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I personally find it race-baiting to automatically assume that every single neighborhood which has no white people is scary and ghetto and should be avoided at all costs if one wants to play it safe. That line of thinking is in itself "ignorant".
Anyway, does this weather today on the 4th of July suck or what??! We're not in the usual rush to get out of the house this year for the 4th..
I have no idea what you are talking about? Look back on my prior threads and you will note that I live in Mott Haven, an area that is 99.98% people of color, and one of the poorest areas in the city...I am a 3rd generation resident for that matter that chooses to be here. I have no contempt for the poor or people of color, nor have I ever asserted such.
Last edited by Viralmd; 07-07-2008 at 12:23 PM..
Reason: Insulting, personal attack
As to my best recollection dominicans are currently the largest number of latinos in NYC. They have long surpassed puerto ricans as the largest group of latinos and as the largest group of immigrant lations (puerto ricans are americans by birth).
While New York City has not traditionally been the city of choice for mexicans (our current numbers come no where close to that of the west coast (miniscule at best)). the numbers here have been steadily increasing and at a rapid pace.
There is an animosity toward dominicans by some puerto ricans (having to do with racial identity not to be confused with ethnic/cultural identity, the growing political power that the dominicans have come into which some puerto ricans think was gained on their backs and dominican illegal immigration by dominicans to the island of puerto rico) but in general they live amongst one another and get along.
From what I've read there is a long history of gang violence in California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico etc... with the mexicans and they don't necessarily get along with other latinos that well or other races in general. I don't know how true this is and I am not trying to find out anytime soon. I divulge this already public information because I am curious as to why the specific question about mexicans. Is it because you want to be amongst other mexicans or because you are trying to avoid them?
Yvette I still think Puerto Ricans are # 1 in the city.
I think you are right. Supposedly by the end of the decade the number of Dominicans in NYC will surpass that of Puerto Ricans. The Dominicans are the largest immigrant latino population in NYC.
Rudbeckia, culture is exactly what I meant. First generation Mexicans do not have a violent, ghetto culture that unfortunately characterizes African-American, Dominican, Jamaican, and Puerto Rican neighborhoods here in New York. Even working class Cuban neighborhoods in South Florida are DRASTICALLY different places than working class Dominican or Puerto Rican neighborhoods (in my opinion). Cuban neighborhoods are generally safer, cleaner, better maintained, and have little to no gang violence. I grew up in South Florida and though there aren't many Mexicans, the areas with large Mexican presence aren't known as dangerous. There's one area that is predominately Mexican / Central American that borders an area that is African-American. The two neighborhoods feel very different. As one poster said in the Miami forum, one may be the "barrio," but the other is "da hood," and feels like it. Crime rate and unemployment are probably the biggest indicators of these differences.
Mexicans were smart for moving to Queens; it's smart for them to try to keep their children away from the ghetto "Latino"-American street culture that unfortunately has such a presence in northern Manhattan and the Bronx. Like I have said and will repeat again, though there are PLENTY of good Puerto Rican and Dominican young people, much too high a percentage of these groups fall victim to this culture to which I am referring. As much as it would be nice to talk about "Latino unity," I would have to advise against it in the case of Mexicans because they are just establishing themselves here and will probably want to distance themselves from the bad northern Manhattan and the Bronx neighborhoods that give Puerto Rican and Dominican youths such a bad rap in this city.
I don't know about this latino unity thing you speak of because mexicans are very distinct and different from puerto ricans as puerto ricans are from hondurans, etc... The commonality in most instances is the language (and even that can vary as puerto ricans don't speak exactly the same type of spanish as someone from Argentina or Costa Rica). Maybe you perceive a commonality because you are on the outside looking in. As for the urban ghetto culture you speak of, again, that is subjective. There may be a common theme in your eyes but I wonder if you've searched below the surface or if you've had a conversation with some of the people who you presume to be a certain way. Finally, it has been my experience that the first generation does take on some of the attributes (good and bad) of their new homeland but because they are so close to their parents they still retain alot of their customs as, well. The second and third will most likely be completely assimilated into the good and bad of the country if not taught differently.
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