Read Chapter 1 (PDF) - University of California Press

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east harlem
pace. One census tract in particular, consisting of four square blocks in
the southwestern corner of the neighborhood, tells the story. With a per
capita income of $53,039, the residents of census tract 160.02 earn more
than four times the East Harlem average, and its residents, 63 percent of
whom are non-Hispanic whites, do not look like the rest of the community.
While most East Harlem residents can still point out bullet holes in
cracked facades and still speak of the previous decades in the weary
tones of veterans, all agree the neighborhood is changing.
This chapter tells my story and that of others like me who are caught
in a paradox of urban renewal that makes way for the upwardly mobile
by displacing the recently settled. I met Maria at the barbershop on my
street, Mohamed runs the 99-cent store on my corner, and Si Zhi is my
landlord. These are my neighbors, and I represent an economic force that
could change everything. My role in the drama completes the cycle of
street-level contradictions in East Harlem, how roots sink deep without
the strength to hold firm and locals form attachments in this alwayschanging
community.
Our stories are as representative as any; that is to say, none speak for
all, but all of us speak with authenticity, with the authority of experience.
In each you will find the cords that tether our stories to the stories of
those we represent, the history of our entrenchment and the hopes for
our future. In each you will find the ties that bind us all to East Harlem,
the story of one community in one city that is as unique as it is universal.