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Where Boston's immigrants are from
By adamg on Thu, 06/29/2017 - 9:28am
The BPDA prepared this map that shows the top originating countries for foreign-born Bostonians by neighborhood, as part of an exhibit at the BPL's Norman B. Leventhal Map Center on Who We Are: Boston Immigration Then and Now. To see the map larger, click on the first link, then on the map.
H/t eeka.
Neighborhoods:
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Comments
WHY DID THEY LEAVE OUT
WHY DID THEY LEAVE OUT IRELAND?
Why did you leave out reading the map?
1. Foreign Born
2. Read what is written on the map. IRELAND appears prominently in West Roxbury.
Ireland in Dorchester too
Although not surprisingly Vietnam and a lot of other countries are larger than Ireland today. If this map was using data from the 70s and 80s Ireland would be IRELAND!
Um
Yes, that part of Dorchester was whiter a few decades ago. Let's use a bunch of caps and exclamation points to show how attached we are to that.
what
"THEY" DIDN'T LEAVE OUT IRELAND. IN THE NEIGHBORHOODS WHERE IT IS ONE OF THE TOP 10 BIRTHPLACES OF FOREIGN-BORN RESIDENTS, IT'S SO REFLECTED. THIS MAP IS ABOUT FOREIGN-BORN RESIDENTS THOUGH, NOT ABOUT WHATEVER YOU WANT IT TO BE ABOUT. WHILE I CAN DRAW MY OWN CONCLUSIONS ABOUT WHAT THAT MIGHT BE, I'LL REFRAIN.
China
Chinese immigrants are essentially buying up streets in West Roxbury between Roxbury Latin and Washington St. If I was not an Uber driver, I would have never known until it was too late to learn Mandarin.
On a related note, while driving from Marina Bay last weekend after brunch with the kids, I started saying ni hao to all the Asian passers-by on the street to amuse the kids (I do a lot worse on the Cape with out-of-town tourists). right about at North Quincy T stop I was going 30 a minute.
You went around saying ni hao
You went around saying ni hao to all the Asians, regardless of whether they were Chinese or not?
And
apparently teaching their kids that it's appropriate to "ni hao" at Asians.
Even most Mandarin speakers find randomly "ni hao"ing at them to be racist.
I'll say this much
About 20 years I visited southern China. When I'd be out, various random Chinese people, mostly young adults, would yell "hello" to me while walking by laughing. It was very annoying. So yeah, randomly yelling "ni hao," even if linguistically appropriate, is inappropriate.
And, you, know
Not every Asian person you pass on the street is Mandarin speaking Chinese, or even Chinese at all. I wonder if CapeCoddah was squinting as hard as they could while saying this, too, to just add that extra level of insult to a Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese, Cambodian, Thai, Taiwanese, Cantonese Speaking, etc, person. I bet they even added the little accent, too.
Then again, a troll is a troll, and none of this even happened, and they just wanted to post some Racist shit here to "rustle some jimmies". Gotta love giving Boston that great name and reputation, even if its online.
I'll do you one better
Not every Chinese person he passes speaks Mandarin, even those who are immigrants.
I spent a fair amount of time in the PRC in those days,
too. I would occasionally get followed by streams of little kids when I was on the street, especially in Beijing and Shenzen, presumably amused / appalled by the gigantic (a foot taller than the average adult) white ghost in a suit and tie.
A young bellhop taking my bags up to my room at the Mandarin in Beijing: "You American?" "Yes, I am." "You know Michael Jordan?" "Yes, I do," I fibbed, "A very nice man." He was so thrilled that he blushed, was nearly vibrating. Adorable!
Glad you chimed in
I don't know what I would do without the expert commentary from an expert Uber driver on what immigrants are "buying up streets" in West Roxbury.
Also, thank you for making an ass out of yourself because obviously all Asian people you see on the street speak are Chinese and speak Mandarin Chinese. You say worse things to out of town tourists on the Cape? Good for you - except you were the out of town dumb-ass tourist over in Quincy. Ah, the joys of casual racism. Do everyone a favor and stay down the cape - hopefully away from my vacation house, though.
-- expert Uber driver on what
-- expert Uber driver on what immigrants are "buying up streets" in West Roxbury. --
I'm patient. When it eventually becomes evident, Professor CapeCoddah will be living rent free in your brain whenever you are reminded of the reality.
Chinese have been the highest immigrant pop in Westie since at least 2010. Highest.
Oh okay
That excuses your racist rudeness toward Asians, how?
Lol
Right, "Professor CapeCoddah" - don't you have somebody to go pick up? Hopefully they aren't Asian, though, since you obviously have some mental issues with an entire content of people. BTW, remember its illegal to use a cell phone and drive - wouldn't want you flying off the Sagamore Bridge.
-- since you obviously have
-- since you obviously have some mental issues --
Judge: Mr CapCoddah, you have been charged with multiple counts of saying hello to Asians. How do you plead?
CapeCoddah: Ummm.....
Judge: Apparently you are not aware of just how serious saying hello is.. especially in another language. How would you like it if I said Aloha to you? Would you like that?
CapeCoddah: Ummmm....
Juror with a slow kid haircut: He obviously has some mental issues!
Proving the point
Incoherent rantings to try to move the goal posts from doing some racist shit in front of you kids to at least 30 Asian people a minute. Right. Not suprising you don't live in Boston and live on the Cape. Like I said, perhaps you should stay on the Cape Mr. Uber Driver.
PBS
I am a product of PBS programming. Kai Lan taught me through the technique of repetition to say ni hao to strangers.
You should see what Dora has me doing in the Latin quarter. The hombres aren't as passive to my public broadcasting manner.
Trollin' Troll
Gotta love racist trolls.
You seem like a post-facts
You seem like a post-facts type of person, but both of those shows were Nickelodeon, not PBS.
It is no secret that a lot of Chinese money is looking to
shelter cash from taxes back home by buying real estate in Boston. When I was shopping for a place in City Point a while back, there were multiple Chinese-native buyers (professional agents, not people looking to live in those homes) at every open house I attended. They significantly outbid me on several houses with all-cash, no-contingency offers. Tough to compete with when you're going in with mortgage and inspection contingencies.
Don't take my word for it: talk to any Boston realtor.
holy balls dude
that's super duper racist, thanks for bringing up your little kids to be racist too.
What constitutes a resident?
For example, where does a college student fall on this? I assume undergrads no but what about longer term academics pursuing PHDs, medical stuff, etc...?
Yes, I was wondering the same
I was surprised by the number of Chinese and Indian folks, because the communities of immigrants from those countries in Boston are small compared to others (I'm basing this on the demographics when going to places like Head Start, YMCAs, BPS, community meetings, etc.) Then I realized these countries send a lot of grad students who are right out of undergrad and don't participate much in communities outside of their university circles. Like, Chinatown and Allston have a Chinese-American community, and South Boston has an Indian-American community, but the other places that list high number of folks born in these countries are clearly counting a lot of graduate students. Who, I mean, yes, are obviously part of our city, but in a really different way from people who are settled here long-term.
It would be interesting to also see maps based on, say, the BPS home language survey.
Why not undergraduates
They sleep in Boston more than 180 nights a year... how are they not residents?
Level of entrenchment into the social fabric?
Eeka touched on this as well. I'm not opposed to considering students residents but certainly the demographics might shift a bit depending on if students are counted I think?
Personally, I'd categorize someone as a resident if they are pretty much living here year round in a non-dorm type residences. I think it implies also that they are likely registered to vote here, perhaps vote in local elections, etc...
Their choice
If undergraduates choose to maintain their parents' home as their permanent residence, they are allowed to. They are also allowed to declare residence here in Boston - which would mean registering to vote, registering their cars here, etc. There may be tax consequences for mommy and daddy.
Right
This is from census data, so probably a lot of undergrads aren't filling it out as living in Boston.
Obviously *just* being an undergrad shouldn't make someone not a resident; there are plenty of people raising kids here and whatnot who are working on an undergrad degree.
But yeah, I would say that a resident is someone who has established their own household and is no longer part of another one somewhere else. Votes here, has health insurance here, registers car here, pays taxes here, fills out census here, uses this address on everything, and so forth.
Guatemalans in Allston?
Wouldn't have guessed that in a million years. Couple of guys in the kitchen at Harry's back in the day, but I didn't know there was enough of a population to show up in this graphic.
Brazil
I would have expected Brazil to be more prominent in Allston, but they got it right with a lot of Russians.
Totally!
In Lower Allston particularly, there are a ton of Central American folks.
Poblacion Chapin
I dont know how far back "back in the day" goes for you Will. There is a significant population of Guatemalans in Lower Allston ("LA" as someone is calling it in a different Uhub story today). It has grown steadily in the last 20 years.
Ha ha
2007. TBF, I did notice a large family/group of Spanish speakers walking around LA last night. I've been going for evening walks now that I work days. Seeing a lot of my 'hood I might not have otherwise noticed.
Interesting map. I feel
Interesting map. I feel fortunate to live in a diverse city where people from around the world want to live and feel welcome enough to stay and call home.
Welcome?
I don't feel welcome. Most of us don't. When we work, we are job stealers, although we are systematically paid less. When we rent or buy, we are told we "kill the market", although we don't get shorted by agents and we miss on the the various subsidies you get. Why do we live so crowded? Why do we study so hard? Why do we wear those ridiculous shoes...
And when we mind our own business (perhaps because we are too damn tired from working), we are chastised for not attending YMCA.
The really interesting map should show how many foreign-born people are able to live here in their retirement. I am taking regular people, not rent-seekers, nor paid-for by their children, nor the Chinese grannies digging for recyclable bottles, who ran out of places to call "home".
Don't get over yourself. There's nothing special about you in the fact that many foreigners come to Boston. You just have a better system of milking foreigners without us noticing until it is too late.
Plenty of locals live crowded
Plenty of locals live crowded and struggle, and many new buyers can indeed have an affect on the market. Overall it's pretty good, but there's plenty of places to go if you feel differently.
hold up..
so are you saying "people blame you for the economy, so get out"..?
equating "locals'" experiences in order to minimize the immigrant experience is pretty ridiculous on its face.
That's obviously not what was
That's obviously not what was said. There are plenty of new people doing very well, and plenty of people who been here a long time struggling.
What's ridiculous is assuming everyone's experience is the same. People can move if they aren't happy to another region, that's what the post said.
One other question
This is super cool. I'd love to see what the overall percentages is per neighborhood. For example, I'd bet the % of immigrants overall is higher in Allston than say, West Roxbury and that would be interesting context.
stats
Allston-Brighton 28% immigrant Westie 22% as of the 2010 census.
http://statisticalatlas.com/zip/02134/National-Origin
There are tons of immigrants
in West Roxbury.
A lot of posters on this site have one pretty antiquated views on West Roxbury and other parts of the city and suburbs. I live in Quincy now and it's extremely diverse, not just ethnicity, race, but socioeconomic.
Agreed on WR
but I don't think the level of immigrant residents is uniform across the city, no? Saying I think Allston has more immigrants than WR isn't a slam on either location or immigrants.
Fun exhibit
My daughter and I saw this exhibit on Tuesday. It was great to look at the map of past immigration to Boston and show her where my French-Canadian ancestors settled & her father's Syrian family did. Then we went around to the modern map and found all the countries where she knows her classmates came from. It really personalized the idea of immigration for us.
My Mom grew up in an Italian
My Mom grew up in an Italian neighborhood in Brighton. Nearly all of the Italians there were born in a small commune called San Donato Val Di Comino, as her parents were. They were in a sea of Irish and Jewish residents of Brighton, at that time.
I live on that street now :)
I live on that street now :)
Actually visited San Donato and stayed in a neighbor's house there. Only place in my life where people know where the Brighton is but don't speak english :)
Surprised Italy is represented so strongly in North End
Didn't realize Italians would still be immigrating to that neighborhood, but I guess they probably still have family there or are working in one of the Italian shops or restaurants.
was your mom from bug village?
why are there no shamrocks on that map??
What?
The map doesn't use any sorts of symbols.
Bug's Village
Why yes she did. She went to St Cols for high school.
My father said that Bug's were an old gang in the 20s. Don't know if that was true.
Capecoddah, take note
This is how other people engage their kids on on the matter of immigration.
No, engagement
is when you yell shit at strangers out of moving cars.
Yelling
-- when you yell shit at strangers out of moving cars. --
If I am in Japan and someone yells "herro" at me when I am walking down the street, I will not be able to hide my smile.
If they mistake me for Canadian, and wing out a "herro eh" though there will be hell to pay.
Doubling down on the stupid
Which you have obviously never been, at least not outside of a military base.
Racist troll tactics bingo
Just marked off another square:
Racist troll saying that treating people of color in a particular way (that POC are sick to death of getting all the time from ignorant white people) is fine, because the white racist troll would be fine with it if the equivalent happened to them even though it's not going to and even though it would totally not be the same thing because of the power dynamic.
Chinese is a tonal language
You only think that you are saying hello. You might be saying something way more amusing.
I may move to Dorchester ....
...where I assume there are lot of Vietnamese restaurants. Delicious!
Yes there are
All up and down Dot. Ave., in and near Fields Corner.
ELL/SEI
This bolsters the argument that ELL and SEI programs need a boost in funding.
What a cool map.
Not really. This map
Not really. This map generated for any American city for any time since the late 1800's is going to have non-English speaking countries (i.e. someplace outside Britian) in big print.
So, where's the best
So, where's the best Dominican restaurant in Boston?
Merengues on Blue Hill Ave
Merengues on Blue Hill Ave
Merengue (no "s") is really good, has live music,
and has really lovely atmosphere, good drinks, and table service. A favorite of Big Papi's. Others I'd recommend: Alex's Chimis in JP (great rotisserie chicken and chimis, grlll-pressed sandwiches -- I love the one with the skinny hamburger patty) and El Embajador in JP (great sopa de mariscos). The new La Fábrica in Central Square, Cambridge (from the Merengue folks) has a few Dominican and Cuban dishes, though the menu is primarily Puerto Rican.
About that superfluous "s": http://mcslimjb.blogspot.com/2009/08/but-there-is-no-mr-lespalier-or-ban...
Immigrants