The Mind of Bushwick

This isn't your typical article. Nor your typical spoken word.

I was born in 1995.

Born and Raised on Himrod Street, between Irving and Wycoff Avenues.

Long before there were police officers patrolling the streets.

Long before the hipsters walked in capes.

We used to have Puerto Ricans roam around Brooklyn... eating some relleno de papas, grandmothers going the Scaturo on Hart Street and Knickerbocker Ave to go food shopping, and everyone playing in Knickerbocker park.

Crime was high. There were chains on the fire escape windows and police locks on the doors.

If you heard a gunshot from a block away, you normally would just close the window and mind your business.

Nobody could walk down Evergreene, Wilson, or Central Avenues without getting robbed.

You had to know someone on almost every couple of blocks for your safety.

I remember in the summer time we were all outside. We used to bust open the fire hydrant (also known as the pumps) to get rid of that 95-degree air. We were poor. Food stamps helped us a lot. We didn’t have money to get on the train to go to Coney Island; so we used to use the pumps as our ghetto pool. I mean it was fun. Cars used it as the ghetto car wash. My favorite part about the summer is the old-timers playing dominoes. Oh and, I remember how many people was posted at the bodega. Owners like Willy and Oscar would hide all the convicts in the back whenever the 83rd used to come through. (83rd precinct). The 25 cent icies where amazing and the Spice Girl lollipops too.

I remember when block parties were a thing for the block. We had everyone come together as a community and just have a good time. With the food stamps money abuelas came together and cooked some arroz con guandules (rice and beans), potato salad, and the guys would BBQ in front of the buildings. We used Bose speakers to start the party up. Playing tunes of famous artists such as Hector Lavoe, Frankie Ruiz, Playero, Biggie, Big Pun. The kids would play games and everyone would be outside eating, drinking, smoking, and conversing.

Those were different times. We had factories everywhere. We had people of all colors, shapes and sizes come and live with us but they appreciated the culture. For the most part we were a community.

NOW, TAKING THINGS TO PRESENT DAY.

AROUND 2008, I SAW PEOPLE WHO DIDN'T LOOK OR ACT LIKE ME COME INTO MY NEIGHBORHOOD.

Most of us thought they were going to leave, because at the end of the day Bushwick was still considered the ghetto. But then we see investors come in and buy out all the factories. They even bought out the factory that was on Stanhope St. where the roasters used to say good morning to us. We all thought it would be another super market or another bodega. But no, they built tall buildings that looked like something you would see in Manhattan. They were beautiful. However, I noticed how none of our people were moving in there. By our people I mean Hispanics, New Yorkers, or even educated people of color.

They were different. We welcomed them into our neighborhoods. But we started to see the rent going up. We saw investors coming in buying out the old ladies that I've seen all my life. I saw the horrors of new owners purposely not fixing the buildings because some of us refused to move out of our 20,30,40+ years of an apartment.

I was young. But even then I wondered, why push out people that call this home. They left them homeless and intruded our community. Yes, it was a community. Yes, there was bad in it but we were together.

Another thing that made us angry was the artwork that was originally on the walls wasn't graffiti. They were murals of people that died at that particular spot and we showed tribute to them. Today, we have artists that aren't from the neighborhood call it "Bushwick Art.'' It's beautiful but it's not us, you feel me?

I've seen so many talents go down the drain because they weren't given a chance. Now we have others come in and take the culture to what isn't.

A block party is not a market for companies to sell their products. Neighborhood art is exactly what it is. I’m pretty sure if they told us we would have done it. Let our faces be known.

It sucks to say that the cops are protecting us now because there is a decrease in people like us. People with culture and spice. It isn’t just a Hispanic thing, it’s a Brooklyn thing.

And originally the ‘Mind of Bushwick’ was the idea to embrace your culture but look beyond the hood. Today's ‘Mind of Bushwick’ is pushing out the culture and embracing mediocrity. Rents are purposely high to bring in people that have no idea what Bushwick used to be. They are also high because they don't want to preserve the culture. They want to preserve something that we can't even explain.