Reading Response 09/22

(Here's a scene from West Side Story that depict the racial tension 

Between the Italians and Puerto Ricans)

In the book Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio by Philippe Bourgois, the story took place during the 1980’s to the early 1990’s where crime in New York City was at an all time high. But what is the root of all these violence? It’s the historical pattern of the place that leads to the poverty, crime, and the war on drugs. It all started with the Italians immigrating in East Harlem dating back to the 1880’s, they were unable to coexist properly with the already residing neighborhood and they were looked at as the minorities. In 1983, the New York Times denounced the “lawlessness and vindictive impulses of many immigrants from southern Italy living in East Harlem.” However once the Puerto Ricans started immigrating to East Harlem, the hates towards Italian subsided and the hate transitioned into the newcomers.  Thus started the gang wars between Italians and Puerto Ricans in East Harlem. Caesar’s 37 year-old cousin recollects a memory from the gang violence, “I remember when the whites moved out. I lived on 112^th and we used to have fights with the Italians all the time. Those were the gang years. There was a lot motions around there – they still there (60)”. Regardless of ethnic group, East Harlem is described as one of the worst district in New York City. Having filled with poverty and violence, it has been one of the centers for crime, which involves more police officers, and the involvement of police officers leads to reoccurrence of police brutality.  Caesar was narrating to Philippe an event happened earlier after two people mugged a girl and police came in and took turns beating the two thieves up, “ It was not a normal beat-down like: throw you up-on-a-car extra hard. I’m talking about ‘take your turn buddy’ [grinning]; hold ‘em right here [punching] and BOOM and BOOM and this guy goes BOOM (36)” Everyone in the neighborhood suffers from this regardless of race, Philippe who is white is also susceptible to police brutality. Police either assume he’s an undercover cop or he’s a crazy crack head. Due to his scrawny physical features, he’s always assumed as a drug dealer.  The oppression will increase due to more drug dealers, and crime activities, The New York City policed even deployed their new unit to East Harlem, known as Tactical Narcotic Teams, also known as TNT. The TNT pulls out people from the street late at night and even dragged people out from their own apartments.