DWELL: 465 WEST 144TH STREET TOWNHOUSE
Harlem Bespoke: After selling for $1.9 million back in 2020 during the start of the pandemic, Number 465 West 144th Street in Hamilton Heights is now back on the market for a cool $2.5 million. So what is different this time around? The listing mentions that everything is in a multi-family layout and a Certificate of No Harrassment in place so an SRO situation might have been the case in the past. With that said, that would mean the next owner can start with changing the layout right away and there lies the new value of the apparent fixer-upper. As previously mentioned, this is one of the rarely available landmark townhouses on the block of West 144th Street between Convent and Amsterdam Avenue which is one of our favorite blocks in all of the city. More details and photos can be found on Streeteasy: LINK
LISTEN: LIVE JAZZ NIGHT AT LUCILLE’S
Harlem Bespoke: Live music lovers can check out the jazz vibes at Lucille’s on Macomb Place by 150th Street every Thursday evening starting at 8:00PM with dinner or drink service. The charming corner space in Central Harlem has a very current 70’s mood to it which doubles as a cozy coffee spot during the day but also makes for a lovely evening out when cocktails are served up at the bar. With things starting to open up back in the city, Lucille’s is definitely one of the places to check out for a chill night out. More details on Lucille’s can be found in our past post: LINK
Community comes together to mark anniversary of MLK’s assassination
The People’s Organization for Progress was set to host their annual protest to observe the anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Tuesday, April 4. Organizers named their event the “March For Justice, Equality, and Peace.” Participants met at the new Martin Luther King Memorial Monument at 495 Martin Luther King Blvd. by the new Essex County Building.
The protest centered on police brutality, voting rights, world peace, housing justice, worker rights and living wage jobs, environmental justice, and more. Police brutality, especially in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd, was especially spotlighted with the family survivors of a number of recent cases in the area participating prominently.
“We are marching on April 4 to draw attention to police brutality in New Jersey, as well as the rest of the nation,” said chairperson Lawrence Hamm. “We [marched] to demand justice for Najee Seabrooks, Bernard Placide Jr., Carl Dorsey, Major Gulia Dale III, the Rodwell/Spivey Brothers, and many other victims in this state and across the country.”
The King statue in front of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Justice Building, near the corner of Springfield Avenue and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, was surrounded by participants with hopes of drawing attention to the fact that the social, economic, and political issues that King confronted during his lifetime are still present today, and it is our duty to continue his fight.
Marchers demanded full implementation of the state’s Amistad Law, which requires teaching African American history in all public schools.
For more information about the People’s Organization for Progress, call 973-801-0001.
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America’s Gun Epidemic is the Problem, Not Transgender People
The far right wants to distort the recent horrific Nashville shooting into a story about violence and transgender people. We should strongly rebuff those efforts as a blatantly offensive sleight of hand that fundamentally ignores reality and seeks to undermine our collective humanity.
Last week, on Monday, March 27, our nation experienced another tragic mass shooting that senselessly took six lives at a covenant school in Nashville. Unfortunately, the right-wing disinformation machine has executed an all-too-familiar strategy of turning conversations regarding gun safety into an opportunity to perpetuate hatred toward marginalized groups. Channeling hate into a political strategy will only result in more gun-related deaths.
After unconfirmed reports that the perpetrator of the Nashville shooting identified as transgender, a flood of anti-transgender rhetoric began, with transphobic comments coming from across the spectrum. Across the conservative media spectrum, outlets went to pains to immediately brand the suspect as a “trans shooter.”
To give you a sense of the insanity, former President Donald Trump and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) have both speculated that hormone therapy was driving the shooter’s apparent rage, despite there being no evidence that the shooter was on hormone therapy.
The president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., said the media was ignoring “a clear epidemic of trans or non-binary mass shooters,” although he presented nothing to support that claim.
The comments demonizing transgender people are perhaps the most cynical in a long line of distraction techniques to avoid the underlying discussion of America’s gun epidemic—the one that is happening regardless of the identity of the shooter.
But let’s remember that facts matter. There have been at least 130 mass shootings this year alone. The vast majority of mass shootings in the United States are perpetrated by cisgender men, and transgender people are dramatically more likely to be victims of violent crime, not perpetrators. Most concerning, incidents of violence against transgender people are on the rise across this country.
The attacks on transgender people are part of a much broader and insidious campaign. Since the beginning of the year, more than 400 anti-LGBTQ pieces of legislation have been introduced in state legislatures nationwide as part of a national strategy to enshrine discrimination into law. Much of the legislation focuses on restricting healthcare access, visibility in the education system, and freedom of public expression. Within the LGBTQ community, transgender people are the most vulnerable, which makes these attacks all the more heartbreaking. Transgender people are our siblings, our family.
As a Black man who is also gay, I have lived my life being seen as “other” to many. In my life, I have learned that my greatest power is my ability to stand up for others. In my roles in the private sector, government, and not-for-profit sectors and now as the president & CEO of the Global Black Economic Forum, I have always believed that we must rise above the shrill pitch of fear and embrace the “human” in our communities.
For some, it is all too easy to look past the demonization of transgender people, because they are not transgender. But we cannot allow that to happen. We must stand together against campaigns to erase any of us. Let’s not forget: When they come for “them” today, they will come for “us” tomorrow, using the same strategy of fear and distortion.
Far too often, Black people face microaggressions and dog-whistle politics. We know the coded language, we know what it means, and we have always called it out. In today’s political environment, the dog whistle is a bullhorn of explicit bigotry.
We deserve better: a national conversation about gun policy driven by facts, not fear, and more empathy for the transgender community, who are a part of our collective human community. The vast majority of Americans want action, not more demonization. Let’s stand up for better.
Alphonso David is president & CEO of the Global Black Economic Forum. He previously served as chief counsel to the governor of New York and as an adjunct professor of law at the Fordham University Law School and the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.
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☞ ARCHITECTURE: A FORMER SYNAGOGUE ON 118TH
Harlem Bespoke: An original article on the blog from over a decade ago takes a look at one of the hidden architectural clues of Harlem’s forgotten Jewish past. We probably covered most of the major former temples to be found uptown over the years but some time has since past and many of the new readers might not be familiar with the local lore.
The Moorish curves of the Baptist Church on 118th Street between Malcolm X/Lenox and 5th Avenue had us wondering what type of religious services one might have found inside during the early 1900’s. Turns out that No. 23-25 West 118th Street, in the upper photo, shows the original Star of David on the cupolas at the top. An offshoot of a downtown synagogue, Congregation Shaare Zedek (Gates of Righteousness) took root here in 1900. While this is a sign of the strong Jewish presence in the early years of Harlem, the stars did not last too long — since the uptown and downtown Shaare Zedek reunited on the Upper West Side, and the Canaan Baptist Church took over this space during World War One. Now, the Bethel Way of the Cross Church of Christ holds sway inside the grand, century-old institution. The apartment buildings on either side are still there, but the block across the street is a more recent elementary school construction. Take the 2,3 train to 116th Street to see the building as it currently stands. Archival image courtesy NYPL digital collection: LINK