BY STUDENT
Throughout
history, discrimination and segregation of various ethnic groups controlled
major aspects of daily American life.
These discriminations were particularly seen in the past with African
American, Hispanic, Italian and Chinese populations. In today’s society
discrimination also affects Amish and Orthodox Jewish populations. One common
similarity between each minority group was the constricted living space that
they called their home. This struggle for space and discrimination by “native
born Americans” caused individuals of ethnic similarity to form segregated
communities, which further created stereotypes.
In this blog post, I intend to examine the unbelievable similarities recognized
between the rapidly growing Satmar Hasidic Jewish communities seen in current
society, in relation to the inhabitants of Chinatown during the late 1800’s.
In
the late 1800’s up until the early 1900’s, the Chinese population was the most
segregated minority group. These
individuals were stereotyped as filthy, un-human and disgusting beings that
were constantly degraded. The hatred for
the Chinese was elevated to the extent that anti-Chinese mobs often attacked
Chinese individuals and forced company owners to fire their Chinese workers,
due to the low working wage threat that the Chinese held (Brooks 2009, 11). Due to the hatred and abuse towards the
Chinese people, the Chinese were in a way forced to live in the segregated
community within San Francisco called Chinatown. Like any other ethnic group, the Chinese
immigrants preferred to live with people who shared their same language and
culture; no matter how packed their living situation would have to be. Similar to the New York City slums described
by Jacob Riis, the living environment of the Chinese was extremely overcrowded,
squeezing 5 to 6 individuals, sometimes more, into a single room (Brooks 2009,
15). This overcrowding tended to create
a very uncomfortable and dirty environment for the Chinese immigrants,
unfortunately reinforcing their stereotype of “filthy beings”, however, ethnic
whites and other “native Americans” found this dirty, compacted and disgusting
Chinese immigrant lifestyle fascinating; turning Chinatown into a tourist
site! This tourist site still exists
today, over a century later, demonstrating the impoverished, compact spaces
that Chinese immigrants called home and selling the “unnatural” and “foreign”
food the Chinese consumed, further making profit. However, although Chinatown’s poverty, dense
population and filth, has become famous, will every ethnic group characterized
in such a way be acknowledged the same in the future? This is why the comparison with the Satmar
Hasidic Jewish community is significant.
Specifically,
I will refer to the Satmar Hasidic community known as Kiryas Joel in Monroe,
New York. Unfortunately, due to
religious limitations there is little research done on this community so the
articles and statistics I was able to find were very limited. Living as a resident in the neighboring
community, I have had many first hand experiences interacting with these
individuals. People within this
community set themselves up for immediate segregation due not only to the fact
that they speak Yiddish, a completely different language from the typical
English language Americans speak, but also due to their dress that is very distinguished
from that of the rest of “American society”. The men within this community wear
long black, white and navy clothes that cover head to toe. As head wear, the men wear special headpieces
that represent their social status in the community, as well as, curls that
fall on each side of the men’s faces. Women
cover themselves head to toe as well. In
addition, no television or American publications are allowed within the
community (Tate 1999). Although members
of the Kiryas Joel community segregate themselves on their own initially, after
being associated with this community and their constant demonstration of
association, these individuals are very often discriminated; especially due to
their distinctiveness. It is understood
by every citizen that discrimination is not acceptable, however, when one tries
to interact and conform to “normal society”, when he, individually stands out, the
discrimination the individual receives in inevitable; pushing that person back
to their “comfort zone”, in this particular instance, Kiryas Joel. With constant movement into the community, in
addition to the births of its’ own citizens occurring, the community is
constantly growing. Similar to slums
seen throughout history, especially those in Chinatown, the community of Kiryas
Joel is heavily populated, having an area of 1.1 square miles, yet a density
population of approximately 18,100 persons/square mile (http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/13poverty.cfm).
According to the United States Census Bureau from 2007-2011, the
percentage of persons below the poverty level was 61.7%, which is only
increasing as years pass. In addition,
the median household income was pinned at $22,131 with 6 people on average
living in each household, which is almost $10,000 below the expected 2013
Poverty Guidelines. . Likewise, as stated previously, the average
number of people per household is 6 individuals, in a community made up
entirely of condominium homes, suited for no more than 4 people (http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/13poverty.cfm). Of course, during the development of
Chinatown, there were many more people living in these packed environments
however, when compared to today’s society, this living lifestyle is viewed as
being very compact. Additionally, driving
through this community, it is not well maintained, having garbage all over the
roads and smelling solely of sewage.
This is due to a couple reasons.
Kiryas Joel has their own sanitation department that picks up their
garbage; and within this 1.1 square mile community, there is a small sanitation
disposal, which is constantly being overflowed with garbage due to the incredible
amount of individuals within the community that create an incredible amount of
garbage. Another reason is that due to
the lack of space within the homes, the Hasidic children are constantly playing
on the streets, leaving garbage of their own. I am not by any means saying that the soiled environment
Kiryas Joel residents live in is to the extent of Chinatown’s pollution in the
late 1800’s, but it is interesting to recognize the similarities between two
neighborhoods from two completely different time periods.
Before reading this post, I haven't once heard of the Satmar Hasidic Jews or of the Kiryas Joel community. The reason could stem from the fact that not many know of their culture, judging by the lack of articles and statistics that you were able to find, or it could stem from the fact that I am from a small town with a very low ethnic population and very little education to the outside world. Different cultures in which we of the "normal society" are unaware of stimulate an interest in me. When you stated that the individuals of the Kiryas Joel community are "very often discriminated," I wonder as to how they are and to what extent? Are they treated remotely like the Chinese of the Chinatowns in the 1800s, being referred to as dirty and un-human by the locals, or are they simply placed as outcasts of the "normal society?"
ReplyDeleteIts interesting to me that we learn so often of discrimination against the same groups over and over again in our society, we are taught to respect these cultures rightfully. However groups such as the Satmar Hasidic Jews are left out of the discussion of mistreatment and learning to accept differing cultures, leading to a continuous cycle of discrimination against them. We are well aware of the wrongness done to groups including the Chinese, women, African Americans and Puerto Ricans but learn very little about the extreme minority. We should teach of these groups and make their histories known, but how?
ReplyDeleteI think it is very interesting to read about these similarities in discrimination between the Chinese immigrants and the Amish and Orthodox Jewish groups. I have never thought about the degree in which the latter faces discrimination. In case of the Chinese; even though I was aware of the fact that in history and maybe contemporary there has been a lot of discrimination against the Chinese, when was reading the articles, I was surprised by how much and in which ways they were discriminated against. The fact that they were described as filthy and un-human and that there was violence against them. One would hope that this discrimination would be over in contemporary life. However, by reading your interesting blog post about Kiryas Joel, we must sadly conclude that it is not and that the community still has a lot to learn.
ReplyDeleteI think it is imperative that societies know the truth about discrimination several groups faced throughout history. Not once in my high school career did I learn about Hispanic discrimination, and until this class, about Chinese discrimination. The saying "those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it" by Winston Churchill proves to be accurate. Consequently, this saying begs me to ask the question, "How can we learn from a history that has not been taught to us?" Moreover, "If we learned about discrimination faced by more groups of people throughout history, would we still act this way towards growing minorities such as the Satmar Hasidic Jews today?" I am very pleased to have read your blog post and learned a bit about the Satmar Hasidic Jews. Evidently, there are some connections between the discrimination faced by minority groups in the past that is still being seen in the present. How can we fight discrimination?
ReplyDeleteIt is very alarming to me that groups face similar levels of poverty and discrimination that the Chinese faced two centuries ago. I think that the problem is a lack of communication- here we have contemporary groups such as the Satmar Hadistic Jews that, through barriers of language and culture, are isolated from society and are relatively unknown to most people. Therefore, the first step to break discrimination is to break down barriers of communication so that we may better understand their struggles and needs and assist them in practical ways. Rather than writing minority groups off as people who enjoy living in poverty in the way that Americans did with the Chinese in Chinatown, we must break down a barrier that facilitates the distribution of resources to where they are needed while maintaining and respecting each group's cultural practices and valuable distinctions.
ReplyDeleteAwesome point sarah.
DeleteThis post is very interesting because I had very little knowledge of Satmar Hasidic communities in New York. I believe it may have to do with the lack of research done within their communities, which makes access to their culture and customs limited for outsiders. Another thing I like is the breakdown comparison you provide of both the Chinese and Satmar Hasidic Jews. A big difference is that the Chinese were forced to be constrained to one area, where as the Hasidic community does it out of own free will. It's something to actually admire about the Hasidic population because they rather stay in tight secluded communities, below the poverty level, to maintain their cultural identity and customs than assimilate like many minorities. I do believe living in poverty is a consequence of not assimilating, but it is a trade off most of them would rather do than conform to how most of us live. For this reason, they are not like the Chinese and we should not feel an obligation to lift these people out of poverty.
ReplyDeleteI definitely have to agree that one of the main reasons discrimination against specific ethnic groups is so prominent is because of the look that one exudes. Looking and dressing different allows people to pick one out as different without even having to talk to that person. It is an unfortunate downfall of human beings. We discriminate based on looks, judging a book bu it's cover, so to speak. Coming into a different country where the main language is not your own and needing to completely start fresh is probably the main reason these people segregated themselves. That however is the difference between Chinatown and the Satmar Hasidic communities. The Chinese were forced to segregate whereas these communities chose to segregate themselves.
ReplyDelete