Studying the politics of an immigrant neighborhood is never simple. Newcomers tend to focus more on finding ways of providing for themselves and their families than on problems for the community around them. Since most of them aren’t citizens, and many can’t speak English, they have very little ability to participate in the formal government. However, as the group gets more settled, it gets more involved in the politics of the community, and the greater city around it.
This holds true for New York City’s Chinatowns. They are all of different ages – Manhattan’s being the oldest, and Bay Ridge being the youngest – and are all at different stages of political activism. Manhattan’s Chinatown has managed to elect an Asian official to public office as City Councilwoman. Brooklyn’s Chinatowns are both new enough that they are competing with other local immigrant groups for a chance at local control. In these areas, there may be some activity via local organizations, but there has not yet been large-scale mobilization in formal politics.
We went about researching the politics of these various neighborhoods in various ways. We all tried to talk to public officials that represent these Chinatowns in various levels of government. We also looked at local demographics, and sometimes tried to talk to the locals of each neighborhood. In the end, we could picture a story of a city with four neighborhoods, each in its own stage of political development, but all following the same general tract.
