House of the Day: 590 Decatur Street
For a house with a ton of charm and not in need of a ton of work, 590 Decatur Street seems reasonably priced at $699,000. The only drawback we can see is that it’s pretty far east into Bed Stuy–several blocks beyond Stuyvesant Heights. It’s about equi-distant from the Ralph Avenue C train and the…
For a house with a ton of charm and not in need of a ton of work, 590 Decatur Street seems reasonably priced at $699,000. The only drawback we can see is that it’s pretty far east into Bed Stuy–several blocks beyond Stuyvesant Heights. It’s about equi-distant from the Ralph Avenue C train and the Halsey Street J train. The three-story, two-family house in one in a row of charmer, though. Any readers live right around here? What are the services like?
590 Decatur Street [Brooklyn Properties] GMAP P*Shark
I guess I should begin by stating that I’m African-American and that I’m also a resident of Bedford-Stuyvesant.
I’ve read through all 100 posts of this thread and I’ve come to two conclusions:
A. There are a lot of racist people in so-called “ultra-liberal New York.” Whether they want to face that fact that they’re racist is something else entirely; it’s been my experience that people don’t mind being racist (or classist or sexist or homophobic) as long as they aren’t labeled as such.
B. The palpable racism here doesn’t alter the fact that the majority of what is being said is true. There is a certain class, a certain segment of the African-American community that seems hell-bent on destruction–self and otherwise. I see them every day: throwing litter onto the sidewalks and into the streets; blaring music out of their mighty expensive vehicles; standing on the corner of Stuyvesant Ave. and Decatur St. for no good reason; yelling, screaming and carrying on at all hours of the night; taking absolutely no pride in their community and having absolutely no shame in their seedy and illicit activities. In short, they behave like the savages that any decent person, regardless of race, would be intimidated by. I know that when I’m come out of the Utica Ave. train station and walk by them, they give me the same scorn they would to any white person. And I suppose they give me those scornful looks because the looks aren’t about race, but about achievement: they haven’t achieved anything, so they want to take achievement away from the people who have. To which I say: no, my brother. Sorry, but I cannot allow that.
The saddest part of this is that their parents worked very hard to keep the neighborhood safe, to give them beautiful homes to grow up in, and this is how that hard work is repaid. They’re ungrateful and I think it’s despicable and they are giving decent, hard-working black people, like myself and my family and my friends, a bad name.
If restoring order and beauty and respect to Bedford-Stuyvesant means moving the aforementioned element OUT and European-Americans IN, then I’m all for it. Sorry, I’m not going to let some misguided loyalty to race (and here, in this instance, I believe it IS misguided: if African-Americans in this country are oppressed, and I believe that we are–in ways more subtle, and therefore more insidious, than in antiquity–then when we must fight that oppression on solid ground; defending blacks who destroy their own neighborhoods, regardless of the impetus, conditions of poverty notwithstanding, JUST because “they’re black too” is very, very shaky ground), destroy my investment in my home, in my community and in my fellow African-Americans who simply want to prosper, and who want to do so peacefully and respectfully. I just as eagerly want to invest in our common humanity, and I can’t do that if the people I’m attempting to engage, regardless of race, creed, gender, sex, orientation or religion, are instead behaving like beasts. That goes for ignorant Christians, inhospitable Jews, and frightening young black men selling drugs on the corner.
Cordially,
Robert
Blogging Love and Polemics:
http://thisisthediaspora.blogspot.com/
Common Sense isn’t so common now is it?
Can you tell me what significance is it to mention what color someone’s wife of girlfriend is? With respect to the location of a brownstone in brooklyn.
Common Sense… excercise some common sense and just keep your mouth shut.
You’re fanning a flame that you don’t even realize is more combustible than you think.
So am I a true African? I have naturally light brown hair and gray eyes but I classify myself as African American. Both my parent and all grand and great grandparents etc are all Black Americans going back to the 1600 (back then free people of color). Half of my family passed for white around the turn of the century moving to places like Maine, Wisconsin, and Vermont so they won’t run into blacks that knew them…. The whites “relatives†that I have met told me that they always thought there ancestors came from France and England 100 years ago but the reality is it was more like Virginia. I wonder if some of these people on here saying this nonsense are my cousins. I was read that some 20,000 blacks passed for white each year from 1865-1920. That’s over a million people came into this world black that died “white.†Many of you saying stupid things on here need to check you family records.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/secret/famous/
…..Until then, enjoy the show.
Please blcok common sense now. Exercise some editorial control over this blog please! And let the rest of us just ignore “it.”
True. But actually, while “Lucy” had Black skin, she actually was caucasion. The people of Ethiopia (where she was found) have the same makeup and structure as Europeans/Asians and Arabs. Sub-Sharan Africans are the only true “African” race.
Well all of us have a African great grandmother named Lucy
The significance is I’m being lectured (more like cursed at) about my loyalty to the “black community” and yet the above poster does absolutley nothing to remedy the situation himself.
And yes, there’s more BM/WF couples than BF/WM couples for a reason. Kanye brought it up in one of his songs about how successful balck men abandon black women. Look at P Diddy and his children with Kim Porter. Now he dumped her for Sienna Miller. Sad.
I don’t hide who I am. I don’t care if you think I’m racist. Honestly, Blacks like you is why there are negitive notions about them in the first place. All I know is I give people the straight deal. And I don’t care how black or oppressed you (think) you are. My family was actively involved in the Warsaw uprising, so I know a thing or two about “oppression”. I give people a fair shake. If NYC turned 99% black tomorrow, as long as the streets are clean, the jobs are coming and the city humming, I’m happy as a clam. same if it turned 99% white.
Wanna change the community? Volunteer your sorry ass at a boys and girls club. shop Black owned stores. sweep your part of the sidewalk. Do something.
Heh, bet you have a white girlfriend too. Sucka.