Bensonhurst is a neighborhood located in the southwestern part of Brooklyn. Its unofficial boundaries are from 86th Street to 60th Street and from Stillwell Avenue to Ocean Parkway. Bensonhurst has always attracted a diverse group of immigrants, particularly Jewish immigrants. In the early 1900s Syrian and Egyptian Jews moved into the area. These sephardic Jews lived in the area until about the 1950s to 1960s. Another wave of Jewish immigrants began in the 1980’s until the early 2000s. This group of Jewish people came from Eastern European countries including Poland and countries from the former Soviet Union.
As soon at the Iron Gates fell, citizens from formerly communist-controlled countries quickly made their way to America, many settling in Brooklyn. One such citizen is Alec Brook-Krasny, a member of the New York State Assembly. He came to America in 1989 at the age of 31, hoping to find a better life and a democratic government that he could be a part of. In his autobiographical article, “From Moscow to Albany: A Personal Journey,” Brook-Krasny describes the religious persecution in Russia that his family experienced because they were Jewish. He also mentions the lack of educational availability and food (Brook-Krasny 290). He explains that Russia had limited opportunity to practice his religion because there were only four synagogues in all of Moscow. He also details his father’s inability to own his own business and make a decent living because of his Jewish faith (Brook-Krasny 291). Finally, Brook-Krasny states that he wanted to come to America because it would take Russia many years to change and he wanted to be a part of a democratic system presently (Brook-Krasny 294).
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From Alan Brook-Krasny’s story, one can easily see why an Eastern European may leave his former country and come to America. The next question is why Brook-Krasny and his family would settle specifically in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn when they arrived here. As mentioned previously, Bensonhurst has always had strong Jewish influences, even though these influences have been a result of different Jewish groups. Nevertheless, the neighborhood has established many services with the Jewish population in mind. Community organizations such as the Bensonhurst Council of Jewish Organizations or the Jewish Community House of Bensonhurst provide services to immigrants including teaching English as a second language courses, providing job placements, helping immigrants with legal services, and finding homes. These community organizations also provide immigrants with programs such as the Bensonhurst Business Club, Women-2-Women, and the American Dream Self-Sufficiency Center for Immigrants. The availability of such a variety of services would provide the support that a new immigrant would need when he or she first arrives in the country. The fact that this plethora of services is located so conveniently in Bensonhurst entices new immigrants to move to the neighborhood and to remain there to raise their families.
According to National Geographic, “[Immigrants are] drawn by entrenched pockets of ethnic groupings—neighborhoods known for retaining traditions, foods, and language from the old country. Brooklyn's a place where an immigrant can feel comfortable making the transition” (Brooklyn Neighborhood Photographs analysis). Not only were immigrants attracted to the services that Bensonhurst offered, but the neighborhood also offered a glimpse into their experience in their home country. The preservation of their home culture that Bensonhurst offered new immigrants from the former USSR motivated them to settle into the neighborhood and into their new life in America.
Many of the immigrants coming to the US from the 1980s until the early 2000s come into the country as refugees. According to the book New Immigrant to New York, this wave of refugees from the former Soviet Union impacted New York City the most. The book states, “Between 1975 and 1994, the United States resettled nearly 412,300 refugees from the various states of the former Soviet Union” (Nancy Foner, 2001). These new refugees were more educated and tended to be older than other refugee groups. But, Foner emphasizes that while these refugees were skilled, their skills did not necessarily transfer to American culture. An example of this would be Russian athletes who specialize in sports that are not played here in America. As a result of this, immigrants from the former Soviet Union still struggled when they first arrived in the country to adapt to the United States job market.
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The acceptance of so many refugees is responsible in part to the 1990 Immigration Act in which an emphasis was placed on the admittance of skilled individuals. The New York City Department of City Planning’s 2000 Edition report on The Newest New Yorkers asserts, “The 1990 Act...permanently put into place a program to diversify the source countries of immigration to the United States,” accounting for the surge of admittance from Eastern European countries in addition to the already high admittance from South American, Central American, and Southeast Asian countries at that time. The 2000 report states, “Over eight-in-ten refugees to the city were from the Ukraine, Russia, Uzbekistan, Belarus, and other former Soviet republics,” during the 1990s. The report also asserts that when immigrants come to New York City, “Immigrants in the region tend[ed] to settle in lower income neighborhoods that are marked by high population densities, and a housing stock that is older, with proportionately more multifamily and rental units,” suggesting that Bensonhurst would be an ideal area to locate for a new immigrant family because it is in a relatively highly populated area that also has more affordable housing options.
Overall, Bensonhurst is a diverse neighborhood that has been influenced by the variety of cultural groups that have settled there. From the sephardic Jews in early 1900s to the Italians in the 1920s to the immigrants from the former Soviet Union, Bensonhurst has been a welcoming neighborhood for newcomers to America. The glimpses of the “old country” that this neighborhood provides along with all of the services available to immigrants, Bensonhurst is an ideal place to begin one’s new life in America.
Websites Consulted
http://www.voicesofny.org/2013/12/polish-saturday-schools-serve-a-changing-diaspora/
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http://mapserver.lib.virginia.edu/
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http://www.brainpop.com/socialstudies/culture/immigration/preview.weml
http://www.brainpopjr.com/search/?keyword=immigration
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http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/04/130416-brooklyn-neighborhood-new-york-80s-immigration-pictures-photographs/
http://www.geo.hunter.cuny.edu/~imiyares/Immigration_textonly.htm
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http://www.jchb.org/immigrant-services/
http://www.bencojo.org/programs.htm
http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/downloadPublication.cfm?PublicationID=12115
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bensonhurst,_Brooklyn