLACK, OR YOUR OWN B.S. BIOGRAPHY!!! SAVE YOUR BIO FOR THE BIG SCREEN, OR PUT SOME MUSIC 🎵🎵 2 YOUR LYRICS!!!
It's not new Harlem it's now upper Manhattan,. I was born and raised there. It's sad there now
if you had seen harlem in the 70s - you wouldnt write this. it looked like mogadishu or kinshasa. and not just in looks but also crime like you wouldn't believe. todays "crime" is tame compared to what this place was. i love it now.
Have you inherited any property there?
@@cortezforever No,at the time of growing up in Harlem. The information about those brownstones what you see wasn't as visible to buy. From the understanding what we know now It was done on purpose.
@@shonjohn9023 I see, sorry to here that, redlining and zoning. My family own a brownstone in Brooklyn, it was past down. Some of these people commenting prove they have not evolved SMH.
Social classes injustice vs. racial injustice: obvious. Why so much 纠结？
The conversation always bypasses the true culprits which are Landlords. Landlords and property owning cartels are exploiting everyone in the neighborhood.
i want to get me one of those hipster round rimmed glasses wearing black guys
+Alicia Laucirica You know what? I just picked up my round rimmed glasses today.
Stay with your own kind...sheesh
@@levarmitchell3962 weak link.
@@AD-fq8vj he's the weakest link. shuck and jive.
Interesting. The video is the same block over and over near my church.
I didn't think about my husband and I gentrifying our mostly Dominican neighborhood in Washington Heights until we found out we were paying 3 times the rent others were in the same building for much less space. This video didn't say much.
Lectora30 You are part of the problem! Shame on you.
Let’s stop playing around these people playing this 20 years ago. These people know exactly what they’re doing in his most definitely not by chance Black people became liberal liberals taught you to rely on the system liberal talk to you how to become renters that are owners and now we’re paying for it.
Aint enough degrees or jobs to fill the wealth gap fam.
I hope the Bronx will be next.
@@joanagrossa1719 you Tell em Bronx native Born and Raised leave the Bronx the way it is smh
So, where would the people go if they can’t afford to live there anymore?
The young man said it best. It's not a black/white thing. It's all about progression!
Jenny Titus 👏👏 100%
Jenny Titus Well when The Most High calls no one will progress he's going to teach Man. Especially the white man he is not GOD! And this whole existence is HIS CLAIM! THERE'S YOUR PROGRESSION!
I'm speaking of the local economy in Harlem.
Seriously. Progressing neighborhoods help everyone. Harlem is a nice place to live now, black or white. That’s something to celebrate.
lool easy for you to say
Where is the original video of the scene at 4:40 "old NYC" ?
They're progressing we are not we're just getting pushed out. Thats why we need our people with money to buy that real-estate and keep it in the fam as so to speek. People just don't cate about the "lowerclass" whatever that means. Why affluent black not moving into Harlem, Bedstuy, CrownHeights,Jersey city etc... They don't even see the vision or connect with us. idk y'all its a bad situation. Harlem is the Mecca of Black culture ever heard of the Harlem Renaissance?
That's why I wanted to move to Harlem...because of the Harlem Renaissance. I respect the culture of the people who came before me. Plus, I don't necessarily believe that I would be "gentrifying." I'm from a poor/working class family, lol. Plus, many of the black people currently living in Harlem have ties to the South. So, if I had the chance, I would basically be doing what their families did in the past.
@@alidi13
If you can afford it beloved we welcome you with opens hands... But it's getting crazy expensive to live in Harlem, in NYC in general it's crazy
John Pressley - positive mindset, a winning mindset!
The church ain't selling them homes lol this ain't the central district in seattle
DC went through the same thing . M
I dont understand the problem with fixing a place up.....
mike dodo iz raciss
It’s not that, it’s kicking the poor people out because some richer people move in and make everything expensive so the poor people either have to find a spot in a project(25k on waiting list) or leave. Turning into a suburb lol..
Drug Lords are helping the community, i see. 😎
"...everything rest of New York do, the rest of the world do..."
No mate, the world doesn't revolve around one single american city.
TheSaiyanKing it does revolve around the Entire US tho😂😂😂💯
@@roadrunna0075 Well yeah that's what they think.
It's more about people who are progressing in life vs people who are comfortable with being stagnant. I know its far more nuanced than that, but that's what's at the heart of it
“The restoration and upgrading of deteriorated urban property by middle-class or affluent people, often resulting in displacement of lower-income people.”
What this definition is missing is that gentrification centered on RACE. When white people move into lower income areas, stores change, the culture of the place changes. Go to Harlem today and while there is some change, much of the Black culture is still there. This is nothing more that Whites trying to broadbrush a trend that they major in to find some justification. A better example would be Center City, Philadelphia. An entire section was once mostly Black is now called a “Gayborhood”.
California is the same ……. You have to be rich , or leave ( sucks )
Harlem is not all that😂😂 queens is better and way bigger
Queens is diverse. Jackson Heights is still pretty immigrant in feel. Hopefully it's not Williamsburgized but it takes too long to get there on the 7 or E/F probably for the hipsters to find it.
Progression for whom...?
For all.
For the good decent folks who live in these neighborhoods...higher property values...No more pimps,prostitutes,welfare folks,drug dealers....and no more empty buildings for the pimps and drug dealers to do their business in....if someone loves living in the ghetto there are plenty of them in America for them to move to.
171TITO who's all?
Billy Craig what you mean is no more lower class blacks that were pushed into that area in the first place
Addy Fran What do you not understand about having progression for all?
I like what he said , life is about progression. Can’t stay stuck in the whole... nobody is paying attention to the people really doing the gentrifying .. cough cough China
😂😢
evrything harlem does the world does.........nah
It’s much bigger then what he describing it
anyone who wants an all white or all black neighborhood you are in the country please dont squash Martin L.Kings dream
Harlem black gentrification started in the late 1990s.
Love John, everything he said was on point and very mature of him. I can respect that.
Harlem could use more black owned businesses.
Someone interview Diedrich Knickerbocker and get his assessment of the situation. Just sayin'.
ypipo
I was born in Harlem so its a part of me so to speak. Im wondering how it is today.
@ Max Henry The World is a Ghetto
Noice vid
What is gentrification ?
In my eyes, its a progressive price inflation, cost of living wise, of poorer neighbor hoods. The intent is to improve the standard of living in unkempt neighbourhoods but in reality it pushes the low income residence out. I hope this helped :)
Basically it just means white people moving into a black neighbourhood
@@darlisaward3103 except at the core that's not at all what is actually is. That is a shell explanation to keep circular reasoning going and doesn't really allow anyone to solve anything
What happened to the claw man?
I see why th put this man on th documentary
Deep
Whether we want to admit it or not, Gentrification is one piece of pie chart of economic evolution. An impacting one. Is it right, is it good, I don't know. It is not all about black displacement. There are other minorities in the country that are going through this also in various cities around the country. The world does not revolve around New York.
Obviously it's not good because it displaces a ton of people who soon probably won't have anywhere to go with gentrifiers taking almost every corner of America. How come no one cares about these neighborhoods before gentrifiers come in? Yes, New York is not the the only issue and black people aren't the only group being displaced but this video is trying to shed light on the matter with one example. As a person who currently can't afford to grow up in the same neighborhood that they have lived in their whole live after finishing college. I don't appreciate the people who come in with tons of cash and just expect everything to fit to their liking. Immigrant communities, and people who have been here for generations now have to figure out if they can even make it one more year in a place where they grew up with their family and friends.
These people just dont get it most of these people lived in rich gated communites with zero idea of the real world and whats its like
i dont see a problem with integration
im sorry but when he says the rest of what harlem does the world does @ 0:09 seconds bothers me. WHat California does the United states does...does like @ weed. We run this mutha fucka….from the bay to LA back down to daygo to sac town cuz...
I'll move anywhere I can get me a black man
Try Sudan
+Fred Savage lol
mary mendoza move close to me Mary anytime :) 916-390-4234
mary mendoza To rob you?
sure
Very interesting. Thought-provoking.
Neighborhoods do change and it was said that Harlem is too well placed…like Carthage. I just hope they don’t turn the entirety of uptown into New Upper E/W Side🤦🏽♂️ just like Roman Carthage