Although I can still see racial violence happening in New York City, I feel like people are less likely to protect their “turf” and react like they did in Sciorra’s memoir, and Five Points. I believe that most people living in New York nowadays are more accepting that their neighborhood isn’t only going to be of one race and one group. It is still surprising nonetheless that an event like the one in Sciorria’s memoir happened so recently. It is especially so since in Brownsville, people of different races were working together to better their community during an even earlier period. As Maurice Reid said in Brownsville, Brooklyn, “‘ When I moved to this community in the early 1960s, blacks, whites and Latinos were working together in many organizations.’”
One such organization was the BCC. I thought that the BCC was a really inspiring organization, especially whey it strived to do so much. It was active in the war against poverty, and it supported the people who wanted more control over what happens in the community. Despite the fact that some leaders tried to use BCC for political power, BCC really seemed to be for the people. As Praveena quoted, BCC was a model agency.
As for Susan’s question, I also feel like it’s difficult. On one hand, I feel the same as Alex. I don’t think that they should be singled out, because the act in itself is racist. Educating people at an early age, teaching them tolerance of understanding of different cultures is important. But on the other hand, this does not seem like it will be enough, especially since there are bigger factors that play into poverty, as we learned from watching the video last time.
