Police presence, more educational institutes and better family life, throughout the past ten years have caused a decrease in the crime rate in the Brownsville community.
On the 1st of October 2007, I Madonna Henry interviewed Mr. Watson. Mr. Watson is a sixty year old man who has lived in the Brownsville community for the last fifteen years of his life. Upon moving to the United States from the Caribbean, Mr. Watson moved into the community where he still resides. He loves the easy access of the readily available transportation (subway and various bus routes) that are nearby. Mr. Watson has a big problem with the crime (shooting) in his community; although crime has decreased, it is still a big problem that the community faces today. The police are now constantly patrolling the area which helps to keep and reduce the crime rate. Unfortunately for Mr. Watson, he had the opportunity to witness a crime; he once saw a man got shot. When asked why he still lived in the community he stated that he loves living there. The only thing that Mr. Watson said that he would change about his community is the living conditions. He wished the rent was cheaper and more affordable. He also feels safe about walking home in the night after a long days work. He takes a route with lots of street lights that is constantly occupied with people. Mr. Watson says that he lives comfortably in Brownsville and would never dream of moving to anywhere else.
"Candy May Have Killed Him." 26 May 1899. Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Retrieved 30 Sept. 2006
http://eagle.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Search&Key=BEG/1899/05/26/3/Ar00307.xml&CollName=BEG_COL2&DOCID=3691441&Keyword=%28%3Cmany%3E%3Cstem%3EViolence%3Cand%3E%3Cmany%3E%3Cstem%3EBrownsville%29&skin=BE&AppName=2&ViewMode=GIF
When your parents told you never talk to strangers did you listen? Brownville was an area well known for the large number crimes and it was a sure thing that parents would have told their children never to talk to strangers. It was a place where good wholesome families could lose their love ones at anytime. On May 26th 1899 a ten year old boy by the name of Leon Glassberg was killed by the consumption of poisoned candy. The young boy lived with his parents; his father was a Rabbi who taught Hebrew at his house. Many of the village children would attend the Hebrew lessons. The family was well respected and no one knew why such a tragedy had occurred.
Leon Glassberg consumed a poisoned candy that he got from some Stranger on the street. All night long he cried out for a pain in his stomach. The pain finally subsided at about 3 o' clock. The pain returned shortly after 5, more intense than before. It was not until about 6 o' clock in the morning that the family called a doctor. Sadly enough, it was too little too late, by the time the doctor arrived little Leon had passed on to the other side.
Pritchett, Wendell E. Brownsville, Brooklyn: Blacks, Jews, and the Changing Face of the Ghetto. Chicago: University Chicago Press, 2002. Retrieved 25 Sept. 2007. http://lib.syndetics.com/index.aspx?isbn=0226684466/DBCHAPTER.HTML&client=cunyh&type=xw12
Brownsville was not always known as Brownsville; it was once called New Lots. The land was known as farmland but it also housed the city's largest waste dump as well as industries that supplied stone and other building materials to New York City. Brownsville was a dynamic Jewish community; the common heritage attracted immigrants especially those coming directly from Ellis Island. Brownsville was a vibrant community with communal and religious institutions and opportunities for advancement. It was also a dangerous, dirty slum that was looked down upon by the "better classes" of Brooklyn and the rest of New York City. There were shoddy buildings, bad public services and weak provision for parks and recreation. It was in 1861 that William Suydam, the owner of the New Lots property became bankrupt; it was also in 1861 the real estate speculator Charles Brown purchased the property at foreclosure. Charles Brown renamed the area for what it is known as today; Brownsville.
Between 1900 and 1920 Brownsville boomed, growing from a small hamlet to a teeming ghetto. The population of 37,934 in 1905 doubled to 77,936 five years later. Once dominated by the Jewish population Brownsville began to diversify. People were being attracted to the area, the open spaces and the fresh air it provided. Brownsville was growing into a middle class arena.
Brownsville has come a very long way from what it once was; a terrifying, dark and deadly neighborhood where no one was safe. Brownsville was once controlled and occupied by the notorious organized crime family 'Murder Incorporated', many people suffered terrifying uncalled for deaths. With over 800 contract killings, 'Murder Incorporated' went door-to-door as sales men but instead of handing out encyclopedias they handed out death sentences. Brownsville was not always this deadly, in the 1700's it was the Dutch who first settled and tried to build a positive community. They built houses for their families and businesses so they could survive in their new surroundings.
Adding on to the misery and downfall of the Brownsville community from the 'Murder Incorporated' killings, a blackout in 1977 caused massive bank robberies and riots which helped the failed economy of the Brownsville community to plummet. Soon after the community became like a grave yard. Everyone was moving away trying to escape being swallowed up by the dark cloud of emptiness. In the 1980's and the 1990's Brownsville began to re-establish itself. Families was moving in and building single-family homes. There was construction of churches and new businesses. To reduce poverty and attract families with little money, the government built low income houses.
A new era has dawned on the face of Brownsville.
Can you imagine what people in the stones ages used for seasoning? How their food would have tasted? Do you think they knew what salt, pepper, cinnamon, garlic, onion, basil and thyme was? Well thank goodness that I did not live in those days; I am addicted to flavor. The exquisite flavor of the seasoned food makes my taste buds jump for joy. I consider myself to be a good cook and even my friends and family members have complimented me. I must not take all the credit, for without the seasonings the food I prepare would not have tasted as delicious. A certain seasoning or spice that I use is my secret to the marvelous dishes I create. I guess that my passion for seasonings and spices comes from smelling it ever so often in my area.
Standing feet's above the ground in the dusty atmosphere lies one of the oldest buildings that one could find in my area. Can you believe that this old run down building is still in use? It packages seasonings and spices that are shelved in some of our local supermarkets. On evenings one could smell the exuberant aroma of seasonings and spices coming from the brownstone building that lies in the residential area. The droopy, vandalized building is said to have been built way back in the late Nineteenth Century when Brooklyn was an industrial site. It is rumored that this old industrial building would be used in an episode of the infamous drama show "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit." I hope that I am walking down the cracked, dusty sidewalk that houses the old building when the show is being shot so that I could be on Television.
Looking at the building one can see the rusty bars that protect the windows from intruders, but capture those inside as if they were imprisoned. Some people in the community have treated the building's walls a bit unfairly. They have tarnished its once prestigious look by a display of ugly drawn graffiti images like that of a fully tattooed body of an old man. A window on the second floor of the building has been boarded up using card board as a protective shield from the outside world. The building itself is not like one would have imagined a building in the old days to be. It has a rectangular shaped frame unlike the chapel like buildings that once was the norm.
I was told to never judge a book by its cover; I hope that you did not do the same to this photo. Inside this rusty, dirty, rundown building is a blend of thousands of seasonings and spices; it is as if you were biting into a stack of Friday's baby back ribs with the barbeque sauce dripping off.
