WHERE CARIBBEAN PEOPLES LIVE IN-NEW YORK CITY

Transcription

1 WHERE CARIBBEAN PEOPLES LIVE IN-NEW YORK CITY DENNIS CONWAY and UALTHAN BIGBY Indiana University, Bloomington In spite of the acclaimed presence of West Indians as part of the Black minority in New York City, little is known about the residential adjustment of this extremely varied rndlange of Caribbean immigrant groups, and how the groups have fared visa-vis each other. Particular ethnic subgroups have been identified with general areas within the city. Notably, Puerto Rican residential patterns have been documented (Boswell, 1976) and Dominicans in New York City have been treated as a special case (Hendricks, 1974; Lowenthal, 1976). However, among the English-speaking West Indian groups Jamaicans have received the most attention Oominguez, 1975; Kessner and Caroli, 1981), and generalization about Caribbean residential patterns have rarely been anything more than occasional asides in discussions on occupational mobility (Foner, this volume). The focus of this chapter is on this neglected aspect of New York City's socio-spatial structure, namely a comparative analysis of the contemporary residential patterns of the various immigrant subgroups which comprise the Caribbean presence. It distinguishes among the Dominican, Cuban, and Haitian subgroups and compares the residential patterns of these Spanish and "Creole (French)-speaking" immigrant groups with those of the Jamaican, Trinidadian, Barbadian, Guyanese, and "other island subgroups among the English-speaking immigrants. A modified index of residential segregation (Burnley, 1975; Stimson, 1975) will be used to determine the relative degrees of residential separation and association among these subgroups.' It is expected that far from being a homogeneous entity, the subgroups within this overlooked minority will display selective residential clustering within the New York metropolitan area. The Spanish-speaking group will exhibit a distinctive separation from the English-speaking immigrant coun- Fortunately, the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), which collects information on resident aliens, has compiled a listing of nationalities by zip code areas for a few major metropolitan areas, including New York City. The 1980 data tape used in this study comprised 203,617 cases of Caribbean immigrants in New York City and categorizes them by current address (zip code area), date of entry to the United States, country of birth, country of previous residence, if different from birthplace, sex, and present occupational status.

2 WHERE CARIBBEANPEOPLES W E ln NEW YORK ClTY 71 terpart, and the "Creole (French)-spe;lking" Haitian subgroup will have a singular and distinct residential pattern which will differentiate it from the other two cultural groups. Different degrees of residential separation are to be expected within the English-speaking West Indian group in accordance with nationalistic and cultural perceptions and stereotypes these islanders hold of one another and of Black and White Americans. In general, the experience of the various Caribbean immigrant groups in New York City rests on the characteristics of their island homes and their concomitant cultural backgrounds, on the persistence of ties between these immigrant sojourners and their island communities, and on their "nonwhiteness." While they are likely to experience discrimination in employment, education, and housing along with their American minority counterparts, at the same time being "outsiders" may provide them with a somewhat unique identity and potential for leverage over the native minorities which are their competition in the urban arena. In this chapter we focus on immigrant residential patterns as indicators of nonassimilation, not merely as an independent dimension but rather as one manifestation of the pluralism which continues to prosper in New York City, the nation's major entreput. COMPARISON OF RESI'DENTLAL PATTERNS li?tnewyclrkcity According to the 1980 INS data, approximately 200,000 Caribbean immigrants are on record as residents in 173 zip code areas in Manhattan, Bronx, Queens, and Brooklyn? Dominicans are the dominant immigrant group (43%), and To determine the relative degrees of residential separation and association between the Caribbean immigrants, the following modified index of residential segregation (Is) is used (Burnley, 197s): k L=tz lxi-y, I i= 1 where I. is the Index of Residential Separation (Segregation), Xi is the percentage of the reference population (other national group or cultural group) in a zip code area, zxai is the total number of an immigrant group in the metropolitan area. zyai is the total number of the reference population in the metropolitan area, and k is the number of zip code areas in the metropolitan area. * Bryce-Laporte estimates therewere 324,786 Caribbean immigrants in New York City counted by the 1970 U.S. Census, so these INS data are clearly an undercount (see, p. 56 in this volume). Despite this qualification, a comparison between Cuban patterns in the INS data and in the 1980 U.S. census reveal considerable similarities between data sets. Hence we have assumed that the INS data provide sufficient coverage to assess the 1980 residential patterns of the various Caribbean immigrant groups in the four major areas of New York City; Manhattan, Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens.

3 72 CARIBBEANLIFEINNEW YORKCITY TABLE 1 CARIBBE& IMMIGRANTS RESIDENT IN NEW YORK CITY uu 1980 ACCORDING rn INS RECORDS Rank Caribbean Country Total No. Percent Order of Origin cases Caribbean 1. Dominican Republic 2 Jamaica 3. Cuba 4. Trinidad and Tobago 5. Guyana 6. Haiti 7. Barbados 8. "Other Commonwealth Caribbean Islands" Total Total No. of Immigrants in New Yo& State Note: a This exdudes Puerto Rican migrants. 87, ,535 17,035 14,813 12J89 9,168 6nO 203, # although Jamaicans constitute the second largest group (18%), appreciable numbers (in excess of 10,OOO) of other West Indian nationalities are recorded, Cubans (9%), Trinidadians (8.4%), Guyanese (7.3%), and Haitians (6%) (Table 1). Although use is made of zip code areas to describe the residential patterns of these immigrant groups, it is recognized that this subarea unit in no way represents a homogeneous neighborhood. This problem also has been noted when using census tracts to investigate segregation in New York City (Cowgill and Cowgill, 1951.) To provide a general hame of reference for the first descriptive phase of this analysis, certain neighborhood identities have been superimposed on the map of zip code areas (Figure I). When note is taken of the proportional representation of the various immigrant Caribbean groups throughout New York City (Figures II through V) in relation to the neighborhood identities in Figure I, certain general features emerge. Crown Heights, Bedford Stuyvesant, and East New York in Brooklyn emerge as a Commonwealth Caribbean "core district" where many of the English-speaking West Indian nationalities are highly concentrated. Elsewhere in South Queens in the neighborhoods of Jamaica, South Jamaica, Hillside, and Cambria Heights, other concentrations of English-speaking immigrants are observed. Relatively few English-speaking West Indians live in Manhattan; few live in the northern part of Queens, and although the Bronx is another area where English-speaking West Indians reside, there is little evidence of large concentrations in any one of its neighborhoods (Figures 111, IV, and V). Spanish-speaking Caribbeans do, however, concentrate in Manhattan. There is a distinctive Dominican "core district" in the neighborhoods of Spanish Harlem, the Upper West Side, and Washington Heights in Manhat-

4 WHERE CARlBBEAN PEOPLES W E IN NEW YORK CrrY 73 FIGURE I NEIGHBORHOODS IN NEW YORK CITY

5 74 CARIBBEAN LIFE IN NEW YORK CRY FIGURE I1 SPANISH-SPEAKING WEST INDIAN IMMIGRANT RESIDENTIAL CONCENTRATIONS FIGURE I11 JAMAICAN AND TRINIDADIAN IMMIGRANT RESIDENTIAL CONCENTRATIONS

6 WHERE CARIBBEANPEOPLES W E IN NEW YORK ClTY 75 FIGURE IV BARBADIAN AND GUYANESE IMMIGRANT RESIDENTIAL CONCENTRATIONS FIGURE V HAITIAN AND OTHER ISLANDER IMMIGRANT RESIDENTIAL CONCENTRATIONS

7 76 CARIBBEAN LIFE IN NEW YORK ClTY TABLE 2 SEGREGATION INDICES OF IMMIGRANT, NATIONAL SUB-GROUPS WlTH DIFFERENT CARIBBWN CULTURAL GROUPS IN NEW YORK CITY, 1980 Spanish- English- FiX?llch Cultural Speaking Speaking Creole Background Immigrant Cultural Cultural Cultural (hpw4 Sub-Gmup Group Group Group Spanish Dominican Republic Cuba French Creole (French) Haiti English Jamaica Trinidad L Tobago Guyana s Barbados Other Islands Note: a See, Footnote 1 for how these indices were derived. tan, also Hispanics also reside in appreciable proportions in Belmont and Parkchester in the Bronx and in the Jackson Heights-Corona section of Queens (Figure IIa). On the other hand Cubans do not appear to have one recognizable core district, They do co-inhabit Manhattan with the Dominicans but their pattern is one of rather lower proportions in many neighborhoods in all the counties (Figure IIb). The Haitians appear to have concentrated in the Vanderveer Park neighborhood in Queens. As the Englishspeakers, fewer Haitians reside in Manhattan (Figure Va). Grouping Caribbean immigrants into cultural groups according to the major language of their home country provides three reference groups against which the patterns of residential separation of national subgroups can be compared (Table 2). Clear differences emerge between the residential patterns of the English- and Spanish-speaking groups, with nationalities of each group exhibiting association with their own kind but considerable separation from the opposite cultural group (Table 2). The Haitian ( Creole (French)-speaking ) group s pattern is much closer to that of the Englishspeaking group (Is=31.1) than the Spanish speaking group (Is=68.4). Also of interest are the relative degrees of residential separation of the Commonwealth Caribbean nationalities and their reference cultural group, the remainder of the English-speaking immigrants. Other islanders exhibit the least separation (Is= 17.7),and Trinidadians are also intermixed among their Commonwealth Caribbean brothers and sisters &= 19.9).Barbadians and Guyanese exhibit greater degrees of separation from other English-speaking West Indians (Is=30.1 and Is=28.5, respectively). Barbadians also exhibit the higher degree of separation from the Spanish-speaking cultural group

8 WHERE CARIBBEANPEOPLES hrve IN NEW YORK ClTY 77 (l,=77.0). Yet, in spite of these differences,. with the English-speaking group there appears to be a greater degree of residential separation between the two Spanish-speaking nationalities, the I3ominicans and Cubans (I,=38.3 and 1,=38.5, respectively) (Table 2). These patterns of residential separati0.n and association clearly demonstrate the heterogeneity in residential experiences of Caribbean immigrants in New York City. In cases of separatiori of nationalities with a different reference culture group, the indices of residential separation approximate those estimated by other social scientists when examining Black American and Puerto Rican segregation with the White majority in New York City. Using census tract data to obtain segregation indices for 1960, Tauber and Tauber (1972) found that Puerto Ricans were segregated from other Whites by an Is of 73, that Blacks were separated from White Americans by an I, of So, and that Blacks were separated from F'uerto Ricans by an I, of 62. In our study, all "Black" English-speaking nationalities3 except Guyanese have separation indices from their Spanish-speaking counterparts exceeding the 62 of the Black Puerto Rican index, suggesting higher degrees of residential differentiation among Caribbean immigrant groups. In similar fashion, both Dominicans and Cubans exhibit greater separation (Is=66.3 and I,=64.6 respectively) from the English-speaking group (Table 2). CONCLUSION In terms of prior expectations our conviction that residential clustering would be pronounced is confirmed in this analysis. The two major cultural groups of Caribbean immigrants do exhibit considerable residential separation in New York City. Although the Barbadians among the English-speakers exhibit the highest degree of separation both from their related culture group and from the Spanish-speaking group, the range of indices reflecting different residential patterns of the Commonwealth Caribbean nationalities is relatively small. Also, contrary to expectations, the Haitians, rather than exhibiting a separate residential pattern, appear to have an affinity for residential proximity to English-speaking immigrants in New York City, especially in neighborhoods in Brooklyn and South Queens (Figure Va). In fact, Haitians exhibit less residential separation from English-speaking West Indians than do Dominicans and Cubans from each other. This supports the several impressions that there is more residential clustering among "Black" Caribbean immigrant groups than among; "brown" Hispanic groups (Figures 11,111, V, and Vb). The INS data do not distinguish the ethnicity of these immigrant nationals. Hence in the case of countries like Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago it isvety likely that undocumented proportions of these national subgroups will be of East Indian or mixed races.

9 78 CARIBBEAN LJFE IN NEW YORK CUY One conclusion logically emerging from this comparative analysis of the 1980 residential patterns of Caribbean immigrants is that more can be learned about patterns of differentiation, segregation, and succession in cosmopolitan New York City by desegregating Caribbean immigrants from the undifferentiated categories of Black and Hispanic minorities (see, Denowitz, 1980). BIBLIOGRAPHY Boswell, T.D "Residential Patterns of Puerto Ricans in New York City," Geogmphical Review 66(1): Jan. Burnley, LH "European Immigration and Settlement Patterns in Metropolitan Sydney, " In Urban S d Segreption. C. Peach, ed. London: Longman. Pp. 32S343. Cowgill, D.O. and M.S. Cowgill 1951 "An Index of SepgationBased on BlockStatistics/Amnimn Sociological Review 16(6): Dec. Denowitz, RM "Racial Success in New York City, " S d Forces 59(2): Dec. Dominguez, V From Neighhr to Stranger: TheI3llmtm ofcaribban Peoples in the United States. New Haven, CT: Yale University, Antilles Research Program. Occasional Papers No. 5. Hendricks, G.L The Dominican Diaspora: From The Dominican Republic to New York City-Villagers in Transition. New York Columbia University Teachers College Press. Kessner, T. and B.B. Cadi 1981 Today's Immigrants: Their Stories. New York Oxford University Press. Lowenthal, D "New York's Hispanic Immigrants; Geographical Review 66(1): Jan. Stimson, R.J "Patterns of Immigrant Settlement in Melbourne, " In Urban S d Peach, ed. London: Longman. Pp Tauber, ICE and A.F. Tauber 1972 Negroes in Cities.New York Atheneum. Segregath. C.