The Deeper Source of Tension Between Mayor Mamdani and the Black Community

"Whether or not he makes such an appointment, Mamdani should understand the roots of that criticism. It is not simply about one person in one position - rather, the complaints spring from a deep worry about a decades-long mass exodus of Black families out of New York. A tectonic demographic shift is happening, one that is diluting and dissipating the Black political power base, built over the course of a century."

"The numbers are stunning. "The city's Black population has declined by nearly 200,000 people in the past two decades, or about 9 percent," the New York Times reported in 2023. Harlem lost its Black majority in 2000 and saw nearly 11,000 Black residents depart between 2010 to 2020, gaining 18,000 white residents during the same decade. In Bedford-Stuyvesant, 30,000 white residents moved in between 2010 and 2020, while the Black population plunged by 22,000."

""What I'm hearing from everyone is that the housing crisis that's currently occurring has basically hollowed out many traditional African American or African diasporic communities and really represents a form of pervasive resegregation in many ways," Professor Roger Green, who represented part of Brooklyn in the State Assembly for 26 years, told me. Greene and other older political-community leaders have formed a group, the Coalition for a Democratic and Just New York, that is pressing Mamdani to take action."

Mamdani faces criticism for not naming an African American deputy mayor rooted in broader concern over a decades-long exodus of Black families from New York. The city's Black population declined by nearly 200,000 over two decades, with Harlem and Bedford-Stuyvesant losing large Black majorities while gaining white residents. This migration reflects a reversal of the Great Migration, with southern cities attracting Black residents. Community leaders and former officials warn that the housing crisis and gentrification are hollowing out traditional Black neighborhoods, resegregating the city and weakening the century-built Black political power base. Leaders urge Mamdani to take actions to preserve Black political influence.

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