I was excited as soon as I read the title Melting Together in Ditmas Park.
As a suburban native, I’m not familiar with many neighborhoods in New York City’s outer boroughs. The extent of my urban exploration prior to moving to the city stretched from upper Harlem down to Battery Park, with few stray journeys to Brooklyn and Queens. Ditmas Park, strangely enough, is one of those few neighborhoods outside Manhattan that I’m familiar with.
This may seem peculiar as it is not much of a tourist destination, but it just so happens that I befriended a girl a summer camp who lives there. Just three years ago I found myself taking the Q away from the familiar territory of Union Square down into the massive and unknown borough of Brooklyn. After getting out at Newkirk Ave, the “variety of ethnic groups and economic classes” described in the article were just as apparent and shocking to me as the author. Well, maybe the variety was more shocking to me, who never imagined that people of so many backgrounds (ethnic, racial, religious, socioeconomic) could be living in one place.
I remember stepping out of the rather gritty, under-construction subway station onto a street crowded with small businesses and restaurants with a rainbow (you could say) of owners and customers. It was not so crowded as Manhattan, and most people seemed to keep to themselves. I had only to walk two blocks to find myself in a residential area among the towering but graceful Victorian mansions complete with front lawns and comfortably wide sidewalks. Perfect for walking a stroller or riding a bike. It was almost… suburban. Everything about this place was puzzling.
My friend Ana later proudly explained to me that this was one of the most diverse neighborhoods in the city. Just as Karali Pitzele expressed in the article, I think that Ana idealized and felt a sense of superiority from this “ethnic harmony” that was unique to her neighborhood. Unlike other places where one or two ethnic groups shared the majority and separated into distinct niches, Ditmas Park truly seemed to be inhabited by a majority of many groups that are interwoven. Ana’s subtle attitude about this slightly bothered me. It was as if she wanted to say, “In most neighborhoods white people think they are better and everyone stays apart, but in MINE everyone is happily together.”
But just as the article acknowledged, while this great amalgamation of ethnic groups brings residents a good acquaintance with diversity—not to mention a great variety of cuisine in local restaurants! Mmmm!—I got the sense that amicable relations don’t extend as strongly across class lines. Ana might have encountered people of all ages, races, and levels of wealth on the sidewalk, but her family established their friendships with the fellow homeowners in the neighborhood, not with apartment-renters just blocks away. In general it seemed as if everyone was accustomed to brush by just about any kind of person, but maybe not to associate themselves with any kind. After all, it’s only natural and more comfortable to befriend those who are more like us.
Not to diminish the extraordinary dynamic of Ditmas Park. Really, I was still so fascinated by the mix of people we walked by and global cuisine that Ana pointed out as we strolled through the area. And I guess if anything, Ana’s sense of pride at its diversity was important in characterizing her and her neighbors. It seemed like they truly had/have a commitment to sustaining the motley makeup of their community. And without this enthusiasm for diversity, I don’t know that such a harmonious variety of residents would be possible. Ditmas Park contains a special community that came about by chance, but would do well do be mirrored by others elsewhere.
