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By Kent Larsen
Unknown Tenant Brings LDS Church Trouble in Harlem
NEW YORK, NEW YORK -- A tenant that The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints didn't even know it had could make the Church's bid
to build a four-congregation chapel in Harlem the focal point of
local fears over gentrification. Long a symbol for the inner-city
Black community, Harlem is facing an influx of whites and rising real
estate prices that are driving out poor blacks. Now the LDS Church
has discovered that it must relocate a poor black tenant in order to
proceed with construction of the chapel, and local leaders are
calling the situation, "a test of how the church treats a black man
in Harlem today."
The difficulty arose when the Church tried to shut off electrical
power to the set of buildings on the corner of 128th Street and Lenox
Avenue that it purchased in February. The buildings are located just
3 blocks north of Harlem's central boulevard, 125th Street, where the
world-famous Apollo Theater is located. The local utility company,
Con Edison told the Church that the power could not be shut off
because a tenant, Victor Parker, was faithfully paying his bill each
month.
Parker has lived in the building since 1984, when he moved to New
York City from Virginia. The 56-year-old black man earns just $300 a
week working as a handyman at a Bronx laundry. He also claims that he
paid his rent faithfully, but in 1993, after all his neighbors were
evicted for not paying their rent, he lost track of who he should pay
the rent. No landlord has contacted him about the rent since then.
Evidently, the building's landlords also lost track of Mr. Parker at
that time, and when the LDS Church purchased the buildings in
February, the previous owner told the Church that the buildings were
vacant. Parker first learned of the change in ownership when the
Church turned off the water, and then the power was cut off and
workmen entered the buildings. Parker told the New York Times that he
has been without power for several months, and that he has since gone
to housing court about the water and power being cut off. There a
Judge asked New York State Assemblyman Keith Wright, who represents
the area, to help resolve the problem.
The LDS Church has already faced some opposition from the local
community. Harlem's Community Board 10 learned of the Church's plans
in May, several months after the purchase, when the Church presented
its plans at a Board meeting. The Church's local officials don't need
any zoning or planning approvals to build the chapel, and its
appearance at the Board meeting was a courtesy to the community.
Nevertheless, reports of the meeting indicate that it didn't go well,
with Board members wondering why a "White" Church wanted to build a
chapel in a predominantly black neighborhood. The Board's Chairman,
Stanley Gleaton, told the New York Times, "Historically [the LDS
Church] are not known to embrace black and Latino populations, so I
am surprised they want to come here. I don't know how receptive
Harlem is going to be to Mormons trying to transform people."
While it is true that before 1978 blacks were restricted from the
priesthood in the LDS Church and generally not sought out in
missionary efforts, in the 23 years since then many blacks have
joined the LDS Church, especially in New York City. A study last year
by local Church member Jim Lucas, published in a chapter on Mormons
in the book "New York Glory: Religions in the City," indicates that
black and Latinos dominate the Church in New York City, comprising an
astonishing 70% of the Church's membership there. Also, a majority of
the members of the branch in Harlem are black.
But in spite of the actual make-up of the Church in New York City
today, it is still perceived as a "White" Church, and that perception
doesn't help the building plans in a neighborhood that believes it is
under siege from invading whites. News stories, including a series of
three articles by the Times' Amy Waldman that mentioned the Harlem
branch and its current home, have highlighted the changing nature of
Harlem. Other news reports indicate that much of Harlem's
revitalization, and thus the influx of whites, come from US
government programs that allow inner-city property to be purchased at
firesale prices.
Local LDS Church spokesman Scott Trotter says that the Church is
trying to resolve the problem, "We're a Christian church -- we want to
help take care of people," he told the New York Times. He affirmed
that the water had been cut off because the Church thought the
building was empty and didn't know that the power was off. He also
said that the workmen would not work on the building, except for
removing asbestos, until Parker was resettled. In spite of his low
income, which Assemblyman Wright suggests isn't enough to rent in
Harlem today, Parker says he wants to stay in the neighborhood, "I
really love the place," he said.
Meanwhile, the LDS Church is making some efforts to reach out to the
community in Harlem. On Saturday, just as a New York Times article on
Mr. Parker's plight was hitting newsstands, Church members were
setting up a booth at the annual Harlem Days street fair, trying to
let people in Harlem know about the Church and its programs. In
addition to the standard tracts, flyers, referral cards and Books of
Mormon distributed by missionaries, several members brought laptop
computers loaded with the Church's Freedman's Bank CD-ROM, and helped
visitors to the booth search the records for their ancestors and
learn about tracing their roots.
Those members staffing the booth said that the only difficulty they
faced was the booth's initial placement across the street from a
Budweiser booth, which was playing music so loud that it was
difficult to talk with visitors to the booth. They were able to
arrange for the booth to be moved elsewhere, and were pleased with
the reaction from Harlem residents, most of whom walked away with a
tract or flyer and a positive reaction to the Church.
Sources:
Long-Overlooked Tenant Stands Between Mormons and New Harlem Chapel
New York Times 18Aug01 D1
By Amy Waldman
See also:
Look at Harlem Block Discovers LDS Church Among Changes
LDS Author Darius Gray Speaks to African-American Members in Harlem
New York Books See Mormons in the City
Growing New York Stake Needs Expensive Real Estate
More about "New York Glory: Religions in the City" at Amazon.com
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