Customer Reviews

How East New York Became a Ghetto

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

How ENY Became A Ghetto is about the last 40 years in ENY. It's mainly about housing, inequality, and race. I review the pros and cons.

PROS:
- the book exists: there is something to read on ENY.
- it provides a lot of facts and good stories about ENY.
- some chapters are indeed really good (the chapters about the history of ENY, the chapter on recent politics).
- Thabit tells in details about the scams in real estate.

CONS:
- it is ultra-liberal. I mean, I am myself liberal, but the author is a serious extremist. The book is so biased that it's not even funny in the end.
- the chapters about the history of Thabit's work in ENY are useless and tedious.

CONCLUSION:
You'd rather buy the excellent "Brownsville, Brooklyn" by Wendell Pritchett. Brownsville is just west to East New York, about the same in terms of social processes, and Pritchett is a true scholar, whose work is amazing.

The author reveals his bias, apologistic views, ultra-political correctness, and lack of understanding of Economics 101 from the very get-go. And goes downhill from there. Yes I'm sure there has been corruption and mis-management by the "authorities" and community groups (past and present) alike, but that is tangential to the demise of ENY. I was there. If you have rent control, landlords cannot and will not invest or maintain. When housing stock deteriorates, only those who cannot afford better will remain or move in, thus giving rise to a heavy concentration of the poor and uneducated. In turn, this leads to frustration, crime, further flight of the true working class (the old East New York), and inevitable decline. Is it reversible? I hope so. But the author's schemes are nothing more than code for welfare. And that does not work. The author's views on education, law enforcement, et al, follow a similar path - PC at the expense of reality

In this very readable book Walter Thabit describes the decline and rebirth of East New York. It is both readable and methodical in desribing how real estate, politics (from the federal level to the community school board)and prejudice (economic and racial) destroyed a viable community. Special interests groups from community based organizations to the teachers unions to uniformed city workers worked against the best interests of the community.

The good news is that East New York is on the rise. The efforts of long time community residents and faith based organizations have made this a community for those on their way to achieving the American dream of if not home ownership, a decent place to live. How East New York Became a Ghetto is instructive in how community residents must organize themselves and align the best interests of their communities to prevent this kind of debacle from happening in their own backyard.

Admittedly this topic is probably a difficult (but important) subject to transform into a book. As an example of oppression, racism and naked greed this story is little different from the fates afflicted upon other poor black neighborhoods. The author has a grasp of the details, but presents the same material again, and again. On occasion some paragraphs seem copied almost verbatim from chapter to chapter. If you must have the information in this book, then I guess you need to buy it, but do not expect to be able to tolerate reading more than a couple of chapters (and you probably don't need to anyway!) A 40 page pamphlet would have been a more appropriate format. Perhaps the author should be encouraged to produce a shorter 2nd version with the addition of some current statistics.

The first thing I'd like to say about this book is that it is quite easy to read. Walter Thabit does a good job at keeping language on the average reader's level. It also manages to keep you engaged, so even if you disagree with what Thabit is saying, you probably won't want to put the book down. For me, the fact that I disagreed with most of the points he was making, kept me reading even more. Thabit begins the book by giving a brief but well detailed description of East New York's history. He then goes on to explain the different areas of East New York (Industrial Quadrant, 1 to 4 Family Area, etc.). I found this to be the most interesting aspect of the book because Thabit actually explains what happened to each area specifically, not just the East New York neighborhood in general. By the time I reached Chapter 3, I became skeptical and to a certain extent at odds with some of the points he was making. Instead of being balanced and looking at the issues in history from all sides, Thabit decided to explain the situation in East New York from a very Leftist viewpoint. Even though alot of what he is saying may seem like it's making sense, he seems to lack common sense and a general understanding of economics. At times it felt like Thabit had expected the U.S. government to give large handouts to poverty stricken minorities. What Thabit doesn't understand is that, in order to get minorities and whites on an equal footing, would've required a massive economic and social overhaul. With the Vietnam War heating up, combined with Racial Riots/Tension everywhere, and a Declining Economy, this idea of massive economic and social change, was not at all likely to happen. The country was not ready to just drop everything and have a Do-Over. Things don't change overnight, and in Thabit's world, things should change overnight, even its things like Racism or a Country's Economic Structure.

While it is understandable that minorities needed support in the 1960's, it is also understandable that Middle Class Whites wanted to leave the cities in the 1960's. Apparently, the lower-middle class and middle class whites share the same amount of blame for the destruction of minority neighborhoods (that were once white neighborhoods, go figure on that one)as do the Manipulative "Blockbusting" Realtors, and the Corrupt White Elites at all levels of government. And on top of all this, Thabit throws around words like "Apartheid" and "Racist Whites" in every other paragraph. According to Thabit, any white family that decides it doesn't want to stay in a minority neighborhood and become victimized should be labeled a "Racist" and one who supports "Apartheid". Only once does Thabit mention that minorities to some degree share in the blame for their own failures. At all other times, it was the "Racist Whites" who disenfranchised the minorities.

The unfortunate thing about Capitalism is that it requires suffering, and with that, people need to take responsibility for their actions. When Thabit started talking about mothers with 4 children who needed welfare, I couldn't help but sit there and think, "Gee, Do you think they could have used birth control?" I mean seriously, you don't have to be a genius to recognize that if you don't have money or resources, and you decide to be careless and have 4 kids, of course you're going to be destitute. The only option is to turn to welfare. I live in Richmond Hill Queens (which is only 2 neighborhoods away from East New York) and I have seen this for myself. It's common sense, plain and simple. I have seen people using their Benefit cards to buy cigarettes and candy at grocery and deli stores. This is just plain wrong. If you're destitute, you shouldn't even be thinking about buying a pack of cigarettes, which by the way costs $ 10.00 a pack in NYC.

Thabit goes on to explain just how and why East New York fell into an economic and social black hole. The area was by and large an Italian and Jewish "Working Class" neighborhood, which in my book means a "Semi-Rough" area, even before the minorities moved in. According to Thabit, Black and Puerto Rican families started moving into the area around 1960, even though there were a few minority families already there but they were over near the Western border with Brownsville. Real estate agents began employing tactics of "Blockbusting". This is when real estate agents instill fear in the residents of a neighborhood, telling them that poor "dangerous" minorities will move in, and get them to sell their homes at a very low price. Then the agents resell the homes to minorities at much higher prices in order to profit from the difference. This worked very well in East New York, as it did many other neighborhoods throughout NYC. In the space of 5 years, East New York became a majority minority neighborhood. White owned businesses closed down, as well as churches and synagogues. Banks were unwilling to lend money to people living in the area, due to the fact that the area had become a disaster zone. This is another thing that Thabit complains about throughout the book. Banks are not going to lend money to a dying neighborhood! Why would they? Out of Charity? If I owned a bank, I sure as hell wouldn't lend money to someone I knew couldn't pay it back, regardless of race. Again, if I were a bank, or an insurance agency, or a mortgage company and you were a poor person in a "High Risk" neighborhood (meaning arson, theft, and destruction very possible) I don't care what race you are, I'll be reluctant to give you a loan or low insurance rates. This is just how Capitalism works.


Thabit continuously turns to Racism as the key thing that destroyed the neighborhood. Racism played a role, there's no doubt about that, but it was money more than anything else. If a middle class Black family wanted to buy a house in East New York in the late 1960's, they probably would have been able to do it without any trouble from the banks. The reason why banks, mortgage companies, and insurance companies Redlined the area was because Arson was an epidemic. People kept burning buildings down. Did some homeowners burn their own buildings down to collect insurance money? Yes, but because they either wanted or needed the money. Why suffer because the neighborhood around you has turned into a garbage can? Is Thabit suggesting that landlords should just go broke in order to fix up the apartments so the minority families are comfortable? The logic is so flawed it's ridiculous. Let's not forget, Drug users and Arsonists were also responsible for burning the buildings down. Every time Thabit tried to make it all about race, I felt like giving Thabit a tour of the Deep South and showing him just how many White live in the same squalor as Black do. Poor Whites are the Same as Poor Blacks.

There are quite a few things that Thabit says throughout the book that you could go against with a logical counter-argument, but why bother? The only point where Thabit is dead on is when he talks about the predatory Real Estate "Blockbuster" speculators. These people should have had their lives ruined systematically. They did alot of damage to this particular neighborhood, and even though the neighborhood would have declined anyway, it would have been much slower process and perhaps much less devastating. This very destructive and downright evil business tactic worked all over the United States, and it ruined many lives (Black and White) in the process. I could go on forever, but I hope this helps you to understand the book a bit better than just reading it and absorbing everything Thabit says. It is a thorough and gripping account of a neighborhood's fast decline, long and painful wallow in the sand, and eventual slow rise from the rubble. It is biased, naive, and politically slanted, but it is fascinating and informative as well. Three and a Half Stars.

I am only halfway through this book and it does indeed have a liberal lean to the writings in it but other than that the stories on ENY are entertaining. Just keep in mind, anyone that thinks this books is biased against white people...that the author, Walter Thabit, is white.

This book is terrible. Stop saying white people are racist. East New York like Trenton was nice in the 1950's and 60's. It's not our fault. Black People should be responsible for their own actions.

You're nuts. How about reading the book first and then reviewing it? Dope.

I LIVED IN ENY---MY FATHER WAS BORN IN 1914 IN ENY. LIVED ON ASHFORD STREET BETWEEN HEGEMAN AVE-NEW LOTS AVE. FATHER WORKED IN POST OFFICE--MOTHER AT A&S. IF YOU WERE BORN ON A STREET IN A "2 FAMILY HOUSE" AND WERE ABLE TO LEAVE THE DOOR OPEN ALL NIGHT--AND SLEEP ON THE FRONT PORCH , AND WAS ABLE TO WALK THE STREETS AT ANY TIME THEN WRITE A BOOK HOW ENY BECAME A GHETTO-----OTHERWISE YOU WHEN YOU START TALKING PUBLIC HOUSING OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE "PROJECTS" YOU COULD BE TALKING REALITY OR JUST TALKING STUFF. WHEN THE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CLIMATE CHANGED--PEOPLE MOVED----WITNESS THE REBIRTH OF DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN AND THE SLOPE---PEOPLE WITH MONEY MOVING BACK IN AFTER 75 YEAR DECLINE. THE AREA DIED A QUICK DEATH--I WITNESSED THE EVOLUTION OF ENY. IF YOU WERE FROM ENY --THE NEW LOTS TRAIN STATION WAS THE DIVIDING LINE--THE GHETTO AS YOU CALL IT WAS ALWAYS THERE.