A common misconception about New York, is that New Yorkers are all accepting of others and always have been. New York is the land of opportunity – people come here from all over to earn money and be successful. After all, New York is where the possibility of the American Dream can become a reality…
The truth is, however, not all immigrants to New York over the years have been afforded the same freedoms and opportunities. When I learned about the Civil War in high school (in a public high school in the North), I learned that the North was right and the South was wrong: The South had slaves and all people in the North advocated for freedom. Although at the time of the Civil War, more than 30 years after the liberation of slaves in New York, many New Yorkers probably were opposed to slavery, New Yorker’s haven’t always been right.
According to the Harris chapter, when the European colonists first started coming to America, they weren’t all successful economically. The Dutch West India Company was predominantly motivated by profits, and their monopoly on trade presented difficulties for the other colonists. They brought slaves to the colonies for their own profit gains. At one point, slaves in New York actually outnumbered the slaves in Maryland. As Marinna said, when the slaves first came to America, they weren’t necessarily treated horribly and were given some rights; however, their rights were rebuked when they began to be seen as threats for the slave owners. The Dutch West India Company and slave owners wanted to use the slaves as labor, and in their own minds, they had to justify the use of forced labor, by proclaiming the existence of an inferior race, even though they had no basis for this. They had to clear their own consciences by telling themselves that they were helping people in need of their help. They refused to recognize the slaves’ religious choices when they saw them as interferences with their own agendas.
Jessica points out the extent to which New Yorkers have become more accepting over the years. We are lucky to live in an area and to attend a school with people of so many different cultures and backgrounds. Our generation has been recognized as the most tolerant yet, and this can be seen so vividly at Queens College, where people of different religions and nationalities attend the same classes and sit together in the cafeteria.
