In his article “Color-full before Color Blind: The Emergence of Multiracial Neighborhood Politics in Queens, New York City” Roger Sanjek highlights the demographic transition that the United States is presently experiencing. According to the article, by 2080 the proportion of whites is expected to fall to 50% from 74% and by 2035 only 49% of children under 18 will be white. This astounded me, the fact that in just a few decades the United States will no longer be the diverse and cross-racial country that it is presently known for. What astounded me even more is the consequence thats such an issue can bring for our country. According to Sanjek, with the majority of white living in suburban and gated communities, and with African Americans, Latin Americans, and Asians only choosing to work with people of their ethnicity, our society will be “doomed to political ineffectiveness”. As a result, sanitation services, mass transit, parks and institutions such as public schools and hospitals will not be able to provide residents with the best service possible.
In the article Sanjek discusses how a possible way to prevent this kind of issue is to ensure the participation of residents of different backgrounds and ethnicies in political activism. This could aid in ensuring that all perspectives are represented and to minimize conflicts between people of different ethnic groups in order to solve problems that affect the “quality of life” of Elmhurst and Corona residents. One of the individuals that Sanjek mentions that has helped in increasing the political activism of Elmhurst and Corona residents is Haydee Zambrana. According to Sanjeks article, in 1978 Zambrana moved to Elmhurst Corona and met with other Latin Americans who were also concerned about the lack of Hispanic representation in Queens politics. In 1980 she formed the Ciudadanos Conscientes de Queens or Concerned Citizens of Queens. She went on to referring people to government agencies,processing citizenship applications and by 1986, her staff began providing vocational training, English classes and seminars to business proprietors. However what stood out to me the most were her succeeding efforts to increase Latin American membership in CB4. In 1986 she went to to the Mayor’s Commission on Hispanic Concerns and stated, “My priority is to help the Hispanic community become part of the American political process.” By 1985, Latin American membership in CB4 doubled from 3 to 6.
I related to this particular part of the reading, not only because I am also a Latin American citizen living in New York City, but because of the previous articles that our class has discussed concerning the Latin American community. One of the main factors that I focused on for my class presentation was the lack of Latino participation in politics. This article interested me because not only did it touch on this issue, but it also provided the reader with an idea of what kind of consequences can occur if people of different ethnicities are not properly represented in community boards. The article closes by stating that we, as residents of New York City should find strength in numbers and this is a statement that I agree with. How can we manage to solve the problems that affect our quality of life if we do not work and cooperate with not only people of our race, but people of other cultures that make up the diverse country of the United States?
