~There Goes the Neighborhood~

This story actually is my mother’s.  She grew up in NYC in the 1950s/60s.  During 1965-70, there was an influx of Puerto Rican immigrants to her racially but not linguistically diverse neighborhood.  In eighth grade in 1968, a Puerto Rican girl, Marlene, joined my mother’s homeroom.  The nun in charge decided that my mother, who was smart, bored, and talked a lot in class (and got slapped for “being noisy”), should teach Marlene how to read, speak, and write English.  My mother was eager to help Marlene.  She felt bad that the white kids made fun of Marlene’s shoes and the nuns didn’t know how smart Marlene really was, due to her limited English.  My mother soon learned how to help Marlene.  She would sit next to Marlene at the very back of the room, explaining what the teacher was saying.  They figured out that since Marlene could read English better than she could understand it when spoken (or speak it herself), my mother would write out the main ideas of what each teacher said on paper during the lesson, then show Marlene how to do the activity.  Marlene was quick to do her work—oftentimes finishing before my mother did.  By February, she and Marlene decided that they’d tell the nuns Marlene was ready to work on her own.  The nuns agreed—though my mother continued to sit next to Marlene for the rest of the year, since they were friends and liked being together.

My mother says she learned a lot from Marlene, probably more than Marlene learned from her.  Marlene’s family invited my mother over their house every now and then to eat Puerto Rican food, and Marlene’s mother taught mine how to make rice and beans.   My mother’s friends used to make fun of her when she said she was Marlene’s friend.  Their parents asked my grandparents why they allowed my mother to “go to the Ricans’ house” so often.  My grandparents told my mother to ignore these people for being racist.  Before Marlene and her family moved to my mother’s neighborhood, my mother’s family didn’t think much about what diversity really meant.  Knowing Marlene’s family, they learned that while some people might not be just like you, they’re more like you than you think—once you get to know them.