Gentrification in our Backyard By vivian todd
B
arnard’s campus, composed of approximately 39 percent students of color, is situated just south of Harlem, a historically Black neighborhood. In the 1920s, after the Great Migration filled the overdeveloped area, Harlem became the center of the eponymously named cultural rebirth, the Harlem Renaissance. Today, established West Harlem residents are predominantly of West African descent. West Harlem has been nicknamed Le Petit Senegal, or Little Senegal, because of the Harlem residents that line the streets selling traditional West African garb. We, as students, are advantageously walking distance away from the Apollo theater and the Cotton Club. However, Barnard, along with the entirety of Columbia University, could not be further away from this Black cultural mecca. A quick Google search of “West Harlem” displays that some of the most frequently asked questions about the neighborhood are regarding how dangerous Harlem is. “Is West Harlem Safe?” and “Is Harlem still dangerous?” are commonly asked on websites like Quora and TripAdvisor, with most forums
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replying that Harlem is not safe. One Quora commenter writes, “From 125th up to 155th lies multiple Housing projects and other NYCHA owned complexes. So there is a lot of gang activity and a lot of crime still happening.” I have even spoken with some students whose parents had advised them not to venture north of the Morningside Heights campus. But is Harlem actually as dangerous as its reputation makes it seem? The 26th Precinct, which encompasses Morningside Heights and Manhattanville, the neighborhood of Harlem directly north of Morningside Heights, has about 1.151 crimes per 1,000 residents. This rate is far lower than that of popular tourist areas, such as the Times Square area, which has a crime rate of about 9.055 crimes per 1,000 residents. With the stigmas associated with the area populated predominantly by people of color, it makes sense that so many students do not understand the historical and cultural significance of the neighborhood in relation to blackness. Furthermore, Columbia University plays a massive role in the gentrification of Harlem.
38 - Dec. 2019/Jan. 2020
