Assignment #1

Prior to coming to Chicago for the Gallatin Global Fellowship in Urban Practice, my explanation of what I was doing over the summer would oftentimes be met with confusion and concern by friends and family friends. The confusion stemmed from the fact that I, a white person with virtually no ties to Puerto Rico, was doing volunteer work and research at a Puerto Rican community center in a historically Puerto Rican neighborhood. The concern came from the fact that said neighborhood, Humboldt Park was “sketchy” and/or “dangerous” in the eyes of my parents’ friends from Chicago, most of whom live on the relatively chi chi north side of town.

Regarding the identitarian confusion, I always felt as if it was valid, yet I am still committed to my tasks at the Puerto Rican Cultural Center and feel that I do not necessarily need to be Puerto Rican to show solidarity with the organization. Despite this, I have tried to remain well aware of the dynamic that is created through my presence at the PRCC. Unlike nearly the entire staff of the Cultural Center, I am a relatively well-off white male who is in his early 20s. I also hail from the notoriously expensive (read: classist) institution that is New York University.

In my two weeks here, I have been met with the utmost kindness and hospitality. Though some of the PRCC staff did initially look at my caucasian presence with some seeming confusion, there has noticeable been no strife or tension regarding it. Oftentimes people will ask me where my parents are from, to which I’ll answer “New York,” only to realize that they’re actually attempting to politely get at the roots of my ancestors and discern my relation to Puerto Rico.

Interestingly enough, when I tell people I’m Irish, they’ve expressed a deep interest, as the PRCC, an “indepentista” organization that calls for the decolonization and independence of Puerto Rico, sympathizes with the anti-colonial struggle of the Irish Republican Army. I even had a fascinating conversation with local poet Eduardo Arocho about his time studying Irish poetry and the ties between Irish anti-colonial movements and Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos, a prominent figure in the Puerto Rican independence movement whose name honorably graces sections of Humboldt Park’s main drag, West Division Street, as well as the local alternative high school.

James Connolly, noted Irish independence figure, and Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos, noted Puerto Rican independence figure. The two have been called “brothers in arms.”

Source: https://nothingtobegainedhere.wordpress.com/2011/09/12/albizu-and-connolly-lives-of-sacrifice-and-valor/

Regarding this “concern” expressed by my parents’ slightly out-of-touch friends regarding Humboldt Park’s safety, I personally haven’t had any trouble in the neighborhood (except the time I was eating Chinese Food in a local restaurant and a teenager threw a rock at the window opposite from where I was sitting). Once when I was illustrating the shape of an A7 chord on the guitar to a local 17 year old in the neighborhood’s titular park, he urged me to put my fingers down, as the shapes I was making could have been construed as gang signs. “You’re in Humboldt Park. Don’t do that,” he said with a slightly joking demeanor. He also urged me to not walk in the park late at night, and to never go west of the park’s western edge. “I live over there. It’s bad.”

I was unable to find affordable housing in Humboldt Park proper, so I’ve taken up residence in neighboring Logan Square. One of my roommates actually grew up in Humboldt Park and studied Urban Geography at DePaul University, which has allowed for several fascinating conversations regarding the neighborhood’s change over time between the two of us.

When discussing the two neighborhoods with my friend and Chicago expert Rachel, they compared Logan Square to Bushwick and Humboldt Park to Bed-Stuy — presumably implying that Logan Square is a rapidly gentrifying art haven formerly home to a solely lower income Latinx population, while Humboldt Park is gentrifying at a slightly slower pace, has fewer yuppie amenities like coffee shops and record stores, and still retains a relatively strong ethnic identity. I think this analysis holds, as Logan Square is home to a variety of cocktail bars (including one on my block that offensively sells 40 oz bottles of malt liquor served on ice for $8), record shops, and young professionals and hipsters. Humboldt Park, though visibly gentrifying, is less of a “playground” area and is still marked by a strong Puerto Rican presence, evidenced by the endless amount of Puerto Rican flags on display, and the bevy of delicious Boricua restaurants that line Division Street.

I have typically been driving to work at the PRCC, but I will start taking the bus that runs directly outside my door. Aside from being stressful, I think that having my own car gives me an advantage that many Chicagoans do not have, and that I would be in a better position to experience my surroundings were I to take public transit.