"No Longer Majority Black, Harlem Is in Transition"

[demoleft]

'...the neighborhood is in the midst of a profound and accelerating shift. In greater Harlem, which runs river to river, and from East 96th Street and West 106th Street to West 155th Street, blacks are no longer a majority of the population — a shift that actually occurred a decade ago, but was largely overlooked.

By 2008, their share had declined to 4 in 10 residents. Since 2000, central Harlem’s population has grown more than in any other decade since the 1940s, to 126,000 from 109,000, but its black population — about 77,000 in central Harlem and about twice that in greater Harlem — is smaller than at any time since the 1920s.

In 2008, 22 percent of the white households in Harlem had moved to their present homes within the previous year. By comparison, only 7 percent of the black households had.

“It was a combination of location and affordability,” said Laura Murray, a 31-year-old graduate student in medical anthropology at Columbia, who moved to Sugar Hill near City College about a year ago. “I feel a community here that I don’t feel in other parts of the city.”'

NYT, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/06/nyregion/06harlem.html?em

a multiethnic garden, where people go to live because they want, not because of the colour of their skin.
in the words of italian journalist vittorio zucconi, who lives in NYC.

the sound of old harlem fades, even its famous choir of children disappeared, it seems.
"gentryfication"? maybe.

but maybe all for the best. when i was in NYC last year i smelled the change at every corner. a long process in the years.
those who visited old harlem in the 70's or 80's will bring with them a bittersweet flavor that will be no more, i suppose.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

1. I remember the squeals when that was happening in parts of Washington DC

There was a guest OPED in the WaPo stating that blacks had an obligation to other blacks and the city to preserve the neighborhoods and only sell to other blacks. The commentator writing it was fairly young and had no idea of how ironic their thesis was. The firestorm that followed was *amusing*. This occurred 10+ years ago.