BY STUDENT
In 6th grade I moved from
Westchester, NY to Hampton Bays, NY where I experienced a dramatic change in
environment. While living in Long Island, I was exposed to a Latino/Latina
movement like no other. You may read a book, newspaper article or hear a story
about how many Latino/a individuals migrated to the U.S, but you will NEVER
understand unless you lived in an area where the migration took place. I was
fortunate enough to live in an area where thousands and thousands of Latino/a individuals
migrated. Hampton Bays is a small town in Suffolk County, which is an
affordable place in the Hamptons. This small location is surrounded by some of
the richest towns in the country, like Southampton, East Hampton etc. This unique
location attracted the Latino population because it was a place where they could
reside and start restaurants, work blue-collar jobs for high pay and live a
great lifestyle.
As this migration
took into effect the Hampton Bays area and surrounding towns had reacted in
many ways to the movement. Some of the key topics I would like to discuss are
education, small businesses, competition and discrimination. First off, as the
Latino/a population began to triple in Hampton Bays, the environment had
adapted pretty quickly. Each day you would see more and more family style
restaurants being started, frequent landscaping companies coming out of the
woodwork. During class discussion, we often talked about how the education
system for Latino/a’s were not great, often due to unqualified professors and
lack of funding. In Hampton Bays they gave many individuals whom lived near the
border (mostly white) the opportunity to chose to attend Westhampton Beach High
School or Hampton Bays. I had made the decision to go to WHB because it was
ranked one of the best public high schools in the state. Hampton Bays High
School is about 70% Latino/a, which is majority. Do you believe this option to
attend Westhampton indirectly led to segregation among high schools?
I want to discuss
how the town and environment has adapted since the Latino/a migration to
Hampton Bays specifically. The purpose of this blog post is to empower you with
real life experiences and encounters of the Latino/a migration and the
perceived effect on the community. Many of the local businesses that were
started by the Latino/a experienced many struggles throughout. In East
Quogue(next to Hampton Bays), there was a Latino named Mr. Alfaro who was an
owner of a auto repair shop. The man had to petition to the Zoning Board of
Appeals to allow him to continue operations. “The ZBA rejected that petition, ruling that such a business
did not conform to the area’s village business zoning, although other auto
shops, such as Mr. Mees’s, are located nearby”.
Mr. Alfaro claimed that the ZBA ruled against him because he is Latino.
Do you believe race contributed to the ZBA’s decision to reject Mr. Alfaro’s
petition?
Bossetta, Brian. "Hampton Bays Man Can
Proceed with $25 Million Lawsuit - East Quogue." - 27east. The
Southampton Press, 10 Dec. 2008. Web. 15 Nov. 2016.
I like how you related your blog post to your own personal experience. Although the questions you asked the audience were good and gets you thinking, I believe that you should have provided your own answer to these questions.
ReplyDeleteAfter graduating from a public school in NYC, I noticed that our schools are for the most part segregated. The area in which a school is located would reflect on what different races would be prevalent in the school. I would of like to hear your answers to your own questions however.
ReplyDeleteE.E
ReplyDeleteI think that when acceptance to a school is based on where you live, segregation is perpetuated. Schools that surround majority-Latino neighborhoods will consist of majority-Latino students. It is also important to note that Latinos on average make less than white Americans. This means that the resources for schools in majority-Latino neighborhoods will be less. I find it disturbing that Mr. Alfaro was discriminated against. It is an example of how Latinos continue struggling for space.
I found your personal experience to be very interesting. It's cool that you got to see the population actually increase before your own eyes. Also, I feel as if taking this class would help you notice things like that as well. I do think the two choices between high schools indirectly led to segregation. I feel as if some people would rather attend the other school for the reason that Whites would be the minority. This isn't fair, but I feel as if this is definitely what went through the minds of families in this district. I also feel that race might have played a factor in the zoning board's decision. This is horrible that things like this are still happening today, and there is nothing we can do about it.
ReplyDeleteYour personal experience is very interesting, because learning about this and living through it must be fascinating. It is very interesting, that the two schools were quit segregated. Living on Long Island I have experienced somewhat of the same thing. Even in the school, you can see the segregation of races quit often. It is sad to say this is still around and I feel it should be put to an end!
ReplyDeleteI love how you incorporated your own personal experiences into this assignment, it brought about a new light to the issue at hand. I think it would have been nice is you answered your questions that you posed with what you have experienced. Such as did you feel segregation in your schools where you lived?
ReplyDelete-ZM
I found this blog post to be very interesting, and I would love to learn more about it. Adding personal experiences made this post more interesting and I thought closing with a question was a nice touch as well. Do you think because the Hampton Bays high school is majority minority, has an influence on people making a decision to go there or to the other school instead as well? Do you think it is possible for white people to feel out of place in that environment? How do you think this segregation can be fixed?
ReplyDeleteIt is so interesting how you made this so personal!It is really interesting to hear about this large migration of Latinos to Hampton Bays, and how it affected the people who actually were moving/living there. Reading books an hearing lectures about Latino migration does not strike as personal of a cord as stories like those of Mr. Alfaro.
ReplyDeleteI think that eliminating segregation sounds like a good idea to a lot of people, but it is a really difficult problem to pose in the real world, as I am sure you are aware. I wonder how the residents of areas like Hampton Bays think that segregation can be fixed, since they are actually experiencing it.
I found you blog post to be very interesting. I really enjoyed how you incorporated your personal experiences. One thing that did stand out to me though was the question you asked "Do you believe this option to attend Westhampton indirectly led to segregation among high schools?" I do believe that the choice did led to segregation, but at the same time I feel like it did not. The reason being is because racism I believe is institutionally imbedded in our society. Yes, people do have the right to choose, but people tend to gravitate towards familiarity. Most Latino/as would prefer to go to a school with other Latino/as because they can relate. The people look like them, have a similar culture etc. And the same goes for all races. People would rather live/ go to school with other people that they can relate to.
ReplyDeleteI liked reading about your personal experience, I am also from Long Island, Suffolk County too. I am from Brentwood, NY which also has a population of majority Black and Latinx and I am surrounded by towns that are predominately white, and agree with pretty much everything you said, it is really interesting to see the dynamics around you, although I personally have mobility have been to many neighboring towns and all around long island I've met some people that have not, they tend to not leave their comfort zone. In Brentwood pretty much every business in the area are Latinx owned and if it's the case that the business itself isn't Latinx owned, most times their workers are required to to speak spanish to appeal the consumers.
ReplyDeleteTo answer your question, I very much agree with Rajanie, I feel as if a lot it is human nature to prefer to socialize/interact with people that look like you and have had similar experiences as you, so I do think this option indirectly leads to segregation. Although, since you said your town is mostly populated by Latinxs, I don't think not having the option would shift the demographics as much.