BY: AA
Racism is a thing of the past,
right?! WRONG! Clear cut racism, like someone saying they will not serve you
because you are of a certain race, as well as a less visible, institutionalized
racism is unfortunately still evident in today’s society. The suburbs of the
United States are no exception to this. According to The
New Suburban History, “more than half of all
Americans now live in ‘suburbia.’” Typically, suburban areas in the United
States are stereotypically thought to be inhabited by predominantly white and
conservative people (Jones-Correa 2006). What
does institutionalized racism, like discriminatory housing policies, look like
on Long Island? To answer this question, we are going to focus on the villages
of Hempstead and Garden City as well as a town known as Levittown, all located
on Long Island in Nassau County.
For those of you unfamiliar with
Long Island, it is off the coast of the northeastern
United States that is part of the state of New York. It contains four counties
including Suffolk County, Nassau County, Queens County, and Kings County,
respectively in order from East to West. (For those of you who are very
unfamiliar with the Island, here is a simple photo showing the counties on Long
Island so you can get a better idea of the space we are discussing.)
So, to
continue, Kings County and Queens County are considered to be more urban and
more of a part of New York City, while Suffolk County and Nassau County are
much more suburban. Garden City is
a predominantly white and rich neighborhood, while Hempstead is mostly a poor
community of ethno-racial minorities. To be exact, Hempstead has a population
that is ninety-two percent Black and Latino while Garden City has a population
that is eighty-eight percent white (Resnick and Stamm). Speaking in
socio-economic terms, the household
income of those in Hempstead is approximately fifty-two thousand dollars while
the household income is around one hundred fifty thousand in Garden City. In
addition, the values of homes in the two different villages vary greatly, which
I believe also shows the racial discrepancies that plague the areas. To be more
exact, the median listing for a home in Garden City is nine hundred
ninety-seven thousand four hundred ninety-nine dollars and the median listing
for a home in Hempstead is two hundred sixty-nine thousand nine hundred ninety
dollars. City officials make sure to take care of Garden City, while they do
not ensure the same practices for Hempstead. Pot holes can go months on end
without being fixed in Hempstead, while a fallen tree branch in Garden City
will be removed that same day (Richter).
This subtler form of racism is not
the only form of racism, though. Long Island has a history of racial
segregation and discriminatory practices, especially when it comes to housing
policies. The town known as Levittown was established in 1947 by Abraham Levitt
and his two sons, Bill and Alfred. It was created to be a Post-World War II,
white picket fence, perfect suburban town… but what was Mr. Levitt’s idea of
perfect? White people only. According to Crystal Gaylean, black people were not
allowed to buy homes in Levittown, even though this was unconstitutional. It literally
stated directly in the lease that “the tenant
agrees not to permit the premises to be used or occupied by any person other
than members of the Caucasian race” (Gaylean). Unbelievable! It was not until 1957 when a black family moved in
because a previous homeowner decided to go against Mr. Levitt’s wishes and sell
them their home. Crazy, right?! As a native Long Islander, I had no idea how
bad the racial discrimination and segregation really was on the Island! Looking
forward, hopefully we can work together to create change for the future. Be the
change you wish to see in the world…
References
Galyean, Crystal. “20th Century Levittown – The Imperfect
Rise of the American Suburbs.”
U.S. History Scene. U.S. History
Scene, 2016. Web. 9 April 2016.
Jones-Correa, Michael. The
New Suburban History. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2006.
Print.
Resnick, Brian and Stephanie Stamm. “The State of
Segregation in the Suburbs.” The Atlantic. The Atlantic Monthly Group,
7 January 2015. Web. 12 April 2016.
Richter, Allan. “Black and White on Long Island: Like Oil
and Water.” The New York Times. The New York Times Company, 16 June 2002. Web.
12 April 2016.
Why do you think these forms of racism and discrimination still occur on Long Island? Do you think events such as Levittown's segregation in its early years are a large factor in the continuing discrimination that still occurs today?
ReplyDeleteI just have a few questions to build off your blog post:
ReplyDelete- What kinds of measures do you think the government or the community should take to resolve these problems?
- How quickly do you believe Hempstead and Garden City could be made equal, and what would you need to see in order to demonstrate that equality has been achieved?
- Are there any other areas inside and outside of Long Island which have similar inequalities, and how have people attempted to overcome those obstacles?
Interesting read. I thought it was great how you exposed some of the unethical housing policies of today's society. I think it is terrible leases in Levittown had such a policy stated in print to not allow minorities to rent or buy homes. I was curious, what does the demographics of Levittown look like today? Could it be that the homes in Garden City are worth more because the houses are bigger and are on bigger plots of land? Do you think racial relations are improving or worsening in these communities on Long Island?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis was an interesting blog post, especially due to the fact that I live near the areas you wrote about. Why do you think city officials seem to care more about Garden City than Hempstead? Is Levittown still segregated in the ways that it was in the past? Which is more diverse, Suffolk or Nassau?
ReplyDeleteHow was the demographics of kings and queens county compare to that of suffolk and nassau, considering kings and queens is often considered part of the city?
ReplyDeleteHow was the demographics of kings and queens county compare to that of suffolk and nassau, considering kings and queens is often considered part of the city?
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading this post. I never knew much about housing on Long Island but it certainly is an interesting paradox. Why do you think Long Island is seen as being a place full of upper class white people when there are people of color living in the are? How do you think this affects movement to Long Island?
ReplyDeleteI don't know much about Long Island, so I found interesting to learn a little about its history. Do you think that the two urban counties, Kings and Queens, are more urban because they are closer to New York city and are experiencing urban spill-over (i.e. over filled cities spreading their bounds to neighboring communities) or is it due to a stereotyped city landscape due to the larger diversity of the 'urban counties' versus the two suburban counites, Nassau or Suffolk Counties?
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think resulted in the different conditions between Hempstead and Garden City? Is Suffolk any different than Nassau when it comes to the disparity in resources between areas? Long Island is very diverse, so how is this subtle type of racism still able to thrive in these areas? What can be done to minimize the inequality?
ReplyDeleteGrowing up on long island, I too have realized the racial segregation of each town. Learning about white flight, and whites moving to suburbs, to now read your paper I feel this has become less since it is still so racially segregated. Do you feel there is any way to fix this segregation in the future? Or any steps long-islanders can take in order to fix this problem?
ReplyDeletei really like how you started off in your blog. it really got me more entertained in your blog. i like your statement that you addressed in your first paragraph. why do you think there is such a large range of income be Hempstead and Garden city but both down are right next to each other.
ReplyDelete