New Breed of Street Preachers

NEW BREED OF STREET PREACHERS



Growing up, Sam realized and took notice to the changes in Harlem. This is an insight into the beginning of Sam's desire to seek change in his community.

When I would be coming home from school, our hallway seemed to be a place where bookies would regularly come to count their money away from prying eyes.  Even I could tell they were nervous.  One guy in particular had eyes that would almost pop out of his skull when I entered the building.  The fact he would be so startled by a little kid reflects how things were changing on the street: increasingly, these guys themselves were being victimized by the growing numbers of desperate drug users who had no hesitation in pulling a stick up. Those days mothers were fearful for the safety of their kids on the street.  I don’t think my mother realized how dangerous things would soon become.

The bookies were everywhere.  This was a real local industry, though it was one I never bothered to join.  Across Eighth Avenue, from our house, was Jimmy Clark’s pool room, and just down the avenue was the Mumble Bar.  Ernie’s brother, Ralph, owned the Mumble Bar, and I recall him looking like a Puerto Rican Frank Sinatra.  I spent loads of time wandering between the two establishments and soaked into that scene for years.  Jimmy Clark was what we later called a racketeer, and yet he was my first real mentor.   He was also a New York City bus driver, a light-skinned, large frame man with straight hair – and yes, he fit my ideal gangster-looking type.  He appeared to be thoughtful, quiet, and analytical. In between pool shots, I imbibed his street smarts and soulful spirit, and watched all those up and coming street sharks become community icons for  the younger crowd.  There was nobody in the pool hall Jimmy didn’t know and know everything about.  

 I recall a police raid in Jimmy’s building and he even got arrested, which was a big status deal in the community.  Jimmy still seemed wise, and in his pool hall was a chance for me to get a piece of that wisdom.  So I learned about the world from Jimmy’s vantage point.  I learned to tell who was bluffing and who would be good for their debts, just by their body language.  I learned who was in the latest neighborhood crimes and who was making money.  I also began to see how things were changing in Harlem.  The police were losing their edge, confrontation was becoming the coin of social exchange, and people were beginning to pay attention to politics, viewed through the lens of marginalized and resentful observers.  I began to see a new breed of street preachers, usually ex- cons now sporting ties and black suits, spreading the word about a strange, new religion and anger towards the white man.  It would be some years before I came to understand what it all meant, seeing I was only thirteen or so.