Tag: reitano

Chapter Ten of Reitano’s The Restless City focuses on the changes in New York City after the 1965 immigration reform. By the 1990s, New York was more diverse and populous than it had ever been. Asian, Latino, and West Indian immigrants had established a presence in local neighborhoods, and were able to assimilate into society while still holding onto their cultural identity and pride. With such diversity, the cosmopolitan identity emerged – an open-minded, multicultural identity created when people of various backgrounds interact and create friendships with one another.

The Asian community in NYC saw significant changes in the years following 1965. Before immigration reform, Asians were mainly segregated in Chinatown and were barred from citizenship and job opportunities. After the repeal of the exclusion policy in 1943, Chinese immigrants were finally able to rejoin their family in America, and many found work in the garment industry. Most of these laborers were part of the Cantonese working class community, and clashed with the Mandarin-speaking immigrants from Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Taiwan. Such internal tensions within the Asian community were exacerbated by the model minority myth, which was the idea that through rigorous education, the children of immigrants could have the opportunities their parents could not. Despite these problems, the Asian community was able to grow in terms of geography and representation – there were now thriving communities in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, and Flushing, Queens, and Asians gained a voice in politics through the election of John C. Liu as City Comptroller.

Latino immigrants also established communities in New York City during the later half of the 20^th century. Puerto Ricans and Dominicans were the largest Latino immigrant groups, and both were able to assimilate, though not without struggles. Puerto Ricans had a unique situation that complicated their sense of cultural identity. They gained American citizenship in 1917, which caused inner conflict amongst many who felt that they were “traveling back and forth” between identities as an American and as a Puerto Rican. In New York, Puerto Ricans were mainly middle class, although some lived in poverty and had low education levels. Despite these societal struggles, Puerto Ricans maintained their ethnic pride, with the Puerto Rican Day Parade, and were able to gain representation in politics.

Dominicans were another large Latino immigrant presence in New York – and by 2000, they had outnumbered Puerto Ricans. Like the Puerto Ricans, Dominicans had a dual identity but remained politically active in both their home country and America. Dominican women had a mixed experience adjusting to New York life – while they were able to find jobs as factory workers in the apparel industry and support themselves, they were paid low wages and were often taken advantage of by employers. Unlike Dominican men who wanted to return to the Dominican Republic eventually, women wanted to stay in New York and make money. A large Dominican community was established in Corona, Queens, retaining a sense of cultural identity and creating a home away from home.

The 20^th century also saw a wave of West Indian migration to New York, specifically in the 1920s. West Indians joined the Harlem community at the height of the Harlem Renaissance, but instead of fully assimilating with their African-American neighbors, some used their British ties to set themselves apart. This tension lasted until the 1960s, when the civil rights cause united their issues. Aside from Harlem, NY, there is a large West Indian community in Flatbush, Brooklyn, and the West Indian American Day Carnival is an event that promotes pan-ethnicity and is open to all.

During these waves of Asian, Latino, and West Indian immigration, New York saw a shift in politics through the election of Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Giuliani was a Republican with very conservative values, especially in an extremely Democratic place like New York City. Giuliani mainly focused on the middle class and disliked “handouts” that helped the poor. While many people found his strict approach towards the poor unfair, other New Yorkers appreciated his hard policies. Giuliani cut funding for welfare and Medicaid, and enforced the Work Experience Program that required all able-bodied adult qualifying recipients to work for their welfare. Such drastic changes earn Giuliani the comparison to past mayor that also got things done: Fiorello H. LaGuardia. LaGuardia, however, focused on improving life the poor, just as Giuliani mainly worked for the benefit of the rich and middle class. In all, Giuliani is remembered as a good mayor for his handling of 9/11, an event that tested the city but ultimately proved its resilience.

The transition into the twenty-first century brought about new changes in New York City, such as new development, more law and order, and a new wave of immigrants entering the metropolis. Due to the 1965 immigration reforms, New York City’s population began to increase dramatically. In the 1990s, the city became even more global, and the new immigrant wave was so large that between 2000 and 2003, about 340,000 immigrants made NYC their new home causing the foreign-born population to constitute 37.8 percent of the city’s population.

As NYC residents began moving to the suburbs in increasing numbers, immigrants began to fill these vacant neighborhoods up and revive them. For example, one of the areas that was transformed through the new wave of immigration was Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, which was soon found with Russian Jews who had been city dwellers who were skilled and educated. Though they faced some complications originally, the Russian Jews were welcomed into a community that wanted to aid them.

Unlike the Russians, the Chinese tended to be more isolated rather than integrated. Chinese immigrants were suffered from exclusion policies; however, the immigration reforms of 1965, allowed for Chinatown’s population to increase dramatically while also allowing southern Chinese families to reunite. Besides southern Chinese immigration, Chinese immigrants from Taiwan, Shanghai, and Hong Kong immigrated at the same time. However, for these immigrants, they chose to live elsewhere instead of Chinatown. Their presence caused the increase in rent while also financing the development of restaurants or stores. Nowadays, the increase in banks in Chinatown resulted in the gentrification of the neighborhood causing residents to move to Brooklyn or Queens and form Chinatowns there.

The economic and political growth in the Chinese American community lead internal tensions between class lines, resulting from the Asian immigrant stereotype. Asian immigrants are generally stereotyped as ambitious and studious, which lead to an emphasis on education and attending prestigious institutions by their children. On the other hand, adults who have professional backgrounds used their skills to help neighborhoods out. For example, Korean immigrants pooled money together to become business owners that eventually saved declining neighborhoods. Though the presence of Asian immigrants is very high in New York, media still tends to group all Asians together and forgets to acknowledge the different languages and cultures of the separate Asian groups. Nonetheless, Asian immigrants provide a solid example of perseverance and the “American Dream.”

The confusion of immigration and being in a new environment is common among all immigrants. However, for Puerto Rican immigrants, they are torn between their country of origin and their country of residence since they have become American citizens in 1917. Puerto Rican migration reached its peak in the 1950s, but during the 1960s and 1970s, other Latino groups began to challenge Puerto Rican dominance. The tension was prevalent between Puerto Ricans and Dominicans, and in 2000, Dominicans outnumbered Puerto Ricans and made up 70 percent of the northern area of Manhattan. Additionally, the mass immigration of Dominicans lead to the development of a Dominican community in Corona, Queens. Through this migration, Latina women formed alliances to tackle immediate problems which lead them to create a more unified Latino identity.

West Indian immigrants are also becoming more prominent in New York City. The first major wave of West Indians came during the Harlem Renaissance. During this time, tensions began to grow between African Americans and West Indians due to the rise in West Indian businesses and professions. However, during the civil rights era, the tensions diminished. Nowadays, NYC has the largest number and variety of West Indian immigrants. In 2000, most of the black community of NYC consisted of West Indians. This interwoven identity lead to West Indians and African Americans to be linked together more. Eventually this lead to the development of a pan-ethnicity, which could potentially be used to help people of color gain access to power. As New York City’s demographics continue to make minorities become majorities, pan-ethnicity will be essential in order to form less polar race relations.

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Besides a new wave of immigration, New York City also experienced many changes through the mayoralty of Rudy Giuliani, who focused on limiting public activism and increasing individual initiative and private enterprise. Giuliani believed that social programs allowed lazy people to exploit the hard-working. To combat this notion. Giuliani began to reject welfare applicants and ultimately, removed 600,000 people from welfare rolls. Giuliani also implemented tax cuts to aid business, tax breaks for big corporations, and budget allocations for private institutions that helped the rich but harmed the poor and minorities.

In addition, Giuliani also changed schools. Giuliani shifted school security supervision to the police department and also instituted citywide testing to bring uniformity to the system. Giuliani spent money on books and computers, leading to cuts in operating and construction budgets of schools. He also tended to fund construction in schools in Queens or Staten Island that supported him rather than in schools in Brooklyn or The Bronx that needed it. In addition, Giuliani threatened to cut off CUNY funding unless they university implemented a new entrance exam.

Though Giuliani brought about many controversies in his mayoralty, his past actions were overshadowed due to 9/11. Giuliani’s actions caused his approval ratings to reach 85 percent while also changing his perspective from being a reckless mayor to a strong and sensitive one. Giuliani’s legacy tends to be compared to that of LaGuardia due to their humble backgrounds, love of NYC, or persistent reform agendas. However, unlike LaGuardia, Giuliani tried to divide the city and attack almost every institution. Nonetheless, his actions during 9/11 caused him to be instantly viewed as a patriot. Though Giuliani’s mayoralty was controversial, he will be remembered by his actions during 9/11 since he was the voice of tranquility in a time of insanity for New York City.

Chapter Five of Joanne Reitano’s The Restless City focuses on the major problems New York City faced during the 19^th century. During the years 1856–1899, New York rapidly modernized, and was nicknamed the “Empire City.” New York was the setting of Horatio Alger’s book, Ragged Dick, which showed the city in a positive light but raised questions involving poverty, corruption, and labor. The city was now the hub for finance, industry, trade and immigration, but with this success came many problems that only solidarity through reform could change.

New York was the known as the Empire City for its success, but it was also under the corrupt power of the Tammany Empire. Tammany Hall, led by William M. Tweed, dominated the city’s political scene. Tweed had held various elected and appointed positions of power in New York, and used his connections (and bribes) to gain influence in both the Democratic Party and Tammany Hall. He appealed mainly to the white middle and working class voters, and had newly-naturalized immigrants vote for him as well. While he was deeply corrupt and stole millions, he did help the city – playing a role in the completion of Central Park, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as creating funds for hospitals and schools. Eventually, Tweed’s luck ran out, and he was exposed for all his corruption. Violence in the streets, like the Orange Riots of 1871, also hurt his image, and he eventually did time for his crimes against the city.

The city experienced corruption in not just politics. Robber barons and their companies were located in New York, and their businesses did equal parts damage and good to society. John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Trust Company helped modernize the American economy and contributed to the large market centered in New York. Rockefeller created trusts in steel, lead, sugar, amongst others, which now made New York home to most of the nation’s biggest businesses. Trusts became so powerful that it attracted political action and led to the regulation of many business practices.

Poverty was another major issue in 19^th century New York. The city might have been the center for economic growth, but there was a huge gap between the rich and the poor. There was a Social Darwinian, capitalist mindset amongst many New Yorkers that “justified” poverty. Many were patronizing towards the poor, and others only wanted to help because they feared that poverty would lead to violence and crime. However, there were some who were actually dedicated to social reform and bringing about change in the slums of New York. Jacob Riis, a reporter for the New York Tribune, was in the Five Points daily for his job, and used photography as a means to expose the realities of poverty. His book, “How the Other Half Lives,” opened people’s eyes and exposed what life in poverty was really like, drawing special attention to problems youths in slums faced. Riis also promoted the creation of parks in slums, slum clearance, and tenement house reform, and worked with other reformers like Josephine Shaw Lowell. Lowell was the first female commissioner of the State Board of Charities, head of the NY Charity Organization Society, and later the president of the NYC Consumer’s League, the latter in which she helped mobilize women to boycott stores that exploited female workers. She was also an important leader in the women’s suffrage movement in addition to the labor reform movement.

In 1886, labor activism peaked and there were 1,200 strikes in New York alone. Previous efforts to organize were usually drowned out by police and led to conflict and police brutality. However, various strikes and simultaneous boycotts, led by organizations like the Central Labor Union, proved that there was strength in solidarity and power in collective activism. Other areas of reform included the New York City public schools, which became part of a centralized system in 1896. In 1901, the state of New York required all children under the age of twelve to attend school, and in 1900, became desegregated.

After the Jews, Italians were the second largest immigrant population to arrive in New York City before World War I. Italians immigrated to the United States for a better life, but unlike the Jews, a majority of the Italians that arrived were illiterate and laborers. Both the Italian and the Jewish people had to face prejudice, below average housing conditions, and poverty.

Prior to the mass Italian immigration, the Italian population in New York City was almost nonexistent. In 1850, there were only 853 Italian New Yorkers, but by 1920, there were over 800,000 Italian American people living in New York. Originally, Italian immigration consisted of young men who came to America to make money which would be used to purchase land back in Italy. Unlike the Jews, most Italians returned to Europe, but these men would later return to America with their wives and children. Unmarried Italian men would return to Italy, marry, and then, return to New York.

To make a living, most Italians provided manual labor for the city. One of the main forms of manual labor for the Italians was helping construct subway routes in the outer boroughs. Italians chose to stay close to their workplaces, which led to the development of Italian communities and neighborhoods in Harlem and the Bronx. Besides choosing to live by their work, Italians preferred to live with people from their village or region.

Upon their arrival, Italians lived in tenements that were abandoned by the Irish and Germans, which tended to be overcrowded, dark, and damp. The size of the tenements forced some children to live on the streets, whereas some families had to take in lodgers in order to maintain financial stability.  Besides terrible living conditions, Italian neighborhoods experienced crime. The press of the time gave Italian immigrants a reputation of being criminal, and some prominent forms of crime included the Mafia and “Black Hand” letters. This reputation helped promote anti-immigration which resulted in Congress imposing immigration restrictions during the 1920s.

Besides manual labor jobs, Italian men found jobs as bartenders or barbers, while some opened up their own small shops or became street merchants. Soon, Italians began to enter the garment business. The few women that came to the United States during this time tended to work in the garment business. Up to 85% of the young and unmarried Italian women were found working in the garment industry, and even married women were often found in garment sweatshops until they birthed children. To make ends meet, young girls were often taught how to take care of the household at a young age and then, were sent to work.

Italians did not enforce education as much as the Jews. Italians distrusted the public school system since they believed that it was meant to compete with parents for the control of their children. Besides this distrust, low-income families needed their children to work to help keep the family financially stable. As a result, most children were taken out of school before the age of 14 in order to begin working. At this age, boys would sell newspapers until they were old enough to work laborious jobs, whereas girls would sell flowers and finish making clothes in tenements.

Like the Jews, Italians tended to side with the Republicans. However, some Italians did not side with either the Republicans or the Democrats, so instead, they joined the Jewish-dominated Socialist party. Besides deciding political parties, Italian American politics also involved creating Italian organizations to help the incoming immigrants, such as the Society for the Protection of Italian Immigrants.

In addition to politics, Italian Americans came from a predominantly Catholic country, and to keep their religion alive, Italian priests serviced in church annexes, which were usually found in basements of churches. However, like with public education, Italian immigrants did not trust the church since they viewed it as an organization that did not care for the people’s needs. Also, Italian male immigrants believed that attending church was a women’s job, and as a result, they only attended church on major Catholic holidays. Soon, Italian annexes developed into Italian churches, and by 1911, there were 50 Italian Catholic churches in New York City. One of the main festivities for Catholic Italians was the festa, which was a procession that honored a saint through food, fireworks, and music.

As the years went on, Italian immigrants moved up on the social ladder, while also maintaining strong ties between other Italians. The immigration restrictions of the 1920s pushed European immigrants into assimilating leading New York City to become a melting pot rather than a salad bowl. However, the assimilation process was slow, which allowed for ethnic ties to maintain their strengthen for future years.