6.6.2015
Harlem is my home.
It's where I was mostly raised and no matter where I die, I will always be a Harlemite. I consider every human to be valuable, unique and important. But the people of Harlem, are my "folks." If you take the time to get to know them, the result is that you will inadvertently, know me better.
I will always speak up in the interests of the people of Harlem, Black or White, Jew or Gentile, regardless of who it's against, liberal or conservative, urban or rural.
It's where I was mostly raised and no matter where I die, I will always be a Harlemite. I consider every human to be valuable, unique and important. But the people of Harlem, are my "folks." If you take the time to get to know them, the result is that you will inadvertently, know me better.
I will always speak up in the interests of the people of Harlem, Black or White, Jew or Gentile, regardless of who it's against, liberal or conservative, urban or rural.
The following thoughts and images were birthed from the canal of a conversation I had with a sister of mine. She was ostensibly, complaining about the still-current Mayor of New York, Bill de Blasio. But her rant really wasn't about him. Her topic was the condition of East Harlem, which seems to have turned into to a hopeless skid row recently.
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| 125th St. and Lexington Avenue, NYC |
"What's he doing with 125th St.? What's going on there?" My sister asked me one day while I sat in her living room in East Harlem. .
"Whaddya mean?" I asked, knowing full well, what she meant.
"It's like skid row out there! You know what I'm talking about! All types of men out there sleeping all
"Well, sis. I think that the methadone clinics down the block..."
She interrupted me. "PLEASE, Jamal. those clinics have been there for 20 years! They were they when Bloomberg was mayor! But still Harlem didn't look like this when HE was in office! It's a disgrace. This is 125th street!"
125th St. is, for many reasons, considered the "center" of Harlem. It's home to the world-famous Apollo Theater where Michael Jackson, James Brown, and other music legends performed routinely during their "heydays." Tour buses make a business of stopping by the nearby Sylvia's restaurant, which is famous in its own right. Other "hip" restaurants have now popped up.
While known as a prostitute-laden ghetto in the days of my childhood, Harlem saw an economic revival in the 90's due to being designated as an "Empowerment Zone" by Bill Clinton. Soon after, corporate investments and Clinton's after-term office came in to the neighborhood, with the unintended consequence of raising rents astronomically. I'm not an expert, but I think that's called "gentrification."
Even Bank of America came through.
Even Bank of America came through.
There appeared a huge Pathmark supermarket that everybody became excited about, IHop and Magic Johnson Theaters showed up to hire folks. All were hopeful about Harlem's economic future.
But apparently, something went wrong. These pictures are the best evidence I need. Bill Clinton moved his office to downtown, near Wall St. The train must have run off the track somewhere.
