While Reading Miyares’ Changing Latinization of New York City, one of the points struck me. New York City is not an area that can be described as having deep Hispanic roots. This is an interesting point because if we think of the demographic of New York City today, it is impossible not to consider the Latino population. But it is not always apparent while walking the streets of the city where the Hispanic population is concentrated. This is because of the lack of individuality of the apartment buildings and lack of Latino architecture in the city.
The significant waves of immigration for Latin Americans began in the later half of the nineteenth century. Because the city was mostly settled by the time Hispanics began coming to this city, they were left to settle the already settled area. This may not seem like a catastrophe, but to a culture that prides itself on exterior emblems, this can be a problem. Many cities in Latin America have plazas that exhibit the city’s pride, and the individual houses are decorated to show the family’s allegiance. Here in New York City, there are no plazas, and the Hispanic population lives in apartment buildings that cannot be individually different.
This loss of a cultural façade can have many consequences. As the beginning of the chapter explains, non-Latino members of the city cannot differentiate between cultures and ethnicities, which is offensive to the Latino population. Even though the majority of the Hispanic population in New York City is either Puerto Rican or Dominican, there is still 35% of the populations who came from other areas of Latin American, and are not recognized. Many pains are taken to insure that the Latino cultures are not lost.
Instead, the individual cultures are brought out through other mediums aside from houses and plazas. The principle commercial street in the area is used as the main ethnic street, and is used to unite the community. This is the gathering area that takes the place of the plaza from the home country. In addition, the names of the businesses are often reminiscent of the home country, and religious icons adorn the shop entrances These small identifications are what is helping the various cultures identify themselves as individual cultures and not as the overarching category of “Hispanic.” This is why the young girl from the opening story can proudly say she is Guatemalan, and rightfully be insulted to have been classified as Hispanic.
