The Enduring Community of Buffalo’s Puerto Rican Population
By Student
Buffalo, New York is known as “the Queen City” fore, it is the second most populated city in New York next to New York City, but the queen and the king are very different. As a Buffalo native I find myself embarrassed to inform people that I am from Buffalo. The harsh winters keep all residents vitamin D deficient and miserable. The one fun thing in Buffalo year ‘round to do is eat, and you can tell Buffalo likes to eat by the amazing food you can find and the fact that the obesity rate in children is almost double that of the national average (Davis 2015; stateofobesity.org). The closest thing to a sense of community in Buffalo is the blind obsession they all seem to have with the Buffalo Bills and the Buffalo Sabres, both teams being equally horrible at their respective sport. Making the conscious choice to live in Buffalo is nearly unbelievable, but despite that I have found in my research that there is a Latinx population in Buffalo. The question that I would like to answer in this post is what does life look like in Buffalo for the Puerto Rican population that lives there? I argue that life in Buffalo is not very promising for people of Puerto Rican descent, but that does not stop them from celebrating their culture and heritage through their strong community.
The Puerto Rican population began immigrating to the buffalo area beginning in the late 19thcentury as agricultural laborers and industrial workers (from Puerto Rico to Buffalo 2015). At the time, Buffalo was a prominent city that had strong industrial ties with the surrounding region due to its location near the Earie Canal which made the transportation of goods very efficient for the time. For Puerto Ricans entering the United States through New York City, Buffalo would seem to be a good alternative to settling in NYC, which had an influx of Puerto Rican transplants struggling to get by (Sanchez Korrol 1994). The job prospects for Puerto Ricans in Buffalo have not transferred to today, as 49.7% of the population live below the poverty line and 43.8% of the population reporting no earnings in 2015. Some of this can be attributed to the low graduation rate of Puerto Ricans (50%) which is not too far off from the overall graduation rate of Buffalo city schools in 2017 (63%) (From Puerto Rico to Buffalo 2015; Buffalo City School District Graduation Rate Data 4 Year Outcome as of June 2017).
Despite this, the Puerto Rican population is still able to come together and celebrate their cultural ties. The Hispanic Heritage Council of WNY holds the “El Dia del Nino/Day of the Child” every year to preserve and educate children on their heritage. The Puerto Rican and Hispanic Day Parade will be celebrating its 17thparade this year as they continue to plan events to celebrate their heritage. There are also many other organizations in Buffalo that strive to support and enhance the lives of Puerto Rican residents in Buffalo such as Puerto Rican-American Community Organization that as established in 1969. In a city with little opportunity for upwards mobility it is hearting to know that the Puerto Rican population is still able to come together to lift each other up and remember their culture.
Bibliography:
Davis, Henry L., and Aaron Besecker. “Obesity Rates Trending Upward among Erie County Children.” The Buffalo News, The Buffalo News, 6 Nov. 2015, buffalonews.com/2015/11/06/obesity-rates-trending-upward-among-erie-county-children/.
“The State of Childhood Obesity.” The State of Obesity, stateofobesity.org/childhood/.
“From Puerto Rico to Buffalo.” Partnership for the Public Good, 22 June 2015, https://ppgbuffalo.org/files/documents/data-demographics-history/populations_and_cultural_groups/datademographicshistory-_from_puerto_rico_to_buffalo.pdf
Sanchez Korrol, Virginia E. 1994. From Colonia to Community: The History of Puerto Ricans in New York City. Ch. 2
“Buffalo City School District Graduation Rate Data 4 Year Outcome as of June” Data.nysed.gov, data.nysed.gov/gradrate.php?year=2017&instid=800000052968.
To hear that that a Hispanic organization works every year to celebrate there culture, but to educate children as well on there heritage is a blessing to have. Even though you mention that life there is not great Puerto Ricans still come together to make something happen. I like how in your blog post you add statistics to back up your argument. In addition you give us some personal history of buffalo and you also add your own experience which I thought was insightful.
ReplyDeleteIt makes sense why Puerto Ricans would settle in Buffalo as opposed to NYC, however it seems like a long distance for them to travel and was probably hard to find their way all the way up to Buffalo. It is pretty cool that they have a parade for Latinx people every year as that is not something I hear about a lot in other places. I would be interested to know what percentage of the population in Buffalo is Latinx.
ReplyDeleteTypically when people immigrate here to the US they assimilate and lose parts of their culture. So it's great to hear that Buffalo has these events where they can preserve their culture and celebrate who they are. It's also great that they educate children on their heritage because it provides them with information that their schools perhaps won't.
ReplyDeleteThat's good to hear that the Puerto Rican population still remains true to its culture all the way up in Buffalo just as its larger population parts in NYC.
ReplyDeleteI really loved how engaging your introduction was before you hit us with the facts and statistics. I know you gave us examples of events and organizations that strive to still make a Puerto Rican culture impact despite the low numbers of them residing there but, Have you ever actually seen these events taking place?
ReplyDeleteI didn't know Buffalo had such a large population. I've visited there before so the residents must love that snow! I also wasn't aware of the Latinx population that lives there and that they have a "Puerto Rican Problem." It makes sense why so many Puerto Ricans settled there instead of NYC and after reading this post, I learned the growth in Puerto Rican populations in Buffalo isn't new, it started when Puerto Ricans first came to America. It's also nice to see that there are many organizations dedicated to embracing and educating others about the culture.
ReplyDelete