“Give me your poor, your
hungry“ pleads Ms. Liberty to the world. And they still pour into New York and move into tenement
housing.
These old buildings are
pre-elevator, up to 7 stories - made to cheaply store the Irish then Jewish,
then Italian, then Latino and now Asian immigrants. Newcomers stay until they become Americanized and move on up
- pushed by opportunity and as the next wave of those “yearning to breathe
free” arrives.
We tour thru the Lower East
Side tenement rows with our old friend Gloria. She was born in a New York tenement and makes the visit
personal.
Her wave’s addition is
still seen in the neighborhood, as are the others - Italian deli, Yiddish sign,
Chinese market. Like America, New
York is a whole made from many diverse parts.
So what to eat? Gloria goes after some Italian, Jean
for a kosher deli, and me on the lookout for hot and spicy. Immigrants brought in new foods, new
ideas, new workers - and new problems.
Our very system of constant economic growth depends on them coming. We take the go-getters from other lands
to keep a bottom rung on our ladder. So a Little Italy turns into a Chinatown.
New “tenement” rows have gone
up while the old ones are torn down or converted to trendy apartments. The current wave of immigrants busts
butt to move on to a better place - while new faces move in. 
I see beards and headscarves. Who knows? Gloria might sell her pricy house in California to a guy that made a fortune selling fried camel humps.
-
Resigned Rod
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