Harlem tenants: ‘Hell no, we won‘t go!’

WW photo: Anne Pruden

Tenants, mostly from the Harlem and upper Manhattan area, marched 1,000-strong on June 10 to demand affordable housing and a stop to the encroachment of Harlem housing by Columbia University. The university has been taking over buildings using the legal tool of eminent domain, which allows the acquisition of private property for public use.

People of all ages, from seniors to babies in carriages, took part in the march called by the Harlem Tenants Council, other advocacy groups and elected officials. The two-mile march started at Marcus Garvey Park.

Some marchers used the anti-war, anti-draft chant, “Hell no, we won’t go,” as their statement of refusal to leave the Harlem community. They carried placards with slogans in English and Spanish, which were printed by the hospital workers’ union 1199-SEIU. They also chanted, “Stop the war on the poor.”

—Workers World New York bureau