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East Harlem has been majority hispanic since, like, forever now though, and even when it wasn't, it was an Italian area.
This isn't totally true, because what happened in East Harlem was that Italians, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, and Southern Blacks all started migrating to NYC around the same time in the late 1800's. Some Blacks were already here that were descendants of NYC slaves from NYC beginning to the early 1800's.
All of these groups mostly lived in the Lower East Side at first and in the late 1880's they all started moving north. All of them came together to East Harlem that already had an Irish and Jewish population.
What happened is that the same repeat patterns of some blocks being Italian, some Latin, some Jewish, some Black, and some Irish repeated like on the lower East side. Eventually the 2 dominate groups became the Italians, and the Latins, mostly Puerto Ricans.
So depending on which block you lived in you either were in Italian Harlem or Spanish Harlem. Then eventually most of the Italians left and it became known as Spanish Harlem.
However keep in mind that all these groups have been and still are there with other smaller groups.
Just last week I had the privaledge of meeting a group of Japenese senior citizens that live in south West Harlem and have lived there since the 1950's. They showed me many photos of the area from that time. They remained all through the King Heroin years, and still there now through the gentrification and revitalization of the area. I never knew they were a part of Harlem history.
Just last week I had the privaledge of meeting a group of Japenese senior citizens that live in south West Harlem and have lived there since the 1950's. They showed me many photos of the area from that time. They remained all through the King Heroin years, and still there now through the gentrification and revitalization of the area. I never knew they were a part of Harlem history.
Let me guess. Claremont Avenue? Tiemann Place?
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"The man who sleeps on the floor, can never fall out of bed." -Martin Lawrence
[quote=DoomDan515;20855020]Only Eastern Ridgewood [East of Forest Avenue] has a high Polish concentration. Western Ridgewood is basically an extension of Bushwick now.
And I doubt the PRs and the DRs will let their neighborhood turn Indian/Middle Eastern all of a sudden. Go to Ozone Park or Richmond Hill, then you're in an Indian neighborhood.
Sorry for the late reply at doomdan... Actually from what I see recently it seems as if they are slowly invading both groups... Along Fresh Pond Rd. down to Fairview ave. a number of middle eastern/arab folk have begun moving and it seems as if the europeans have less problem renting to them if they own the building than hispanics... When I go preaching along Fresh Pond rd. looking for spanish people, buildings that use to be strictly polish or romanian are now mixed... and same goes for parts of the area that were dominated by hispanics... For example, this one building that we used to preach a few years ago on Seneca and Woodbine that inside looks very similar to a project building used to be about 70% hispanic 10% black 15% asian 5% white... Now it's dominated by folks from the middle east and maybe only one or two apartments that we checked were still hispanic...
Similar to other diverse areas like Jackson Heights, Richmond Hill, Ozone Park and Woodhaven it seems like Ridgewood is following that same path... Personally, I welcome the diversity... I know not everyone agrees but it's nice to see all the different cultures live amongst each other and get along fairly well...
Btw, to the original OP sorry to go off topic with the thread but the original point this post was geared to had to do with what you were talking about...
"Minority" is a state of mind. It really pains me to hear people labeling themselves that. Additionally, the term really rings hollow when it's closely analyzed. First, I'd like to say that government agencies rarely seem to employ the term; regular people and the media are at fault for using it. If you want to see "minority" and all other divisive and un-productive like terms stop being used, stop using them yourself (not exactly referring to you as a person, NooYowkur) and challenge people when they say them. I very often ask people "what do you mean by 'minority?'" when they use the term; I find that people tend to use the term just because "other people do" or "I heard it on TV." That brings me to my next point.
Second, you are very right that the terms need to be evaluated. Who is the "minority" and who is the "majority"? I once got into an argument where someone insisted that a Russian cleaning lady making minimum wage living in Brighton Beach who can't speak English is not a "minority" while a wealthy Argentinian banker living on Sutton Place is a "minority"? Huh? So I guess the whole minority/majority thing isn't based on being white. But how about Anglo-Saxon heritage? One could argue that white Americans of Anglo-Saxon ancestry are the "majority" but once you exclude all of the whites who aren't Anglo-Saxon (Italians, Polish, Russian, Armenian, Lebanese, Euro-Latin, etc.) you no longer have a "majority" at all.
Sorry if this makes anyone's head spin, but I just wish people would think about the terms they use and what they mean before using them.
Superb post!! And no apologies necessary if it makes one's head spin. Heads should have spun, re this topic, eons ago.You are spot on, friend!
Superb post!! And no apologies necessary if it makes one's head spin. Heads should have spun, re this topic, eons ago.You are spot on, friend!
Kindly,
Ciao!
True, minority anf majority is not based on race its really based on power and tje control of access to wealth. Example 3% of america is wealthy these 3% are the majority.
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