Business Leaders Talk Big, Say Little on Gentrification

Tempers flared in St. Ambrose Church tonight as black community leaders met to discuss the pending eviction of Shikulu Shange, a local proprietor whose Record Shack music store has stood as a bastion of the African community on 125th street for over 30 years.

"We are looking at Harlem eroding in every aspect," said Mr. Shange, speaking about the ever-increasing threat of gentrification. "If the Record Shack goes, you'll have to go down to 42nd street to get your culture."

Mr. Shange was joined by the Rev. James Manning, filmmaker Duana Butler, Dr. James Graves, and others in protesting the wholesale turnover of African-American businesses on 125th street. "Harlem still commands world-wide respect," said Manning, but if businesses continue to be bought up at this rate, "we will become a non-event."

Yet even though 125th street is turning into a shopper's playground, it's not clear that all business owners are suffering. The 2002 U.S. census reports that black ownership increased nationwide by 45% between 1997 and 2002, with 10% of all black firms being owned and operated in New York City. Residents who bought early -- including churches and community centers, like the Abbysinian Development Corporation -- are now seeing record profits as commercial rents climb well over $4000 a month.

Many of those companies are now finding themselves the target of harsh infighting, as rising rents pit lease-holders against renters and subletters like Mr. Shange. In Mr. Shange's case, his adversary is the United House of Prayer -- the church organization which owns the lease on his building, and which has refused to renew it for the upcoming year. Mr. Shange is particularly irate because the United House of Prayer is an African American church. "It preys on black people with a vengeance," he stated, pointing to the church's unwillingness to stand by its native roots. Activist Gil Noble pointed out that the church is represented by a white lawyer, and argued that the organization is actively working in the interests of gentrification.

The panel offered scant legal advice to business owners facing eviction, focusing instead on a host of related issues - the threat of eviction, the construction of large-scale high-rises, police harassment, and the ever-looming threat of Columbia's proposed expansion into West Harlem. The criticism was understandably heated - as panel organizer Nellie Bailey pointed out, many native Harlemites risk being shut out by the "gold rush" mentality of cheap rent and profitable business opportunity.

Rev. Mohammed addressed this topic directly, emphasizing the the need for collective ownership, which offers sole proprietors a crucial bargaining chip against large corporations who are clamoring to buy up property. "We have to engage," said Rev. Mohammed. "We've been desensitized to ownership. We've been more subletters than we've been owners."

Shange chimed in, pointing out how important it is to keep black businesses in the family. "You cannot inherit a job," he said. "But if you build a good business, the next generation can take it over."

For the moment, though, the mood was despondent. "What is the power of our dollars?" said organizer Nellie Bailey. "Harlem is losing its African American population. We people of color are being forced out."