Buried Sadness

       When one thinks of Flushing, one thinks of hundreds of people crowding the streets and sidewalks. One thinks of the cacophony of yelling and car horns filling the air. One thinks of the hodgepodge of overwhelming smells from the nearby restaurants or the feel of the air saturated with different languages and dialects. All in all, this is an accurate representation of exactly what Flushing is. However, walk a mere two blocks away from Main Street and it is an entirely different story. Long gone is the enticing smell of dumplings through open restaurant doors and the stampede of people walking down the street. While  this may be an oasis for the average person wanting a break from the hustle and bustle of city life, it is an almost insurmountable obstacle for business owners.

Behind the counter of Optics & Beyond stands LP, a long-time employee of the store from Hong Kong. Despite the fact that his face is weathered from years of stress, his mouth still forms a smile as he tries to reassure himself that all will be okay. When we ask him if he would be willing to do an informal interview, he is immediately suspicious and only agrees to answer a few questions.

     It has been years since he arrived in America, but just recalling the experience seems to be hard for LP. He frequently pauses during the conversation to sigh and to find the strength to form the words that likely have eluded him for so long. A lifetime of regret seems to hang over his shoulders as he tells us how he began his life here as a young student (he could not remember whether it was junior high or high school).

     Our few questions soon evolve into a full-fledged conversation as LP cautiously unloads his painful history. By sharing his story, it seems as if he is handing off part of this Atlas-like weight with us; relieving himself as best as he can. I am almost positive he has never ever even talked about this experience as occasionally he stops mid-sentence to fight the words to flow out. After graduating, he did not have the privilege of being able to go to college and was forced to find a job so he could help pay the bills. Every word seemed seeped in regret and I feel horrible about dredging up this buried sadness. I look around at all of the glasses, lying there in neat, precise rows just so I do not have to look at LP in the eyes.

     He glances off into the distance into a mirror, facing his inner demons once and for all. Finally, he cocks his head to the side, as if turning a blind eye to his cruel past will fill that insatiable hole within himself. When asked about the jobs he had before working at this business, he merely grips the counter to signal that this portion of the conversation is done.

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 Our Own Worst Enemy

Foot traffic is possibly one of the most important resources for a business. After all, the more people you have entering your store, the higher the chance of you making a sale. This has been an issue that plagued not only LP’s business for the last few years, but also for the majority of businesses and restaurants in the Prince Street area. Simply put, fewer people are visiting Optics & Beyond, which means fewer people are giving their money to LP. After all, why walk the two blocks to Optics & Beyond when you have numerous other stores to get your glasses from right when you walk out of the Main Street train station? In fact, the presence of numerous businesses offering the same goods is a big reason as to why the store needs to keep their prices low to be competitive. When there are ten other stores selling spices like ginger, the only way to possibly draw customers over to your store is to lower the price, which can sometimes hurt more than it helps. LP mentioned many times how high the rent is in the area, but Optics & Beyond just does not have enough cash to move.

“If you have money, it’s easy to make money. If you’re Bloomberg, you can just throw money at things like you’re at Chuckie Cheese’s.” 

There are areas like Northern Boulevard where the rent is lower, but moving is expensive and the business is barely squeaking by as it is. A different location would allow Optics & Beyond to operate away from all of the competition in the area, but it just seems like a pipe dream at this point. The business is between a rock and a hard place: they can not afford to stay in business at this location, but they can not afford to move either.

LP attributes the rising rent not to the landlords as one would expect, but the community in general. The community is very insular and most people try not to venture outside of it as much as possible. The residents in this area are Chinese for the most part, but there are handfuls of people from every part of Asia. Because the community is so self-contained, most people never have to learn English because most people speak at least one dialect of Chinese. Many of the residents do speak very basic English — only as much as they need to know to go through the daily grind. These people ignorantly allowed the gentrification of their neighborhood to take place, refusing to take action and see the clear signs.

“We have become our own worst enemy.”

They refused to protect small business, instead they sided with the influx of wealthy immigrants from China. These wealthy immigrants do not spend their money at businesses like Optics & Beyond, as they see it as “below” them. They only frequent upscale businesses, which is one of the many factors that have led up to the uprooting of so many establishments in the area. They moved into the neighborhood to experience the culture of Flushing, yet they refuse to participate in it.

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An Analysis Of The Business Climate

To better understand Optics & Beyond’s situation, one must examine the demographics of the area to obtain a fuller picture of the situation. According to Social Explorer, Census Tract 869 where the store is located is 83.832% Asian, 63.961% of which is Chinese. Living in such a homogeneous area allows the residents to live in a bubble where they rarely have to venture outside their neighborhood. In addition, many of these individuals never decide to learn English other than a few words to get them through the daily grind.

A recent influx recent influx of rich Asian immigrants to the area has made LP of Optics & Beyond very weary and has made Flushing even more self-contained. Between 2000-2013, the area’s Asian population grew up by nearly 9% (5% of which are Chinese) using data from Social Explorer. LP has cited these new Chinese members of the community as the main reason for the area’s mass gentrification. They only frequent upscale businesses, which is one of the many factors that have led up to the uprooting of so many “lower” establishments in the area.

Further evidence from Social Explorer does suggest that rent in this area is quickly growing and as business abates, individuals will no longer be able to make ends meet. Individuals were paying 37.6% gross rent as a percentage of household income in 2013 vs. the 31.5% they previously paid in 1999. Despite the fact that residents are victims of escalating rent and gentrification, they have little power to make any change within their communities. Considering 47.539% of residents of this area are not citizens, they may not feel comfortable reaching out to government officials and representatives with their problems. LP noted that the citizens were ignorant by refusing to take action when the clear signs of gentrifications were present, but that might not be a fair assessment. If you are constantly under the threat of being deported and not being able to pay rent, the future is likely the last thing on one’s mind. One thinks more about being able to survive another day, much less five years down the line.

Another fact to consider when considering the lack of action is the fact that many of the residents in the area do not speak English. It is true that one merely knows needs to speak Chinese to survive in Flushing, but this likely makes reaching out to public officials extremely difficult. Data from OASIS suggests that at least 48.1% of the households in this area deal with “linguistic isolation,” which the US Census defines as a household that “all members 14 years old and over have at least some difficulty with English.”  This linguistic isolation likely contributes to the high rate of non-citizens (47.8%) that was aforementioned.

This is one of the most important factors of an ethnic enclave because many immigrants who come to the United States looking for a better opportunity often cannot speak English very well. This inability to speak the most common language in our country can make it very difficult to run a business and get that opportunity that these immigrants have traveled so far and so long for. How can As a result, these immigrants move to communities in which they can thrive and can support themselves and their future. The language barrier is very real in that it separates people of different cultures while uniting people of the same culture in a much more profound and intimate way.

The language that unites the people of the community, likely obstructs communicate with public officials. While I am confident that some officials do speak Chinese, language barriers certainly complicate matters. It is very difficult to lobby politicians when there’s a language barrier; in addition, lobbying politicians requires time and money that residents of this area simply do not have. When the median household income is $37,083 according to Social Explorer and so much of that goes to rent and basic necessities, individuals can not spare money on lobbying politicians.

A lack of social mobility prevents residents from purusing more lucrative pursuits in life and so, gentrification is draining their only possible source of income. LP lamented the fact that he was forced into finding a job, as he didn’t have the luxury of pursuing higher education after graduating high school. Sadly, LP isn’t alone in this lack of education according to statistics from NYC Census FactFinder. A whopping 14.2% of residents in this area who are 25 years and older have only a middle school education (as compared to 10.5% in NYC as a whole). Another 11% of residents attended high school, but never managed to receive a diploma. Out of the small minority of residents who did attend college: 9.4% ended up dropping out, 9.9% managed to receive an Associate’s Degree and 18.9% received a Bachelor’s Degree. The same financial woes that plagued LP likely impede residents of Flushing from receiving a proper education. This lack of access to education restricts social mobility and perpetuates a never ending cycle of financial instability. How can people be expected to succeed if they’re never given the proper tools?

While many Asian immigrants typically come to America to find work so that they can earn money and building a livelihood for themselves and future generations, it is interesting to note that the percentage of people ages fourteen and up that are in the labor force has stayed relatively consistent over the years. According to ACS, in 1950, approximately 59% of those at least fourteen years of age were in the labor force, compared to just over 58% of the same group that are in the labor force today. This really puts into perspective the different kinds of communities the same area of Queens can harbor, providing a new level of history to Prince Street.

Flushing is a home to many immigrants who have come here in search of a better life, to fulfill the American Dream. Many Asian immigrants come to Flushing because they feel at home, surrounded by people who are or were in the same exact predicament they are in, people who understand the pain and troubles that plague every immigrant coming to the United States, people who do not require you to learn another language just so you can support yourself and your family. If the past is any indication of the future, more and more Asian immigrants will flock to the Flushing area, hoping to work hard and earn their future, just as they have been for the past few decades.

References:

American Community Survey. “Total Population: Foreign Born, Total Population: Foreign Born: Not A Citizen.” Social Explorer. Web. May 15 8:28 EST 2016.

American Community Survey. “Total Population: Asian Alone.” Social Explorer. Web. May 15  8:28 EST 2016.

American Community Survey. “2009-2013 ACS Profile.” NYC Census Fact Finder. Web. May 15 8:28 EST 2016.

U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey. “Linguistic Isolation (2005-09).” NYC Oasis. Web. May 15 8:28 EST 2016.