08/29/16: Broadway Blues – A Frank Discussion About Race, Class & Gentrification In Washington Heights & Inwood

Broadway Blues

The Uptown Collective
Presents
Broadway Blues – A Frank Discussion About Race, Class & Gentrification In Washington Heights & Inwood
Monday, August 29th @ 6:30 PM
Washington Heights Academy – 202 Sherman Ave
Ft. State Senator Adriano Espaillat, Historian Robert W. Snyder & Writer Raquel Cepeda
Moderated by Led Black
The event is free but please RSVP here.

There is no denying that things are rapidly changing in our neighborhood. Some may argue that it is already too late. That the forces of predatory capital moving ever northward have their sights set on our beloved Washington Heights and Inwood and that there is nothing we can do. That some of this is actually a natural and welcomed part of life in New York City.

We disagree. We believe that we must make a stand now before our hood becomes just another shiny but soulless community that has closed its doors to the working people that gave those places life, vibrancy and diversity in the first place. To that end we have convened a panel of some really smart and dedicated people to discuss how we can together shape the trajectory of Manhattan’s last real neighborhood. Please join us to ensure your voices are heard.

About the panelists:

Adriano Espaillat

Adriano Espaillat

State Senator Adriano Espaillat’s career in public service has been marked by historic accomplishments and an unwavering commitment to integrity, justice, and equal representation for all.

Following a successful tenure in the New York State Assembly, Espaillat was elected to the Senate in November 2010, where he represents the 31st district. A trailblazing community activist, Senator Espaillat made history in 1996 when he became the first Dominican-American elected to a state legislature. Espaillat quickly distinguished himself as a reformer and progressive fighter who stood up for working families and small businesses.

Senator Espaillat is poised to make history once again this fall when it is believed that he will become the first Dominican-American in Congress.

Robert W. Snyder

Director of the Graduate Program in American Studies at Rutgers-Newark, Dr. Robert Snyder has worked since the 1980s with journalists, museum curators, and documentarians to share history with a broad public.

The author of several books, his latest book is the engaging and exhaustive Crossing Broadway: Washington Heights and the Promise of New York City.

His reviews and articles have been published in scholarly journals such as the Journal of Urban History, Journal of American History, Journalism and Reviews in American History and in general interest publications such as the New York Times, The Nation, the Columbia Journalism Review, the Jesuit  magazine America, the Jewish Forward, and the Star-Ledger of New Jersey. He has been interviewed by the New York Times, National Public Radio, WNJN, the History Channel, and the BBC on history, urban affairs and media issues.

Raquel Cepeda

Raquel Cepeda

Born in Harlem to Dominican parents, award-winning journalist, cultural activist, podcaster, and documentary filmmaker Raquel Cepeda is the author of Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina. Cepeda’s next book, East of Broadway, is the story of one community in New York, the author’s beloved Inwood, as seen through the lives of several of its inhabitants, as a way of shedding light on the impact of gentrification. Beacon Press will publish the book (2017).

Cepeda is currently in post-production on Some Girls, a documentary focusing on a group of troubled Latinx teenage girls in a suicide prevention program who are transformed through an exploration of their roots via the use of ancestral DNA testing.

Cepeda is the co-founder of Our National Conversation About Conversations About Race with authors Baratunde Thurston and Tanner Colby. The podcast, also known as ABOUT RACE, debuted in late March 2015 as part of The Slate Group’s new Panoply Network.

Cepeda directed and produced the NAMIC (National Association for Multi-ethnicity In Communications) Vision nominated film Bling: A Planet Rock, a feature length documentary about American hip-hop culture’s obsession with diamonds and all of its social trappings, and how the infatuation with “blinging” became intertwined in Sierra Leone’s decade long conflict. The film was co-produced by VH1/MTV Networks and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

For almost two decades, Cepeda’s writings have been widely anthologized and her byline has been featured in media outlets including The New York TimesPeople, the Associated Press, The Village Voice, MTV News, CNN.com, and many others. She’s contributed to WNYC, CNN and CNN’s Inside the Middle East as a freelance reporter. Cepeda edited the critically acclaimed anthology And It Don’t Stop: The Best Hip-Hop Journalism of the Last 25 Years, winner of the PEN/Beyond Margins and Latino Book Award.

Led Black

Led Black

Led Black is Dominican-American writer, blogger, filmmaker and entrepreneur who grew up in Washington Heights. In addition to owning and running the Uptown Collective, Led Black is working on his first documentary Nutcracker Inc., which is a left-of-center documentary on the street cocktail and the neighborhood that gave birth to it. Led Black’s work has appeared on CNN, Huffington Post, Remezcla and many other outlets.

RSVP: 08/29/16: Broadway Blues – A Frank Discussion About Race, Class & Gentrification In Washington Heights & Inwood

We invite you to subscribe to the weekly Uptown Love newsletter, like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter & Instagram or e-mail us at [email protected].

You Might Also Like

  • Kouross
    August 19, 2016 at 10:11 pm

    hello folks
    I’m a member of Uptown for Bernie which and the North Manhattan is not For Sale Coalition. As the grassroots campaign that recently gave a big blow to City Hall’s gentrification plans for Uptown Manhattan, we would be interested in participating in this panel.

    Please feel free to contact us if you are interested in having a voice from the community on your panel

    thanks
    Kouross
    917.968.9791

  • Jessica
    August 24, 2016 at 10:41 am

    I’m going to attend, but don’t have a Facebook account so can’t RSVP there. I’ve lived uptown for 15+ years, but am not FROM the neighborhood — and I think this is a really important conversation. Looking forward to listening and learning.

    • admin
      August 24, 2016 at 12:49 pm

      Hey Jessica – please feel free to show up. Thanks.

      Led

  • Me
    August 26, 2016 at 2:59 pm

    I remember Raquel when she lived on SEAMAN AVENUE…you know, the white part of the hood.

    Not sure why she and the others are experts on Inwood when most of them just got there. They should ask whatever longtime (50+year) residents are still in the area what they think – and yes, there are some left. My mother just spoke to one of her childhood friends they other day (which would mean she’s lived there for over 70 years).

    Nothing wrong with gentrification. What is wrong is what happened to Inwood in the 80’s and early 90’s, something that no one wants to touch upon.

  • Me
    August 26, 2016 at 3:03 pm

    Oh and to add – 202 Sherman Avenue used to be the site of St. Matthew’s Lutheran School. Why was there a Lutheran school in Inwood? Because at one time there was a GERMAN population that needed their own school and church.

    Imagine that. White people living east of Broadway. Only now it’s a problem by race baiters.

  • New York Today: New York Today: King of the Subway | Breaking US news
    August 29, 2016 at 5:30 am

    […] “Broadway Blues,” a discussion about race, class and gentrification, with State Senator Adriano Espaillat and others, at Washington Heights Academy. 6:30 p.m. [Free, […]

  • New York Today: New York Today: King of the Subway - WewUnik
    August 29, 2016 at 5:35 am

    […] “Broadway Blues,” a dialogue about race, class and gentrification, with State Senator Adriano Espaillat and others, at Washington Heights Academy. 6:30 p.m. [Free, […]

  • New York Today: New York Today: King of the Subway – New York Frost
    August 29, 2016 at 7:44 am

    […] “Broadway Blues,” a discussion about race, class and gentrification, with State Senator Adriano Espaillat and others, at Washington Heights Academy. 6:30 p.m. [Free, […]

  • Essie Young
    August 30, 2016 at 12:32 pm

    I don’t see what’s the big deal about gentrification. All these people not wanting ‘their’ neighborhood to change are putting up a losing battle. Washington Heights and Inwood was an Irish/European populated area in the beginning, then a German-Jew community , then changed to Greeks and only recently in the 80s did it become populated by Dominicans. Now its only a matter of time before the demographics of the neighborhoods changes again. That’s just how the ball rolls.