The Peopling of Corona

Ever since the first flood of immigrants came to America, there has been intense racial discrimination among many citizens. Though most were prejudiced mainly because they felt that the immigrants were invading their home and filling up many of their jobs, some citizens discriminated because they were ignorant, or lacked fundamental knowledge about the different ethnicities that were being introduced to their country. Fortunately, over the past few decades, there were great changes in racial segregation. In Sanjek’s chapter, “Bonds of Interracial Cooperation”, many examples are provided that show how people of different races come together to help solve conflicts, such as the march against drugs in Jackson Heights. There was also an increase in African American-led marches in 1980-1990s. Marches that were aimed at stopping drug dealing and violence consisted of people of whites, blacks, Latin Americans and a few East Asians. This proves that in times of crises, people are able to set aside their differences and come together to fight for their rights.

Two of the examples that Sanjek provided that stood out to me was the cultural performance held by the students at Corona’s PS19 and the Three Kings celebration at Elmhurst Hospital. During the “Cultural Sharing Day” at PS19, the students collaborated on  diverse showcases that celebrated Chinese New Year and Dominican Republic Independence Day. Chinese students even performed in the Spanish flamenco number. Cultural school events like these is one of the greatest ways to teach students and all audience members about the different races that have come to America. The “Three Kings Day” event at Elmhurst Hospital also featured people from various ethnicities coming together to celebrate a holiday that was once foreign to them. The more cultural events that occur, especially when exposed to young children, who aren’t as biased or strongly opinionated as some adult American citizens, the more diverse and flexible our society will grow.

Though people today are more culturally diverse, there are still many cases where racial discrimination is still going strong, such as the C-Town incident, where an African American boy, Bobby Yates accused a Korean owner of C-town, Kim, of chasing, beating, and locking him in a freezer. Incidents like this usually raise controversies on races, and the way some are treated. No matter how many groups are able to come together and celebrate each other’s cultures, our society will always have racial conflicts and stereotypes. But are there any other ways that might loosen these barriers between different ethnicities? What else could society do to help alleviate the strong racial conflicts that occur in our country today?

Sanjek’s reading this week was mainly about the collaborations and clashes between different ethnic groups in the Corona-Elmhurst area.  There come times, when the neighborhood is facing issues such as drugs and crime, that the people come together to rally and make positive change in the neighborhood.  Other times, in an effort to bring children together and mesh/ embrace the range of cultures and ethnicities, schools take on the responsibility to teach students about their fellow classmates’ cultures with events such as “Cultural Sharing Day” in PS19 and the “International Festival.” We see that also as a neighborhood grows, the religious institutions are forced to accommodate to their differentiated congregations. Sanjek gives many examples of Protestant churches that learn to integrate other languages in their services and provide for non-white people in order to stay prominent.  Churches that do not make an effort to include newcomers slowly decline and dwindle as white congregation members slowly but surely move away.

Different peoples also come together when their rights are at stake, as in the case of small businesses vs. large businesses case. Corona, and the larger part of Queens, is made primarily of small, privately owned businesses that contrast large chains like in Manhattan.  I can certainly attest to that; places like Ridgewood are full of little pizzerias, delis, furniture shops, florists; small stores that take up little space.  The small businesses in Corona around the 1980’s had begun to be restricted by laws and by ethnic bias, so banned together to gain rights. Through small leaders that slowly petitioned the government, these businesses became more liberated to stay where they are rather than be forced to close down. We can definitely see evidence for this today. On our walking tour, one of the first things I noticed was the lack of large stores such as McDonald’s or Dunkin Donuts. I guess Tulcingo can be considered a chain, but it is certainly not as well known as those two.

There are times, however when people of different ethnicities and races do not get along; an ongoing problem in our society and world. The clash between the African-Americans and Koreans in the C-Town incident and the clash between the Whites and Latin-Americans in the murder of Mayi show that people never simply get along, even when others can in a celebration of culture. This leads me to wonder; will people ever come to the point where they stop putting other races down, where they stop creating stereotypes? Has this barrier between peoples become a permanent stop for overall unity? Just a thought.

In other news, we’re almost done y’all!

Business Spotlight

One of the most famous Italian businesses that exist in Corona is The Lemon Ice King. It’s history is as interesting as Coronas itself. As a child, Peter Benfaremo helped out his father selling Italian ices out of the family garage. After coming back from the war in 1944, he officially opened The Lemon Ice King to the public. While there were only 2 flavors (lemon and orange) in 1944, there are over 35 flavors today. Because of the large Italian population, flavors came into creation to accommodate Italian taste buds. For example, the flavor pistachio became one of the most popular ices at the time.

Following the change in demographics, the employees at The Lemon Ice King are now as diverse as the neighborhood. Workers range from the original italians to the young spanish kids looking for a job. The popular flavors have changed with the culture going from the classic pistachio to the more tropical coconut and pineapple. Nowadays, The Lemon Ice King may look a bit different, but the ice is as good as it always was.

I found this week’s readings, Sanjek’s chapters 12 and 13 and Gregory’s chapter 7, quite dizzying from all the different civic activists and civic neighborhood or ethnic associations. However, I learned that all these civic associations do more than just pass out flyers or have fundraisers every so often, but actively and passionately fight for the rights of the neighborhood or ethnic group. What surprised me the most was how much power these people could wield if they were able to use and benefit from the powers of networking and communication. It really proves true that there is strength in numbers and with political figures and their pro-business lobbyists banking on keeping the lower classes separated, it is important for the people to unite and fight for their rights as one force. This way, at least, we have a chance to win this class war.

The importance of communication within neighborhoods and ethnic enclaves was underscored immediately when I read about the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s (PANYNJ) plans to build a train system that connected LaGuardia and JFK to Manhattan’s business district and their blatant tactic of trying to “divide and conquer” the opposing, affected neighborhoods of Queens. Of course, it came as no surprise that the Port Authority completely disregarded the concerns of the community and how their Automated Guideway Transit system (AGT) would lower the “quality of life” of Corona and East Elmhurst specifically. Their excuse for the AGT was purely economic: to maintain New York City’s global competitiveness. We’ve heard it all before, but the Port Authority knew that it could exert its power without threatening opposition if it kept the community civic associations and community boards separate and confused by only releasing bits of information to each. However, once the civic associations held a public meeting, later to be referred to as the “La Detente” meeting, residents were becoming educated and formulated complex concerns about the environmental impact, noise pollution, water quality, and most importantly the quality of life for all the affected neighborhoods instead of adopting the “not in my backyard” mindset. This meeting, with more to follow, was the pivotal point of empowering the neighborhoods and articulating a legitimate position to combat the Port Authority. In the end, the civic boards were able to move the PANYNJ into a compromise, but they continued to fight. Barbara Coleman explains that the compromise should not be regarded as a victory or a loss, but as a step in the right direction. “You have to learn to look at a situation and recognize that you’ve pushed about as far as you can, and that this is all you’re gonna get. Then you come back and fight the next day ” (Gregory, 216).

Sanjek’s chapters also displayed the importance of the unification of residents, not only across neighborhood lines, but across ethnic lines as well. He starts with the problem of the disconnect felt by city residents between their community needs and the mayoral power. “We don’t have no political push” (Sanjek, 256). The people of Corona and Elmhurst decided to take matters into their own hands and tried to resolve issues themselves. People would complain to their wardens who contacted authorities about everything from garbage issues to illegally parked cars to even cracking down on prostitution locations. Warden Bob Tilitz even saved his Elmhurst Branch Library from becoming defunct and transforming it into “contemporary version of a turn-of-the-century settlement house” (Sanjek, 261). These are things that the authorities should be taking care of themselves, of course.

Civic associations usually represented a specific neighborhood and worked to better the quality of life in their own communities. However, ethnic integration was important for the people of Corona and Elmhurst if they wanted to flex their political muscles. Carmela George, founder of the 97th Place Block Association, saw the importance of uniting the community across ethnic boundaries. When it came to real estate agents harassing her neighbors when house prices skyrocketed, George collected 192 letters that included white, Latin American, Chinese, and African American homeowners. Lucy Schilero also knew the importance of getting to know her neighbors, “I have new ethnic friends: Hindu, Spanish, Chinese…I like the diversity of the area” (Sanjek, 287). With a vast network, Schilero was able to reach many people in her coalition and tackled many problems such as getting teenagers off the street corners and causing trouble, eradicating drug dealing, and other “quality of life” threats. All coalitions and civic associations start with a neighborhood that feels it is not getting the attention it deserves from their local government and as neighborhood ties become stronger, the coalition becomes empowered and networks to work alongside other boards. Established residents and newcomers are welcomed into the associations because beyond the ethnic and cultural differences, they share the same rung on the economic ladder. In a way, government negligence has only strengthened the voices of the working class (in this case, anyway) by forcing them to unite and attempt to level the battlefield in this class warfare. I can only imagine how our “quality of life” would be without the civic associations.

Throughout our readings we have seen numerous benefits of Civic Associations and the various ways in which they benefit the communities that they serve. In this week’s reading by Sanjek, we see groups such as the KAAMQ (Korean American Association of Mid-Queens) and the CCQ (Ciudadanos Conscientes de Queens) emerging to create a different service to the community, that is the unification of minority groups. Sanjek discusses how members of KAAMQ worked to involve itself in the political process in order to address the police brutality (mainly against Koreans) in the community.

Lucy Schilero describes the diversity that evolved in Elmhurst and stated that “we have to live with one another or we won’t survive.” I feel that in this respect, the Civic Associations truly worked to the improvement of the community. They allowed individuals from various ethnic backgrounds to work together to improve their common experiences in the neighborhood. Sanjek also describes the youth groups that arose in the community in effort to get the kids off the streets and the suggestions of setting a curfew to minimize drug and alcohol abuse among teenagers.

I have no doubt that Civic Associations benefited the communities that housed them in a myriad of ways. However, when reading the Gregory selection, I found myself frustrated with the individuals living near in the LaGuardia airport vicinity. I understand their plight with the noise and the “not in my backyard” sentiment, but I found myself frustrated that they were so reluctant to the extension of the airport runway. The foundation of the Port Authority’s request for an extension was based on safety regulations that the airport was currently NOT meeting. Under the Federal Aviation Administration, runway safety overruns were required to be at least 1000 feet, with the LaGuardia airport having overruns only 100 feet long.

Why did the community not see the importance of having the overrun extended? As I said, I understand the idea of not in my backyard, but would the community prefer to put future flights at risk just so they don’t have to see the overrun filled in? I would think that after the Continental jetliner crashed into Flushing Bay, it would be a wake up call. Certainly Mayor Giuliani saw the importance of the issue as he pushed it as a priority. And yet members of the Civic Association were still reluctant to the overrun extension. Because of this, I find myself agreeing with attorney Blaha who was quoted by Sanjek saying that members of community boards are “prejudiced against development” (p 269).

What do you think? Should their be certain issues that are not the community board/civic association’s issues to worry about? Or should the board’s concerns about quality of life issues be viewed as a priority in all circumstances?

While reading this weeks readings, my mind couldn’t help but contemplate what it is that brings people together and, conversely, what it is that drives them apart. A reoccurring theme can be found throughout the readings; that of race. In the Sanjek readings, we find people of varying ethnicities coming together to learn from each other and share culture, and even select their own ethnic identities. In Gregory, we have people of the same ethnicity coming together to help better their lives and solve problems collectively, while at the same time attempting to reach out to other peoples and not alienate them from the community. In Anbinder, we see people fighting and arguing over politics and race, but the same time, we see them come together over the same ideas.

So what’s the deal? Race and cultural identity seems to be both the glue that binds and the wedge that divides people. Much of this can be attributed to politics and the nature of political discourse. Take, for example, the riots in the Five Points described in the readings. While it seemed like the big riot was a clash between the Irish and those trying to limit their power, it was much more complicated than that. Those supporting the Republican police were not all supporters of them and many of them had Irish identities themselves. Despite their political differences which had caused riots in the past, Mathews and Kerrigan both fought for the police force when the “Dead Rabbits” crossed into their territory. To them, it was a turf war, other politics be damned.

Politics also helps explain the general benefit of coming together: There is power in numbers. In Gregory, this point was made extremely clear by the things the block organizations and other political activist groups could do versus the things individuals accomplished on their own. And despite differences in views and approaches, people came together under common goals and were able to achieve. Yes, this was mainly for those in the better area of East Elmhurst rather than those in Corona, but it was still an accomplishment. Who can join together was still based mainly on race, though some believed it was important to branch out to the wider community and not stay strictly in black Corona.

As I ponder these ideas, I can’t help but think that it is possible that while the concept of race may cause hatred and violence, it also causes people to come together with an identity and as a community. Personally, as a Jew, I find myself within a larger community of Jews regardless of where I am on the planet. We share a culture and a language, and many goals and purposes. It makes me feel connected to other people I never met, and likely never will. I assume other people feel similarly about whatever ethnic groups they find themselves to be a part of.

Which brings me to my main question: Would the world really be better off without the concept of ethnicity? I know we’ve thrown the idea of a race-less future around in class, but is it really an ideal? I’m not taking any side here, I’m just really curious about what people think. Obviously racism and intolerance is bad, but is the idea of race and cultural identity inherently wrong, or is it just it’s application which has failed? In other words, if we could get rid of all racism and bigotry, would we be better off with individuals identifying to a particular subgroup of people in addition to mankind, or is it ideal that we all have no group identity other than the human identity we all share? Share your thoughts.

This week’s readings, particularly the chapters of Sanjek’s work, reiterated how diverse neighborhoods in New York are. People living in New York City today are exposed to people of dozens of different ethnicities and cultures on a daily basis. Personally, I tend to take this for granted. When I’m, say, taking the bus to school, I take it as a given that the people sitting with me will be of any number of ethnicities. However, the readings got me thinking–what affect does the conglomeration of ethnicities, national origin, races, and religions have?

Sanjek lists, in painful detail, various ethnic celebrations and events that took place in Corona during his fieldwork. It seemed strange to me that so many people would take part in the celebrations of an ethnicity and culture that was not actually their own. For example, during the Colombian Independence Day festival, there were a great many people in attendance who weren’t actually Colombian. In fact, many of them were not Latino at all. Do the Colombian immigrants find it strange that people who do not share in Colombian culture are partaking in the celebrations? Personally, I would probably be annoyed that people were using a highly significant cultural event in order to just “experience an ethnic party,” or something along those lines, and they do not actually see any inherent meaning in the celebration. However, this is probably only true if there is inherent meaning in the event for Colombians themselves. If for the Colombians, too, this sort of event is nothing more than a celebration of an ethnicity that has little meaning to them, then there is no reason why it should matter if people of different ethnicities partake in it.

Which leads me to the next point of discussion: “Symbolic Ethnicity.” This is a very interesting, and I would imagine an increasingly common, phenomenon. During the first wave of immigration, while ethnicity was considered very important. In recent years, it has been significantly downplayed. Now, no one really seems to care whether a person if of, say, Italian as opposed to Polish origin. Most third-generation Americans of European descent are more likely to call themselves “American,” not “Polish.” Symbolic Ethnicity is when people sort of acquire an ethnicity for themselves, as a sort of hobby. I thought that the description of an American of Polish descent who tried to acquire an Irish ethnic identity was really interesting. I had never thought of an ethnicity as something that you can pick up from your college roommate, but apparently I was mistaken.

This begs a further question: What does ethnic identity mean? If the Polish man does, as he claims, know more about Irish culture than the average Irishman, does that mean that he has an Irish ethnic identity, even though he did not originate from there? Is ethnicity anything deeper than the types of food you eat and music you listen to? Is it something adoptable? And why does it matter so much to have an ethnic identity?

If white ethnicities continue to lose their significance, will “American” eventually become an ethnicity of its own for families who have been living here for multiple generations? Or will people be compelled to look to other places for a Symbolic Ethnicity? Or will ethnicity cease to matter to such an extent that people will not feel compelled to have one at all?

This week’s readings fueled the idea that has been brewing in my mind for a while that racism, if it does not exist blatantly and on the surface, exists as a form of racial paranoia. The Black Corona reading made me think of the demographics of a city as a sort of cocktail. It didn’t occur to me that community boards can actually alter the type of races that move into a community. I found it particularly interesting that the Lefrak organization offered a free month’s rent to fifty black families to encourage their moving into the buildings that had been predominantly white, and that they also brought in elderly white people to further diversify the “cocktail” of races.

But isn’t this discrimination within itself, for the Lefrak Organization to only allow free rent to black families? What about other races that had experienced discrimination in the past? Additionally, giving too much preference for a certain race (in the act of trying to stop discrimination of that race) in turn promotes racism towards the initial race (in this case, the  Lefrak’s policy would end up being discriminatory towards the whites). I think all of these acts are a product of people being so scared of being considered racist. I think it is impossible to make every race equal the way that we fantasize about, not that we shouldn’t keep trying to find a way that works. Since people are so different, to try to equalize people, let alone entire races, is a huge project that is perhaps too technical to achieve in real life.