WHYS - 24/08/07 - New York blogger
We're just three days away from our simulcast show. If you haven't seen our plans yet, click here.
³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ London has confirmed its plans - check them out here
In the lead-up to the show, we've asked bloggers to tell us why their city should be crowned champion. Last week it was the turn of London blogger, Owen Powell. Now it's over to Jen Chung from influential NYC blog, ...
..."Obviously New York City is the best role model for a multi-cultural city. The American Dream, the powerful belief that hard work will allow anyone to succeed, has led to millions of immigrants making New York their home and the place where the prove themselves.
New York has been forged through many cultures coming together and seeking economic reward. A deal between the Lenape Native Americans and Dutch traders initiated the city's settlement in the 1600s. New York's success as a port city attracted the British who won the land from the Dutch and governed until the American Revolution. And in the 1800s, as the United States grew and demanded more hands to help build it, immigrants from Europe continued to come ashore.
In the late 19th century, the most recognized symbol of New York arrived - the Statue of Liberty - just a few years before Ellis Island became a gateway for millions of immigrants, representing not only freedom from oppression but becoming a beacon to newcomers. Economic hardship, political unrest, the end of World War II, the Soviet Union's collapse, and educational opportunities have prompted a steady stream of immigration from Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, Mexico, South America and the Caribbean throughout the 20th century and into the new millennium.
Today, New York has a minority majority - 55.3% of its residents are non-white. The city's information service 311 offers translation services for the nearly 180 languages spoken in the five boroughs. The United Nation is located in Manhattan, where a saunter through the borough can bridge African-American and Latino cultures, skim Chinese, Italian, Ukrainian and Jewish enclaves, not to mention offers Koreatown, Little Tokyo, and Curry Row. And Manhattan isn't even the most diverse borough: Queens holds that distinction, with almost 50% of its residents are foreign born. In fact, 36% of New Yorkers are foreign born, and 48% speak a language other than English at home.
The city's economy would be, as Mayor Michael Bloomberg calls it, a "shell of itself" without immigrants - both legal and illegal. Any workplace, whether it's a restaurant kitchen or corporate office, tends to be composed of a number of nationalities. On a typical street, there's the deli, owned by Koreans and staffed with Mexicans, which offers Indian spices and Japanese treats. A few doors down, there's a Kosher restaurant, next to a Latino funeral home. The news-stand is run by a Pakistani man has newspapers in Spanish, Yiddish, Chinese, and more.
It's like the song, "New York, New York," says: "If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere." And clearly, millions of people around the world throughout the years have taken that message to heart."
Jen Chung, New York City, August 2007
