Descriptions of division, clashing, violence, and anger in this week’s readings reminded me a lot about the movie “Gangs of New York”. Having seen the movie, I noticed the distinct clashing between the nativists and the Irish, which I can relate especially to the Anbinder reading. What I didn’t notice from the movie but am starting to recognize from the reading is a conflict not specifically over race or ideology but power. I think power is a huge factor in creating neighborhood conflict.
The election riots of 1834 seem to reflect a conflict between those with power, the people involved in government, and those whose power was threatened, like the Irish in Five Points. These riots are another example of how an external force, the government, can influence conflicts within a neighborhood. The Metropolitan Police Act, which disbanded the city’s police department (thereby taking away power from the local leaders), seemed to favor the nativist platform in the eyes of many Five Pointers. Anbinder writes, “The sight of their nativist neighbors in Metropolitan uniforms must have both infuriated them and confirmed that the Police Act was part of a Know Nothing conspiracy to humiliare the Irish and destroy their burgeoning political power” (282). Those who make policy seemed to be favoring nativist views in one part of the Five Points society and fueling anger in the other. To have political power was and still is very importat, especially for minorities or individuals who have been looked upon as lower class immigrants. For a group of people or even the government to threaten one’s political power, I think, would definitely play a part in creating neighborhood conflict.
Similarly, Mele describes a conflict between what people in power want versus what residents of the neighborhood want. In this case, the government’s actions seemed to favor reconstruction and relocation of low income individuals, who were mostly viewed as poor immigrant minorities such as the Puerto Ricans. There was an “extreme unevennes of redevelopment” (251). When Mele writes “key activists and organizations proposed a new legislative means to combat the root of urban reconstruction”, this statement suggests that members of the local community realized how influencial political power can be, including the power to have a say in the making of laws.
