Who We’re Serving: The Identity of the Polish Community in Greenpoint and Beyond
When walking along the streets of Greenpoint, it becomes clear that this is more than a simple area of Brooklyn. The streets are lined with shops, restaurants, and other images that can only be defined as Polish. “Cześć, jak się masz?” “Hello, how are you?” People walking along the streets are speaking the language, and it becomes clear that this is a very strong cultural center. Immigrants from Poland throughout the years have migrated to various areas in the United States, with most actually going to Chicago, Illinois. However, the second largest group of Polish immigrants resides in New York City, mostly among the areas of Greenpoint, Brooklyn and Ridgewood, Queens. These numbers seemed to reach a peak between the late 80s and mid 90s, but they are beginning to drop at a steady rate now. Hints of Polish identity are still present, but the population seems to be diminishing a bit when compared to some of the other ethnic groups in New York City. Various factors such as lack of economic prosperity, desire to connect with loved ones back home, and a “hipster” revolution may be the cause.
Just to give a bit broader of context, this map shows the most current Polish population levels in the United States. Redder states have higher Polish populations. One can see that New York does have a relatively high percentage, but it certainly is not the highest.
Dubbed as “Little Poland”, Greenpoint has always been known as a community full of working-class people. Despite its isolated location on a marshy, swampy portion of land in Brooklyn, it has quickly evolved into an enclave for the Polish community to sort of plant themselves in the New York cultural landscape. However, this level of immigration has been rapidly changing over the years.
As seen in this chart generated from www.infoshare.com, Polish immigration to New York City began to peak a bit around the mid-90s. This is due to the collapse of the Soviet Union, which left the future of Poland appearing unstable and bleak. Due to this and the resulting higher levels of poverty, the United States became very attractive to these immigrants. However, once Poland gained more stability and problems were not so bad, immigrant groups stopped coming in such large numbers. As we can see on this chart, since that peak in 1994 Polish immigration levels have been significantly less. While a number of New Yorkers are of Polish descent, the community is still not overly large. As seen in the chart below (also based on information tabulated on www.infoshare.com), Polish New Yorkers only accounted for 2.5% of the total New York population in 2002 based upon country of origin. This was not the smallest ethnic group, but it certainly is small when compared to the Dominican Republic, with a percentage of 11.4% or China with a percentage of 10.1%.
Just to give a basic idea of those coming in from Poland, most immigrating here are between the ages of 35-64 (based upon most recent tabulations in 2002). Some of the elderly people have been reported to be going back to Poland in growing numbers, and this could be part of the reason why the Polish presence in New York is decreasing.
When we take a look at a chart documenting immigration levels of Polish people and specialize it to the area of Williamsburg/Greenpoint specifically, we see a similar rise and then dip in percentage as the first chart.
This information is not just evident in the statistics above. According to articles found in the New York Times as well as Latitude News, many Polish people have been leaving the New York area and Greenpoint. According to an article from Latitude News, Polish immigrants living in New York decreased by nearly 10,000 people in a time span between the 2000 and 2010 census. Reasons may be to reunite with loved ones and different economic opportunities found back home in Poland. Perhaps the Polish community is having a hard time truly creating a niche within the framework of New York City and American culture due to its smaller size.
As featured in the above video, another reason as to why the Polish presence is decreasing in a community such as Greenpoint is this sort of “hipster” revolution. New York is beginning to blend many of its ethnic backgrounds together so much so that an artsy form of subculture is beginning to dominate. Greenpoint’s sister neighborhood, Williamsburg, is one of the designated “hipster” areas of NY, and it seems that this generation of young, artsy individuals is beginning to spill into the borders of Greenpoint. Thus, the importance of maintaining a strong ethnic character in New York’s so-called “Little Poland” is beginning to fade.
When reviewing these facts, it becomes obvious that a less dominant community in the New York region such as the Polish community needs support now more than ever. New York is a very big region, and so it can be easy for a small community to not have as strong of a voice. This is why the Kosciuszko Foundation, an organization created specifically for the preservation and celebration of Polish culture, is even more important in today’s times.
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Works Cited:
Kern-Jedrychowska, Ewa. “New York.” Latitude Newsn.d., n. pag. Web. 8 May. 2013. <http://www.latitudenews.com/story/new-yorks-little-poland-losing-its-poles/>.
Finn, Robin. “Who You Calling Gritty? .” New York Times 20 July 2012, n. pag. Web. 8 May. 2013. <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/22/realestate/in-brooklyn-greenpoint-ready-to-follow-in-williamsburgs-footsteps.html?adxnnl=1&emc=eta1&adxnnlx=1366601041-jgF7KIRD5ta3do4TtfRjDA&_r=0>.
“Polish Is Still Spoken, But Industry Is History.” New York Times 29 May 2009, n. pag. Web. 8 May. 2013. <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/31/realestate/31living.html?_r=0&adxnnl=1&emc=eta1&pagewanted=2&adxnnlx=1368025487-x8ZvV/U9YtQJQHYPuW3LwA>.
Charts/statistics from www.infoshare.com
United States Map: Polish America Map. N.d. Map. n.p. Web. 8 May 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Polish_America_map.jpg>.
