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EPISODE #4 | FreedomWalker Takes the A Train (out of Harlem)

Pronouns: She/Her

While the broad effects of COVID-19 continue to impact our wellbeing, many New Yorkers who can afford to consider relocating are moving to neighboring cities like our own, Kingston, New York. As we hear Freedom Walker share her experience of being displaced from Black Harlem, the only place she’d ever lived, we can’t help but wonder how this migration will impact people like her who are already readjusting to a new sense of home. 

I’m struggling with the rising cost of living. My private complex is bought and sold three times. With every change in management, friends and neighbors leave at record speed…So many can’t afford to stay in their apartments, and they can’t afford to leave for other ones that are even more expensive. Eventually, I am one of those people.

Episode Notes:

This is Episode 4, Season 2 of The TMI Project Story Hour: Black Stories Matter featuring TMI Project storyteller Freedom Walker. This episode was produced by Hayley Downs and mixed by Marlan Barry. It was co-produced by Radio Kingston. Special thanks to Ida Hakkila, Nate Brogan, Kale Kaposhilin, Jimmy Buff, and North Guild Productions.

There are two sides to the gentrification coin: creation and destruction. Freedom Walker saw both during her exile from Harlem to Kingston, NY. Freedom Walker was one of our first Black Stories Matter workshop participants, and her story is from TMI Project’s first Black Stories Matter performance at Point of Praise Family Center in Kingston, NY in 2017.

Episode Contributors:

Eva Tenuto
Micah
Hayley Downs
Blake Pfeil
Sara DeRose
Edison Woods
Dara Lurie
Marlan Barry
Lauren Gill
Shantae Howell
Clarissa Marie Ligon
Freedom Walker

Photos:

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