Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Back in NYC

I'm back in New York, which is both good and bad. Good because I can go outside, pick an avenue and just stare at the amazing things that go on in this city (although my apartment is a little TOO north for my tastes, I could do without the impatient, aggressive beggar and the Hugo Chavez Football Club outside). Bad because it means taking care of important yet dull things: bank account, mobile phone (my number in the US is now (oo 1) 914 426 2617 and the stupid apartment itself. What really made my day special was finding cockroaches in the living room and bathroom. I've just called the caretaker, and he bluntly said 'I'll call the exterminator' and hung up. I can't believe I'm living in a flat with cockroaches in Harlem, next I'll be shaking down Mr Lucewski on 127th.

I can't believe I ever thought London was multicultural, or that you had to have a debate about the inherent pitfalls of 'assimilation'. New York is nothing but a collection of ghettos, with entire neighbourhoods summed up as 'Black/Jewish', 'Russian/Hispanic'. Spanish is treated almost as a second official language here, in banks they have paperwork in Spanish and even in a computer shop I saw the Spanish version of Microsoft XP being offered. Yet the American flags proliferate, and the amount of great food I've seen walking down Broadway would certainly make up for anyone being a Mexican dissident. The only thing that pisses me off is the blatant crime problem. I get the feeling I'm not going to survive the year without being attacked. There are notices everywhere telling me of incidents nearby. Apparently last week a woman and THREE men were on Columbia campus when a black guy ran up behind the woman, got her in a head lock (!!!) and pushed an 'object' into her back (blimey). The men all handed over money and the guy ran away! So let's recap: even being on a university campus in a group of four will not deter muggers.

I'm going to sign up for Taekwondo classes, I think.

3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Well well, he finally realises that the world beyond Sloane Square does not have a uniformed bellhop on every step. And what do you mean you've seen interesting food walking down Broadway? I saw a group of prawn crevettes walking down Shaftesbury Avenue the other day. They were discussing Rimbaud and one of them was complaining about the demise of the independent bookseller.

9:07 AM  
Blogger L.R.A. Laurent said...

A-ha! I found a hole in your story. A 'crevette' IS a prawn! You can't pull one over on Mr. Belgravia, no sir.

2:54 PM  
Blogger L.R.A. Laurent said...

Harlem sure, but I'm also including areas outside Manhattan, such as Rockaway Peninsula or Brooklyn. The Crown Riots of 1991, for example, a wonderful episode in black-jewish relations...

"In 1991, in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, New York, a car driven by a Lubavitch Jew spun out of control onto a sidewalk, killing one Black child and injuring another. As angry Black residents beat the car's driver, the privately run Jewish Hatzolah ambulance arrived and workers began attending to the child pinned under the car. When a New York city ambulance arrived, the technician instructed the Hatzolah driver to remove the Lubavitch driver from the escalating scene and take him to the hospital. Black onlookers were infuriated and rumors of the Jew being aided first flew through the neighborhood. The streets filled with shouts of "Get the Jews!" and that night, a mob of 10 to 15 angry Black teens and men fatally stabbed a young Orthodox Holocaust researcher.

For three days Jewish residents of Crown Heights and reporters were beaten, cars overturned and set afire, and stores looted and firebombed by angered Black residents. Finally hundreds of police officers in riot gear restored a relative calm. The state's official investigation into the riots found that city authorities and police failed to respond appropriately. Lubavitchers say this was an experience few have forgotten."

11:06 PM  

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