Berger’s article, “The World In a City”, on the diversity in Ditmas Park intrigued me greatly. I love diversity and there is nothing better than knowing that such a large population of diverse people lives together in one neighborhood. Although New York City is known to be one of the most diverse places in the world, I’d gotten so used to the idea of segmented neighborhoods, in which one culture or ethnic group dominates in certain bound areas, that reading about Ditmas Park came to me as a revelatory occasion worthy of some momentary fixation and lasting wonder. I liked how Berger described this phenomena as housing “the world in a city”. With people from all different cultures not just living together in one neighborhood, but also working together as one community, through events and social gatherings, that work to transform cultural restrictions into cultural amalgamation, the example of Ditmas Park really redefines and adds a new layer to the United States’ tradition of widespread immigration and the ‘melting pot’ philosophy. Moreover, I also liked how Berger qualified this by offering the counterargument that perhaps these people may simply be living together without actually interacting and actively animating the melting pot phenomena. Despite this skeptical take, I still believe that the diversity in Ditmas Park is something marvelous.
This article made me want to know more about the community. I googled Ditmas Park’s population and came up with a really interesting article that further shed light on the neighborhood’s unique characteristic (http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/in-a-diverse-city-ditmas-park-takes-the-cake/14510/). Daniela Gerson begins this article with the following scenario:
“ After school and before prayer class, 12-year-old Raniey Arief waited impatiently next to a bodega on Cortelyou Road as a Moroccan schoolmate ran in. Inside, two cashiers, one Cuban and the other Tibetan, waved as her friend scampered to grab a raspberry juice.
This type of cultural mishmash is the norm for Raniey, who wore a traditional Pakistani scarf and skirt with a leopard skin print. Her friends hail from such far-off places as Haiti, Russia, Italy, Mexico, and Poland.”
Moreover, she states that according to the most updated U.S. Census data of the time, the Cortelyou Road section of Ditmas Park was the most diverse area not just in New York City, but the entire nation. This sort of diversity is not just a marvelous phenomenon, it is an innately beautiful work of art unto itself, with each culture being an individual and distinctive brush stroke full of spark, vigor, and hope.
– Nadera Rahman
