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Chapter 10 discusses how from the twentieth century to the twenty-first, New York refined and reevaluated.  Because of the 1965 immigration reform, New York became even more a “city of immigrants” than ever, welcoming hundreds of thousands of immigrants from the Caribbean, East and Central Asia, and Russia, among other places. Politically, Rudolph Giuliani made significant changes to New York as a Republican in a Democratic city. Because of his policies regarding the working class and education, he stirred up conflicts in regards to race, although he was commended for his handling of the September 11th tragedy.

One of the most prominent groups of new immigrants Reitano describes are Asians. The Chinese, who had been in America in groups since the 1800’s, were the first ethnicity to experience legal exclusion, forcing them to remain outside of the American political sphere until the policy’s end in 1943. After 1965, Chinatown was able to  expand its numbers, and New York welcomed in Chinese immigrants from Southern China who entered sweatshops, and even more from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Shanghai, speaking Mandarin instead of Cantonese. After 1943, Chinese Americans were able to organize politically, electing the first Chinese American citywide official (John Liu), among several others. The increase in economic prosperity in this community led to several stereotypes of asians being the “model minority” which leads to parents putting excessive pressure on their children.

Another Asian community, Koreans, helped regenerate their communities, establishing small businesses, causing some inter-community conflicts with other ethnic communities.

The next major immigrant group Reitano mentions are Latinos. The first major wave were the Puerto Ricans. Able to travel back and forth between America and Puerto Rico, this community created a multifaceted identity as well as the term to describe this identity, “Nuyorican”. Puerto Ricans contributed a lot to the cultural landscape of the city through things like music, language and longstanding family traditions. Politically, they were influential in the 1960s, electing Puerto Rican legislators and congressmen. Unfortunately, Puerto Ricans characteristically experienced economic disparity throughout their time in New York City.

After Puerto Ricans came Dominicans who had a lot of the same experiences and impacts in the city. Dominicans were also able to travel back and forth, many of them becoming transnational dual citizens, which caused some of them to limit their involvement with American politics. Currently, Latino groups have found ways to prosper in tandem with other ethnic groups, especially through women in the communities.

Reitano closes the chapter by describing The Social Contract. This is the idea that since cities are places where people live and work together, they also form issues of general and personal interest among themselves that the government must respond to. In these passages, she details the changes made to the City through Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Giuliani believed that the welfare system allowed the poor to be “lazy” and waste the money of the hard-working middle class. Consequently, he pulled more than 600,000 people from welfare rolls, and established systems where the homeless had to work daily for their food and shelter. In addition to this, Giuliani  transferred money into private institutions and established tax breaks for corporations, among other things. Giuliani also rebuilt the public school system, buffing up security and reducing bureaucracy, while also battling the teacher’s union and cutting aid for many public schools. These are but some of the positive and negative changes he created while altering the city’s social contract. Despite the many conflicts and controversial ideas, he is remembered best for his stoic and intelligent handling of the tragedy of September 11th.

This chapter is basically a review of all the immigrant groups who came to New York and their impact on the city; economically, socially, and politically. The relationship that immigrants have had with this city is give and take. They contribute their skills to the labor force while gaining a better life than the one they left behind in their home country. They arrived waves and tend to stick together. This created a city that I extremely diverse. Immigrants inevitably bring their cultures and traditions with them when they come a new place.

Reitano begins with the Asian immigrants and their experiences. Each groups role in the ever changing society of the city changes along with the current condition of the city. In the case of the Asians, they were initially extremely isolated from the rest of the city. Chinatown was its own separate entity. They were even “prohibited from becoming citizens” and for a long time were unable to participate in politics at all. There were also stereotypes that developed regarding the Asians. These were not necessarily negative stereotypes in their eyes though. They were seen as very smart hard workers. They embraced this a put much pressure on their children. Many were entrepreneurs and small business owners. The two main Asian immigrant groups were Chinese and Korean. Although they did not share national ties they still grouped themselves together somewhat in Chinatown.

Next are the Latinos. One of the main groups that initially came were the Puerto Ricans. They contributed a lot culture through music and language. Other characteristic of their culture was strong family traditions. One thing that set he Latinos apart from other immigrant groups was that they maintained strong ties with their homeland. Because of the US’ proximity to South America they were actually able to travel back and forth. Soon after the wave of immigrants to Puerto Rico the Dominicans followed. They were also very traditional and were strongly tied to their country. This actually tended to cause internal conflict for many. Their identity was complicated and they did not know where to place their loyalty. Many Latinos work in industrial jobs after WWII. Even though they generally took more low paying job there was still the possibility of upward social mobility.

Lastly, is The Social Contract. This part discusses the political environment of the city and how it has adjusted to the needs of the city as a whole as well as the individuals. These include policies for working conditions, taxes, and the pubic school system. Reitano discusses the policies of the various mayors that have lead the city, including Giuliani, LaGuardia and Badillo. Another component of the social contract is the First Amendment. People right of assembly as been an integral part of New York City’s social and political environment. The section finished with 9/11 and Giuliani’s admirable leadership in handling the situation. I think what Reitano is trying to convey is how strong and resilient this city is even with its immensely diverse patchwork of a population.

Living in New York City means interacting with a vast array of cultures because of the ubiquity of variety. Whether it be in food, music, dress, languages or religions, the youth absorb diversity and topple ethnic barriers. This interaction occurs at schools and within neighborhoods, developing a multifaceted, multicultural youth with a “cosmopolitan identity.” The removal of national origin quotas that limited immigration from 1920-1965 led to unprecedented diversity in New York’s population. Established populations, such as the Italians and Eastern European Jews, were moving out or up, and often being replaced by Asians, Russians, Puerto Ricans, and Dominicans.

Asians long suffered exclusion from immigration waves. However, the massive reform in 1965 increased the 105-person annual quota to 20,000, increasing Chinatown’s population drastically. Under new laws, families could reunify. Immigrants from Southern China joined their Cantonese relatives in New York, and earned jobs in sweatshops to satisfy the demand for labor in the garment industry. These jobs were acquired through family networks and bosses who demanded compliance and hard work. Wealthier Chinese moved in uptown, and often looked down on the Cantonese who lived downtown. These “Uptown Chinese” bought real estate, raised rents, and financed small businesses. The arrival of banks in Chinatown signaled a movement to develop the area, and led to a gentrification that moved many Chinese into Brooklyn. Asian immigrants embraced the positive images of their stereotypes as smart, ambitious and industrious, emphasizing the importance of education. Among Korean immigrants, 67 percent of adults had college educations and 40 percent had professional or technical backgrounds. Poor English, however, limited their ambitions, leading them to transfer their hopes to their children. Koreans moved into midtown, replacing Jewish and Italian immigrants, and set up thriving business and restaurants.

“Nuyorican”, a term for a Puerto Rican in New York City, demonstrates the ambivalence of identity among Puerto Ricans in an ethnically diverse city. Music, language, and strong family traditions in Puerto Rican culture contributed to the urban environment. Economically, Puerto Ricans provided much of the labor force during the United States’ post-WWII growth. Involving themselves politically, Puerto Ricans were elected to congress, state senate, and borough councils. Puerto Rican migration declined in the 1960s, after a peak in the 1950s. Dominicans moved into the city at extraordinary rates, and by 2000 Dominicans outnumbered Puerto Ricans. Dominicans are transnational, and can hold dual citizenships. For this reason, Michael Bloomberg campaigned for mayor in the Dominican Republic to earn the vote of New York Dominicans abroad. Like Puerto Ricans, Dominicans elected many city and state legislators and officials. As old Jewish and Italian workers moved up and out, Dominican women replaced them in the factories; however, they often earned lower wages than their predecessors. Lack of unity and English speakers made it difficult to form union ties. Low rates of high school and college graduation tie Dominicans to the industrial sector, and have suffered economically as this sector continues to shrink. In non-Manhattan communities, such as Corona, Queens, Dominicans coexist with many other Latino groups, African Americans, and white ethnics. In serving in community positions, women from these groups often interact and form cultural bridges, transcending their traditional home-maker roles.

A city is a localization of the social contract, where people further individual interests in a collective society, intertwining the two through public policy. Rudy Giuliani’s mayoralty in the 1990’s contrasted with the agendas of previous mayors. Giuliani led an overhaul of New York’s liberal social policies, cracked down on crime, and decreased education funding, but not without controversy. Despite the conflicts under his mayoralty, Giuliani was championed for his reduction of crime and his response to the collapse of the Twin Towers. Giuliani’s conservative views reflected in his moves to reduce funding for welfare, Medicaid programs, and public education funding. He eliminated over 600,000 people from welfare rolls, but 90 percent of people who appealed their rejections were deemed eligible for aid. Giuliani’s scaling back of welfare programs increased the homeless population, suggesting that decreased welfare did not immediately transition to a rise from poverty. Giuliani used a private company to start job centers, and those who didn’t find jobs had to work in the public sector for 20 hours a week. Giuliani cut taxes, benefitting business, and often enacted policies that hurt departments where both workers and clients were minorities. These choices led many people to feel that Giuliani made his policies based on race. Giuliani regularized and controlled schools, disbanding the Board of Education and instituting citywide testing and standards. Giuliani often clashed with the teacher’s union and cut school’s operating and construction budgets. He was also the first mayor that supported a reduction in state aid for schools. Giuliani’s appointee to the position of special education monitor Herman Badillo became a chairperson of CUNY’s Board of Trustees, dismantling open admissions. Giuliani opposed the public display of a painting of the Virgin Mary that many deemed “offensive art”, cutting the public funds and lease to the Brooklyn Museum. Thus, in economic, educational, and social policies, Giuliani increased the presence of accountability in the social contract.

 

From 1994-2010, changes in immigration, policing, and finance, along with new vulnerability, changed the character of New York. A huge influx of immigrants from new areas ballooned the foreign born group of the population to 37.8%. They represented their first political majority in the 2009. Mayor Giuliani’s conservative policies created conflict in liberal New York. The 9/11 attacks and the 2008 financial crisis changed local and world perceptions of the city, and left the city’s future in question.

After the 1965 repeal of immigration restrictions, new immigrants from the Caribbean islands and east Asia broadened New York’s culture, but clashed with older groups, but blended with each other. Russian Jews rescued Briton beach, after the soviet breakup of 1989. Their transition was helped by their middle class status, and they integrated fairly easily into the larger Russian population.

 

Asian groups, on the other hand, took, and were forced into, a more isolationist approach. Traditionally, the Chinese population was very confined, and they were barred from all but laundries, restaurants, and tourism. After 1965, the population of Chinatown soured. They rescued the garment industry, though conditions were often unsafe. The mostly southern Cantonese remained trapped in Chinatown. Richer Chinese urbanites avoided their southern countrymen, but grew to overwhelm them by force of numbers. With the rich controlling most of Manhattan, lower class Asians decamped to the outer boroughs. Thus, Chinese American voting is widespread, but divided between rich and poor. Class conflict also came from the “model minority myth”. Some, such as the affluent and educated Koreans, were unable to rise because of their poor English, so they tried to force their children to do so. Middle class Koreans pooled resources, and broke into retail. It is not clear that Asian groups will unite, politically or ethnically.

Puerto Ricans, like the Italians, tended to move back and fourth between New York and their home island. Though politically active, they are last in education and finance among the city’s ethnic groups. After their first huge boom in the 50s, their numbers stabilized, and they are now being overtaken by a large number of Dominicans, but their recent debt crisis has driven their numbers up again.

Dominican populations continue to grow in Upper Manhattan and Queens. Though easily able to fid work, they had no access to unions, and, as is often the case, the language barrier keep many isolated, and disorganized. None the less, Dominican women tend to stay in the city, as they face less sexual discrimination there then at home.

Both groups are joining with smaller Latin American groups to form a larger Latino identity.

West Indian groups are also growing and unifying, as seen by the size and diversity of the popular West Indian American Day Parade. Many conflict with African Americans, though this is changing. Early on, West Indians stood apart from the group they were sorted into by white census takers. They found more solidarity during the civil rights movement and the police brutality of the 1980s and 1990s. They now make up the majority of the black population. , but though they identify with African Americans, they vote apart.

Though not unitized, immigrant voting has sent more minorities into politics, and stigma is decreasing, though not as fast as some would like.

 

Mayor Giuliani redefined New York’s social contract by gutting its longstanding social aid structure. The so called “Compassion Industry” of social welfare and Medicaid was reduced, and Giuliani attempted to shift services and amenities into private hands. He got 600,000 off welfare by making them ineligible for it. he did this to reduce fraud, though figures showed that most who applied for aid were eligible for it, and a rise in numbers of homeless New Yorkers suggested that some were not able to haul themselves up, despite being forced to live without aid. Giuliani also attempted to force able bodied citizens to work for public aid. Many dropped out of CUNY, because they had relied on aid for their tuitions. He made tax cuts to benefit business, and the rich. Giuliani also changed the school system. in an attempt to raise standards, he reduced school budgets, and instituted merit based support of schools, teachers, and students. He abolished CUNY’s longstanding open admissions policy. He dabbled in restrictions to self expression, threatening to cut support for a museum in an attempt to have an “offensive” painting taken down. He also attempted to restrict the traditional tolerance of protest, closing city hall park to restrict demonstrations. His reputation was helped by his response to the 9/11 attacks, but he was not reelected. Giuliani has been compared to LaGuardia, as both broke rules to input their agendas. The variance of these agendas was considerable, however, with LaGuardia supporting the poor and the minorities, and Giuliani backing the rich.

Asian Immigration:

Immigration reform in 1965 led New York City’s immigrant population to grow substantially, and by the 1990s there was greater variety of cultures than ever, including Caribbean, East
Asian, Latin American and Russian. New York’s immigrant groups challenged the city socially due to various conflicts that arose among them.

As New York natives fled to the suburbs, immigrants acted to revamp and revive bleak neighborhoods, like the way Russian Jews changed Brighton Beach’s demographic after a first wave in 1979 and a second wave after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989 sent many Russian Jews to America. Luckily, their backgrounds facilitated learning English and getting work in a post-industrial economy.

For Asians, things were not as easy. The Chinese were the first immigrant group to suffer exclusion, which lasted from 1882 to 1943. They were not allowed in a lot of occupations, so they had to do their business in an underground way by running restaurants and laundries. They also remained outside of American politics because they were prohibited from becoming citizens.

But in 1965, Chinatown’s population exploded. While they got work easily, it was mostly cheap and harsh labor in factories. As other Chinese peole immigrated from Hong Kong and Taiwan, they scorned the less educated and poorer migrants, and tended to move uptown and away from Chinatown. These well to-do Chinese brought money that spurred construction of apartment buildings in and around Chinatown, which led to controversial gentrification of the area, and a lot of poorer Chinese moved out to Brooklyn and Queens.

Chinese Americans began to organize politically after they were allowed to become citizens in 1943. In 2009, John C. Liu became the first Chinese American citywide official, and two immigrants from Hong Kong were elected to the City Council. But as the community grew economically and politically, it faced difficult and unfair stereotypes.

Many Koreans and Chinese had college educations and technical or professional careers in their home countries, but when they immigrated to America, they lost their titles. Therefore, many parents pushed their children in the direction of college and professional or technical careers. This led many working class Chinese and Koreans who were limited by their socioeconomic statuses to feel ashamed because they couldn’t fulfill their parents’ goals set for them.

While most well to-do Koreans refused to live in Korean communities, their presence in Flushing, Queens became increasingly apparent. Eventually, Koreans formed business associations to protect their interests as they faced dislike from Europeans and Chinese in Flushing. Although we tend to group all Asian cultures together, their differences and complicated histories make alliances and relations between Asian groups difficult.

 

Latin American Immigration:

Puerto Rican immigrants are another prominent immigrant group in New York City. They enriched the city with their culture, music, and strong family traditions. They also became a political force when Herman Badillo became the city’s first Puerto Rican Borough President and congressman, and when Olga Mendez became the country’s first female Puerto Rican legislator in 1978.

Tensions rose between the Puerto Ricans and Dominicans as Dominicans became the largest group of immigrants to settle in New York. Despite their transnationality, Dominicans became avid participants in local politics by creating strong community organizations and electing their first city councilman in 1991.

Their economic experience, however, has been varied, especially for Dominican women. They filled the demand for factory workers, but were restricted by low wages. But in general, earning wages helped Dominican women become more prominent parts of their families, especially because they formed social networks to help them cope with the difficulties of life.

Women also play an important role in the Dominican community of Corona, Queens, as they acted to culturally bridge their own culture with those of other Latinos, African Americans, and Europeans. They did so by forming alliances and social congregations within their neighborhood, and went beyond their typical maternal roles.

The West Indian American Carnival promotes pan-ethnicity, which unites people from different countries. But just like other ethnic groups, West Indian immigrants have faced issues in American since their first significant migration in the 1920s during the Harlem Renaissance. West Indians are classified as black in America, but had a tendency to feel superior to African Americans because of their British background and accents. Therefore, success of West Indians in business and professional sectors led to resentment by African Americans.

However, these tensions diminished during the civil rights era, and some West Indian candidates won elective office in African American communities. West Indians became aware of the fact that racial prejudice effected them as much as African Americans when West Indian men were murdered in Howard Beach, Queens in 1986 and Bensonhurst, Brooklyn in 1989. These tragic events strengthened the feeling of common cause between them.

 

Rudy Giuliani:

While mayor LaGuardia promoted the expansion of public service and freedom of expression, Rudy Giuliani advocated to privatize public services. He believed that public programs and services promoted laziness, and was the first mayor to request that New York State reduce funding for Medicaid and welfare programs.

He eliminated 600,000 people from the welfare rolls, but the state soon realized that he was denying deserving recipients of food stamps, Medicaid, and other services. An increase in homelessness showed that less people on welfare did not mean less poverty.

He then required any able bodied adults on welfare to work for their stipends. Some thought this was a great idea and would increase incentive to work, but others found it to be totally heartless. Plus, since the requirement to work while on welfare also applied to college students, over 16,000 CUNY students were forced to drop out, which countered their attempts to get out of welfare.

Giuliani’s tax cuts that helped big businesses, budget allocations for wealthy private institutions, and tax breaks for big corporations made matters worse for the poor and working class people of New York. Furthermore, in the school system, he shifted supervision of school security to the NYPD, instituted citywide testing, and attempted to disband the Board of Education. He increased spending on books and computers, but cut spending on schools’ operation and construction.

When Giuliani appointed Herman Badillo as special education monitor, things became progressively more conservative in the school system. They both advocated merit based payment for teachers, standardized testing, and student uniforms, all as a part of the “standards movement” that became very popular throughout the country in the 1990s. When Badillo became chairperson of CUNY’s Board of Trustees, he helped end their policy of open admissions in 1999.

Giuliani displayed his conservative nature once again when he attempted to censor art at the Brooklyn Museum because he felt it was “anti-Catholic.” City Council President Peter Vallone declared that he was abusing his power. The Brooklyn Museum sued the city in federal court and won. Giuliani also attempted to limit the freedom of the press by refusing to give interviews to even city and public officials, so they had to sue in order to obtain information about city agencies. Furthermore, he limited what groups and how many could protest in City Hall Park.

When the attacks on the World Trade Center occurred on September 11^th, 2001, Giuliani’s response involved imparting strength and calm upon the shaken city. He expressed great sympathy for those killed in the attacks and even attended funerals. While, in comparison to LaGuardia, Giuliani limited people’s freedoms, attacked the education system, and cut social services that helped poor people, he may be viewed as better than LaGuardia simply because he became the paragon of patriotism after 9/11.

As a mayor, Giuliani was unlike any of his predecessors. He sought to tear apart the social welfare programs that LaGuardia and other mayors worked so hard ensure. Giuliana put much of his energy into bettering the middle class, and completely dismantled support for the lower class altogether. On a national basis, he immediately received praise, however, many who were denied social programs actually needed it, or were college students – forcing 16,000 CUNY students to drop out.

Subsequently, he changed the system again, only this time forcing work onto those who were eligible to receive Medicaid and Food Stamps. This was another objective that was both criticized and applauded. The funding that was once allocated to aid-based programs shifted into the white-washed emergency departments and wealthy, private institutions.

Meanwhile, he was also making an impact on the education system. He used testing as a way to increase standards. On the contrary, he had a poor relationship with three chancellors and the teachers’ union. He also hired Herman Badillo to reform the system and lay the groundwork to disband the Department of Education. He also planned on having private companies run the schools among other things.

Furthermore, he had a hand in the arts as well. New York, alongside many urban areas, was highly favorable of the First Amendment right to freely utilize the media. Giuliani didn’t condone such expression and censored a lot of art. His threatening of fund removal of the Brooklyn Museum was a clear example of how excessive his demands got, because they displayed an exhibit showing the Virgin Mary in a negative manner. This caused outrage against the mayor’s use of power and even led the museum to sue the city. They won the case.

This tactic of strong-arming people worked occasionally, as he often threatened several groups throughout the city. He even began to barricade himself in City Hall, keeping a close eye on all information that was to become public record. It got to a point where he spent $13.8 million on renovating City Hall Park and then hand-selecting which groups got to use it, which was also deemed unconstitutional on the federal level.

Then New York got a different taste for Mayor Giuliani. Following the events on 9/11, he became a national hero. He attended funerals and became the face for the media to follow. His approval ratings skyrocketed and his prior negligence was overshadowed.

He was compared to LaGuardia a lot during this time. They had similar upbringings, but LaGuardia had a more open take on immigration, focused on assisting the poor, and advocated for the arts. In these senses, Giuliani was the opposite. In turn, Giuliani will be remembered as a effectual mayor, and may even rank higher than his counterpart for his sheer acts following 9/11.

At the turn of the 21^st century, New York City experienced a plethora of major overhauls in all aspects of its existence, ranging from immigration, economy, politics, and terrorism. These spheres of urban life determined how the city would rebound from crisis, face an ever-changing demographic of inhabitants, and retain its reputation as the “city on a hill.”

With the massive influx of immigrants from all across the globe, New York became a mecca of wide-eyed foreigners desperate to make a better life for themselves and their families. For second-generation immigrants being raised in this new metropolis, the diversity of ethnicities enabled a sense of multiculturalism never before seen in immigrant populations. Due to the wide variety of countries and peoples represented in New York City, ethnic boundaries were replaced instead with cross-cultural relationships that resulted in countless fusions of different cultures, such as Indo-Caribbean music (207).

Each cultural group had their own unique experience with assimilating into so-called “American” culture. Russian immigrants flocked to Brighton Beach, Brooklyn after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989 (207). In order to survive in their new environment, Russian immigrants had to adapt quickly to American ways of life, such as speaking English and entering into entrepreneurial ventures. As a result, Russian identities with Judaism became strained over whether or not they wanted to retain their religious values or shift into a more American lifestyle.

For the Chinese, the road to success in America was on the other side of the spectrum. Spurring from the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, discrimination against Chinese immigrants remained a key roadblock in Chinese success in New York City as immigration quotas remained intact until 1965 (208). Even then, Chinese immigrants were herded into downtown Manhattan (known as “Chinatown”) and give jobs only as sweatshop workers. Furthermore, the stratification between Chinese immigrants grew as the division between Mandarin (“uptown Chinese”) and Cantonese (“downtown Chinese”) solidified socio-economic status within the group. Additionally, the appearance of the “model minority” myth worked to both promote Asian success through its notion of Asian immigrants as hard-working and diligent and increase pressure on latter generations of immigrants who felt inadequate to meet up to those standards.

Latinos, on the other hand, faced the issue of cultural identity in that their assimilation to American culture was muddied by their ethnic allegiance to their home countries. In particular for Puerto Ricans, the notion of the “in-between” meant that they could not fit neatly into a category of “being American” or “being Puerto-Rican” (210). Latinos also faced tensions within different nationalities as exemplified by the clash between Puerto-Ricans and Dominicans in domain over the Inwood-Washington Heights area and who laid claim over the area. Moreover, there was a gap in assimilation between Dominican men and women as more women favored American life over their life back in the Dominican Republic because of the social networks they established with each other in their work.

Lastly, for West Indian immigrants, assimilation in New York was focused more on cross-cultural relationships than any other ethnic group. This diversity is due to their “struggle to negotiate both race and ethnicity in New York” (212). The fact that American culture had classified all West Indians as “black” meant that West Indians had to learn what the idea of “race” meant in a Western context. This became most apparent during the Harlem Renaissance where the British-influenced culture of West Indian immigrants clashed with the identity of African Americans. The relationship between the two groups is complex, sometimes clashing with each other because of both parties desire to distinguish themselves from the other while at the same time agreeing on terms of racial injustice faced at the hands of police brutality.

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Mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s primary goal in serving the city was to focus on elevating the middle class (221). Inspired by his conservative background, he emphasized an individual’s responsibility of being successful and promoted the notion of “private enterprise.” He vehemently opposed New York’s welfare and Medicaid plans because he believed they only enabled the idleness of the unemployed rather than forcing them to work for their survival. His action of reducing welfare funds and cutting back on welfare recipients received mixed reviews, with some people praising Giuliani for doing what his predecessors couldn’t while others condemned him for only worsening the poverty problem.

Giuliani’s policies favored private corporations by allowing them large tax breaks while simultaneously negatively impacting predominantly minority-populated organizations, such as the Human Resources Administration (222). He also focused on reforming the city’s education system, by leaving school security to the police department and privatizing school officials such as superintendents and principals. By doing so, Giuliani hoped to achieved a uniform and standardized education system, but instead received backlash from teachers’ unions over unfair policies. Furthermore, Giuliani also hired City College alum Herman Badillo to change the CUNY system by dismantling its open-admission policy, something that was criticized for being discriminatory towards low-income minorities (223). Additionally, Giuliani also attempted to increase censorship on art by removing and even proposing to shut downs museums that exhibited “offensive art,” something many citizens retaliated successfully against (224).

In short, Giuliani was driven to change the social contract of New York City and implement his conservative ideologies on the city in ways that many found restrictive and even abusive. However, his reputation and legacy were propelled by the tragic events of 9/11 and his sympathetic response to rebuilding the city its rock bottom maintained him a spot as one of the most successful mayors in New York City’s history.

Rudolph Giuliani’s title as mayor or New York had extended to mayor of America due to his admirable command during 9/11. While this instance is one in which he can be seen to be a positive force in New York City, there are other instances in which is leadership counters the core values of the city. The decisions he made in office suggest that he did not support the small businesses and small minority groups the resided in New York.

Giuliani was successful in reducing crime in the city. Seen as a hero, he implemented the “Broken Windows” theory and the Zero Tolerance Campaign. He increased the size of the police force as well as forming the Street Crime Unit of Undercover Cops and the Compstat Program. He believed that eliminating public disturbances would help to reduce crime. However, he had a very broad definition of what classified as one. Because of this, a large number of crimes that were being brought to court were very minor offenses.

The people accused of these petty crimes were subject to strip searches and were held in jail even before they were realized to be innocent. This time of suspicion and doubt left New Yorkers feeling that their freedoms were under attack. Moreover, the Street Crime Unit of Undercover Cops and the Compstat Program were guilty of racial profiling which angered minority New Yorkers. Although Giuliani claimed to want to solve the issues between the minorities and the police as he ran for a second term, but did not make any measurable progress on this conflict.  

The people of New York were not pleased with the mayor of America. Activists like Al Sharpton held public protests and rallies to raise awareness and provoke some sort of social change to serve justice to those that suffered undeservingly by the police. Giuliani was dumb to the feelings of the people. Moreover, he reassured them that the innocence of the minority groups accused of crimes were released after their passing. This nonchalant attitude towards the injustice left him to be an unpopular mayor.

Not only did he not address the conflict between cops and minorities, but he also opposed labor unions and welfare programs that this group of people largely relied on. He believed that people had to work and earn their benefits, however this contradicted the activist leadership and values that were native to the city of New York. Although Giuliani led the city admirably during the events of the 9/11 tragedy and had good intentions for New York, his public policies and suppression of labor unions, welfare causes, and small businesses made him foreign to the true spirit of the city.

With the 1965 immigration reform, people from all over the globe came to New York City. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Jews migrated to New York and settled in Brighton Beach, where they worked hard to reform their lives. Dominican and Puerto Rican immigrants established themselves in Washington Heights on the Upper West Side and Corona, Queens. The Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, and West Indians that arrived in New York were particularly conflicted between their native cultures. They often went back to their home country to visit and continued to practice their cultures in New York. Chinese immigrants settled in Chinatown in Manhattan. This group was outcasted for a period of time where they were not allowed to move up the social ladder. They were known as the Downtown Chinese. After the immigration quota was raised, Chinese immigrants chose to settle uptown distinguished themselves from their inferior Downtown counterpart. They settled in Sunset Park, Brooklyn as well as Flushing, Queens. Chinese soon became involved in politics and society by electing a Chinese councilman John Liu.