Street Seens: Who Are We?
Today’s conversation was inspired by the summary report of a study that enlightened and inspired me. Enough in fact, to make me borrow its title. At first, I considered explaining that “Who Are We?” was not meant to refer to you, or to me. But then it dawned on me that the whole point is that everything I discovered in reading this story of the immigrants we are and those we admire does, very likely, refer to us both as we live and move about in this urban village. Let’s hope the title question may help us look with new eyes at our origins and rejoice again at their richness. So many urban, suburban and agricultural “villages” have evolved in the years since the land in which we live has grown and taken on its current texture and complexity. Some variously describe the result as mosaic, or melting pot, or tapestry. But back to the pamphlet that inspired this train of thought.
The Social Concerns Committee of the Parish of St. Vincent Ferrer and Saint Catherine of Siena is a small but mighty group drawn together, and into action, on behalf of neighbors. In addition to a continuing a series of outreaches and services that includes monthly food drives in cooperation with the New York Common Pantry and social and recreational events with our neighboring women’s shelter, they meet each spring for an inspiration session to identify a special focus for the theme of the coming year’s services. These have ranged from Affordable Housing, Trafficking and one I wrote about in this space more than a year ago entitled “Villagers” Open My Eyes by Refusing to Close Theirs. That was a description of what happened when the committee made a commitment to take an honest look at the issue of homelessness: its impact on their neighbors who were homeless and/or wished not to live in shelters. A good symbol of that year’s work was a pocket-sized reference folder identifying available resources and circulated in cooperation with the Neighborhood Coalition for Shelter.
That inspiration and the resources they identify, illustrate the philosophy that drives this tireless group and their hardworking agenda. If you want to respond to the needs of your neighbors, make sure to begin by learning what the people you aspire to serve see what is needed in their lives. For this remarkable group there is no “them and us” but only a common “we.” I guess that’s what separates “do gooders” from people humbly aspiring to do good.
The just-published report that grew out of the SVF/SCS Social Concerns Committee’s latest “Awareness Project” addresses the issues surrounding immigration. As they began to look at its impact on their neighbors, the group discovered that their own personal and familial experiences provided invaluable insights.
Their diverse “immigrant experiences” opened their eyes and hearts to the larger issue of how immigration and immigrants have been seen and treated by governmental, ecclesiastical, and social institutions over severalcenturies. They recognized that from the Mayflower landing at Plymouth Rock, our country (and their own ancestors) have lived through a dramatic series of moments. They have suffered from, survived and mostly come out on the other side of suspicion and fear-stoked division. They have sought for and often found reconciliation. They have dealt with discussions of a wall and recognized that it need not mark the end of a road or block the way to the ideal embodied in the words “e pluribus unum.” More than an inscription on currency, those words capture a legacy: a great-hearted statement of value more lasting than the currency it decorates.
The Committee’s 21-page summary document states that it is focused “on immigrants, migrants and refugees as reflected in our community.” Our “urban village.” It compiles photos, written reflections, press reports, cartoons depicting savage and divisive parodies, and poignant excerpts from family scrapbooks. In anecdotes, and archival documents it recalls events such as the Civil War era arrival of the Dominican Friars dedicated to serving the diverse populations of the neighborhoods now known as Manhattan’s Upper East Side, and that embraces the Parish that lends its name to the Committee and its works of service.
Images of a Know Nothing Party Flag that warns, “Native Americans Beware of Foreign Influence” sits on a page with an excerpt from the party newspaper’s portrayal of the “American Patriot” linking “foreign spies” of that day to the “Trojan Horse of old.” But many came to build: described in a section on builders of New York City like the 40,000 workers who found respite from the Great Depression working to create Rockefeller Center. In 1931, as they cleared the site, a small group pooled their coins to purchase a 20-foot Balsam. The unlighted tree was festooned with strings of cranberries, paper garlands and even a few tin cans. Now, as millions of people from around the globe come to see the massive spectacle known simply as “The Tree,” they may not guess they are savoring an immigrant tradition And many who gaze in awe at Manhattan’s skyscrapers may not know that it was the people of Canada’s Mohawk Nation like “Skywalker” who fearlessly worked in the heights to complete them.
Pope Francis’ evocative portrayal of Mary and Joseph reminded the world that this was a family of wanderers, forced to flee when rejected by those who said there was “no room” for them. JFK’s sobering passage in his book “A Nation of Immigrants” reminds its readers that “another way of indicating the importance of immigration to America is to point out that every American who ever lived, with the exception of one group, was either an immigrant himself or a descendant of immigrants.” The same section of the report headlined “MEMORABLE THOUGHTS” quotes a passage from the New York Times of January 17, 2018 by Senator Lindsay Graham. In it, he asks, “If you’re from America what are you? It’s not an ethnic group its’s not a religion –it’s an ideal. You can’t tell Americans by the way they look. People from all over the world want to be part of this ideal. And that diversity is our strength not our weakness.”
Perhaps nothing better illustrates that point than the final page of the pamphlet headlined “WE ARE AMERICA.” Listed on the 14 line drawings of suitcases are the ethnic origins of the members of the committee, many of whose individual stories are to be found in the report. From a First Nation Canadian to an African arrived via Haiti; from a woman with roots stretching back to the Mayflower; to the multi-textured ethnicities of children of Irish, German, Italian, Armenian, Canadian, Puerto Rican, Turkish, Polish, English, Philippine, Scottish and Russian descent. Their ancestry and ethnicity demonstrate the truth of the page’s sign-off. “Each of us adds an element to the truth that is America.” And that allows me to say thank you to them and express my belief that it also puts them in an ideal place to address the needs of their neighbors and ours.
Copies of the summary report “Who Are We?” can be obtained by stopping in at the Lexington Avenue vestibule of the Parish’s Church of St. Vincent Ferrer. Simply ask the guard on duty: Nadir or Tony or Terry, for a copy.
