Andres Mejia is an American citizen, but that’s because his parents wanted him born in the United States to have his papers. He moved to Mexico early in his life and grew up there, identifying as a type of immigrant for when he would come back 6 years later. He discusses his community, Sunset Park, and explains his feelings for his neighborhood and how he’s seen it change over the years.
Early Life
“I was born in Brooklyn. I spent my early childhood in Mexico because after I was born, we shortly moved to Mexico. It was kind of, a small community. There was a hotel in the town, we had dirt roads. I lived on a newer street, it was literally called ‘nueva calle,’ which means new street. I think it was suburban, that’s a good way to put it. It was small, there was one elementary school, one middle school, one high school. [I remember] waking up early, going to the fields. Not really to work, I was a little too young for that, I would go with whoever wanted to go to the farm.”
Moving to Sunset Park
“To an extent, yes, because there was a transition into American life. I was 6 years old. [I live in] Sunset Park, Brooklyn. My grandfather came over to work. He went to Sunset Park, not exactly sure why, Sunset Park was kinda familiar to my family already. I didn’t care mostly because a lot of my family members came with me, it was a group effort. There was a bunch of us living in a small apartment. I was nervous, it was kinda big. I came from a place that had one school, one church, it was a small town to a bigger city. I guess the language barrier, but I think it was very minimal. At that age, of 6, everybody has a language barrier issue, that’s when you’re learning the intricacies of grammar. I was enrolled in a kindergarten class for bilingual speakers. A portion of the class was Spanish, and then throughout the year we moved towards speaking more English than Spanish. This was a known issue that the school wanted to tackle, a bunch of kids who don’t know English. I’m thankful for that. You could speak only Spanish if you don’t have to speak to anyone for your job. We had a community that was made up of mostly Mexicans, so you could go to a store and speak Spanish there, you could get your hair cut where they only speak Spanish. Everything we needed, we had, and it was familiar.”
An infamous Mexican restaurant in Sunset Park, has the best tacos according to Mejia.
My Daily Life and Inspiration
“When I was a kid, he was in the United States, at the time setting up for my family to move. He was willing to make sacrifices like that, he wasn’t able to see me or his family for a couple years, to set us up here in the United States. He had a plan, and it kinda worked out, he just always worked hard. I was born [in Sunset Park], and then he stayed with his father. He was a welder, same as his dad. I am also a welder. It’s kinda a family profession. It’s a skill I was taught. I’m 20. I said I went to Fort Hamilton, I had a tough time, I didn’t like school. I definitely didn’t want to go to college or anything. I took a year off, and worked, then I went to trade school, to get my certificates and licenses for welding. Mostly work, definitely, wake up early to get to a job site in the city. But the day was quick, and then afterwards another big part of my life is playing soccer. I like to play it more than watch, definitely.”
How I Feel About My Neighborhood
“I really, really like it ever since I been there. It’s changed a lot in recent years. When I first got there, there was more locally owned stores, not by Mexicans. It was like Puerto Ricans, you know, there was a Mexican store here and there. Those were the stores that my father supported, the Mexican stores, you know, to support our community. And then slowly, there were more and more Mexican stores throughout, and this was like in the 90s, early 2000s. Now you go to Sunset Park, you go to 5th Ave, Sunset Park, like 38th Street to 42nd Street, all those stores are Mexican-owned. But now gentrification is hitting, there’s a new high school on 36th Street, which is cool. It was pretty cheap, I guess. The building we live in is pretty old, at least we used to live in an old building. It was a two bedroom apartment, it was pretty rundown. It was surrounded by… there was a bakery across the street that’s not there anymore, and there were a lot of mechanic shops, near it. On our side of the street, we were the only house. I do not [live there now] but my grandparents do.”
An example of the array of Mexican establishments found on 45th Street and 4th Ave in Sunset Park.
Will I Ever Leave?
“Realistically, I’d probably end up moving out, but it’s somewhere I want to stay. It’s very new and exciting, even now, though I’ve been there for so much of my life, it’s still exciting. Gentrification is moving in, like I said they built a new high school, they built a hotel in my neighborhood. I think three hotels popped up so far. I welcome it, personally, because I see improvement in my community. It’s not good, because it’s definitely pushing out a lot of the Mexican community. I don’t know how I should feel about that, progress had to be made, and this is the consequence I guess. “
