ICYMI: Community Leaders Rally To Oppose South Harlem's "SoHa" Rebranding

HARLEM, NY — Harlem community leaders strongly opposed the attempted rebranding the southern portion of the neighborhood as "SoHa" on Wednesday morning.

Elected officials, community board members, residents and faith leaders gathered on the corner of West 115th Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard to denounce the rebranding as a tool of the real estate industry to gentrify Harlem and whitewash its culture and history.

"How dare someone try to rob our culture and try to act as if we were not here and create a new name and a new reality as if the clock started when other people showed up" newly elected State Senator Brian Benjamin said Wednesday.

In case you missed it, here's one of Harlem's best stories from last week.

Benjamin said that during his campaign for the 30th State Senate district and his tenure as chair of Community Board 10 he interacted with people angered and anxious about the rebranding of South Harlem.

The new State Senator said Wednesday that he would explore creating legislation that would require any attempt to rename the neighborhood to receive community support. If anyone is renaming Harlem, it's going to be native "Harlemites," Benjamin said.

The legislation would be based off a bill now-Congressman Hakeem Jeffries proposed in the New York State Assembly, Benjamin told Patch. While the bill would not be able to regulate the activity of private interests and business, it would ensure that and city, state or federal attempts to rename the neighborhood would be made difficult, Benjamin told Patch.

The "SoHa" issue is not about barring newcomers from Harlem, officials said Wednesday. Comptroller Scott Stringer declared South Harlem one of the "most inclusive" neighborhoods in the city. Democratic District Leader Cordell Cleare said that the fight against "SoHa" isn't against new residents of Harlem but against those trying to change the neighborhood for profit and displace long-time residents who lived in the area when it wasn't trendy.

"We're not going to let people who just got here yesterday change the name of out community for their profit. Cleare said Wednesday. "Make no mistake about it this is not about a name, this is about pushing you out. This is about greed and lust. We don't want it, we won't have it and we're going to push back."

Watch Patch's video of the entire rally below:

Photo by Patch