A common concern of urban residents is just how involved the government should be in small, established communities. Ethnic enclaves are examples of one such community.
In Willet’s Point, the government will likely improve infrastructure, but the small business owners have to leave the region where their loyal customers are. In addition, they will have to relocate, meaning they may face language barriers, higher rent prices, and discrimination. There is financial security in ethnic enclaves.
We learn that in Chinatown, residents are exposed to miserable working conditions. Willet’s Point is also unsanitary. The government has a responsibility to make neighborhoods safe and sanitary, but not by displacing existing businesses and homes. Furthermore, these conditions would not be an issue if immigrants could more easily achieve an education in America, or at least job training. Despite the hierarchy in Chinatown, in general immigrants, are able to work together and become entrepreneurs.
Until immigrants are fully accepted into our society, and by our government, the government is exhibiting a certain kind of hypocrisy by getting rid of ethnic enclaves to any extent. The government is responsible for keeping things clean, but the upkeep of a city should not be done at the expense of these ethnic enclaves.
Why? Because unfortunately, discrimination is tangible. Because ethnic enclaves provide a social context for immigrants- a common past of some sort and a common language. And there is nothing wrong with that if it benefits residents.
We know that economic sites in ethnic enclaves can be exploitative. So perhaps the can be fixed from within, with city inspectors and the like not laying down harsh punishments but rather resources. In order for immigrants to be able to be hired in different areas of cities and in different positions, perhaps job and career training could be employed. Nonetheless, the plan which Mayor Bloomberg undertook did not take into account the pre-existing immigrant enclave at Willet’s Point. Cubans in Miami, residents in Chinatown, and the previous residents of Willet’s Point utilized ethnic enclaves as survival strategies. Perhaps they are dysfunctional, but in that case the government needs to provide resources instead of getting rid of the enclave completely and displacing its tight-knit community.
