RACIAL AND ETHNIC SHIFTS IN THE METROPOLITAN AREA

A NEW MAJORITY IN LAWRENCE 

BY STUDENT

Over the past twenty years there have been dramatic shifts in ethnic populations across much of the metropolitan centers of Massachusetts. North of the city of Boston, sits the city of Lawrence, which has seen extensive demographic shifts over the past 150 years. Known as Massachusetts’s immigrant city, Lawrence has experienced wave after wave of immigrants from the Potato Famine Irish in the 1850s to the Hispanics today. From the 2010 US census report, the Hispanic population of Lawrence consisted of over 70% of the total population of the city (Fujiwara). In 1990 and 2000 comparatively, the percentage of population who designated themselves as Hispanic was just 41.6% and 59.7% respectively.  What caused the large influx of Hispanics to flood into the small city? In relation to Boston, Lawrence is forty minutes from Boston by car, and upwards of an hour (or more) to reach the Hub by train. So what was it about Lawrence that drew so many Hispanics to it?

Nestled along the border of New Hampshire and Massachusetts, Lawrence is a small mill city, known for its textile industry, filling up with mostly Dominicans and Puerto Ricans immigrants (migrants in relation to the Puerto Ricans). According to Dr. Ramon Borges-Méndez an Assistant Professor at UMass Boston, much of the initial Hispanic incorporation in the Northeast US was based more on spatial segregation and social exclusion than a tendency towards assimilation into the existing community. Those of the same background (nationality, language etc.) would rather stick together than try and step out on their own in a foreign land. The spatial segregation led to an increased need for housing reform, as many of the old housing projects which at one point were occupied by many of the Anglo (Italian and Irish) immigrants prior to the period of ‘white flight’ – a mass exiting of Whites to the suburbs - were below standard and decrepit. In consequence, these newly filled complexes become the barrios stereotypically associated with the Hispanic population. Many of those Hispanics queried about their immigration find that they completely by-passed the big cities (in this case Boston) and went straight for these outer cities and suburbs, but they find themselves stuck in the same wide-spread poverty that the Hispanics in the bigger cities also experience. As Boston grew more to feature financial, high-tech, and bio-tech industries, most if not all industries requiring higher education college degrees, the job opportunities decreased in the Hub for Hispanics who typically worked the labor-intensive positions (like working on the wharfs along the waterfront). Immigrating Hispanics instead flocked to the smaller cities and towns surrounding the Hub for work and employment – many of whom flocked to the mill town of Lawrence (Santiago). Though mistakenly, the immigrants were rushing to a city where jobs were few and far between. 

The large influx of people led to some serious problems for the community. Lawrence is the poorest city in Massachusetts, and one of the poorest in the nation. In 2000, the percentage of people living below the poverty line was 24.3%. In 2010, this number jumped to 28.5% of the population of Lawrence living below the poverty line (“US Census Bureau QuickFacts”). A family of four with an annual income below $22,314 is considered below the poverty line. It’s not coincidental that the influx of Hispanics people and the percentage of population below the poverty line increase at the same time. Much of the Hispanic population in Lawrence are not bilingual, nor do they have the necessary qualifications to find a job (Santiago). As the population continues to grow, changes must be made to the city in order to better the lives all of who live there. If changes are not made, the living situation for all residents will continue to suffer, and will only get worse.

Works Cited

Conti, Katheleen. “New Poverty Numbers Grim for Largest Cities North of Boston.” Boston.com. The Boston Globe, 6 Oct. 2011. Web. 9 Apr. 2016. <https://archive.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/10/06/new_poverty_numbers_grim_for_largest_cities_north_of_boston/?page=full>

Fujiwara, Daigo, and Thomas Giratikanon. “Massachusetts Population and Racial and Ethnic Proportion.” Boston.com. The Boston Globe, 22 Mar. 2011. Web. 9 Apr. 2016 <http://archive.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/graphics/03_22_11_2010_census_town_population/>

Jones, Charles. “Latinos in Lawrence, Massachusetts.” University of Massachusetts, Boston. Gastón Institute Publications, 2003. Web. 9 Apr. 2016. <http://scolarworks.umb.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1084&context=gaston_pubs>

Santiago, Jorge, and James Jennings, eds. “The Making of Community: Latinos in Lawrence, Massachusetts.” North Essex Community College, 2005. Web. 9 Apr. 2016 <http://www.necc.mass.edu/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/Inst-Comm-MakeComm-Lat.pdf>

“United States Census Bureau QuickFacts.” United States Census Bureau. US Department of Commerce. Web. 9 Apr. 2016. <http://www.census.gov/quickfacts/chart/IPE451547/2534550>

RACIAL AND ETHNIC SHIFTS IN THE METROPOLITAN AREA

Y.P.

Increases in immigrant population in New York have made the Latino population the leading minority in the city. The living situations for Latinos before the 1980’s, Latinos concentrated in places such as Bronx, Brooklyn, and Manhattan, mainly East Harlem and the Lower East Side where there were affordable housing and job opportunities. Although in the 1980’s an influx of Dominicans began to move out of New York City to places such as Rockland County, there was still a trend of Dominicans moving to places such as Washington Heights. Which raises the question, why did Dominicans move to the United States and more specifically move outside of the convenience of the Bronx and Brooklyn to the suburbs?  I argue that the stereotype of “white suburbia” is false and provide evidence to why there was and still is an increase of Dominicans in suburban? New York state, specifically Rockland County. The reason is due to governmental setbacks in the Dominican Republic, similar to the immigration of Puerto Ricans in early 20th century and the shift from a Keynesian economy to a Neo-Liberal economy under the Reagan Administration.  

There are preconceived notions that suburbs were mainly for white families because of “white flight” in early to mid 20th century, although one must acknowledge that in the mid-twentieth century suburbs were exclusive to whites. However, Michael Jones-Correa writes in his article that suburbia is considered a place for all ethnicities, especially for Latinos in the 1980’s and 1990’s. Jones-Correa states, “So as immigration increased through the last decades of the twentieth century, suburbia rapidly became more multi-ethnic”(184). The rise of multiethnic suburbia is because of the growth of Latino in the United States. The chart below shows the Latino population is the second highest ethnic-racial group behind Whites in Rockland County according to the 2010 census. While Dominican immigration began in the early twentieth century, the reason for the newest influx of Dominicans coming to New York and the suburbs is because of the fall of the Trujillo Regime, a time where the country was living under a dictatorship. The eventual end of the dictatorship in the late 60’s led to instability of the government and economy in the country.

https://pad.human.cornell.edu/profiles/Rockland.pdf

Immigrants of any ethnicity would live in an area where jobs are needed and during the 1980’s jobs moved to the suburbs, like Rockland County because of economic shifts in the United States, but more specifically New York. Neo-liberal goals are to divest, privatize and deregulate and in some cases the priority is downsizing large manufacturing and increase the small businesses. The deregulation of large manufacturing in the cities during the Reagan Administration would force manufacturing jobs outside of New York City, compelling Latinos to move as well. Therefore, a connection can be made where when whites moved to the suburbs for new opportunities, such as new housing development, Latinos moved to the suburbs as well, but for job opportunities. Saskia Sassen states, “an effect of spatial recomposition that started with the fragmentation or disappearance of larger enterprises in the center of the metropolitan area and growth of smaller companies in Manhattan’s outer ring” (104). The employees of the companies moving into the outer ring of the metropolitan area are mostly Latino since for immigrants’ factory working jobs in the 1980’s were the only careers they can find when coming to the United States. Although, today other jobs include working in service or construction. This factors into the reason Dominicans moved to outskirts of New York City such as Rockland County because of the job opportunities. Examples of employment opportunities in Rockland County would be Interco Production Corporation where makeup products are made and Lighting Company where commercial lamps are made. Recently, since the opening of the Palisades Center Mall nearly twenty years other opportunities have surfaced, such as janitorial work and sales representation in stores. Therefore, the deregulation of large manufacturing companies during the 80’s and 90’s is a directly correlated with the influx of Dominicans and other Latinos in the suburbs surrounding the New York Metropolitan area.

Works Cited

Batalova, Jenna and Chiamaka Nwosu. “Immigrants from the Dominican Republic in the United

            State.” Migration Policy Institute 18 July 2014. Web. 8 April 2016.

Jones-Correa, Michael. “Reshaping the American Dream: Immigrants, Ethnic Minorities, and the

Politics of the New Suburbs.” The New Suburban History. Ed. Kevin M. Kruse and Thomas J. Sugrue. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 2006. 183-204. Print.

Fernandez Kelly, M. Patricia and Saskia Sassen. “National and Transnational Urban Systems.”

            Cities in the Work Economy. Pine Forge Press, 2012. 99-120. Print.

Rockland Country Profile. Rockland County Profile. Cornell University, 2013. pg 13. Web. 8

            April 2016.

                        

RACIAL AND ETHNIC SHIFTS IN THE METROPOLITAN AREA

THE MYTH OF WHITE SUBURBIA

BY S.B.

Suburbia is a space primarily characterized as white. Following the massive exodus of white folks (“white flight”) from cities into the suburbs during the mid-20^th century, these areas represented the modern American dream – a white picket fence around a spacious yard, a nuclear family, a comfortable middle to upper level income, and a palatable distance from the lower class, racialized groups who remained in the city. Freeways that were constructed within the ideology of segregation and car culture (such as Robert Moses’ Cross Bronx Expressway) often cropped up in this period under the guise of urban renewal, allowing those who could afford cars to traverse in and out of the city, but not those of lower incomes who could only rely on subway or bus to have easy access to the suburbs. The creation and explosive growth of suburbia created a great deal of racial segregation in northern and western cities, although this is not mentioned as often as the southern segregationist policies in the typical history textbook narrative that overestimates the progressivism and anti-racism of northern populations. However, this image of suburbia being a white-only space is not entirely true. When the United States began its shift from Keynesian economics to the neo-liberal era, immigration and migration of people of color into some urban but particularly suburban areas boomed. However, the dominant association of suburbia is whiteness. Why is this so, despite the undeniable and numerically significant migration of people of color into suburbia? In this blog-post I argue that through factors such as the relocation of industrial plants outside of urban areas during the de-industrialization era, the 1965 Hart-Cellar Act, and the encouragement of other successfully relocated people of color, there has actually been a great deal of minority movement into the suburbs that contradicts the white stereotype of suburbia. I will be citing in particular the Asian and Latino population growth in the San Gabriel Valley as an example of this phenomenon.

Through the lens of policy and economics, there are a number of systematic changes that stimulated the minority move to suburbia. Certainly, the release of Japanese families from internment camps in the post-war period left them in need of relocation. The 1965 Hart-Cellar Act altered the quotas of immigration laws which only favored European immigrants and advocated for the reunification of families who were split by country boundaries. This allowed a significantly higher number of Asian and Latino immigrants to come to urban and suburban areas (Jones-Correa 183). Furthermore, as discussed in class, de-industrialization and the shift of remaining factories to suburbia and other areas on the periphery of urban metropolises attracted a number of Asian and Latino immigrants to such neighborhoods because of the better guarantee of work.

A little earlier than in the time of deindustrialization, the initial, gradual shift of middle-income Mexican-Americans from east LA and Japanese-Americans from West and East LA moving into the San Gabriel Valley in the 50’s and 60’s was desirable because the act of home-buying in suburbia at the time was seen as symbolic of and essential to true upward mobility. Their acceptance was largely due to racial inclinations of the community at the time, which, though not with open arms, better received model minority working class Asian and Latino families than lower class people of color, particularly black families (Cheng 19). As these initial families successfully transitioned into suburban life, Chinese folks witnessed this phenomenon and followed suit with the comfort that their similarly racialized as “oriental” Japanese counterparts had moved into this area without facing discrimination as extreme as many had in white-majority places during previous decades, so long as they fit the model minority mold (Cheng 20). This was not to say that their white neighbors approved of the changing demographic of the neighborhood, however – after this large migration of Asian and Latino families into San Gabriel Valley, many whites from the area with the financial capabilities to do so picked up and left. Perhaps the continued inaccurate imagery that suburbia is a white-only area is because so many whites responded to the increasing minority populations in their neighborhoods by moving away. Looking at the San Gabriel Valley today, more than half of the population consists of Asian folks (Cheng 16). It seems suburbia has now become a place for residents of any color, so long as the neighborhood itself largely adheres to a white or non-white homogeneity.

Works Cited:

Cheng, W. "The Changs Next Door to the Diazes: Suburban Racial Formation in Los Angeles's

San Gabriel Valley." Journal of Urban History 39.1 (2012): 15-35. Web. 3 Apr. 2016.

Jones-Correa, Michael. "Reshaping the American Dream: Immigrants, Ethnic Minorities, and the

Politics of the New Suburbs." The New Suburban History. Eds. Kruse, Kevin Michael, and Thomas J. Sugrue. Chicago: U of Chicago, 2006. 183-204. Print.

TRANSNATIONAL URBAN LATINIZATION

BY K.Z.

While watching the Sixth Section, the focus of the documentary seemed to me to be about the accomplishments of immigrants attempting improve their hometowns.  Remittance payments are payments made by immigrants that are sent to their hometowns in order to support their families and help develop the town economically.  Although Grupo Unión raised enough to build a baseball stadium, they lacked the players to occupy it (Decana 136).  This made me question the effects of remittance money on a town.  In this blog post I will argue that although remittance payments may have positive effects, it also comes with negatives and it is not a sustainable means to improve an economy as seen in the connection between Los Angeles and El Salvador.

The Los Angeles area has the largest number of Salvadoran born immigrants with approximately 275,000 people.  The total foreign born individuals from El Salvador residing in the United States in 2008 was 1.1 million people, and to put that into perspective, the population of El Salvador in 2007 was 5.7 million (Terrazas).  The connection between these Los Angeles and El Salvador is so prominent that political candidates will travel to the US to campaign and as of 2014, El Salvadorian citizens living abroad can vote in the presidential election (Beth). This large migration of people from El Salvador has affected the country by causing a shortage of labor.  Furthermore, Italo Escrich, a supervisor for a sugar refinery, states that, “The problem is that remittances have made Salvadorans comfortable and they don’t want to work cutting cane.”  The majority of his workforce is comprised of immigrants from nearby countries such as Honduras and Nicaragua (Tobar).

Another issue to be wary of is the emergence of an instance of “Dutch disease,” or the influx of foreign currency causing currency appreciation and harming competitiveness of exports.  This is more of an issue to worry about in countries such as El Salvador where remittance is large portion of the economy (Sharma 5).  This isn’t to say that these funds can’t be useful.  When individuals in a community such as Grupo Unión worked together they raised upwards of $50,000 dollars for the betterment of their hometown, which to me is an accomplishment in itself (Decena 135).  So although remittance money has its benefits on a countries struggling economy, I believe it’s important to see various perspectives on its effects in order to get a better understanding of it.

 Works Cited

Cristales, Beth. "Salvadoran Migration to Southern California: Redefining El Hermano Lejano."

Decena, Carlos, and Margaret Gray. "Putting Transnationalism to Work." Social Text 24 (2006).

Sharma, Krishnan. "The Impact of Remittances on Economic Insecurity." (2009).

Terazzas, Aaron. "Salvadoran Immigrants in the United States."

Tobar, Hector. "Finding American Dream, in El Salvador." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 09 Feb. 2006

TRANSNATIONAL URBAN LATINIZATION

THE GROWING IMPORTANCE OF MIGRANT GROUPS

BY LR

For many years now, Latinos have been finding themselves migrating and using their culture to impact their new homes. From the types of establishments present in these new places to the commodities which drive their economies, it is clear that Latinos have had a very significant effect on the space surrounding them. Newburgh, New York is by no means an exception. It is described as a melting pot, being home to a wide array of cultures and customs. Newburgh is specifically known for housing a very large concentration of Central Americans and Mexicans. I’ve lived in Newburgh for 8 years and have had very close interactions with the Mexican population, which is why I would like to focus on them for this post. Speaking from personal experience, I can attest to the fact that Mexicans as a group are seen as holding little to no power. One would often dismiss a Mexican individual as “weak” based on personal prejudice and/or their legal status. It is with this in mind that I wonder how small undocumented Mexican groups find themselves becoming major global players? In this blogpost I argue that these groups are able to benefit from transnationalism and influence very important aspects of life in their native countries.

Now, I would like to clarify that I obviously believe Mexicans have some type of influence over Newburgh. One would just need to take a stroll through the city and see the plethora of Mexican restaurants next to the countless “Mexican bodegas” in order to realize their importance. What I am saying is that they’re seen as holding little political power when it comes to major decisions. After watching The Sixth Section by Alex Rivera, I can see how this is a very big misconception. The documentary shows the lives of several Mexican immigrants who create the Grupo Union as a tool to invest in their native town of Boqueron. I’ve interacted with many members of Grupo Union without even knowing that such an entity existed. How do you go from anonimity to making a difference in a whole different country? This occurs due to the emergence of transnationalism. Transnationalism is when different countries are linked through the production process and share series of networks (i.e.- Law firms, internet, banking, etc…) (Sassen 2000). This is very clear throughout most of newburgh, in which many stores advertise the sending of money to different Latin American countries. Newburgh is also home to many factories of Latin American firms. It is obvious this accessibility makes it easy to have interactions between nations. These individuals are also able to achieve all of this by outsmarting the current system. “They are managing to leverage that power across the border and, in a way, reversing the dynamic of what we’ve seen over and over again of globalization, which is U.S. capital exploiting the weakness of foreign currency, exploiting the low wages in other countries” (Decena 2006). These individuals use the strength of the American currency to “organize here but to excercise their power there” (Decena 2006).  

Grupo Union is able to save up money and with it have an immense effect on Boqueron. They built a stadium, bought an ambulance, made changes to the infrastructure of a school, etc… Their altruistic actions even caught the attention of the government who decided to invest in Boqueron after seeing the attention being paid to it. These few “common folks” were able to shape this town to the point where a local governor got to know of them and was forced to participate in their activities. It is incredible the difference these few men are making in such a short amount of time and with such limited resources. The truth is that economic importance of Latin American firms and networks such as the internet made it easier for Grupo Union and many other small migrant groups to have an impact outside of U.S. borders. No matter how small you are, our current society is so interconnected that you can have an effect on another country no matter how limited your assets.

WORKS CITED:

Decena, Carlos Ulises, and Margaret Gray. "Putting Transnationalism to Work." 2006.

Accessed March 27, 2016. https://blackboard.albany.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-1951496-dt-content-rid-8928134_1/courses/2159-ALCS-283-10080/decena_sixth_section_2006.pdf.

Sassen, S. (2000). Cities in a world economy (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Pine

Forge Press.

   

  

STRUGGLING FOR SPACE, CREATING ETHNIC/RACIAL URBAN CULTURES

BUY MY MIX TAPE?

BY E.S.

Hip-hop. Rap. We all know it. Some of us love it. But regardless of our opinions on the matter, it has definitely had an impact on American culture, specifically New York City culture. Hip-hop culture is not confined to rap music, it also encompasses graffiti and breakdancing (Rose), but I will be focusing on the rap music created by artists from Queens County. For those of you that don’t know, New York City is comprised of five boroughs, or counties: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Staten Island, the Bronx, and Queens. The main question is, how has hip-hop music helped to create urban space in Queens, New York?  In their early days, hip-hop clubs were the epitome of urban space. With fewer and fewer people going to such clubs nowadays, the urban space has been modified.  Before all of this, there was a period of “white flight” from New York City to Long Island that led many neighborhoods in Queens to become largely populated by minorities. While the minority majority sounds ironic, it is true. Racial and ethnic minorities now occupy neighborhoods that were once mostly occupied by whites.  Like any group that is mostly in contact with other ingroup members, culture begins to develop as it did in the black community in Queens. Hip-hop culture was just one of many cultures that came from ethnic enclaves in Queens.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5e/Queens_neighborhoods_map.png

Many of the rappers that we know today have their roots in Queens. For example, Ja Rule, LL Cool J, and Run DMC are all from the fairly urban neighborhood of Hollis. Other rappers like 50 Cent, Waka Flocka Flame, and Nicki Minaj are from the more urban neighborhood of Southside Jamaica.  These are just a few of the many rap and hip-hop artists to come from Queens. During the 1980s and 1990s, LL Cool J and Run DMC were topping the charts with hits like “Christmas in Hollies” (Run DMC), “Sucker M.C.’s” (Run DMC), “Around The Way Girl” (LL Cool J), and “I Need Love” (LL Cool J). Rappers like these paved the way for hip-hop culture to evolve. Over the past thirty to forty years, hip-hop has changed and with it, the urban space of Queens.

The success of many artists from the borough has created an environment in which everyone believes they can make it big. On many major street corners in Jamaica, Queens Village, Bayside, and other neighborhoods, you will see people promoting their mix tapes and C.D.s. Artists like 50 Cent, Waka Flocka, and Nicki Minaj go to show that anyone can become successful if the conditions are right. Many of these self-proclaimed rappers that are selling their mix tapes on street corners are producing urban space and using it at the same time. In the actual act of selling these mix tapes on street corners urban space is created. Each individual person that does this is creating an environment in which different behaviors become acceptable. These behaviors are what I believe define urban space. Even though the specific behaviors are important to the creation of urban space, I believe that the history of the space is equally as important. The aforementioned history of white flight created the environment in which this conduct could flourish. While it may seem like an insignificant thing, selling mix tapes has added to hip-hop culture in a way that could not have been foreseen.

https://media.giphy.com/media/ZTQEsWE8A4Zos/giphy.gif

Works Cited:

Chang, Jeff. Can't stop won't stop: A history of the hip-hop generation. Macmillan, 2007.

Rose, Tricia. Black noise: Rap music and black culture in contemporary America. Wesleyan, 1994.

STRUGGLING FOR SPACE, CREATING ETHNIC/RACIAL URBAN CULTURES

HIP HOP BEGINNINGS

By A.M.

Rap music is one of the most popular genres of music today.  When most people think of rap, they think of the funky beats and course language we as Americans have grown to love and enjoy.  However, rap is only a part of the culture of Hip-Hop.  Hip-hop culture includes rap music, but it also includes other things such as breakdancing and graffiti.  We see hip-hop culture in all races of people in America, but how and where did it originate?  The purpose of my blog post is to explain the origins of this hip-hop culture.  This will take us back to the 1970s in the South Bronx, also known as the “home of hip-hop culture”.    

   

During the 1970s there was a period of deindustrialization in which nations across the world had a growth of multinational telecommunication networks and economic competition.  Many factories in New York City were converted to real estate and luxury housing.  With this conversion, the gap between the wealthy and middle class increased, and many workers lost their jobs.  They simply couldn’t afford this luxury housing.  In addition to this, Robert Moses completed the Cross-Bronx Expressway in 1972, which made a path that required the demolition of hundreds of residential and commercial buildings.  About 170,000 people were relocated, and many blacks and Puerto Ricans were forced to move to the “slums” of the South Bronx.

South Bronx 1970s

http://georgiapoliticalreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/gman-park-jam2.jpg

           

With this condemnation came the emergence of hip-hop culture in the younger residents of this area.  According to authors Ernest Morrell and Jeffrey M. R. Duncan-Andrade, hip-hop “…represents a resistant voice of urban youths through its articulation of problems that this generation and all Americans face on a daily basis.”  The culture of hip-hop was established as an identity for these urban youth, an identity which was recognized as one’s status in a local group or “posse”.  Rappers and DJ’s copied their music onto tape-dubbing equipment, and they played on portable “ghettoblasters” or boom boxes in the streets.  School budget cuts restricted the access to instruments, so the youth relied on recording sounds for the music.  In addition to rap music, graffiti and breakdancing were also part of the hip-hop “identity”.  Africana Studies Professor Tricia Rose stated that “developing a style nobody could deal with…that has the reflexivity to create counter dominant narratives against a mobile and shifting enemy- may be one of the most effective ways to fortify communities of resistance and simultaneously restore right to communal pleasure.”  With this new culture, black and Hispanic youths were able to rebel against the wealthy in New York, and with this revolution came a totally new genre of music and style that has risen to the top of American culture today.

Works Cited:

Rose, Tricia.  Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America

            Wesleyan University Press, New England (1994) Print.

Morrell, Ernest, and Jeffrey M. R. Duncan-Andrade. “Promoting Academic Literacy with

            Urban Youth Through Engaging Hip-hop Culture”. The English Journal 91.6

            (2002): 88–92. Web.