Lucia Lopez
Moving from the twentieth to the twenty-first century, New York changed in many ways. Development, population growth, and financial crisis altered the description of the city of Gotham greatly. For one, immigration from other parts of the world rose greatly, making New York even more diverse than it already was. The two-term mayoralty of Rudolph Giuliani drastically changed what seemed to be permanent stances and policies on policing, civil liberties, and education. Events such as 9/11 and the financial crisis of 2008 tested the city’s character once again.
One of the largest groups to immigrate to the United States in the 21st century was Asians. They had long been isolated fro society due to the Chinese Exclusion Act that lasted from 1882 to 1943. Once policy shifted, the prior quota of 105 people annually rose to 20,000, revitalizing neighborhoods such as Chinatown, Sunset Park, and Flushing. The Chinese arrived at a time when cheap labor was needed which mean they would have jobs, unlike before. However, due to their limited English and skills, they were often exploited in sweatshops. By contrast, many urban, educated and wealthy people arrived from Hong Kong, Shanghai and Taiwan, positively impacting the economy and helping the development of restaurants, stores, and sweatshops.
Class was a large reason as to why the “model minority” myth was placed on Asian immigrants. They were stereotyped as ambitious, hard working and smart, and although many Asians embraced this positive stereotype, they often transferred their ambitions to their children, holding them to very high standards. This pressure not only came from their families but from society’s view of Asian immigrants, which often put immense pressure on children to succeed and live up to the stereotype. American society also tended to lump all Asians together, but Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Japanese immigrants recognized their differences in culture.
Another major group to move in to Gotham in the 21st century was Latinos. For a long time, Puerto Ricans made up the largest group of Latin American immigrants. Identifying themselves as Nuyorican, they balanced between their identities as both New Yorkers and Puerto Ricans, often not being able to settle on one side. They transformed the urban environment, bringing their own customs, music and language to the city. By 2000, however, Dominicans outnumbered Puerto Ricans, making up about 70 percent of the Washington Heights/Inwood area. Similar to Puerto Ricans, Dominicans are transnational and identify strongly with both their residency and nationality.
Like Asians, Dominicans were often exploited in factories due to their lack of English skills. However, by earning wages, Dominican women enhanced their household role, causing them to want to stay in New York as most Dominican men wanted to return to the island. In communities such as Corona, Queens, Dominicans coexist with other Latinos from countries such as Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Honduras, and Cuba. The women from these communities often built communities in churches, block associations, and apartment buildings, maintaining leadership in their communities.
The social contract of the city was altered when Giuliani served his two terms as mayor. One of his biggest policy changes had to do with social programs, which he called the “compassion industry.” He claimed that these programs enabled the lazy and undermined the hard-working, and many New Yorkers agreed and felt that change was needed. Giuliani requested that New York State reduce funding fro the city’s welfare and Medicaid programs and created new standards for those who wanted to receive welfare benefits. He successfully eliminated over 600,000 people from the welfare rolls, but the rising numbers of homeless people and people going to food kitchens suggested that eliminated social programs would not get rid of poverty. He then decided to alter the school system in New York City, implementing city-wide testing and advocating fro merit pay and uniforms for students to create standards in the system. He ended up making the most cuts to the education system than any other mayor and became the first mayor to support reduced school aid.
First-Amendment rights were also a focal point of Giuliani’s mayoralty. He often abused his power in order to allow what he felt appropriate and suppress the rights of those whose opinions he did not favor. One of the most famous cases was with a controversial art show in the Brooklyn Museum, which was the catalyst for his plan to stop funding the museum if its art would be as obscene as he believed it to be. In the case the Brooklyn Museum placed against the city, the institution won, reaffirming the First Amendment rights of the city’s people.
