Dispelling the Hispanic Chicago Pilsen Myth: We're - GASP! - Everywhere

At approximately noon Monday I got so angry I sent out this Tweet:

"Note to the world: as lovely as it is, ALL of Chicago's Hispanics DO NOT live in Pilsen!"

Not five minutes after that, my Blackberry started going crazy -- my Tweet had hit a nerve.

Let me back up a minute, though -- without naming names or unnecessarily embarrassing anyone -- this is what happened: I got a call from a magazine photographer who wanted to take a picture of me to accompany an upcoming article.

I gave my office location -- in Chicago's Loop -- and was asked about my home address. Dissatisfied with my answer, the photographer just flat-out asked me if I could travel to Pilsen so I could take a picture in a place this person perceived as a more proper setting for a Hispanic.

Summoning every bit of my self-control, I politely -- for about the five-thousandth time in my young life -- explained how wrong, wrong, wrong that is!!!

Now stop right there for a moment, don't you get me wrong: nothing wrong with Pilsen, per se. It's a fine, storied place where school buses of white suburban children are taken by their well-meaning Caucasian Spanish teachers on field trips to see the real-live "Lah-tee-nose" making tortillas and selling pinatas.

Pilsen has its charms and all (I have an excellent curandera whose botanica is on Cermak Road), but I've never lived there, gone to school there or spent much time there, like the overwhelming majority of the approximately 800,000 Chicago Latinos who call the city limits home, or the other million or so Chicago metro region Hispanics!

Yet, I cannot tell you how many non-Hispanics have assumed I was from Pilsen (nor yet Wrigleyville, back before it was Yuppie Town) or otherwise refer to Pilsen as the be-all and end-all heart of the Latino community in Chicago. I think not!

I certainly spent way more time in Little Village, and others said the same about Humboldt Park and Albany Park. This post from "memo-92" on city-data.com pegged it concisely:

"The days of Pilsen being the Mexican neighborhood in the city are long gone. 26th street eclipsed 18th street 30 years ago, and you will find countless 'Little Mexicos' scattered all over the metro area, including far-flung suburbs like Elgin and Aurora.

Pilsen remains important as a cultural center and for historic reasons, but at this point it is more attractive to immigrants from the suburbs and UIC [students] -- who tend see it as cool, funky, cheap, and close by -- than it is to immigrants from Mexico, who tend to see it as not all that cheap, crowded and dirty."

Turning back to my nerve-hitting Tweet, I immediately got messages from my Facebook pals:

Gabriel Garcia commented: "I live in Lincoln Park!"

Veronica Arreola commented: "West Rogers Park representing!"

Charles A Serrano commented: "They also live in one of the four sections of Humboldt Park... And a few in South Chicago -- duh!"

Ed Mlakar commented: "some live in Brighton Park"

Gerardo Cardenas commented: "And don't forget the Oak Park Latinos ... the few... the proud..."

David Diego Rodriguez commented: "I'm in Beverly. And a lot of them live in Mt. Greenwood."

Roberto Sepulveda commented: "This reminds me of when my sister was asked to share her experiences of the 'barrio.' Her high school English teacher assumed [this]. We lived in Berkeley, IL at the time."

Ricardo Serrano commented: "Like it or not, we also live in condos Downtown! (you don't have to be Oprah or Gates to afford one) Latinos can own one too :)"

Perhaps the one I liked best, courtesy of Veronica Tapia, says it all:

"Batavia, Lincoln Park, Bucktown, the Gold Coast... we are everywhere, aren't we??? lol!"

Yes we are -- and don't any of you non-Hispanic readers forget it :)

Esther J. Cepeda is an opinion journalist and expert on the issues of U.S. Hispanics/Latinos. She writes about that, and much, much more on www.600words.com

Follow Esther J. Cepeda on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@ejc600words

Comments

[jylnc]

I hope you aren't making the same stereotype mistake that the photographer made. Don't lump all non hispanic readers into the same misinformed group as the photographer. Misconceptions are everywhere. I have lived in the Chicago suburbs for 30 years but I was raised in South Dakota and Nebraska. I can't tell you how many people believe that everyone from Nebraska and South Dakota are either farmers or ranchers which isn't true either. Whenever anyone makes the statement about hicks or farmers from Nebraska, I just smile and tell them no, my father was an insurance salesman and then in his later years, he worked for the Post Office. I have rarely been on a farm except to visit.

Everyone is aware of their own experiences but woefully unaware of the details of other people's experiences. Communication is key and getting upset does not advance awareness.

[JeffmChicago]

I'm black and moved to Chicago 12 years ago to Lincoln Square, now I reside in Edgewater. Little did I know that upon entering the work force I would be confronted by other black people asking me why do I live in Lincoln Square on the Northside? Come to find out that a lot of black people lived on the southside and westsides of Chicago and black people living on the northside was an oddity.

I can relate Esther. Great blog!

[biggpempin]

Amen to that! I can't tell how how many times I've been asked if I know "this great little place on 26th St" where "we ate last month [week, year, decade, etc]," as if I'm supposed to know every venue in my "village." I usually bite my tongue. I commend you for the firm words you had for this naive fool you had to deal with!