Double-Connected

New York and the US have two forms of immigration.

A few weeks ago my friend Y and I went to Chinatown to take in the Lunar New Year Parade, which celebrates the arrival of spring, ushers out the old year and welcome in the new. 2024 is the year of the dragon.

This parade wasn't really marking an important date during the festival, but it was a great opportunity for Chinatown to show off to the rest of the region, bringing substantial money and publicity to the area.

One of the things that I loved about this event was how many people were smiling. Unfortunately, I'm still terrible at taking pictures of people, so most of my shots didn't capture the joy that was in the air. But it was refreshing.

The other thing I loved about this festival, was realizing how the people of Chinatown are double-connected. They care about what happens in China, and they care about the success of the US as well. They have lives and businesses and relationships here and back home. And this double-connection can last for generations.

And that's the fundamental thing about immigration. The early connection to both the Dutch and the English made NYC important beyond its size and location, even in the 1600s. And these double-connections have continued to be a major contributor to the success of city and country.

When you give people a stake in the success of the new place, they become double-connected... like an arranged royal marriage, the double-connected are now valuable as a bridge between worlds. They become a kind of peace-and-prosperity insurance, because more than anyone else, they want success for both places.

On the other hand, when you don't give your transplants any stake in the community, and they see little opportunity for bettering their situation, then they view the new territory as a place to be exploited. So they grab what they can.

New York has always produced both kinds of immigration, the double-connected and the unwanted.

New York and The United States are undeniably built on immigration... for better and for worse. And in spite of near constant exclusion and repression, many immigrant populations from around the world have thrived here, because at least New Yorkers know how to make room for each other.

But the critical question remains. Did you welcome new people and make them your partners? Or do you bar the door against them? It's the people on the inside who play the biggest role in which type of immigrants they're going to get.