Harlem Considers Meaning of Black History Month

Black History Month has induced reflection in Harlem this year, as some worry that the neighborhood’s heritage needs not only to be celebrated, but also sustained in the face of great change.

At the third annual Trailblazer Award Ceremony, held Monday night at the Alhambra Ballroom in East Harlem in honor of Black History Month, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer said he was delighted to see so many local faces, but acknowledged the tensions surrounding the community’s shifting countenance.

“What a great opportunity for hundreds of people to come out on a night like this to celebrate black history month,” Stringer said, before his speech turned political. “We are very committed to fighting for every piece of turf.”

Award recipients Charlie King, Rodney Leon, and Muriel Petioni were honored for their commitment to the Harlem neighborhood in the spirit of the month’s celebration of community identity. Petioni, 94, chair and founder of the patron organization for Columbia affiliate Harlem Hospital, was met with a standing ovation in recognition of her lifelong work for medical care in Harlem.

“Civil rights is a very emotional and gut-wrenching life experience,” said King, who was awarded for his work as executive director of the National Action Network, a civil rights organization.

“We’ve been fighting for a long time,” Petioni said. “Things seem to be getting better, but we’re still in for a lot of sadness.”

Community Board 11 member Alexandra Vasalo said Petioni had been an inspiration for her work on local affordable housing initiatives. But Vasalo believes the event, and Black History Month as a whole, leaves many race issues unresolved.

ATLAH World Church minister James David Manning shed light on this sentiment Thursday evening.

Standing before a packed house at his church’s Black History Month celebration less than five blocks away from the ballroom, Manning chose not to laud local black politicians, but to lambast leaders who he claims have undermined Harlem’s history and the issues that impact its residents.

At the helm of a pale green pulpit with slogans like “That’s What God Said” and “All Jesus, All the Time” written on the walls, Manning named Stringer, City Council member Inez Dickens (D-Morningside Heights), and City Councilman Robert Jackson (D-West Harlem) as among those who have betrayed aspects of Harlem’s culture.

“Not only do we have a large number of activists, but political appointees that are nothing more than puppets of ‘the Man,’” Manning said. “They’re all approaching the problem of this community from sometimes and oftentimes disingenuous objectives.”

“The business of the dark-skinned, kinky-haired people, the sons of great leaders, kings, and builders, doctors and generals and engineers of antiquity, will begin here tonight,” Manning said.

Manning used the event to promote the “No Dew, Nor Rain” campaign, which calls on community members to refuse to spend money in Harlem until May of 2010 in what has been a polarizing political effort to fight gentrification.

“It won’t take but a day to bring this community to its knees,” Manning said. “What have you people been thinking about? Who are your leaders? ... The business as usual in this community ends.”

Some used the opportunity to wax nostalgic about the history of blacks in the neighborhood, while others questioned the utility of such reminiscing.

“As a young girl here in Harlem, I know I could not understand why my father saw fit to stand on the corner and congregate with a bunch of other men to talk about history,” one woman said. “I didn’t know my history. I’m learning my history. And we are a beautiful, powerful people.”

“The Harlem that they [older residents] are speaking of, the Harlem that they’re singing of, doesn’t even exist anymore,” another woman told the audience. “It exists for them.”

alix.pianin@columbiaspectator.com