Commerce and conflict resolution in Harlem

On December 8, 1995, a street vendor, Roland Smith, Jr., entered Freddy's, the discount clothing store on 125th Street in Harlem that he, along with scores of others, had been picketing for several weeks. He fired a gun indiscriminately, killing several people. He doused the store with a flammable liquid, and before turning his weapon on himself, ignited it. In all, eight people died, including the deranged Smith. Others were injured and the store was ruined. What's the genesis of this tragedy? It arose from a contentious commercial dispute between a Jewish landlord and his African‐American tenant. It happened when the tenant's lease renewal was denied, and he sought, through economic and social pressure, to reverse that decision. But the roots of the clash lie deeper, embedded in historic resentments, racial and class antagonisms, the disappearance of jobs, and the political gamesmanship endemic to the community. To avoid repeating its mistakes, we study history. Even now, so recently removed, the Harlem tragedy allows us to learn. How can the community manage its differences so that competing visions, and the protests they may engender, do not explode in violence? We should revisit what happened in Harlem in the weeks before this tragedy, not only to understand what really took place there, but also to reinforce what this history exposes: commercial disputes, similarly rooted and situated, need the constructive conflict management that mediation can provide

Landlord · Mediation · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Tragedy (event · Vision · History · Law · Race, History, and American Society · Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies