"That's not Harlem. Harlem was a soulful place. It's taking away from the poor," said 125th Street resident Saba Unogen, 50, a vendor who sells religious garb.

"This is terrible if they open these two hotels. No one will be able to afford them but the rich. Most of the people here are on public assistance and Section 8."

Is this person crazy???? Why should Harlem stay downtrodden with projects and other mess???? The people of Harlem need to wake up and get it together before it is too late!

It's the media's job to find the dumbest man on the street in these types of stories. This is all contrived and produced ahead of time, not random. They scripted an outcome, this was not random.

For exmaple, if the media stood at a Harlem subway station and waited for someone of any ethnicity coming home from working at mid or downtown, I highly doubt you would get this response.

But the creators of the content did not want that response, they wanted someone to disagree with it, casted, profiled, and found their man on the street.

When you get really sharp, you'll see this repeated pattern and media manipulation.

It is true that Black Families, generally speaking, have very harmonious relationships. We celebrate each other with big reunions, sharing in holiday meals, parenting each other's children, etc. Now, your statements have caused me to reflect on "why this is so". I think, at least in the case of my very large, very supportive family that we came to this from our parents' teaching which was, basically, to love one another. I mean the rule was "if you have one slice of bread, and your sibling is hungry, he gets the whole of the slice". The idea is that the love is so mutual that he/she would never eat the entire slice, but rather turn back and share it with the one who offered. I think this philosophy was borne of necessity, as the world does not offer the same security and opportunities to us as it does to white people. Thus, there is safety in family for us. WE will protect each other and will never let one another do without.
I think that white people grow up with a sense of security that does not require them to develop these familial relationships, and therefore when they reach an age whereby they can seek their fortunes, they can afford to operate independently because their achievements are based on their own merit, and their competition is only amongst their peers. WE have to always struggle to break through the white ranks, often forcing us to outperform them and then compete with any other blacks who may have reached the same heights. Through this struggle, the great displays of love and support from family usually sustain us. Family needs are not a chore for us to meet--they are our privilege and often bring us joy.

You, Cheryl and Cimbi have a wonderful relationship, and it is an example for all races and ages. Thanks for sharing tidbits of your lives with us.

>It is true that Black Families, generally speaking, have very harmonious relationships.

Strongly disagree, I would say it's the opposite and we have incredibly dysfunctional relationships in truth, in general across the board. We live in great denial, that's all.

>We celebrate each other with big reunions, sharing in holiday meals, parenting each other's children, etc.

Because we don't have many 2 parent households. Parenting each other's children is not something to be proud of, it's not a badge of honor and achievement, it's a product and result of an unfortunate situation more times than not.

Your portrait might apply to you however it's the mythical Hallmark Card version of the Black family. In the real world, more young Black men are in prison than college, Blacks are leading all the statistics in HIV & AIDS cases, Most Black women give birth unmarried than married, general acceptance of the use of the N word by us, when BET was Black owned it was the #1 purveyor of profiling the Black woman as a sex object and broadcasting degrading images of 'booty shakin strippers, etc., Blacks lead in undiagnosed mental disorders, discrimination against gays in most of our Black Churches, just tremendous denial about all sorts of things about us as families.

I'm glad you live this Hallmark family your portrayed, however yours is the exception and not the rule. If this mytichal Hallmark card you present were common, we would not be in the state we are. Most Black families have a myriad of dysfunctions and it's reflected and seen in just a few of the things I mentioned above. In general we stigmatize everything from homosexuality to seeking mental wellness, and we are in fact far less cohesive than other families of other ethnicities, in my opinion.