Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I am interested in hearing about Southeast Asian Bronx culture...do tell more. A group I was completely unaware up taking up a home in the Bronx. When did Southeast Asians really take hold in the Bronx, Is it like the Jamaicans on University Av, Africans on University Av, etc...
Haha, yeah. well, during the 70s and 80s is when most of the Cambodians and Vietnamese took refuge in the Bronx more then any other place in the world, this was due to two things, the Vietnam War and the Khmer Rouge Genocides in Cambodia, so both the Vietnamese and Cambodians heavily immigrated to the Bronx during these two decades, they settled in Univeristy Heights, Kingsbridge Heights and Fordham mostly, also taking up smaller blocks/area throughout the Bronx, but these areas were known as "Little Cambodia" or "Little Vietnam". A big reason many of them were placed here is because they were 'refugees' and at the time The Bronx was Burning and it was the cheapest place to the place them all in America. Imagine Monks in the middle of the South Bronx in the 1970s, that is whats in this picture - http://library.duke.edu/exhibits/mel...item_view.html
Now as I commented in the original post, almost all of the Cambodians and Vietnamese have stopped coming to the Bronx, due to the youth getting caught up in crime/drugs and the ones who aren't involved in gangs are prime targets for getting robbed or jumped as the neighborhoods they are concentrated in are high crime neighborhoods and they are easy targets without gang protection. Although there is still other South-East Asian groups immigrating to the Bronx to live among the Vietnamese and Cambodians the Bhutanese being one and they are coming in pretty large numbers to already established Vietnamese and Cambodian neighborhoods.
This recent NYTimes article will tell you all about the new Bhutanese immigrants in the Bronx and the tough adjusment from the jungle to the concrete jungle http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/25/ny.../25bhutan.html
Last edited by BronxCambo193rd; 07-29-2010 at 08:22 AM..
In University Heights, the Vietnamese are spread throughout Andrews ave. There is a yellow house by W 181st that is entirely theirs. I believe this yellow house to be a religious sanctuary of some sort. The ones there are very to themselves, polite, hard-working, and are usually elderly. But walk up a couple of blocks to Fordham, and it becomes a different story. The Vietnamese are mostly young men and they hustle on their block along with the African-Americans. They are mirror images of each other. But there are some Vietnamese on Andrews by Fordham who are hard working. It's a very small number however. The Vietnamese by Fordham (atleast the religous one) attend Catholic mass every Sunday. I had no idea that they were catholic so it came to me as a suprise. But I think the ones in the yellow house by W 181st are buddist.
In total, the Vietnamese maybe make up 6% of University Heights. This is far below the dominant groups such as Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, and African Americans. So they are a relatively small group usually spread out on one avenue. I was told that there used to be much more Vietnamese, but that they moved because of the neighborhood being so rough. So the ones that stayed are the ones that enjoy the hood life and who continue to contribute to it's roughness.
Yes! You are correct SuperMario. It's like a different culture on Andrews to Fordham. It is a 'religious sanctuary' of sorts. I am a Catholic(convert) myself. But it does make me sick when my people get caught up in selling drugs and this gang activity. This is what happens when groups move to areas like the Bronx, they need protection they form groups, realize they can become powerful, start making money and sell drugs/kill people and ruin the good people in the neighborhoods lives.
I grew up with quite a few Vietnamese, Cambodians, and Liaotians in Austin where there is a pretty large population and you all are right, over half were pretty ghetto. Southeast Asia is poor for the most part and most of the states(even the Bronx) are better from where they came from. I remember gangs that the Vietnamese started in high school. Most where older than normal, we had a 16 year guy in the 8th grade. However, a good portion strived for a better education and were very good citizens. I imagine that the experience in the Bronx is similar besides the atmosphere.
Google Gangland, Cambodian Gangs in California, they are extremely violent gangs.
I grew up with quite a few Vietnamese, Cambodians, and Liaotians in Austin where there is a pretty large population and you all are right, over half were pretty ghetto. Southeast Asia is poor for the most part and most of the states(even the Bronx) are better from where they came from. I remember gangs that the Vietnamese started in high school. Most where older than normal, we had a 16 year guy in the 8th grade. However, a good portion strived for a better education and were very good citizens. I imagine that the experience in the Bronx is similar besides the atmosphere.
Google Gangland, Cambodian Gangs in California, they are extremely violent gangs.
I agree. South-East is extremely poor and war ridden as well (especially Cambodia and Vietnam). You are right about the Bronx being better then there, the only thing about the Bronx is you have so many different types of cultures that collide right smack in the middle of the concrete jungle, Dominicans, Blacks, Puerto Ricans, Irish, Italians, Albanians and South-East Asians. People don't always mix well and fight for turf and the South Bronx is poorest community in all of America over 60% of the population lives below the poverty line, I know areas of the Bronx that cops won't even go in unless they are called in. You have drugs, gangs, crime, almost everything and on top of that people struggling to get by like my parents who had 5 boys and they couldn't keep track of us all, and some of my brothers got mixed up in crime/gangs and ended up going to jail. This is one of the downsides of living in places like the Bronx, we all come here for a better life, but some people get caught up in drugs or gangs, then they raise a 2nd generation here and they do the same thing it turns into a vicious cycle, I am already seeing 2nd generation Cambodians and Vietnamese acting like this. The same thing happens on the other side of the Bronx with the Albanians, it is the same kind of situation, they came here to escape genocide and war around the same time as us, and they too got caught up in gangs/drugs. its a shame
I live in an area with a rather large Cambodian population within a few blocks, a lot of them are into the stuff you find common with the inner city crowd. I notice a lot of them are big drinkers, and the criminal element isn't hard to find. I used to drink in a gogo bar that had a lot of Cambodian patrons a few years back when I drank, I can't say I enjoyed their company, most of them were caught up in trying to act hood.
Had no idea about this as some of the other posters mentioned... I have heard that they have a strong presence in Lowell, Massachusetts where my family moved to but they are as bad as it gets over there... very violent... it is sad considering the culture is not meant to be like that at all...
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
