Peopling of NYC 2012

While reading these pieces, I cannot help but reminisce over Zohar’s comment during our class discussion a few weeks ago.  Although I do not remember her words verbatim, she shared that a well-known figure once stated that racism would be less of a problem if we stopped talking about it.  Upon reading these articles, I think that statement may hold quite true, at least partially.

It seems that the more the human race discusses certain topics, the more present they are in our minds as we go about our days (think back to the popular adage, “You are what you eat”).  Generally, individuals spending some part of their day in New York City experience differences, whether in race, religion, culture, et cetera.  As humans, we tend to become uncomfortable in unfamiliar surroundings, whether we acknowledge it or not.  This, therefore, shapes our response to our daily encounters, and we begin to shape ideas of others based on hearsay and personal experience.  Additionally, because New York is filled with different cultures, we probably have a difficult time grasping an understanding of another’s actions.  For example, one might say that a certain minority group is “pushy” in their manner of dealing with others in business transactions.  However, this could be attributed to a culture difference between the two countries represented in the transaction.  That is one explanation, at least.

On the other hand, we are all human.  While we are the same, we are different; we always have been and will continue to be.  With this in mind, it seems that every New Yorker, irregardless of his race and ethnicity, is faced with two possible options: either cultivate an attitude of learning toward every other group (not implying that one must accept/agree with other cultural practices, but rather simply offer some effort to learn about why some individuals may act as they do) or remain hostile toward individuals who are different from the exemplified New Yorker.  It seems that when the latter option is chosen, stereotypes are formed.  The issue of racism, though, involves an intricate weaving of innate human tendencies practiced by every race.  In a sense, it is an impossible task to eradicate such views toward others, but there is always room for change and improvement. 

Immigrants come to America wanting to live out the “American Dream”–getting a good job, getting married, having children, and living out their lives with no worries.  This task is not as easy as it seems, and I feel that the “American Dream” ideology is emphasized too strongly to immigrants.  They feel that it will be so much easier than it actually turns out to be, as is shown by Peter Kwong in his work “Forbidden Workers.”

It takes much time and dedication for immigrants to make the journey to this New Land, but sadly it is not always worth it.  Kwong says that for illegal Chinese immigrants to come to New York, they have to pay a steep price of $30,000.  Just to pay off this debt, one would have to work many overtime hours at their minimum-wage jobs, and would not always be moved up in ranks.  A lot of times, the immigrants would come to America and then spend the rest of their lives working to pay off the debt they acquired from coming here.  On the other side of the spectrum, however, if the immigrant is successful in paying off their debt in a decent amount of time, they may be able to earn enough money to bring over family members and be able to live out the “American Dream” here together.

It was shocking to me that this all happened not too long ago, in the year I was born.  When I think of immigration, I think of a century or two ago, but certainly not just 18 years ago.  It’s shocking to think that these issues are probably still going on now, even in the year 2012.  Living in New York City and being so privileged the way we are, with a great education and decent housing, it is easy to become close-minded and forget about all that goes on outside of the city.

What surprised me while I was reading Kwon’s passage, Forbidden Workers, was that the voyage of the Golden Venture occurred relatively recently. When I think of immigrants being smuggled into the United States via long boat trips at sea amongst harsh conditions, I don’t think of it happening during the Clinton Administration, rather I envision these types of events in the 1800s or the early 1900s. This implies that the extreme measures and hardships that illegal immigrants go through to get here has not changed much, at least up until the 1990s.
Kwon makes an interesting comparison of illegal immigration to economics. He states that the issue of illegal immigration is no different than the national drug problem, and that the two are related through the concept of supply and demand. According to Kwon, all of the attempts by the government to stop illegal drug trafficking have been counterproductive, and have in fact made the business of illegal drug trafficking more profitable by increasing the demand for it thereby giving the cartels more control. He asserts that in an analogous manner, harsh immigration laws will only make illegal immigrants more vulnerable to smugglers and employers, which will further raise the price of smuggling and cause the smugglers to be even more brutal and evasive of government authority. This is an interesting take on illegal immigration policy, yet I don’t quite understand how this will give the smugglers more power. It is true that they will be able to demand more money to smuggle illegal aliens over, but it will also be harder and riskier, which logically would discourage people from attempting it. Although, one may argue that these immigrants are so desperate to come to America, that they are willing to take the risk.
Kwon also mentions how Chinese immigrants rely on ethnic networks to survive. Chinese employers use ethnicity to encourage worker loyalty. They create an image of a hostile society beyond the enclave, including other employers who are prejudiced, which would not be hard to believe given the prior reactions to Chinese immigration. This is part of the reason why many Chinese do not venture out beyond their enclave; because of the way they think others will view them. Due to this isolation, Chinese employers have the ability to exploit their workers by painting themselves as victims as well.
A theme that is evident in the reading is stereotypes, but in this case the Chinese use the stereotype to their advantage, which credits Asian culture for their economic success. This reminds of the Mexican immigrants, who portrayed themselves as worthy and hardworking immigrant in order to counter Anti- Immigrant sentiments. Another theme that is also prevalent in this reading that ties into last week’s reading is tension among races in multi-ethnic neighborhoods. I guess it is in the nature of people to frown upon new incoming immigrants, as it has been done throughout history.

Immigrants for a long time have come to America with the dream of becoming successful; working their way up from the bottom and eventually securing a comfortable position within American’s society for the future of their family. Doing so seems straightforward enough, but in reality, it’s not so simple. Regarding this American dream we examine both the lives of legal and illegal immigrants as well as lower class native American inhabitants (most likely 2nd generation and above immigrants) and their role in America’s growing economy.

Kwong brings up the involvement of illegal Chinese immigrants in the American economy. Several of these illegal immigrants are being smuggled by boat from cities in China like Fuzhou city. Upon arrival, each immigrant owes their smuggler around $30,000 dollars. This, surprisingly enough, occurs quite frequently today as human trafficking and illegal immigration grows. These immigrants would take up below minimum-wage jobs with factories in order to pay their debts; however, not all of the immigrants achieved success. Several Chinese immigrants actually stayed within range of their job, working day by day to get by and pay off their debt. As a result, Chinese enclaves formed around wherever there were extremely low wage jobs. These enclaves differ from other enclaves in that there was barely any interaction with the outside society. The inhabitants of such an enclave already had work set for them, and they barely had the necessity to learn and speak English since their society was heavily Chinese. For them, success could only be visioned in the distant future as they were strictly confined to their enclave.

Most legal Chinese immigrants differed from their undocumented counterparts purely by their interaction with the society outside of their enclave. They may have also worked low wage jobs, but their interactions, social and economical, occurred at times outside of their enclave. In this group, assimilation and outward interaction culminate into an opportunity at upward mobility not easily present within the tight-knit enclaves of the undocumented immigrants. However, such an outcome between immigrants and America’s economy wasn’t necessarily specific to the Asian Americans. In fact, such results were true for immigrants of any race, illegal or legal. In Malkin’s article, he mentions how these immigrants (1st, 2nd, and future generations) played their part in America’s business sectors, specifically within New York City. He first goes through this by discussing the diversity of the employees present within the retail sector. The vast majority of these employees are young adults and most likely 2nd generation immigrants or further. They are most likely assimilated and used to the diverse society in which they live in. As a result, companies are able to hire workers of different backgrounds without any racial or ethnic conflict. Such an economy rarely existed in the early 1900s where racial segregation occurred on multiple levels, especially within the workplace. Just as society became more diverse and accepting of different cultures and races, so did business. Today, companies even seek to diversify their workforce hiring qualified people of different problems.

There still however remains one problem regarding immigrants and their involvement with the economy. This problem is the conflict between native American minorities and the illegal immigrants who come into this country taking extremely low wage jobs. A large number of New Yorkers are unemployed, and a large number of them belong to groups of minorities living in poor neighborhoods, or “ghetto’s” as Marcuse would say. These same people compete with illegal immigrants for low wage jobs. The problem arises due to the increase of illegal immigrants streaming into the city. Kwong and Malkin easily explain this by discussing the kinship of immigrants and their familial ties. As one group of immigrants stabilizes themselves, they work to bring over the rest of their kin. This causes an increasing wave of immigrants. Ultimately this causes a problem for minority native Americans stuck in “ghettos” which has a solution yet to be seen.

Fuzhou City is an interesting city in China in that most of the smuggled aliens have been recruited from Fuzhou.  This seems strange that many of the smuggled immigrants have come from a relatively unheard of city in China. Why are these the people who are coming to the country illegally?

The answer to these questions all lie in the strong familial kinship relationship that the people from Fuzhou feel towards one another.  As stated in the beginning anecdote by Kwong, coming to America is extremely expensive. It is ever more expensive coming to the United States illegally.  The unfortunate Chinese who were smuggled on the “Golden Venture” would have paid the smugglers, commonly called snakeheads, $30,000 for their passage to America.  They lived in decrepit conditions and were malnourished. As stated in the opening, many Chinese have to work extremely long hours, while making below minimum wage to afford this journey.  This is a daunting process to undertake by oneself, especially as in the opening story, if making it to America is not guaranteed.

The members of Fuzhou City, which is a rural community, have strong kinship bonds towards each other.  The familial closeness helps to support the venture of coming to America.  The family gathers all of their funds, and sends one person off to America to pay off the debt of travelling.  Once this is done, the family member in the United States will begin working to save money to bring other family members over to America.  Sometimes, the family will begin a business once enough of the family is brought over, and with the success of the business, the rest of the family that is still is Fuzhou city is brought over.

This is not a new concept for American immigration.  Many immigrants have similar stories to the Chinese of Fuzhou city.  As we discussed in the beginning of the semester, many Italians and Russian Jews came over with the help of family and friends.  Also, like the Filipinos who we read about in the beginning of the year, many families become transnational, and have strong ties to back home.  Americans do not generally associate themselves with the incoming immigrant class, because they feel as if the new immigrants are equivalent to “Greenhorns,” to quote David Levinsky, but upon closer inspection to their own family history, the Americans may find they have much in common with the incoming Chinese.  Kwong makes a great argument for how immigration is similar across nations.  I am not arguing that illegal immigration is laudable, I am merely arguing that it takes much dedication to make the journey, family is important in helping one reach the country, and finally, that immigration has been similar for many different types of people throughout America’s history.

It’s the classic American dream: Come to the US, get a job, work
your way up the ranks, and become a great success story—all very
rapidly. For some immigrants, this works out just fine. For others,
however, it seems that the situation doesn’t quite play out. Educated
immigrants have to settle for jobs that are far below their skill
level. Others who do not speak English well, or at all, get locked into
industries that feature conditions which can range from undesirable to
completely oppressive. Furthermore, these immigrants do not have much
opportunity for advancement in many such sectors. Just as bad – or
perhaps worse, in some ways—is the fact that the children of these
immigrants often get “stuck” in the same job prospects. Being that
every good parent wants to see their children have the opportunities
that they did not, this outcome must be particularly heartbreaking to
New York City’s immigrants.
There is a novel that came out one or two years ago called “Girl in
Translation”, by Jean Kwok. (Don’t let the unbelievably cliched title deceive
you—it’s actually a good book.) The story revolves around a girl, Kimberly,
who immigrates from Hong Kong with her mother in her youth. They are
sponsored by Kimberly’s aunt, who owns a sweatshop, and end up working there
for her. Their experience is an awful one lived right at the poverty level, sometimes below. Kimberly’s mother tells her they will be able to make it, but their situation improves little while Kimberly is young, and they grow
disheartened over time. Kimberly vows to work herself into the ground to both do well in school and help her mother, in order to provide a better future for both of them. In the end, she becomes a successful physician, but in her dogged quest to “make it in America”, concludes at the end that she has her success has come at the very costly expense of other deeply important things in her life. Perhaps such major
sacrifice and commitment to hard work is the only option that the “second generation” has, in some cases, as an alternative to being confined to the undesirable financial situation of their parents. Neither choice really seems like a “better life”.

With each weekly set of readings, my eyes open a little wider to the big picture of immigration. Instead of just regarding immigration for its face value, I am beginning to piece together all the reasons behind their flights from their homeland with their actions once they arrive in America. This week was no different as I became more aware of the current work situation for incoming immigrants in the last two great waves of immigration. My general perception of the work an immigrant does has since changed significantly, as I continue to respect the daunting process of assimilation even more.

Waiting for the first great wave of immigrants at the turn of the 20th century was an ‘insatiable’ demand for labor as a byproduct of the industrial expansion that was happening in New York. Jews and Italians swarmed into these positions, either hoping it was a start to something better in their new lives as Americans or hoping it would be sufficient to accumulate enough wealth to return home and improve their living conditions from before the migration. Although these immigrants were able to secure work almost immediately in some form or another (for Jews it was likely to be in the garment industry, whereas many Italians took up work in construction and putting together the subway system) working conditions were generally horrible. Low wages and the lack of strong unions that could protect workers made immigrant lifestyles seem unbearable to the outsider like myself. Every immigrant had to scrap to get by, which was evident with the work single daughters had to endure to contribute to the family’s weekly earnings. I thought it was interesting that marriage became something to look forward to for these young women as an early retirement from the long hours of work they had to do.

Unfortunately, harsh conditions still exist in the workplace. We often turn away from it and like to think that it is not as bad as it has been in the past, but immigrants are still facing lower wages and occupational status when compared to other groups. This most recent influx of immigrants, however, is bringing in migrants of a variety of educational and professional levels. New York’s economy is no longer industrial and has since become more of a white-collar city. The variety in today’s immigrant population allows some immigrants who are of higher experience and status to jump right in to the mainstream economy with high-level positions.

At the bottom of the occupational ladder there exists another difference from the previous wave, stiff competition with lower-tier native-born blacks and hispanics. Less experienced and educated immigrants are moving in to the lower sector of the workplace and in doing so presenting these native groups with direct competition. Furthermore, employers are becoming more favorable of hiring these immigrant laborers for a number of reasons, but mainly because they will work for less money without any fuss. Then once these immigrant laborers are employed they recommend people of their own for positions that open up as part of their extensive kin networks. This further bars native born blacks and hispanics from these positions. Without these jobs and chances at earning some type of wages, will a possible ripple effect be ghettos throughout the city expanding and getting worse?

While both articles and the chapters in Foner gave insight into surprising (to me) but uncommon phenomena found in the relationship between culture, class, and the workplace, I found Kwong’s article to be a real eye-opener. His frank description of Chinese illegals and the work they have to obtain to pay off debts to snakeheads provides an explanation for the highly noticeable presence of restaurants and other food service providers (the ubiquitous Chinese restaurant) – of course, the customer is usually unaware of the tension breaking out behind closed doors.

Kwong’s article gives more weight to the argument over the difference between Flushing and Manhattan’s Chinatown. Zhou’s article (from two weeks ago) states that many Chinese (mostly legal, though) see Flushing as temporary, as a stepping-stone in the road to upward mobility. Kwong, however, explains how factory-based employers– usually the garment industry – instill a sense of fear of “foreigners (Americans) in their employees. Though Kwong makes reference mostly to illegal immigrant workers, the concept can also apply to legal immigrant workers, if their only available work options are garment factories. The difference may not be too surprising, as, reason being the fact that it is a suburban area, Flushing is not seen as a “true” Chinatown, and is “relatively free from the constraints of social structures in Old Chinatown.” Flushing residents are more likely to venture out and encounter other Americans and find jobs for American businesses, be they large or small.

The chapter in Foner regarding the work patterns for immigrant women stood out because of how it illustrates the situation of changing and clashing values as complex- we cannot assume that all immigrant women in the early 1900s and 1800s followed the same paths, or that all immigrant women were given the same responsibilities and expectations. For example, many Russian Jews believed the ideal family to consist of a scholarly husband (religious scholar), and his working wife. On the other end of the spectrum, many Latinos believed the ideal family to consist of a working husband and his stay-at-home wife.

Aside from tensions and racism that exists, I believe the idea of two enclaves, which are described as beneficial systems for immigrants to use for upward mobility and assimilation to mainstream culture, living in one area could assist such mobility even further. I enjoyed reading about Sunset Park because it was nice to focus solely on one place, as opposed to say the Miyares article that was trying to make an overall point about the changing structures of Latino communities over NYC and discussing a handful of neighborhoods. It was interesting to read about the two enclaves in one geographical area, the Latino (majority Puerto Ricans) and the Asian population that causes some to call Sunset Park the “new” or “satellite” Chinatown. As someone else wrote on their blog, sometimes enclaves can do the exact opposite and cause a group of people to stay sheltered away from the rest of the city. Instead, living near another ethnic group could help immigrants understand other cultures and want to expand their horizons in a city and country that has so much diversity to offer.

The descriptions of the cultural neighborhoods in the Miyares article made me really appreciate this city, the way people in enclaves should in order to expand their horizons past their small group. The way that some neighborhoods have colorful signs of national flags and business signs in different languages in such a close proximity is quite remarkable. I found it intriguing however, that in some city areas with large apartments and housing units, this is harder to do, as you cannot decorate your street in the same way.

The idea that this city is ever changing also struck me. In the Miyares article, she speaks about almost a constant shift and migration of Latinos in the city. The original reason for immigration has to do with political and economic standings in the home country, like after the reign of a dictator in the Dominican Republic. But when they get here, some areas would be evacuated by previous immigrant groups, due to economic conditions, making way for new ethnic groups in need of a place to stay. This has been called “Invasion and Succession”. This occurred in Sunset Park, when the economy was down and white ethnic groups fled to suburbs leaving a vacancy to be filled by Puerto Ricans. In light of this example, I would say I have to agree with the idea of an enclave being a stepping stone if one wanted it to be, as once you leave you most likely better your situation and leave room for the next people to come in and do the same. Lastly, the idea, which others have commented on, that some groups feel threatened by the appearance of other groups (like Puerto Ricans and Mexicans in El Barrio) is understandable, but should be recognized as inevitable in a constantly changing city that belongs to truly no one.

Reading these articles, I was somewhat reminded of kids who create an imaginary line in the backseat of a car and force one another to stay on their own respective sides of that line. I think that in some ways, immigrants are wrong to expect that their enclaves will stay their own. If you are making the jump and coming to America, you can’t expect that it will be as homogenous as it was in your home country. This nation is full of other immigrants of other ethnicities, hoping to make it in the same place and just as badly as any other. In fact, you could say that these immigrants hoping to live the American dream is one of the CENTRAL characteristics of this country. As this is so, how can Puerto Ricans expect El Barrio to retain its strong Puerto Rican character and keep out an influx of other immigrant groups? How could Chinese immigrants to Sunset Park expect Chinatown to indeed remain Chinatown? And honestly, do Caucasians who flee neighborhoods with changing demographics in fits of “white flight”—themselves probably the descendants of immigrants–actually expect that, even if they move, they are going to be able to maintain their isolation forever? Not only is isolation based on a sense of superiority wrong, but, putting morality aside for a moment, I think it’s altogether completely unrealistic in this country. If you really want to make it here, you have to be willing to adapt to the ways of the land–and one of those “ways” is living alongside others who may not be just like you. There are ways to maintain one’s own culture and avoid assimilation while still sharing living space with others.