What will ultimately save and/or destroy CH?

Wow, this seems like a personal argument thread. I hope nobody minds me commenting. Crown used to be a great neighborhood up until 25- 30 years ago. Nostrand avenue was a great street to shop on, with many upscale stores etc. The guy who sold me my house (yeah, he is black) said that its been going through a "rough patch" for the last 20 years (that was 6 years ago), and now it seems to have turned a corner.
Nostrand avenue, Franklin avenue, nothing much happening on those avenues up until recently, unless of course you count the number of 99 cent stores, manicure joints, liquor stores, hair salons, and bad Chinese food joints. There looks like here is alot of room for improvement.
Talk to the homeowners who have been here for a long time, they seem very happy with the changes that are happening. Finally there will be better restaurants and amenities locally and they will not have to out of the neighborhood to get goods that they want. Housing stock will be preserved and improved (this is a gorgeous neighborhood) and all that comes at a cost of higher rents.
MHA you see things through your own racist agenda. What you consider bland , others might find interesting. How is anything interesting on Nostrand avenue? Well I will make an exception for some of the Rasta shops. Now look at fifth avenue in park slope, many different shops, restaurants, bars to explore. What is so bland about that? As for t-shirts, you can buy a whole lot of them right here in the hood, seconds, irregulars, etc.
Economic cycles and change are unstoppable. You can try to make it a black/white thing and get all angry about it (which isn't going to do a bit of good) or you can accept the economic reality of the situation. As I've said before, everyone, black and white, gets moved around and pushed out or desirable neighborhoods,

If you read MHA's record of comments, you will see that it is all black and white.

On Nov. 6th, next Sat., we will be planting bulbs on Nostrand Ave!! Care to join in?

Oy - i'm a racist again. Ah well... And I have a 'racist agenda'! I wonder what that is? Seriously, what does my agenda look like? My racist agenda to boot....

eastbloc, I agree with you, I need not be right. I only have an opinion and I state it... Thanks for not calling me a racist.

SnowboardQueen -- is this the cleanup that is also doing Franklin Ave? Or are they separate cleanings/plantings?

Got all that wood stacked in the driveway. Why not come over and see if you can us some of it. I'm right off nostrand and it would be quick and easy. PM me.

@xlizellx - yes indeed - this is one and the same. Crow Hill Community Association is organizing the Franklin clean up (meeting at 10 am 11/6/10 at the corner of Franklin and Park) and Nostrand Park is organizing it for Nostrand (meeting at 10 am 11/6/10 at the corner of Nostrand and Park).

@why_not - rockin! we actually already had you on our volunteer list because you previously posted on NP about the woodwork. Would you mind emailing us ([email protected]) so we can officially add you to our volunteer list.

@tsarina - awesome! would you mind emailing us so we can add you as well.

So for - we have had over $600 worth of good and services donated by Crown Heights residents to this Nostrand clean up. And that does not include the volunteer time for the clean up itself!

tsarina wrote: You can try to make it a black/white thing and get all angry about it (which isn't going to do a bit of good) or you can accept the economic reality of the situation.

tsarina wrote: If you read MHA's record of comments, you will see that it is all black and white.

I don't agree with you that MHA is only interested in race. Please refer to "Brooklyn Birds and Wildlife" or "Tree Branch Breaker" (amongst other posts) for evidence against this.

I also don't understand your (and other's) objection to his focus on race, which admittedly is one of his preoccupations. The thing is that race IS a major issue now impacting Crown Heights as a population of relatively privileged white people move into a depressed, formerly almost 100% black neighborhood. MHA is providing the valid perspective of a politicized black man who speaks from the perspective of the disenfranchised. My conclusion after seeing the reaction here against him is that you and so many others just don't care about the perspective he brings and/or it makes you uncomfortable.

Finally, you are wrong that MHA's inexorable focus on the plight of poor blacks in America will not "do a bit of good" because of the inevitable force of the free market. Da little folks have fought and changed things for themselves again and again in this country's history. Again, "Peoples' History of the United States," an inspiring book on what's possible for all of us.

Stand proud, MHA.

What blows my mind is how people misinterpret what I say. There are a confluence of influences here, no doubt some of them are cultural. Namely, there is little experience of a Black man saying 'you whitefolks...'; Whitefolks are not used to that. They are used to Black people shuckin' and jivin', and loving everything about them. Whenever I see critiques of what I write and it lacks any sense of history, I realize that the person rendering critique has absolutely no sense of history. For the record, I have nothing against white people except there sense of exceptionalism, which unfortunately most of them are unaware that they have. Were they to abandon this, we could be cool, but, sadly, for the most part, most do not.

I have bore witness to being called a racist here. What an irony of ironies! To bear witness to countless "Is it safe..." threads, and A black man spat where I walked..." threads, and to be accused, nay, BRANDED with the moniker 'racist' is so fucking funny -- you have NO idea. You whitefolks reveal your own racism, your jingoism, and your xenophobia.

Meanwhile niggers kill niggers; everyday. Y'all move in, and Black people take guns and kill other Black people; rape other Black people. It blows my mind. I am aghast at it. And the more you move in, the more it happens. I have been asked anonymously and in person why am I against gentrification. My answer is because it means more Black people will die. As resources become scarce, we turn on ourselves and rape, maim and kill other people that look like me. With the arrival of more whitefolks into this neighborhood, my lifespan become more tenuous. For whatever the reason, I think a Black man is more prone to be killed in that period where Black people are being 'gentrified out' of an area; and it is my belief that I am prone to being a victim of what whynot and others in his ilk would call progress. If that's progress then fuck progress. I want to live.

So laugh your asses off. I curse the tide as it comes. It is what it is, but it's also my right; fuck y'all...

krowonhill wrote: My conclusion after seeing the reaction here against him is that you and so many others just don't care about the perspective he brings and/or it makes you uncomfortable.

Finally, you are wrong that MHA's inexorable focus on the plight of poor blacks in America will not "do a bit of good" because of the inevitable force of the free market. Da little folks have fought and changed things for themselves again and again in this country's history. Again, "Peoples' History of the United States," an inspiring book on what's possible for all of us.

Stand proud, MHA.

8)

whynot, the stats you link to show that just 7% of Crown Heights in 2000 was "white" which we've agreed on another thread refers to the Orthodox Jewish population. Do you still not see all of the poor black folks??? Your insistence on a vision of Crown Heights as a model neighborhood of diverse middle-class homeowners is laughable.

And, tsarina, multiple discussions on this board have focused on the rash of violent murders of blacks in Crown Heights this year, particularly in the areas that are gentrifying. It is you who should "check your facts" which have undermined your statement that MHA can't truthfully blame everything on white folks. Maybe he can.

But neither of these comments address the core issue which I raised:

Why are you (and so many) on this board absolutely apoplectic over MHA's views which reflect those of disenfranchised poor blacks who make up a major part of our community?

Your posts don't read like they come from reasonable people. Whynot even spent weeks (before presumably he was shut down) threatening to "out" MHA from his anonymous online identity if MHA didn't modify his POV. I think - and obviously MHA thinks - that you just don't care about his perspective or that of poor black folks. Do you?

Do you really want to go back and forth about this statistics, whynot? Here they are so everybody can see them from the link *you* posted. They show an overwhelmingly non-white community whose majority is mostly black or else hispanic, asian, or mixed race.

Black Nonhispanic 78.0%
Hispanic Origin 10.4%
White Nonhispanic 6.8%
Two or More Races Nonhispanic 2.5%
Asian and Pacific Islander Nonhispanic 1.7%
Other Nonhispanic 0.6%

This is the profile of a poor neighborhood, a statement which is supported by the economic data on City-Data.com.

http://www.city-data.com/neighborhood/Crown-Heights-Brooklyn-NY.html

I am not going to nitpick with you on this. Besides the data, the demographics are obvious to anyone who walks around here.

Be careful, Krowonhill, the Brooklynian illuminati might try to out you as well...