Daniel Susan                                                                                                      

Professor. Kay Bell

Writing for The Social Sciences                                                                        

February 17^th, 2021

            My interviewee, Alicia Taveras, is currently an 18-year-old female student From Hunts Point in the Bronx. She currently goes to the City College of New York to study architecture. Upon first introduction, I found out that Alicia Works a job at home depot for three days out of the week while pursuing her dreams of being an architect. This behavior instantly made it clear that Alicia was a very hard-working woman and that there was more to her than meets the eye. Furthermore, Alicia was raised in the Bronx for most of her life. She had explained to me how important it is to have a sense of community where she lives. She recalls upon a time where the people in her community looked out for each other and enjoyed each other’s company. She has told me that her community has been falling apart slowly over the past 5 years to the point where neighbors have lost touch with one another. But Alicia has not given up on her neighborhood just yet, she believes that a strong community presence in the south Bronx would be the best way to steer children and adults away from the stereotypes that the people of her community feed into. Alicia has given back to her community by joining programs such as the Bronx Community Action Team which “helps children, youth, and families in low-income communities rise above poverty.” And a slew of other youth-oriented enrichment programs. Alicia strongly believes that changing only one child’s perspective is enough to create a chain effect throughout her whole neighborhood.  

            Is the South Bronx Marginalized? Ask any new Yorker what they think of the South Bronx and I guarantee they will give you some half-baked, dimwitted insult of what the South Bronx is, without ever setting a foot inside there. And if you look at the news, I guarantee you that nearly every single news headline relating to the Bronx, only highlights crime, never anything good. So, back to my question. Is the south Bronx marginalized?  Yes, the South Bronx is probably one of the most, if not most marginalized community that we have here in NYC. As an outsider looking in, I never really understood why the South Bronx always received so much flack, the only time I have been there was for a block party that ended up being a wonderful time. So why is it that the Bronx is always projected as a hostile territory? And what can we do about it?  This is where Alicia comes in to paint the misunderstood picture that we call The South Bronx. Alicia had told me that the Bronx community was not always as hostile as it may seem. She explains that her community has slowly deteriorated over time which led more and more people to live a life riddled with crime and violence. She told me that more and more kids are feeling hopeless in the sense they will never make it out of their hood because the media tells them so. She adds that more and more people are feeding into the Bronx propaganda of living a life of crime because the media tells them that is who they are. She feels as if the youth of her community are placing limitations on themselves because that is what the media tells them to do from a young age. As an outsider, I can totally see what she means by this. When I googled “the Bronx” and then went over to the news tab, I quickly discovered that every top article is relating to a shooting, death, drug related crime, and a plethora of other horrific headlines. Its no wonder that people are starting to believe the media’s portrayal of their neighborhood. For example, if you tell the most beautiful person that they are ugly every day, eventually you are going to get inside their head and make them believe that they are truly ugly.  According to Alicia, this situation resonates with the people from the South Bronx because the media and society have been slandering the South Bronx and its inhabitants for as long as I can recall.

            Being the daughter of a single father, Alicia had understood from a very young age how important it is to take responsibility head on and push. She understands how impactful one person can be on another person’s life. She understands that all someone needs is a little push to get them started in the right direction. Alicia feels as if she has the responsibility to rebirth the beautiful sense of comradery that once was in the South Bronx. Alicia is not one for standing around while her neighborhood breaks down into crumbs. In fact, Alicia is a woman of strong-will that is determined to build up her community from the ground up. Alicia has plans for her community such as converting an abandoned storefront into a community rec center for kids, she also plans to continue resuming her work with youth groups once COVID-19 restrictions are lifted. Hope in the South Bronx might start to feel like a lost feeling, but not for Alicia. She understands her role and is more than willing to own up to it to empower all those around her.

            Sitting down with Alicia led to a very interesting hour-long conversation. We initially started off getting to know each other; but quickly fell into rabbit hole discussions much bigger than small talk. One of the first questions I had asked Alicia was “Who are the role models in your life?” I asked this because I feel as if this question is a good way to gauge the morals and philosophies one might live with every day. Alicia had told me that her role model was her father, this was because her father had to take on the role of the absent mother which Alicia understood is a huge challenge. She commends her father for being able to play the role of both parents, she would recall upon times where she would rely on her father for womanly advice even though he had been a man all his life. After listening to Alicia recall memories with her father, it became obvious that he remains to be an integral part of her everyday life. Shortly after picking her brain about morals and philosophies, I began to question Alicia about the community she lives in. After finding out she lives in the South Bronx, I had asked her if she ever gave back to her community in any way, shape, or form. To my surprise, Alicia had been a very active member in her community. Alicia had told me that she volunteered for numerous summer camps for kids in her community, as well as a Bronx Community Action team that helps children, youth, and families rise over poverty. Personally, as a victim of capitalism, I did not understand why Alicia spent so much time volunteering for so many programs. After all, it was not like she was getting paid. So why did she do it? She did it because Alicia is rare human that has a raw compassion for the people all around her. It is so rare to find people nowadays that are more than the façade that they put up on social media. However, it was clear to me that Alicia is in fact a rare person that does not help people for a trophy or a paycheck, Alicia helps because she cares. At this point I felt like I knew Alicia well. So, I felt confident she had a pretty good response to my next question; “how do you plan on using architecture to enrich your community?” to which she replied almost instinctive remark of joy. It was at that moment I knew I had piqued her curiosity with that question. She then replied to my question my describing how her neighborhood has an abandoned store front that she would love to turn into a community rec center. She added that all her community was missing was an area of neutrality where people could come together and interact with each other. She feels that getting more people involved within the community will help repair relationships between the people and their community. Alicia plans reach out to the congressman and woman to restore that old, abandoned store front and bring back the Bronx that once was. Alicia’s determination to see her neighborhood succeed had sparked a fire in me that I did not know existed. Alicia’s energy was so infectious that by the end of our conversation I had made a promise to Alicia that I would be on the front lines with her anytime she is ready to restore that old store. They say it takes a village to raise a child, but not in this case. When looking at Alicia and her future commitments, one could say that it takes a child to raise a village.

            Prior to speaking to Alicia, the Bronx felt like a distant alcoholic uncle that I did not have to speak to unless I was forced to. Even though the Bronx had never hurt me, I would hear things from the news or people about the Bronx that would leave a sour taste in my mouth. For example, every so often I would hear teachers in my old high school, located in suburban queens, slander the public schools and facilities in the Bronx. Last year, I had this one English teacher consistently bad mouthing the education system in the Bronx and praising himself for how lucky he was to work in my neighborhood. He explained to us how the school we went to have much less violence, disturbances mid class, and how the general attitude towards the environment was better. To me, his attack on The Bronx and their inhabitants is an outright act of bigotry. I believe that people like my teacher who would have given up on a place such as The Bronx are a detriment to society. This is because people like my teacher do not have the bones to want to see a community do better. Fortunately for me, I had the opportunity to speak to someone that cares more about the Bronx than the people in power meant to represent The Bronx. Alicia had taught me that the Bronx is not a lawless territory where dreams go to die. Rather, she exposed me to how much good faith is still left in her neighborhood. Alicia showed me how community centers, public gatherings in the park, and community outreach targeting kids is on the rise in the Bronx. She also explained how she is working on creating a community rec center with the help of representatives to reconnect with the kids in her neighborhood. To me, The Bronx is just like a poor boy that got lost from his mother. And just like the poor boy, I believe that The Bronx needs to find its mother again. Someone to tell them that everything is going to be fine, to tell them not to listen to the news, to tell them to join a community rec center and reconnect with their neighbors. Maybe what the Bronx is missing is more people like Alicia. Rare individuals with the capacity to care for others and the means to build communities from the ground up.