[URBAN NOTE] "What will happen when Harlem becomes white?"

[rfmcdonald]

Rose Hackman's article in The Guardian suggesting that gentrification means that Harlem could eventually lose its African-American and African population is interesting reading. None of it strikes me as terribly implausible on the face of it. What consequence would Harlem's disappearance as a black cultural centre have, I wonder?

Get off at 125th street’s A subway and walk south. As you go, you will spot luxury condominiums in between brownstones and walk-ups. If you want to, you can stop off at a designer flower store or a hat boutique. On your walk, you will almost certainly spot more than a few white, middle-class-looking faces – something that would have been inconceivable 20 years ago.

Couples can now be spotted in and out of bars and restaurants along Frederick Douglass Boulevard, locally renamed “restaurant row”. Outside of 67 Orange Street, a small craft cocktail speakeasy, reality television crews have been known to ask customers to sign off releases so that their faces can be used on film. The bar is a staple of Harlem’s “new” renaissance, where young, hip, black customers have adopted local venues to spend their downtime.

Gentrification means that demographics are changing, and Harlem is getting whiter. Between 2000 and 2010, the number of black residents fell notably, and white population share grew, particularly in central Harlem where white residents increased fivefold.

But when it comes to economic development, the story is much more complicated than white people moving in, black people moving out.

At the heart of Harlem’s gentrification are black residents old and new, many of whom are thankful for the new amenities and nighttime options. A very particular brand of black pride is being curated, sold and embraced – a move that is at the same time celebrating and threatening the very core of a dynamic black heritage and culture.