The United Nations of Bed-Stuy

Bed-Stuy Brooklyn is clearly the place to be.

I am a transplant and so are many of my neighbors and new friends. Years ago there weren’t so many nannies pushing strollers and people speaking foreign languages, but now it’s truly a melting pot.

So what attracts people from all walks of life to one concentrated area before it’s been heralded as “the best kept secret” by People Magazine? Money. On the high and the low end.

It’s no coincidence that people who are considered poor often end up with neighbors that are on the well to do end of the spectrum. I feel it’s the Universe’s way of getting us to more than tolerate each other, but rather to embrace one another.

Prior to living in Bed-Stuy, I lived in South Central, Los Angeles. I wanted to buy a home and what I could afford was in that area; rich with palm tree lined streets and full of 1920 Craftsman’s’ and Spanish bungalows. I was determined to try to be an asset to the neighborhood and show the much-deserved respect to the families who survived the crack era. 

I should not have been surprised to find, that my neighborhood was full of culture and tradition, quite contrary to the media’s depiction. I was welcomed with open arms from day one. I’d lived in many areas of major cities and never felt a part of a community until I moved to S. Central. There is no denying that, an area once riddled with drug trafficking and gang violence, still evokes a raised brow from most people.

I could usually predict the clutching of pearls when I would tell people S. Central was where I laid my head each night… as a single woman. But just like people who mature and evolve, so do communities. Much do in part to the natives invested in staying put and contributing to the changes needed to catapult their communities in the right direction.

Just because there are liquor stores and hustlers on the corners doesn’t mean the majority of the people raised there are on board with it.

So life’s twists and turns put me in the heart of Bed-Stuy, and moving here after living in S. Central felt like putting on an old dress. Familiar and delighted it fit. It’s not the same Stuy I used to visit ten years ago.

We have all witnessed the progressive changes, whether we like how it has changed, it most clearly has. But there is one thread I’ve found to be both surprising and consistent amid the natives and the rookies. And that is that both demographics love the mix. The mix of cultures and the mix of money.

Having a mix of cultures raises the visibility of that environment and can raise awareness [and funding] that addresses the needs of the people. I’m not saying this is always the case, nor the agenda, but it does happen.

I’ve never lived a stone’s throw from government housing with community gardens on most corners, which are typically occupied by liquor stores. It takes community of diverse backgrounds to make those changes. It truly takes a group effort.

What still rings true is no matter how many kids in skinny jeans on skateboards with lattes are flying down Lafayette, you will find dozens of beautiful locals who are so proud of their city. So grateful they are alive to tell. So excited to give you old school directions because they don’t know about Hop Stop and don’t care to.

People here are happy to look you in the eye and have a conversation. There are jewels in their stories of survival, immigration, civil rights, language barriers, NYPD, ConEd and tenants rights rallies.

I am the new kid on the block who is happy to get her hands dirty giving my compost to my 70-year-old neighbor who maintains our corner garden.

He stands looking out into the streets and says, “Things sure have changed…”

Amen sir, yes they have.