Just read the article. Sounds like this is a white guy who was looking to fetishize/exoticize the "Other" and was left feeling alienated when people called him on his B.S.!!! I'm white, Jewish, and middle class and although the diversity (and the price!) of JH was very appealing to me when deciding to move here as opposed to somewhere white-washed like Park Slope, I did not move here expecting to be lovingly embraced by every person I met (especially when I don't even speak the same language as many people), and realized that people do tend to self-segregate even within a diverse zip code. I moved here to live in a diverse community and maybe learn a little something new about other people. In living here for the past 8 months, I've found people to be very friendly, respectful, or just keeping to themselves (which I am not personally offended by).
I thought it was very callous the way that the author talked so degradingly about the "Latino laborers" that drink at the local bars on Roosevelt. One thing that really makes me proud to live in this neighborhood is that people work damn hard here, especially the immigrants, and they have created a sustainable community through that hard work. I don't know what bars this guy hangs around where people are spewing racist remarks about their neighbors, but I really doubt that these few locals are representative of the majority of white folks living here, and it seems irresponsible of the author to have painted it that way.
Moreover, NO one disses MY Jackson Heights!
