Lyte315's Blog
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For the greater part of my life, I have lived in Syracuse, NY. I was born in Puerto Rico and then moved to Brooklyn, NY. I lived in Brooklyn until the age of five and then moved to Syracuse. My parents decide to move to Syracuse in search of economic prosperity. They also wanted to me to attend a better public school system than I would have attended back in Brooklyn. I am not able to evaluate my experiences back in Puerto Rico and Brooklyn for I was too young. Though, I am very able to analyze social locations in Syracuse “that acted as markers or borders to exclude some and/or include others.” When people think of borders, they think of physical walls that create divides. When I think of borders, I think of behaviors that create divides. In my experience, behavioral divides in social locations are clearly evident, even though, there is no actual border or sign stating that the divide exists.
Growing up in Syracuse I have witnessed many divides. Those that come to mind fastest are differences between local public and local private schools, perceived geographic divides on the basis of race or ethnicity such as the race composition on a certain side of town, visual geographic divides on the basis of income, and things as simple as profiling of individuals based on their race, gender, income, or any combination of the three. Interestingly, some of these divides are behavioral and they do not present any true physical obstacle. From the ones aforementioned, two of the borders are created by behaviors and perceptions. Geographic divides on the basis of race and profiling fall in this category and seem to go hand in hand. I witnessed this very early in my childhood and I am able to recall instances from as early as elementary school.
I went to Elmwood Elementary School on the south side of Syracuse. I spoke no English and I wasn’t in an ESL (English as a Second Language) program until second grade. I couldn’t understand anything the teachers spoke about at the time or could I follow simple instructions or requests. My inability to understand others caused me to be more aware of other things going on around me, at least I feel that way. One of the very first things I noticed was that many African Americans attended this school. There were several Caucasians and very little Latinos. I also noticed, that I lived in a predominantly African American side of town. This side of town was the east side. Many of the students that attended Elmwood lived on the east and south sides of town. Many of these students, also, fell in the same economic status and race classification. I noticed this very early on, but I didn’t know if the rest of Syracuse was predominantly populated by African Americans or by any other races.
My question was answered when I first started middle school. I attended Grant Middle School. I was going to attend a middle school in the east side, but my parents moved to the north side a year before I graduated elementary school. For the first time, I met Asian American students and I met a larger Caucasian population. Overall, this school was more diverse and it provided a better race mix. But there was, also, a small amount of Latinos that attended the school. Here, I witnessed behaviors that were almost patriotic in terms of what side of town the students lived in. Caucasian and Asian American students let it known that they were from the north side and that this was their territory. African American students asserted that the south and the east sides of town were better and that nobody had any business going down there. The few Latinos in the school expressed that the west side was their turf. This is when I realized a very real divide that was caused by behaviors and not a physical barrier.
High school further proved my case. I went to school in the west side of town. My parents moved to the west side before I completed middle school. At Fowler High School, I saw a far greater amount of Latinos that attended school. There were also African Americans that made of the majority of the student population, Asian Americans that made up about 15% of the population, and Caucasians that made up approximately 15% of the student body. In high school, I witnessed profiling based primarily on race. From teachers to security to police officers, I saw reactions toward students that seemed to be influenced by the race of the student. To top this off, these instances were being portrayed in the media. I realized that Syracuse isn’t the only place that falls victim to perceived and behavioral borders but also the rest of the world.
Here in Syracuse, the major language spoken is division. The consequence has been profiling and unjust action on the matter. Though seemingly not visual, Syracuse’s borders are witnessed by the behavior-enforced composition of race on different sides of town. These divides are hindering to progress and live much longer than any physical border made by man. Through my experiences in Syracuse, it seems that physical obstacles aren’t the hardest ones to overcome it is those obstacles that are perceived that are the hardest to conquer.
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