00:00:02 Sowjan
Hello.
00:00:03 Shi Ting
Hi.
00:00:08 Sowjan
Would you care to introduce yourself and talk a little bit about who you are and your relationship to Jackson Heights?
00:00:16 Shi Ting
Yep. Hi, my name is Shi Ting and I’m currently 19 years old. I’m Chinese and I’ve lived in Jackson Heights for five years, and I am not an immigrant.
00:00:30 Sowjan
Cool. So what would you say is your relationship to Jackson Heights? How did you come to call it home?
00:00:40 Shi Ting
Well, first of all, I moved here. Previously, I lived in the Upper East Side and when I moved to Jackson Heights, I guess that’s when I started calling it home. To me, Jackson Heights is… I haven’t really been to a lot of restaurants in Jackson Heights, but I have walked around the neighborhood and I can see that it’s a pretty clean neighborhood. The people here are also really nice. For example, I dropped my wallet once and people just standing by—like some people, if you’re in some other neighborhood, they don’t even care, they don’t even point it out, but there are people [here] who are like, oh, hey, you dropped your wallet, or they would chase after you and they would give you the wallet. I think that’s something that I really like about this neighborhood. The people here are pretty kind, and also there’s just a lot of socialization I think amongst people in this neighborhood. I personally have not socialized with some of these people because I don’t speak the same language, but I’ve seen a lot of people, you know, hanging out, just standing there and talking. I think that’s just something that’s really nice. Especially with technology, I think it’s harder and harder to see that in neighborhoods sometimes.
00:20:05 Sowjan
You mentioned that you only moved to Jackson Heights a few years ago. How many years was it again?
Shi Ting
Five.
Sowjan
Five years ago. Okay.
Shi Ting
Yeah, this is my fifth year.
Sowjan
Right. Do you remember how the neighborhood was like when you first arrived?
00:02:25 Shi Ting
Yeah, well, when I first arrived, I didn’t explore the neighborhood too much but I definitely thought it was a lot more homogeneous. I think there was just a lot more East Asians, but I think now there’s more people, at least on my street, that are South Asian as well. I have seen more people of other ethnicities in this neighborhood, but I don’t know if it’s just because I haven’t explored that much previously when I just moved in, or if it’s because there are actually more ethnicities coming into this neighborhood.
00:03:20 Sowjan (3:20)
Other than you seeing more people of different races coming in, are there any other changes that you’ve seen to the neighborhood from when you first arrived? Or has it changed at all?
00:03:41 Shi Ting
I don’t think it’s changed. I think everything’s kind of been the same. I’ve seen the same restaurants, the same supermarkets. I don’t—I haven’t really seen a change in the neighborhood, really, other than people moving in and out. That’s pretty much it.
00:04:10 Sowjan
What is the sense of community like in Jackson Heights for you? ‘Cause you mentioned that it was pretty homogeneous for the most part, right, so were you still able to feel like you’re part of the community even though you’re East Asian but most of the people in your neighborhood are South Asian? Do you still feel like you’ve become integrated into the neighborhood? Do you feel like you’re part of the neighborhood?
00:04:52 Shi Ting
Definitely because of Covid, I think I’ve gotten to know some of my neighbors better. We haven’t really necessarily talked deeply per se, but I think we kind of know more about each other. Especially I think last year because of Covid, everyone’s in lockdown and so we went to the backyard to exercise more and there are people—like, I have a neighbor [who’s] like 3 houses down from where I live and when they also go on their walk, that’s exactly when I go outside to exercise. So, we do see each other and then we say hi, you know, we greet each other. We do talk but the very basics. I think it makes me feel nice that people in the neighborhood still know us and, although we speak different languages, we’re still able to speak and talk to each other. But also, I mentioned I think there’s more East Asians coming to at least where I live, in this section of Jackson Heights, and I think just generally, I’ve seen my parents talk to these people and we exchange gifts sometimes and it’s just really nice. And then my brother—my brother is younger and so when he plays with friends in this neighborhood, that’s when I really feel like there’s still…although we’re different races, different ethnicities, speak different languages maybe at home, you’re still able to get along.
00:06:46 Sowjan
So you’d say that you interact with most of the people, well not most of the people but like people of different races in the neighborhood, rather than just people of your own ethnicity? Even though there are more East Asians coming into your neighborhood, would you say that you still interact with other people of other ethnicities as well in the neighborhood?
00:07:20 Shi Ting
I do interact with them but I think, at least my family interacts with East Asians a bit more because we just feel like we’re able to talk more deeply with them because we speak the same language.
00:07:42 Sowjan
When you observe your neighborhood, who do you see the people in your neighborhood interacting with? Do you usually see them interacting with people of their own ethnicities or do you see some intermingling as well?
00:08:04 Shi Ting
Definitely, I think there are… because most people here are immigrants and they don’t know how to speak English, I think that creates some language barrier between some people. I know the people who live on my street, in my neighborhood, who are East Asians, don’t really speak English that well. They speak Chinese, they speak Mandarin, and the South Asians also, they don’t speak English as well, and obviously they don’t speak Mandarin, and so I think that just generally creates a language barrier that’s kind of hard to break. But I do see people of younger generations hanging out with each other. You know, they’re talking to each other regardless of where they come from. So I think that’s just the generation and language problem. I don’t think it’s because they have certain opinions of some other race.
00:09:05 Sowjan
Can you talk a little bit more about that because we also had another interviewee say something similar? In Jackson Heights, and I think a lot of neighborhoods in New York City, we have this sort of divide in a sense where people of the same race or the same language kind of cluster together, and there’s little intermingling at least in the older generation, but in the younger generation, people do talk to other kids who speak a different language at home or who practice a different religion or who are a different ethnicity, etc. So can you say something more about that?
00:10:02 Shi Ting
I think that partially comes from the fact that most of these people are immigrants. They’re coming to a new country where they have to start all over again, and I think that speaking their home language kind of makes them feel more at home, maybe, and also it’s kind of hard to adjust to speaking another language on top of adjusting to a new life. I think that it also comes from them just being at home—when they’re at their home country like the neighborhood is probably more homogeneous there—and being in a different place but in that same kind of environment probably makes them feel more at home, more relaxed. I think most immigrants probably feel the same way, because I know my parents sometimes feel the same way as well. I think the reason why in New York City there are so many places like Koreatown, Chinatown is that I think that’s just the clustering of people who just want to feel more at home. But I definitely do see that like times are changing. I think the reason why younger generations are able to interact more even though they speak different languages at home is because when they go to school, right, they don’t have the homogeneous population—like, when they go to school they see people of different races there. They interact with them at such a young age that I think they’re used to disregarding race sometimes—like race doesn’t really matter for who they become friends with. So I definitely do see that. Also, it’s just hard to speak with someone when you have two different languages because, I think when you can only exchange greetings and then it kind of just stops there, it’s really hard to interact deeply with them, but if you speak the same language, you’re able to talk about almost everything. There’s definitely that, but obviously the younger generation, they’re all learning English and so they are able to interact that way and they may share the same interest as well. I know there’s different cultures for different ethnicities and that might also play into it.
00:12:33 Sowjan
You mentioned before that there is a large immigrant population in Jackson Heights and there still is and there’s probably going to be more and more immigrants coming in as the years go by. So… you’re not an immigrant right?
Shi Ting
No.
Sowjan
No. Are your parents immigrants?
Shi Ting
Yep.
00:13:05 Sowjan
Yeah. Ok, so I guess taking that into account, how welcoming would you say that Jackson Heights is to new immigrants?
00:13:21 Shi Ting
I don’t think we received a greeting or anything from people of like… I think the only person we actually received a greeting from was someone of the same ethnicity as us but I don’t…
00:13:45 Sowjan
Perhaps that was a little misleading. I meant to ask, do you think that your parents felt, I suppose safe, in a way as immigrants in Jackson Heights? Do you think that—you know, there may be some places where it’s easier for immigrants to integrate into the neighborhood and there are some places where it’s harder for them, so which one would you say Jackson Heights is for your family?
00:14:30 Shi Ting
I think it was relatively easy. I don’t think…we didn’t receive any hate. I think in the beginning, it was kind of just like, we moved in and it was kind of like, our family is doing what we’re doing and then the neighborhood, everyone else is also doing what they’re doing. But as the years go by I think there’s a little bit more interaction, but I definitely don’t think we were receiving any kind of hate or anything. Generally the neighborhood was pretty welcoming…
Sowjan
Accepting?
Shi Ting
Yeah.
00:15:18 Sowjan
Do you think the fact that Jackson Heights is ethnically diverse or has a large immigrant population has anything to do with that? Do you think that’s part of the reason why it felt more comfortable?
00:15:46 Shi Ting
I don’t think it was necessarily because there are a lot of immigrant families. But I think it’s because… I don’t know, I can’t exactly pinpoint it either, but I think people here kind of just…there’s not a lot of hate going on. I don’t see any hate going on here in this neighborhood at all. I think it’s just the neighborhood, the people in general are just really nice. They don’t have a misconception of some other people. I think they kind of just let people—like, if they don’t interact with you they kind of just let you do your thing.
00:16:40 Sowjan
Ok, I’ll just finish off with one or two last questions. If you have any, what would you say is your biggest concern about the neighborhood?
00:17:01 Shi Ting
My biggest concern… II don’t think anything is bad but, I mean, I would like to see more restaurants… I think—OK, because of the homogenous neighborhood there are a lot of restaurants that cater to that one ethnicity, and so I personally would like to see more restaurants adhere to more ethnicities, but that would be if there are more races coming in, which I definitely do think there are but I think it’s coming in like a trickle like it’s not like very fast. I think other issues like this neighborhood talking more between races—I think that’ll be okay as time goes by, because I think the main reason why people aren’t intermingling is because they don’t speak the same languages.It’s because people don’t speak the same language, but you can’ tell—like I can’t tell people you have to learn English to be in this neighborhood, that’s not a thing, but I think as the younger generation grows up, they will start interacting with each other. So, I think that’ll be solved by time. Other than that… yeah I really like this neighborhood.
00:18:48 Sowjan
Do you think the younger generation will stay in the neighborhood once they grow older?
00:18:55 Shi Ting
I think so because I think most people who live here, they may stay here for a long time because they have already developed a community in this area, or at least their parents have. There’s just a really strong community here, because I think most people have the same beliefs and most people here also have, you know, same customs and, maybe they’re already used to this routine of where they’re going to buy groceries, where they’re going to do this, and where they’re going to do that. They kind of just know this neighborhood very well, but I do see some people moving out. I haven’t interacted with them so I can’t pinpoint why that is that they’re moving out, but I definitely do think that a majority of these younger generations growing up might stay in this neighborhood, or at least their parents will.
00:20:01 Sowjan
I’m not going to hold you to this, but would you want to stay in the neighborhood when you grow older too, or do you think your parents will?
00:20:10 Shi Ting
I think my parents will. I mean I think that generally, they feel pretty welcomed here. They have made a couple friends. But yeah, I think for me…I might. But…
00:20:35 Sowjan
You don’t know for sure. You don’t know what the future’s gonna be like.
00:20:45 Shi Ting
Yeah, so I don’t know, but if I move out, that definitely won’t be because I don’t feel welcomed here or anything like that. I think it might be because of other things like jobs or something. It won’t be because I don’t feel welcomed here or I don’t feel part of the community.
00:21:09 Sowjan
Yeah, I get that. Most people in New York kind of have to move around a lot because of careers or other dreams. So, it’s all good.
Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to interview you. It was a very enlightening conversation. Thank you so much.
