Diversity in New York
When I think of “The People of New York City,” I don’t just think of one race. I think of them all. I think of every single person that came here and all the struggles they incurred. There isn’t just one kind of person in New York. You can’t walk through the streets of the city and expect to see the same person twice. With the movie The Pawnbroker you get this same sense of diversity. There is a huge amount of people that come into the pawnbroker’s shop. Each person is extremely different from the last. Not even in terms of ethnicity, but also personality. It isn’t just the color of their skin that makes a person unique, but also the way they speak and act. The second thing that comes to mind when I think “New York” is this insane idea of community. In one way there is no way that you could possibly know everyone in New York, but when you tell someone you’re from New York a sense of pride is there, along with an idea of community. No matter how many people you meet or don’t know, you’re still bound to the city with a notion of being right where you belong.
I chose this image from The Pawnbroker because I think it accurately represents most of what New York is about: diversity and community. The picture may not be the clearest, but its message is still straightforward. After Jesus’ death in this film, the entire community came forward to see what was going on. No matter what they were doing or who they weren’t actually friends with, they stood side by side and watched as Jesus was carried away. Often times common events in the city bring people of all different ethnicities together, such as New Year’s Eve or even the gay pride parade. Nothing brings different people together like a common interest. That’s what this scene is doing. Everyone wanted to know what was going on and if Jesus was going to be okay. Together as a community, they watched him being taken away from the sidewalk and into the ambulance.
The most obvious example of diversity in this neighborhood is through the background. On the right there is the sign for the pawnbroker’s shop with his last name (which is Jewish) in large letter. In contrast to that, there is a Spanish bar right next door. If that wasn’t enough, the people crowding the streets are mostly African American. This neighborhood is extremely diversified whether or not it wanted to be. However, this is what the “Peopling of New York” is all about. Not one race, but all of them. All of them working together though their struggles and overcoming obstacles to form a better community to live in.
