“Each one of us feels in and out of place as we move through the streets of our neighborhood and the lives of our neighbors. Each one of us bears the burden of a collective, unchosen history…” (Sharman 207).
Russell Sharman sums up this week’s readings nicely. A search and clinging towards identity arises as the neighborhood in which a person feels so connected to (a connection that inevitably happens, no matter how much bitter discontent they feel towards this reality) transforms.
For once, Anbinder’s chapter did not steal the stage for me. It was Robert Orsi’s article about the struggle between the Italians and the Puerto Ricans (an equation which becomes even more illogical as the Haitians are added in) that perked my interest the most. What struck me so much was that even after reading this article, I could not explain the relationship between the Italians and the Puerto Ricans in a sensible manner. It was a relationship that sprung out of fear. Fear of the unknown, yet at the same time, fear of being so similar. The Italians tried to make as many tiny distinctions between themselves and the Puerto Ricans because they were so afraid of how similar they seemed. They made differentiations between the languages because both parties were afraid of how similar the languages seemed. For example, Piri Thomas himself viewed this “other” as dark skinned and clung to his tongue. However, he admitted to himself “I couldn’t help thinking how much like Spanish it sounded. Shit, that should make us something like relatives” (Orsi 327).
But this relationship goes far beyond fear. There was anger driving these feelings too. The Puerto Ricans began inhabiting the vacant apartments that the well-off Italian-American children were leaving behind. Since the Italians were a domus-centered people, this act of moving away from the family was almost seen as a betrayal. And the Puerto Ricans were the scapegoat. I feel that because the children were moving away, the Italians faced an identity crisis. To uphold such familial values in a capitalist society is tricky. The Italians didn’t want to accept that their values couldn’t withstand the capitalist system. So at this turning point where the “Italian” part of their “Italian-American” identity began to fade, they took it out on the Puerto Ricans. And in turn, the Puerto Ricans stayed away. Because my opinions on Orsi’s article can go on for much longer, I’ll just stop here and say that when the Haitians got introduced into the scene, the backwards and flawed perspective of the Italians was even more visible, especially when they had weak reasons for accepting the Haitians.
At the same time, I cannot be truly angry with this story. Urban renewal, displacement, ethnic changes, all of these transitions have a great effect on the person living within these changing neighborhoods. The housing and urban renewal processes described in both Pritchett and Sharman’s readings somewhat struck a nerve. Sharman looked out the window from his friend’s apartment, and realized that Lucille had once lived on that block. “But her world was razed so that I could stand in my friend’s apartment and admire the view” (204). The New York City Housing Authority as described in Pritchett basically forged a ghetto.
The point I’m trying to make (yes, there is a point amidst this whole mess of a post) is that change isn’t just a process happening outside, but it affects the inside too. As the Italians saw their children leave, they felt a threat towards their identities and took it out on the Puerto Ricans. The building that Sharman’s friend lives in is weighing heavily on top of the neighborhood that Lucille had grown up with.
Identity in a multi-ethnic community like New York City means so much. In a city where the bulldozers wreak havoc, new ethnicities pile in, and people move up, it’s hard to keep your identity solid. It’s corny, I know.
“Public housing uprooted Italians and drew in African Americans, disinvestment displaced Puerto Ricans and attracted Mexicans, and gentrification now draws in a new middle class of whites, Puerto Ricans, and blacks” (Sharman 208).
